  Near-infrared adaptive optics imaging with NICI and NaCO reveal what appears
to be a three-winged or lobed pattern, the "butterfly nebula", outlined by
bright Br$\gamma$ and H$_{2}$ emission and light scattered by dust. In
contrast, the [Fe II] emission does not follow the outline of the wings, but
shows an extended bipolar distribution which is tracing the Little Homunculus
ejected in $\eta$ Car's second or lesser eruption in the 1890's. Proper motions
measured from the combined NICI and NaCO images together with radial velocities
show that the knots and filaments that define the bright rims of the butterfly
were ejected at two different epochs corresponding approximately to the great
eruption and the second eruption. Most of the material is spatially distributed
10$\arcdeg$ to 20$\arcdeg$ above and below the equatorial plane apparently
behind the Little Homunculus and the larger SE lobe. The equatorial debris
either has a wide opening angle or the clumps were ejected at different
latitudes relative to the plane. The butterfly is not a coherent physical
structure or equatorial torus but spatially separate clumps and filaments
ejected at different times, and now 2000 to 4000 AU from the star.
