THE SUBFAMILY NYMPHALINAE. 225 



extremity is provided. Not liaving tlie assistance of a transverse loop to support its 

 body wliile it disengages its tail, the attempt would seem perilous in the extreme, if 

 not impossible. Witliout having witnessed the operation, we should suppose that the 

 insect would inevitably fall, while endeavoring to accomplish its ol)ject. But, although 

 unprovided with ordinary limbs, it is not left without the means to extricate itself 

 from its present difliculty. The hinder and tapering part of the chrysalis consists of 

 several rings or segments, so joined together as to be capable of moving from side to 

 side upon each other; and these supply to it the place of hands. By bending together 

 two of these rings near the middle of the body, the chrysalis seizes, in the crevice 

 between them, a portion of the empty caterpillar skin, and clings to it so as to sup- 

 port itself while it withdraws its tail from the remainder of the skin. It is now 

 wholly out of the skin, to which it hangs suspended by nipping together the rings 

 of its body; but, as the chrysalis is much shorter than the caterpillar, it is yet at some 

 distance from the tuft of silk, to which it must climl) before it can fix in it the hooks 

 of its hinder extremity. To do this, it extends the rings of its body as far apart as 

 possible, then, bending together two of them above those by which it is suspended, 

 it catches hold of the skin higher up, at the same time letting go below, and, by 

 repeating this process with difterent rings in succession, it at length reaches the tuft 

 of silk, entangles its hooks among the threads, and then hangs suspended without fur- 

 ther risk of falling. It next contrives to dislodge the cast caterpillar-skin by whirl- 

 ing itself around repeatedly, till the old skin is finally loosened from its attachment 

 and falls to the ground. The whole of this operation, difficult as it may seem, is per- 

 formed in the space of a very few minutes, and rarely does the insect fail to accom- 

 plish it successfully and safely. 



The butterflies of this subfamily are only less widely distributed over the 

 globe than the Satyrinae. Some occur even in the arctic regions, though 

 the proper metropolis of this and indeed every subfamily is found in the 

 tropics. The New World is perhaps richer than the Old in species of this 

 group. Out of more than thu'teen hundred described forms, only six or 

 seven are common lo both hemispheres, and most of these belong to the 

 arctic regions. The subfamily usually bears the same numerical ratio to 

 the whole butterfly fauna in the temperate zone as in the Avhole world ; but 

 in the north temperate zone of the Old World the Satyrinae as well as the 

 Lycaenmac play so conspicuous a part as to overshadow even this exten- 

 sive group. 



Mr. Bates, in his essay on the Nymphalinae of the Amazons (Journ. 

 ent., 1864, 175-212) offers some interesting considerations upon their 

 position and relations. We cannot always agree with him, and especially 

 in his depreciation of the value of characters drawn from the metamor- 

 phoses of these insects, but we take pleasure in transcribing the following 

 general remarks on the haunts and habits of the Amazonian species : 



The early states of the insects are much diversified, and it is the same with their 

 haunts and modes of flight. A certain number of genera, belonging more especially to 

 the Argynnis and Vanessa groups, such as Colaeuis, Agraulis, Euptoieta, Melitaea, 

 Anartia and Juuonia, are seen only in open, sunny places, such as weedy plantations 

 and the suburbs of towns and villages, or the borders of woods. These are never 

 foimd in the shades of the forest, and the food-plants of their larvae are such as 

 grow only in open semicultivated places. It is interesting, therefore, to find that 

 the only Amazonian genera which are closely related to the Argynnes aud Vanessae of 

 our own country are such as inhabit a sort of localities that both regions aftbrd, and 

 uot the great tropical forest which harbours the peculiar forms of South America. The 



