Ceth. Dido. _Fabr._--Pap. Dido, _Linn._--_Marian’s Surin. Insects_, Pl.
2, (with Caterpillar).--_Cramer_, Pl. 196, fig. E, F.
This species expands about four inches; the ground colour of the
surface is black, variously interrupted with stripes and patches
of green. On the upper wings a longitudinal stripe of that colour
extends from the base to the extremity of the discoidal cell; beyond
which there is a transverse series of large contiguous spots, and
two or three small insulated ones. The inferior wings have two
transverse green bands, one of them broad and continuous placed near
the base, and terminating nearly in a point towards the outer margin;
the other consisting of six or seven orbicular spots, and placed
nearly midway between the former band and the hinder extremity. The
under side differs considerably from the upper, the ground colour
being blackish-brown, while all the green parts are bordered with
pearl-white, and along the posterior margin there is a series of white
lunules, each of them divided by a brown nervure; near the origin
of the secondary wings a small longitudinal red line is likewise
observable. The body is blackish above and grey beneath, the thorax
marked with a few reddish points.
The caterpillar has been figured by Madam Merian. She represents it
as bearing several rows of short spines, rising in a radiated manner
from a tubercle, and two very long caudal appendages. It is of a green
colour, having a red and white ray along each side of the body.
The insect is found in Brazil and Guiana.
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