FAMILY V 
HESPERIIDAE (THE SKIPPERS) 
“ Bedouins of the pathless air.”—H. H. 
Butterfly .—The butterflies belonging to this family are gen¬ 
erally quite small, with stout bodies, the thorax strongly devel¬ 
oped in order to accommodate the muscles of flight. They are 
exceedingly rapid in their movements. Both sexes possess six feet 
adapted to walking, and the tibiae of the hind feet, with few ex¬ 
ceptions, have spurs. The lower radial vein of the hind wing in 
many of the genera is lacking, or is merely indicated by a fold in 
the wing. There is great variety in the form as well as in the 
coloration of the wings. 
Egg .—The eggs, so far as we are acquainted with them, may 
be said to be, almost without exception, more or less hemispher¬ 
ical, with the flat section of the hemisphere serving as the base. 
They are sometimes smooth, but not infrequently ornamented 
with raised longitudinal ridges and cross-lines, the ornamentation 
in some cases being very beautiful and curious. 
Caterpillar .—The caterpillars are cylindrical, smooth, tapering 
forward and backward from the middle, and generally possess 
large globular heads. They commonly undergo transformation 
into chrysalids which have an anal hook, or cremaster, in a loose 
cocoon woven of a few strands of silk. 
This family, the study of which presents more difficulties than 
are presented by any other family of butterflies, is not very well 
developed in the Palsearctic Region, but finds its most enormous 
development in the Nearctic and Neotropical Regions. It is also 
very strongly developed in the Indo-Malayan and Ethiopian 
Regions. There are, at the present time, in the neighborhood 
of two thousand species belonging to this family which have been 
named and described. 
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