26o SOUTH-AFEICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



small, thick ; fore-wings usually more or less elongated apically ; sub- 

 costal nervure five-branched, — nervules all near together, originating at 

 about equal distances apart, the fifth {and sometimes the fourth also) given 

 off at extremity of discoidal cell (in Cychpides the first nervule in some 

 species is very short, and runs into costal nervure) ; upper radial ner- 

 vule orif'inating close to fifth subcostal at extremity of cell, — lovxr one 

 more or less attenuated, springing from junction of disco-cellular ner- 

 vules ; discoidal cell long and narrow, the closing nervules very 

 slender ; first median 7icrvidc often given off not far from base. Hind- 

 ivings short and blunt apically, longer, and usually more or less pro- 

 minent or lobate (rarely broadly and lengthily caudate) about anal 

 anrfle ; a longitudinal fold betiveen sid)median and internal nervures ; 

 subcostal nervure usually angulated near base, so as to touch costal ner- 

 vure and to shut off fro7n discoidal cell a small prediscoidal cell; disco- 

 cellular nervules exceedingly attenuated, sometimes imperceptible ; 

 radial nervule much atrophied, occasioncdly wanting, — the space between 

 second subcostal nervule and third median nervule being always nar- 

 row ; interned nervure very long, extending to anal angle. Legs per- 

 fect in both sexes ; fore-legs only differing from the others in their much 

 shorter tibias, which bear inwardly (except in Cychpides) beyond middle 

 a flattened acute appendage or spur ; hind-legs almost ahvays hearing, 

 besides tcrmincd spurs, a pair of similar (often shorter) spurs beyond 

 middle ; all the tarsi long and stout, more or less spinulose inferiorly, 

 their terminal claws and appendages small. 



Abdomen attenuated posteriorly, usually short (especially in $), 

 seldom as long as inner margin of hind-wings, and very rarely longer. 



Larva. — Elongate, cylindrical, markedly attenuated anteriorly (tho- 

 racic segments) ; head large, much widened superiorly. Usually naked, 

 but sometimes thinly hairy. 



Pupa. — Elongate, rounded (rarely sub-angulated bluntly anteriorly); 

 head with a median frontal more or less elongate acute projection; 

 haustellum-case sometimes freely extending beyond wing-cases to a 

 point far past extremity of abdomen. Attached by tail and by a free 

 silken girth round middle, and also usually enclosed by other silken 

 threads or in an imperfect open thin web. 



As may be seen from the characters italicised in the foregoing diag- 

 nosis, the HesperidK constitute a family very distinct from all other 

 butterflies; their structure is indeed so peculiar, and in the main so 

 constant, that they seem almost entitled to rank as a Sub-Order of the 

 Lepidoptera. It is very noteworthy that, although their most striking 

 characters — such as the large head, wide apart antenna, and four- 

 spurred tibiae of the hind-legs— certainly approximate them to moths 

 (Heterocera) generally,^ it is not found, upon close examination, that the 



1 The S of the Australian Euschemon Rafflesia (Macleay)— an unquestionable Hesperide 

 — alone possesses the striking Heterocerous feature of a fully-developed bristle and loop 

 linking the fore and hind wings near the base. (See vol. i. p. IS-) 



