miOPALOCKU. 1 M. I /.. I r. I A-. I . 



37 



Sul)rain. SATYRIN/E. 



Stitijrin<c.,B».ies, Jouin. Eiit. ii. p. 170(1801); Mciorc.Lep.Ceyl. i.p. 13 (1881 1. 

 Sali/rulii; Swains., Cab. Cycl. pp. 80, 93 (1810); Westw., Gen. Diurn. Lep. 



p. 352 (1851) ; Trimeu, Ehop. Afr. Austr. p. 184 (1802). 

 Kiiii/tfliila: (part), Westw., Geu. Diurn. Lep. p. 403 (1851). 

 FAijiiiniina. Herr.-ScbiliT., Prodr. Syst. Lep. i. p. 15 llsOl). 

 h'h/iiiiiiinn-, Kirby, Cat. Diurn. Lep. p. 112 (LS71). 



Kio. H. Larvii «{ Melnnith leiia. (Frcnii 

 Hnrsf. ct Jl.KiiT.Ciu.I.ep.Miis.E.I.C.) 



Diseoidiil cell of the liinJ wiug closed. 

 compressed and friuged with long hair-scales. 

 with the tails bilid. 



Palpi of the imago generally 

 Larvae smooth and spineless, 



^1 f ■ 





Mh' 



Fic. 0. IIcu.l, sliowiiig palpi (Lrr''iitly 

 mamiirti'd) oi Mfhirtitis i:<iiu'iit'. 



This widely dispersed :iud cosiuopolit;m subfamily possesses 

 several characters of both interest and importance, as demonstrative 

 of its distinctive position. 



The smooth spineless larvse, with bifid tails, are also found in the allied subfam. Brassolluir* 

 and likewise occur in the subfam. Xi/inphaliiKt', of which the genera Apatnm and Charaxes may 

 serve as examples. These larval coincidences in the different subfamilies may be w'ell observed 

 by a study of Dr. Horstield's classification, that author having, on similar but less rigid larval 

 characters, founded his Thysanuriform group, f Mr. Newman, dealing with the same affinities, :|; 

 described these larvae as "slug-shaped caterpillars" (Liinacifonuns), and as examples figured those 

 oi Apatura iris and two species of Satijrimc. Dr. Weisman has also noticed this incongruence. § 

 This form of larva, however, is constant throughout the Satijrinw, thus exhibiting — to use the 

 good English equivalent given for a German term of Dr. Weisman — a "congruence" of larval 

 characters. They are almost all feeders on various grasses, to which their green coloration and 

 markings assimilate them, thus affording a good example of "protective coloration." In an 

 evolutionary sense there are also ample grounds for considering them as exhibiting a very 

 primitive form. Dr. Weisman has made the most profound and philosophical study of larval 

 characters, principally as found in the Sphinijida', a family which strongly exhibits more or less 

 specialised larval markings. He considers the oldest Sphinx larvte as being without markings 

 and probably protected only by adaptive coloration and a large caudal horn, &c. It is at least 

 probable that the bifid tails of the Sdtijriinc fulfil an analogous protective function with this 

 caudal horn in the Spliingidce, or with the forked horn at the tails of the larvre of some genera 

 of moths. With the next stage of Sphingid evolution, where the larvfe have become longi- 

 tudinally striped, we may almost apply Dr. Weisman's very words to the Sat)irina- : — "The 

 caterpillars thus marked must have been best hidden on those plants in which an arrangement 

 of parallel linear parts predominated ; and we may venture to suppose that at this period most 

 of the larvae of the Sphiiujidce lived on or among such plants (grasses)." || 



* This subfumily is confined to Tropical America. f Dcscrip. Cat. Lep. Ins. pp. '21-2. 



I ' British liuttei-flies,' pp. 19 & 20. 



§ 'Studies in the Theory of Descent,' p. 4S8 (Eng. ed.). Dr. Weisman, however, errs in stating tliat the imagines of 

 the genera Ajyatiira and Nymjihalh differ from tlioso of the Satyrinm cliiefly "in the absence of an enlarfrenient of certain 

 veins of the f.ire wind's, an essential character of the Srih/rina\" as tlie enlargement of tliese veins is not a constant cliaracter, 

 whilst the more or less atrophied disco-cellular nervules of the posterior wings in all the genera of the .Xijniphaliii/c is a 

 constant and easily observed character to separate that subfamily fi-om the Satyrincc. 



II ' Studies in the Theory of Descent,' p. 881. 



June 30, 1882. l 



