(;lassification of butterflies. 53 



charat'tcrs ap[)ear and aggrandize, while others dinjinish and finally fade ; 

 and thus it is that we can follow out the relative rank of its members with 

 a considerable dejjrec of satisfaction, and discover a series culminatinsr in 

 the families of butterflies ; the considerations which will be brought forward 

 in discussing the relative ])osition of the separate families will continually 

 throw light upon this view and we need not discuss it further in this place, 

 but proceed to an examination of the views of authors concerning the 

 ])rimary divisions of butterflies. 



From 1758 to 1815. The first eflfort at the classification of butterflies 

 was made by Linne in the tenth edition of the Systema naturae (1758) ; 

 his scheme is as follows : — 



Here the Papilionidae arc [)laced highest. Their division into two 

 groups is merely a fanciful one, depending on the presence or absence of 

 red spots. The last group comprises only forms whose proper location 

 was a puzzle and from Avhich they could be drawn and distributed properly 

 as they became better known, and may therefore be left out of considera- 

 tion. With this exception the Hesperidae are placed lowest, as they have 

 been by every subsequent author, for their close relationship to the lower 

 families of Lepidoptera leaves no doubt whatever concerning their true 

 position ; but with them Linne placed the great group of Lycaenidae, with 

 which they have but comparatively distant connection. The Heliconii 

 were founded upon a few strange looking, dark-spotted, white butterflies 

 now placed in the genera Doritis and Parnassius. The Danai formed a 

 heterogeneous group, although each of its divisions is in itself mainly 

 natural, the D. candidi belonging properly wdth the previous group and 

 the D. festivi corresponding to Euploeinae and its allies. The group 

 Nymphales would have been a natural one had the Danai festivi been 

 added to it, but its divisions, based on the presence or absence of ocellate 

 spots on the wings, was utterly without value. 



In his Fauna Suecica (1761), Linne had already made alterations in his 

 plan of divisions, the whole of the Danai candidi being merged with the 

 Heliconii, which would thus have formed a natural group had not some of 

 the Satyridae been also included in it, w'hile others were left as before in 

 the Nymphales ; but in the twelth edition of the Systema naturae (1767), 

 the old system was restored. 



In 17()2, GeoflTroy, in his Histoire des insectes aux environs de Paris, 

 proposed a new scheme of classification in which his primary groups were 

 founded upon the character of the fore legs, to which I believe Reaumur 

 first drew attention ; but he did not fail to recognize other distinctions also, 



