306 'nil^^ BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



TRIBE VANESSIDI. 



ANGLE WINGS. 



Vane^^si(li Stepli. ; Vanessidae Dup. ; Vanes- Papiliones augulati Wieii, Verz. 

 sides Kirb. ; Vauessoides Koch. Praefecti Herbst. 



Emongst these leaves she made aButterflie, 

 With excellent device and wondrous slight, 

 Fluttring among the olives wantonly, 

 That seem'd to live, so like it was in sight: 

 The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie, 

 The silken downe with which his back is dight, 

 His broad outstretched homes, his hayrie thies, 

 His glorious colours, and his glistering eies. 



Spenser. — Muiopotmos. 



Imago. Head : club of antennae rather long, but pretty distinctly mai'ked, cylin- 

 drical or a little depressed, with three inferior carinations. Palpi stout witli a coarse, 

 heavy mass of scales and hairs, the terminal joint comparatively long, usually about 

 one-third the length of the middle joint. 



Thorax : first and second superior subcostal nervules of the fore wing arising before 

 the tip of the cell ; the third and fourth beyond ; cell open or closed ; the median nervure 

 connected beyond its second divarication with the vein closing the cell, when the cell 

 is not open. Precostal nervure of hind wings originating beyond the divarication of 

 the subcostal from the costal. Cell open or closed. Tibiae and tarsi destitute of 

 spines above, but the upper portion of the inner surface of the tibiae with a single 

 row of them; two rows of spines on the under surface of the terminal tarsal joint 

 (excepting Vanessa) , the inner rows being absent ; fore tarsi of the female consisting of 

 five joints, provided only with spurs, the last joint with a pair like the others. 



Abdomen of male with all the appendages closely concealed by the terminal 

 segment; in proportion to the body they are unusually small, so that it is often difii- 

 cult to distinguish the sexes by them without considerable denudation, especially as 

 the abdomen of the male is often as plump as that of the female. Upper organ very 

 small, bearing a single, usually rather inconspicuous, central hook and inferior arms, 

 which meet below the anus and are often considerably developed. Clasps proportion- 

 ally very large, generally much broader than long, the upper process either basal, long, 

 slender, and curving so as to appear at first glance like the upper hook or as an appen- 

 da^^e to it; or wholly wanting and replaced by the unusual development of the inferior 

 arms of the upper organ ; interior finger similar to that of Nymphalidi, but seldom sur- 

 passing the upper edge. 



Egg. Compact, taller than broad, with comparatively few, very prominent, sharp, 

 longitudinal ridges, highest on the summit. 



Caterpillar at birth. Papillae of body incou.spicuous, equal, arranged in a dif- 

 ferent manner on tlie tlioracic and abdominal segments, the hairs exceedingly long, 

 slender, tapering and finely pointed. 



Mature caterpillar. Head much smaller than the middle of tlie body, usually 

 tumid on either side above, sometimes crowned by a compound spine. Body tapering 

 f orAvard considerably on the thoracic segments ; segments divided into four transverse 

 sections, of which the anterior is as large as the other three together, the hindmost 

 sometimes obscure ; armed with spines M'hich are compact, thorn-like, tapering, with 

 diverging needles mounted on spinules, directed angularly upward; they are distrib- 

 uted regularly over the body, a dorsal row on the abdominal segments and two other 

 rows on either side above the spiracles, extending over the whole body ; on the first 

 thoracic segment only a transverse series of papilliform tubercles. 



Chrysalis. Head projecting beyond and distinct from tlie thorax. Superior border 

 of the wings witli a secondary tubercle about as prominent as the basal one, situated 

 directly below the highest point of the mesothorax ; dorsum of mesothorax carinate 



