162 LEPIDOPTERA. 



submarginal band on the hind wings is marked with blue 

 crescents. 



The curious genus Leptocircus, Swains., with its peculiarly- 

 shaped wings and long tails, has no resemblance to any other 

 genus of Papilionince, but might readily be mistaken for one of the 

 Lemoniidce. The fore wings are longer than the hind wings, which 

 are produced longitudinally instead of laterally into a very long 

 tail. The wings are black, and the outer half of the fore wings 

 is marked by a broad transparent band, divided into spots by 

 the veins ; and a green stripe runs from the costa of the fore wings 

 near the base, parallel to the body, to beyond the middle of the 

 hind wings. The few known species are all very similar, and 

 are confined to India, Siam, and some of the adjacent islands. 



Family V. — Hesperiidce. 



Body robust ; head broad ; antennae inserted widely apart, and 

 often hooked at the tips ; hind tibiae spurred ; larva generally 

 with a prominent head ; pupa enclosed in a slight cocoon. 



The Hesperiidce, or Skippers, are an isolated family, having no 

 great affinity to any of the other butterflies, and not very much 

 more with the moths. They are poorly represented in Europe, 

 and are specially a])undant in tropical America, though they are 

 fairly numerous in other parts of the world. They derive their 

 English name from the short jerking flight of most of the European 

 species. They are generally of small size, the great majority of 

 the species averaging from an inch to an inch and a half in 

 expanse, though some few are much larger. Many are of a brown 

 colour, marked with small transparent spots towards the tips of 

 the fore wings ; and brown and fulvous are the most prevalent 

 colours in the family. 



Thymele Proteus, Linn., is the type of an American genus, whicla 

 may be recognised at a glance by its long and rather broad tails. 

 It is brown, with pale spots on the fore wings, and the hind 

 wings are thickly clothed with greenish hair towards the base. 

 Telegonus, Hiibn., is another allied American genus, but the species 

 are furnished with a strong lobe at the anal angle of the hind 

 wings, instead of a tail. 



Casyapa Thyrsis, Fabr., is a large brown Indian species, with 

 three or four yellow spots in the middle of the fore wings. It 

 measures three inches in expanse, but the largest known species 

 of the family is Ismene Iphis, Drury, which is common on the 



