35 2 LEPIDOPTERA 



every few hundred miles, the distances being shorter near the 

 eastern slopes of the Andes than nearer the Atlantic. So close 

 is the accord of some half-dozen species (of widely different genera) 

 in each change, that he had seen them in large collections classed 

 and named respectively as one species." ^ Many of them are 

 believed to be permeated by nauseous fluids, or to possess glands 

 producing ill-smelling secretions. 



Sub-Fam. 8. Nymphalides.— C(?//s, of holh front and hind 

 wing, either closed only by iniperfect transverse nervules or entirely 

 open. Front tarsus of the male unjointed and without serines, 

 of the female foi/r- or fve-jointed. Caterpillar either spined 

 or smooth ; in the latter case the head more or less strongly 

 horned, or spined, and the apex of the body bifid. This sub- 

 family is speciall}' characterised by the open cells of the 

 wings ; the discocellulars, even when present, being frequently 

 so imperfect as to escape all but the most careful observa- 

 tion. The Nymphalides include upwards of 150 genera and 

 2000 species. The divisions having smooth larvae are separated 

 by Kirby "■^ and others as a distinct sub-family ( Apaturides). 1 n 

 Britain, as in most other parts of the world, Nymphalides is the 

 predominant group of 1 juttertlies. We have eighteen species, among 

 which are included the Fritillaries, Admirals, I'urple Emperor, and 

 the various Vanessa — Peacock, Camberwell Beauty, Eed Admiral, 

 Tortoise-shells, and Painted Lady. All have spined caterpillars 

 except the Emperor. In the temperate regions of the northern 

 hemisphere Vanessa may be considered the dondnant butter- 

 flies, they being very numerous in individuals, though not in 

 species, and being, many of them, in no wise discomfited by 

 the neighbourhood of our own species. Several of them are 

 capable of prolonging and interrupting their lives in the winged 

 condition to suit our climate ; and this in a manner that can 

 scarcely be called hibernation, for they frequently take up the 

 position of repose when the weather is still warm, and on the 

 other hand recommence their activity in the spring at a very 

 early period. This phenomenon may frequently ])e noticed in 

 the Tortoise-shell butterfly ; it is as if the creature knew tliat 

 however warm it may l)e in the autumn there will be no more 

 growth of food for its young, and that in the spring vegetation 



^ P. cnt. Soc. London, 1879, p. xxix. 

 - Allen's Naturalists' Library, Butterflies, i. 1896. 



