1028 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW EXCLAXD. 



base a curvinj; precostal shoot; subcostal nervuro with three branches, itself not 

 reaching the border*, the discoidal cell closed by a vein connecting the subcostal and 

 median nervures beyond the second divarication of either; median nervure with three 

 branches in the outer half of the cell, itself not reacliiug the border; submedian ner- 

 vure terminating at the anal angle; internal nervure sometimes absent. 



Fore legs similar to the other pairs ; and in both sexes more neai'ly approaching them 

 in length than in any other family of butterflies, the fore tibiae and tarsi together 

 averaging in our species only from one-sixth (Papilioninae) to one-eighth (Pierinae) 

 shorter than the length of the hind tiliiae and tarsi; tarsi devoid of scales. 



Eighth abdominal segment of male dilfering in outline of hinder border from the 

 preceding, usually produced above into a long, beak-like, curving hook, closely resem- 

 bling the upper organ of the abdominal appendages of other groups and perhaps often 

 performing its office, but sometimes, on the contrary, notched. The real upper organ 

 may either be of the ordinary type, lying beneath the hook of eighth segment, or it may 

 be nearly aborted, reduced to minute, transverse ribbons. Clasps large, oval, convex, 

 valve-like, their edges meeting so as completely or almost completely to close the 

 extremity of the body, the edges usually smooth, but the interior often supplied with 

 spinous ribbons or ridges. 



Egg. Of one of two types : either tall and slender, more or less fusiform, trav- 

 ersed by vertical ribs and crossed by flue lines; or spheroidal, more or less oblate , 

 sometimes so much so as to be tiarate, the surface reticulate with impressed lines, either 

 so distinct as to elevate the enclosed cells, or so obscure as to be nearly invisible. 



Caterpillar at birth. Head smaller or at least no larger than the thoracic segments, 

 usually smooth or nearly smooth. Body furnished with longitudinal series of longer 

 or shorter, smooth, hollow, apically expanding bristles, mounted on tubercles of 

 greater or less size and sometimes clustered upon very large ones. 



Mature caterpillar. Head free, generally well rounded, furnished to a considera- 

 ble extent with hairs mounted on little warts, but never with more conspicuous 

 armature. Body cylindrical, long and slender, largest either in the middle or on the 

 hinder thoracic segments, tapei-ing more or less toward either end ; sometimes two or 

 more consecutive segments, especially on the hinder part of the thoracic portion of 

 the body, are enlarged and form a common swollen mass ; the body is never monili- 

 form, that is, single segments are never arched longitudinally to any observable ex- 

 tent; furnished with hairs only, or also with smooth lenticular warts or with fleshy 

 filaments ; spiracle of the eighth abdominal segment on a line with the others. 



Chrysalis. Body thickened in tlie middle and tapering considerably at either end; 

 more or less angulated and with certain parts excessively produced. Head anterior to 

 the prothorax produced anteriorly in front, either at the sides forming ocellar promi- 

 nences, or in the middle; the raesonotura is elevated and generally the lower surface 

 is considerably swollen in the middle of the wings. Wings not thickened at their 

 immediate borders but continuous with the body, and with a more or less distinct 

 ridge along the whole extent of the sides. Cremaster linear, stout, protuberant, 

 the booklets placed at tip, not very long but stout, their apical portion bent strongly 

 over like a crook, thickened greatly and at the same time expanded laterally, forming 

 a broad dome- or cup-shaped hook. Suspended by the tail and girt around the 

 middle of the body. 



Characteristics of the family. This family, like the Nymjihalidae, 

 contains very few small insects, rather those of large size ; it is found in 

 all parts of the world from the frozen north to the equator ; with the ex- 

 ception, however, of a few genera peculiar to temperate regions, the 

 immense majority of the species occur within the tropics. They are about 

 equally divided between the Old and the New Worlds. An unusually 



* Exceptions will be noted in Pierinae. 



