344 



LEPIDOPTERA 



tJioi/f/h ill thcferiiale there are nsually Jive hut u-itliout any r/i/ics. 

 Fi(pa susjKndcd hy the tail so as to hang do'icn, freely. We 

 include in tliis family several suL- families treated Ly some 

 taxonomists as families ; in this respect we follow Kates, whose 

 arrangement^ still remains the basis of l)uttertty classification. 

 With this extension the Nymphalidae is the most important of 

 the families of butterflies, and includes upwards of 250 genera, 

 and between 4000 and 5000 species. There are eight sub- 

 families. 



It is in Xymphalidae that the act of pupation reaches its 

 acme of complication and perfection ; the pupae hang suspended 

 by the tail, and the cremaster, that is the process at the end 



of the body, bears highly- 



L 



developed hooks (Fig. IVV, 

 C, D). The variety in 

 form of the chrysalids is 

 extraordinary ; humps or 

 processes often project 

 from the body, making 

 the Insect a fantastic 

 object ; the strange ap- 

 pearance is fre(piently in- 



FlG. 177.— Pupa of the Purple Emperor hutterfly, Creased by patches like 



Apaturu iris. New Forest. A, Lateral, B, ,,.,,i,i ^„ „;k.^,. , 1 ., 1 ^. 



dorsal aspect : C, enlarged view of cremaster ^^^-^^ ^^ Silver, placed OU 



with the suspeusory hook ; D, one hook still varioUS parts of the Ijody. 



more eulareed. y, ■ tt i j.ij_j_/ 



* it IS believed that the 



term chrysalid was first suggested by these golden pupre. 

 The Purple Emperor, AjMtura iris, differs strikingly in the pupa- 

 as well as in the larva- stage from all our other Nymphalids ; it 

 is of green colour, very broad along the sides, but narrow on 

 the dorsal and ventral aspects (Fig. 17V). The skin of this 

 pupa is less hard than usual, and the pupa seems to be of a 

 very delicate constitution. The Purple Emperor, like some of 

 the Saty rides as well as some of its more immediate congeners, 

 hibernates in our climate as a partially grown larva and passes 

 consequently only a very brief period of its existence in the 

 form of a pupa. 



Sub-Fam. 1. Danaides. — Front 'tving u-ifh inner -mao-y in 



^ Journal of Entoiiwlogy, i. 1862, p. 218 : for early instars of South Aiueritviu 

 Kymphalidae see Miiller, Zool. Jahrh. Hyst. i. 1886, p. 417. 



