DISTRIBUTION OF THE FAMILIES. 211 



conical horns and the whole body 8trlj)ed with pale and darker green. The 

 chrysalids, which hang by their hinder extremity, have a well rounded 

 form, though slightly constricted in the middle, and a pair of well marked, 

 though not prominent, longitudinal carinae on the abdominal segments, by 

 which it is at once distinguished from all our other satyrids ; the anterior 

 extremity is abrupt, the head produced a little, the hinder extremity rather 

 rapidly rounded off and the cremaster long and slender. 



EXCURSUS VI.—THE GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF 



BUTTERFLIES. 



The fresh young Flie, . . . 

 . . . joy'd to ranjje abroad iu fresh attire, 

 Through the wide coinpas of the ayrie coast; 

 And, with unwearied wings, each part t'inquire 

 Of the wide rule of his renowned sire. 



Spenser.— ilftfiopo^mos. 



The four great families of butterflies are found in every quarter of the 

 globe. All are represented on the inhospitable shores of Labrador and in 

 the accidental fauna of the South Sea Islands. They reach even the hio-h- 

 est regions of the north which have been trodden by man and the tops of 

 the loftiest mountains, as far as the limit of perpetual snow. They are, 

 however, very unequally represented in every distinct zoological province, 

 and some of the minor groups are peculiar to one or more of such regions. 

 The total number of forms now known cannot be far from ten thousand, 

 and it is the most striking feature in their general distribution that the 

 New World, whose area is so much less extensive than that of the Old, 

 even in the tropical regions, contains about one-half of these species. 



The species of butterflies are very unequally distributed among the four 

 families which contain them. Thus the Nymphalidae embrace nearly 

 forty-two per cent of the whole number, while the Papilionidae contain 

 only about fifteen per cent. The Lycaenidae are next most numerous 

 with nearly twenty-seven per cent, followed by the Hesperidae Avith less than 

 seventeen per cent. In the geographical distribution of even the larger 

 groups there is considerable lack of uniformity. Thus while the Euploeinae, 

 which comprise nearly one-fourth of all the Nymphalidae, occur in both 

 worlds and especially in the equatorial regions, they are composed of a few 

 major groups, the members of each of which are almost entirely restricted 

 either to the Old or to the New World. South America of all regions in the 

 world is the richest in butterflies, and it is distinguished by having one 

 group of Euploeinae of which says Wallace "not a single species is found 

 in either Europe, Asia, Africa nor even North America excepting ]\Iexico." 

 A single species, however, does occur in our southern borders. The group 

 is largely restricted to the Amazons district which, we may remark in pass- 



