364 LEPIDOPTERA 



knobbed, but are thicker before the actual tip, which is itself 

 pointed and more or less bent backwards, so that the antennae 

 are somewhat hook-shaped. 



In habits as well as structure the family is markedly distinct 

 from butterflies ; the pupation is peculiar, and the name Skipper 

 has been applied to the perfect Insects, because so many of them 

 indulge in a brief, jerky flight, instead of the prolonged aerial 

 courses characteristic of the higher butterflies. 



There is great difference among the members of the family, 

 and some of them possess a very high development of the powers 

 of locomotion, with a correspondingly perfect structure of the 

 thoracic region, so that, after inspection of these parts, we can 

 (juite believe Wallace's statement that the larger and strong- 

 bodied kinds are remarkable for the excessive rapidity of their 

 night, which, indeed, he was inclined to consider surpassed that 

 of any other Insects. " The eye cannot follow them as they dart 

 past ; and the air, forcibly divided, gives out a deep sound louder 

 than that produced by the humming-bird itself. If power of 

 wing and rapidity of flight could place them in that rank, they 

 should be considered the most highly organised of butterflies." 

 It was probably to the genera Pyrrhopyge, Ery tides, etc., that 

 Mr. Wallace alluded in the above remarks. Although the Hes- 

 periidae are not as a rule beautifully coloured, yet many of these 

 higher forms are most tastefully ornamented ; parts of the wings, 

 wing-fringes, and even the bodies being set with bright but agree- 

 able colours. We mention these facts because it is a fashion to 

 attribute a lowly organisation to the family, and to place it as 

 ancestral to other butterflies. Some of them have crepuscular 

 habits, but this is also the case with a variety of other Ehopalo- 

 cera in the tropics. 



In their early stages the Skippers so far as at present known 

 depart considerably from the majority of butterflies, inasmuch 

 as they possess in both the larval and pupal instars habits of con- 

 cealment and retirement. The caterpillars have the body nearly 

 bare, thicker in the middle, the head free, and more or less 

 notched above. They make much greater use of silk than other 

 butterfly-larvae do, and draw together leaves to form caves for 

 concealment, and even make webs and galleries. Thus the habits 

 are almost those of the Tortricid moths. Pupation takes place 

 under similar conditions ; and it is interesting to find that Chap- 



