82 RHOPALOCERA AFRICA. AUSTRALIS. 



Family 3.— DANAIDiE. 



DANAiDiE, E. Douhl. 

 Danaides, Boisd. 

 Danaites, Blanch. 

 Nymphalid^, (pars), Swains. 



Imago. — Head rather broad : ei/es oval, prominent, naked; 

 palpi short, divergent, clothed with hair beneath, rising but 

 little above forehead ; antennas rather thick, of moderate 

 length, terminating in an elongate, gradually-formed club. 

 Thorax sub-ovate, rather narrow, but of considerable depth, 

 clothed on the back with hair, which is longest at the junction 

 of abdomen. Fore-wings elongate, being more or less pro- 

 duced in the apical portion ; discoidal cell closed ; the first 

 discoidal nervule imited to subcostal nervure ; costa very 

 slightly curved, almost straight ; apex more or less rounded ; 

 hind-margin more or less concave (owing to the apical 

 projection), slightly denticulate ; anal angle rounded, but in 

 some species rather prominent ; inner-margin somewhat waved, 

 being convex for a greater or less distance from base, and then 

 more or less excavate or concave. Hind-wings obovate, some- 

 what truncate, large; discoidal cell closed; costa almost 

 straight ; hind-margin more or less dentate ; inner-margins 

 long, almost straight, meeting at base of abdomen, forming 

 rather marked anal angles with the hind-margins. Begs rather 

 long and stout, the tibiee spined at their extremities ; first 

 pair of legs short, imperfect, never used in walking, hairy, 

 closely appressed to thorax. Abdomen elongate, thickened 

 towards extremity, nearly as long as inner-margins of hind- 

 wings. 



Larva. — Tolerably stout, cylindrical, somewhat attenuated 

 towards head, smooth ; possessing one or more pairs of long, 

 fleshy, slender filaments on the anterior segments, and one 

 shorter pair of similar organs on the last segment but one. 



Pupa. — Short, stout, rounded, smooth ; somewhat con- 

 stricted at junction of thorax and abdomen ; often marked 

 with golden spots and lines ; suspended by the tail only. 



This Family of Butterflies is looked upon by many 

 authors, and I think with much reason, as a Sub-family 

 forming with many others the great group of the Nympha- 

 LiD^, which Mr. Doubleday has restricted so as to comprise 

 only the most typical forms of the division. Most entomo- 

 logists are, however, agreed that the Danaidce, should stand 

 first among the great assemblage of *' four-legged " Butter- 

 flies, as being the nearest among them to the Papilionidce. 

 Though restricted in Genera, a large number of species, 



