THE FAMILIES OF BUTTERFLIES. 



. . . Those waved tbeir limber fans 

 For wingfi, and smallest lineaments exact 

 In all the liveries deek'd of siinuiier's pride 

 Witli spots of gold and purijlc, azure and green, 



MihToy.— Paradise Lost. 



Butterflies are those scaly-winged insects with a spirally coiled tongue 

 formed of channelled and united maxillae, which usually fly only by day, 

 have sexually uniform antennae terminating in a more or less distinct club, 

 with scarcely an exception lack ocelli and the curved bristle serving in 

 moths to connect the front and hind wings near the base, and usually 

 undergo their transformations in the open air, without spinning an encir- 

 cling cocoon. 



They form the highest members of the order Lepidoptera and are sepa- 

 rable into four families, which may be distinguished at any stage of life by 

 the folio win o' table. 



o 



I. Imago of variable size, usually rather slender, with ample wings. Head in a vertical plane, 

 the tongue being inserted opposite the lower half of the eye. Antennae approximate at the 

 base, the space between them not equalling half the vertical diameter of the eye, the tip of the 

 club rarely curved and never produced to a distinct point. Eyes with no overhanging pencil of 

 bristly hairs, though in rare cases (some Lycaeniuae) a small tuft of hairs occurs at the base of 

 the antennae; cornea of eyes not extending over the posterior fourth of the ocellar globe. 

 Front tibiae rarely (Papilioninae) with any epiphysis, and hind tibiae with only terminal spurs. 

 Inner edge of hind wings rarely (Papilioninae) plaited, but extending beneath and pai'tially em- 

 bracing the abdomen; fore and hind wings in repose resting in the same plane. Egff either 

 distinctly higher than broad and then vertically ribbed ; or sub-globular and then smooth or 

 reticulate ; or broader than high and then usually echinoid or tiarate. Caterpillar at birth. — Head 

 usually l)roader and higher than the body; the latter cither with ranged appendages (of various 

 shapes) generally longer, often much longer, than the segments ; or with fleshy tubercles,^spec- 

 ially on the thoracic segments. First thoracic segment with no distinct corneous dorsal shield, 

 though a feel)lc one exists in some forms, and especially in the Lycaeuidae. Mature 

 caterpillar variable in form, but generally cylindrical, often spinous, never with a strongly 

 contracted and distinct neck, and without distinct thoracic shield. Generally constructing no 

 place of concealment. Chrysalis generally (excl. Lycaeuidae) more or less angulate or with 

 projecting shoulders, very rarely (in our species never) enclosed in a cocoon. 



A. Imarjo. — Front not only occupying the face, but extending also over half the crown 

 of the head, and separated from the occiput by a distinct (in Anosia slight) transverse 

 furrow l)etween the antennae. Base of the antennae wholly separate from the inner edges 

 of the eye. Prothoracic lobes tolerably large and above tumid. Wings with the outer 

 maruins usually crenulate. dentate, sinuate, or angulate: front pair with two inferior sub- 



