LEPIDOPTERA. 223 



readily distinguished from other butterflies. Their bodies are 

 short and thick, with a large head, and very prominent eyes ; the 

 feelers are short, almost square at the end, and thickly clothed 

 with hairs, which give them a clumsy appearance ; the antennae 

 are short, situated at a considerable distance from each other, and 

 in most of these insects, with the knob at the end either curved 

 like a hook, or ending with a little point bent to one side ; the legs 

 are six in number, and the four hinder shanks are armed with two 

 pairs of spurs. Their caterpillars are somewhat spindle-shaped, 

 or cylindrical in the middle, and tapering at each extremity, with- 

 out spines, and generally naked or merely downy, with a very 

 large head and a small neck. They are solitary in their habits, 

 and many of them conceal themselves within folded leaves like the 

 caterpillars of the thistle and nettle butterflies {Cynthia Cardui 

 and ^talanta), and undergo their transformations within an en- 

 velope of leaves or of fragments of stubble gathered together with 

 silken threads. Their chrysalids are generally conical or tapering 

 at one end, and rounded, or more rarely pointed, at the other, 

 never angular or ornamented with golden spots, but most often 

 covered with a bluish white powder or bloom. They are mostly 

 fastened by the tail and a few transverse threads, within some 

 folded leaves, which are connected together by a loose internal 

 web of threads, forming a kind of imperfect cocoon. 



In the skippers, which Dr. Boisduval arranges under the name 

 of Eudamvs^ the knobs of the antennae are very long, gradually 

 taper to a point, and are suddenly bent hke a hook in the middle ; 

 the front-edge of the fore-wings, in the males, is doubled over ; 

 the hind-wings are often tailed, or are furnished with a little pro- 

 jection on the hinder angle ; the fringes are spotted ; and all the 

 wings are raised when at rest. 



Eudamus Tityrus. F. Tityrus skipper. 



Wings brown ; first pair with a transverse semltransparent 

 band across the middle, and a few spots towards the tip, of a 

 honey-yellow color ; hind-wings with a short rounded tail on the 

 hind angles, and a broad silvery band across the middle of the 

 under-side. Expands from 2 to 2| inches. 



This large and beautiful insect makes its appearance, from the 



