130 THE entomologist's RECORJD. 



wlien we extend our survey, we find that the reduced size of the fore- 

 leg obtains in the Hesperids (figs. 29-33) from which the Papilionids 

 are supposed to have had their origin, and when we come to the 

 Lycsenids, we find the reduced size in the Leinoimdae (fig. 25), which 

 possess forms nearest to (but also probably more recent than) the 

 Papilionids, whilst in the Lycaenldae (fig, 28), where we might also 

 look for a Nym))halid type in this matter, the fore-leg reaches the 

 wing as in the Papilionids, as it does also in Parnassids. This would 

 point to the commencing atrophy of the fore-legs of the imago in the 

 LycEenids as occurring quite independently of the same pi"Ocess in the 

 Nymphalids. Another illustration is thus afforded of a condition of 

 things of which I have already spoken as by no means rare in the 

 Lepidoptera — viz., of similar stuctural developments taking place 

 independently in different families, the common inheritance being, not 

 the structui'e itself, but a tendency, or at least a capacity to 

 develop it. 



There is at least one other distinction between Lycfenid and 

 Papilionid pupa? which is strongly suggestive of their separate origin. 

 The Papilionid and its derivatives, the Pierid and Nymphalid, always 

 have smooth pupa3, that is pupa? which have no bristles or hairs ; their 

 spines and processes are developments of the pupa itself, and cannot 

 be injured without opening the general body cavity. Lycajnid pupce 

 on the contrary, have hairs and Ijristles, that is, cutaneous appendages 

 that can be removed without any substantial damage to the pupa 

 proper. Both these forms occur among the Hesperids. 



In the White Admirals {Nynvphalidi) a few hairs are to be 

 distinguished in the pupa, but they are so minute as to require some 

 magnifying in order to l)e seen. Perchance a similar close search 

 might reveal them in other tribes. It is curious that it is in this 

 same tribe that the only trace among the Nymphalids of any resem- 

 blance in the egg to that of the Lycainids occurs. The White 

 Admirals, no doubt, are really one of the lower tribes of the 

 Nymphalinae ; they still retain 5 and 6 free and are still especially 

 capable of great variation in general form as well as in their spines and 

 processes ; these Lyca^nid features appear to give a farther confirmation 

 to one of the points which I desire to emphasise, viz. : — that the 

 lowest {i.e., most ancestral) forms in all the families are really very 

 close together, and that it is only in the higher tribes that the families 

 are widely separated. 



In tlius ])ostulating a separate origin for the Lj'Ccenids, I think I 

 clear up the great difiiculty that has troubled systematists who have 

 desired a linear arrangement, and who have believed from tlie con- 

 dition of the fore-legs of the imago, that tlie Lycienids should occupy a 

 position intermediate l)etween the Papilionids and the Nymphalids, 

 a position absolutely contradicted by egg, larva and i)upa, and, I think, 

 (piite as ]uuch by the general facies and structure of the imago. 



The Lycaeuidae appear to be farther from the Papilionids than the 

 mass of the Lemoniidae, but I think from the pupa? I have seen, that the 

 latter are divisible into several sulj-families, each of equal value to the 

 Lycaeninae, and some of which are farther from the Papilionids than 

 they are. 



(To be continued.) 



