HESPERIA IPHIS. Alis supra viridi-atris; infra aureo-virescentibus venis
margineque postico nigris, capite sanguineo. (Expans. Alar. 4 unc.)
SYN. Papilio (Pleb. Urb.) Iphis, _Drury, App. vol._ 2.
Hesperia (Urb.) Jupiter, _Fabr. Ent. Syst._ III. 1. _p._ 336. _No._ 279.
_Enc. Méth._ ix. _p._ 733. (Hesperia J.)
Papilio Phidias, _Cram. pl._ 244. A. B.
HABITAT: Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Anamaboe, and the Bight of Benin,
on the Coast of Africa.
_Upper Side._ Antennæ thickest in the middle. Head scarlet. Thorax and
abdomen black. All the wings green brassy-coloured, the nerves black,
those parts that surround the body being of a raven black. The tips of
the anterior wings orange-coloured.
_Under Side._ Palpi scarlet and hairy, the extremities being small and
black. Breast, legs, sides, and abdomen black. Anus scarlet. Wings of a
yellower brassy hue than on the upper side. Superior wings tipped with
orange, but next the body greenish black; the same colour occupying the
external edges of the posterior wings.
The male differs in having the upper side entirely of a fine raven black
without the orange tips; the under side is also darker, and less brassy
than the female.
Drury states, that when this insect is at rest it sits with its wings
erect; and Mr. Smeathman considers it "very remarkable that this insect,
which seems an intermediate species between Papilio and Phalæna, associates
with the little assemblages of Nymphalis Erithonius, and is frequently seen
sipping water with them."