2 lUIOPALOCEHA MALAIAXA. 



Kussler. * A careful examinatiou of these systems may with advantage and instruction be 

 made, but I have not found it necessary to depart from the classificatory views of Mr. Bates. 



Fam. NYMPHALIDiE. 



Sywpludida:, Bates, Tnuis. Lino. Soc. xxiii., p. 515 (IHGl 1. Joiini. EntomoL, i. p. 220 (18G1) 



p. 17G (1864). 



Fig. 'i. Pupa of Daiuiis 

 clirysippus. 



Fin. 1. .interior tai'si of 

 Kuplaa viidamm. 



Front legs imperfect in both sexes ; in the female, at least, 

 wanting the tarsal claws ; in the male the fore tarsi quite 

 rudimentary, consisting of one or two spineless joints. Pupa 

 suspended freely by the tail. 



This family corresponds with " The brush-footed 

 butterflies or Nymphales" of Scudder,! and is placed at 

 the head of the li]io])alocera, a position so long held by 

 the rapiUonida-. In that family, however, both sexes 

 (From Moore's ' Lei), of are in the possession of six perfect legs, and the pupa is 

 secured not only by the tail, but by a girdle across the 

 middle, characters which approximate towards those of the Hesperidoi and Moths. That the 

 atrophy of the fore legs in the Niiiiip]iaUdiv is a character that should elevate the family in 

 rank, is well advocated by Scudder, who remarks : — " Now when we remember that this 

 atrophy affects only the legs borne by the first segment of the thorax, and that this very 

 segment, and this only, in passing from the low larval stage to the perfect form, has become 

 greatly reduced in size, we must accept atrophy of these legs as a conclusive mark of high 

 organization." The same author has also remarked, in reference to the suspension of the 

 chrysalis by the tail alone being considered a stage beyond that of hanging by tail and girth, 

 "We have clear proof that all the ' suspensi,' as Boisduval happily calls them, have passed 

 through the stage of the ' succiucti,' since the strai(jJit ventral surface of the abdomen, assumed 

 perforce by the succiucti, w^hen they left the cocoon stage, and became attached to hard 

 surfaces, still remains in the ehrijsalis of the hrusli-footed Inttterflies, where it no longer serves anij 

 jrurpose — as clear and striking an indication that the suspensi outrank the succincti, as that 

 the pupa is higher than the larva." 



On the contrary, however, it must be stated that so accomplished an entomologist and 

 naturalist as Mr. A. E. Wallace has strongly argued for the retention of the I'apiliouidw at the 

 head of the lUiopalocera, though he has since § used the arrangement proposed by Mr. Bates ; 

 whilst our entomological Nestor, Prof. Westwood, still maintains that he sees "no reason or 

 even advantage in removing the six-legged I'apilionidit' from the head of the order, and 

 substituting in their stead the Xynipludida', with their imperfect fore feet, advocated by the 

 German writers, and servilely adopted by their English followers." || 



* Jabrl). iiiiss. Ver. fiir Katurk., xxxi. & xxxii., p. 220 — 231. AViesbaden, 1880. 



t Trans. Amer. Ent. Koc, vi., p. C9 (1877). 



J Tlio male is represented by tbe sigu $ ; tlie female by $ . 



§ Geogr. Distr. Auim. 



Ij Trans. Linn. Soc. Sec. ser., ZooL, vol. i., p. 157 (1875). 



