LYCAENINAK: TIIK I'KlIiK LYCAENIDI. 903 



superior branolios; tlic outermost forkoil, the iiervuro itst'lf nimiiiii; in a very iliroct 

 course to just l)elo\v the tip of the wins ; auilroconia battledore-shaped, linearly beaded ; 

 tnrsi armed benealh with only two or throe rows of slender spines ; fore tarsi of male 

 armed at ti[) witli a sIultIc moilian claw, broad at base and rapidly taperinu:, scarcely 

 curved. I'pper or^an of male abdominal appcndajies furnisheil not witli liroad alntions 

 but with •;il)bons expansions, bearini; l)aelvwanl or ilownw ard din'eted laminae or books ; 

 clasps broad at the l)ase and taperiiiir more or less irregularly to a blunt or sharp 

 point; intromittent or^an not so Ion;; as in Tlieclidi, but of similar shape. 



Egg. Tiarate. almost c<iuaUy truncate above and below, regularly studded on the 

 sides with stout, rounded prominences connected by a much thinner tracery of lower 

 lines, forming cells of a size proportionally greater than in Theclidl. Mlcropylic pit 

 comparatively shallow, ndnute, with sloping walls. 



Caterpillar at birth. Head barely narrower than the llrst thoracic segment. Dor- 

 sal hairs arranged in a laterodorsal series, a long and a short hair to a segment in each 

 row : substigmatal series w ith three bristles to a segment. 



Mature caterpillar. Body scarcely broader, proportionally, than in Chrysopha- 

 nidi. but more so tlian in Tlieclidi; posterior portions of segments slightly elevated; 

 body covered with raised, six-rayed, papillate dots, each giving rise to a very sliort 

 hair, those at the extremities of the l)ody and on the substigmatal fold twice as long 

 as the others. 



Chrysalis. Body very variable in proportions, but longer than in Theclidi in com- 

 parison with its height, and especially witli a relatively longer abdomen : dermal ap- 

 pendages consisting of cylindrical hairs, which are uniformly tapering, provided 

 abundantly with minute spicules, which diverge from the stem at nearly right angles. 



Tills tribe of Lycacnlnae, coiiuiumly known as IjIucs, are, like tlie 

 violets and hepatlcas tliev resenil)lc, the harbingers of spring ; some of 

 them are among the earliest biittertlics to escape from the chrysalis, and 

 are preceded only by those Xymphalidae which hibernate in the perfect 

 state ; they arc accompanied by their allies, the Incisaliae, and by some 

 sombre species of Thanaos, almost the only early Hesperians ; like the 

 latter, they frequent thickets and usually are seen only by persons who 

 seek them. They are most attractive butterflies, with their delicately tinted 

 wings of various azure hues, their spasmodic flight and playful pug- 

 nacity. They may readily be distinguished from other Lycaeninae by 

 their slighter bodies and generally more slender structure and by the 

 caeridcan tints of their upper surface : beneafli, the hind wings are usually 

 supplied with small and numerous, ocellated spots and are almost never 

 fiu'nished with tails, there Ijeing but a single exception among the Euro- 

 pean and North American genera. Broad color distinctions on the ujiper 

 side of the wings are very common between the sexes, principally in tlie 

 replacement of blue areas by brown : and consequently, no doubt, herma- 

 phroditism has been more commonly recognized here than would otherwise 

 be the case. The tribe is remarkable for the structure of the androconia 

 or scales peculiar to the male sex, which in no other group of butterflies 

 are battledore-shaped, with beaded markings linearly arranged. 



Speyer has noticed (Isis, 1^43, 175-0) that the fore and middle tibiae 

 of many European sj)ecies of this group bear at the tip. above, a horny 

 bristle of variable length, extending over the basal tarsal joint : and he 



