Jo -/03 



442. 

 HESPERIA ACTION. 



The Lulworth Skipper. 



Order Lepidoptera. Fam. Papilionidae. 



Type of the Gemis, Papilio Comma Linn. 

 Hesperia Fah., Lat., Curt. — Pamphila & Thymele Fab., Ste. — 

 Papilio Linn., Haw., &c. 



Antennce inserted on the crown of the head close to the eyes, 

 rather short and clavate, basal joint cup-shaped, furnished with 

 2 brushes of hair, one curving over the eyes ; club more or less 

 fusiform, the apex generally bent and forming an acute hook (1 

 the base and apex). 



Maxillee as long as the whole body, spiral and slender (3). 

 Labial Palpi stout, parallel, not meeting, ascending nearly per- 

 pendicularly, densely clothed with scales, triarticulate, basal 

 joint stout, somewhat ovate, 2nd very robust subovate and a 

 little curved, 3rd minute ovate, porrected obliquely and clothed 

 with bristly and shorter scales (4 and 4 a). 

 Head broad and rather flat. Eyes remote, orbicular (7 and 7*). Tho- 

 rax ovate. Abdomen short and stout. Wings, superior more ele- 

 vated than the inferior when at rest, the former subtrigonate, the 

 latter rounded. Legs alike in both sexes, rather long. Tibiae, an- 

 terior short, the others spurred at the apex, the hinder pair with 

 spurs also below the middle (Sf). Tarsi long and 5 -jointed. Claws 

 and Pulvilli small. 

 Larvae elongate, head large, 6 pectoral, 8 abdominal and '2 anal feet. 

 Pupae inclosed in a web or in a leaf that is held together by threads. 

 Obs. H. Sylvanus was the species dissected. 



AcT^EON Esp., Hub., Och., Goda. — Curt. Guide, Gen. 780, 6^. 



Male fuscous, with an orange lustre upon the wings, the rest of 

 the insect clothed with hairs of the same colour : antennae ochre- 

 ous beneath, ferruginous at the tips : palpi pale blue at the 

 base : superior wings with a longitudinal curved black line on 

 the disc, inferior slightly produced at the anal angle. Under- 

 side more uniformly orange than the reverse. 

 Female a little larger, with a flame-shaped orange spot towards 

 the base, terminated by a lunular line of a paler colour, turned 

 upward and extending to the costa and divided by the dark ner- 

 vures into 6 or 7 spots. Underside with a pearly ochre lustre, 

 a large orange flame-shaped mark on the upper wings extending 

 to the spots which shine through ; the underwings with an ob- 

 lique portion of the internal margin yellowish orange. 

 In the Cabinets of Mr. Dale, the Author, &;c. 



These sincrular insects approach the Sphingidae in the ex- , 

 treme length of the maxillae, and the Noctuidae and Phala- 

 nidae in their metamorphoses and doubly spurred posterior 

 tibiae. The palpi are so densely clothed with scales and so very 

 tender, that although the relative proportions in fig. 4- a are 

 correct, the outline may vary a little. It is rather remarkable 

 that old specimens when alive have frequently lost one or both 



