RHOPALOCERA. 



Family II.— ERYGINID^. 



Erycinidoe, Swains., "Phil. Mag., Ser. II. vol. i. p. 187 (1827)." 

 £ri/cinkles and Libi/thide.^, Boisd., Sp. Gen. Lep.,i. pp. 164 and 167 (1836). 

 Erycinidce (excl. Thedimp, Sec), Swains., Hist, and Nat. Arrangem. Ins., 



p. 94 (1840). 

 Enjcinidce, Westw., Intr. Mod. Class. Ins., ii. p. 357 (1840). 

 Erycinid(e awd Lihytheidce, Westw., Gen. D. Lep., ii. pp. 412, 415 (185 i), 

 Erycinidce, Bates, Jonrn. Ent., 1861, p. 220; 1864, p. 176. 

 Lemoniidce, Kirby, Syn. Cat. Diurn. Lep., p. 282 {187 1). 



Imago. — First pair of legs small and slender; in the ^ much 

 aborted, the tarsus being without articulations or terminal claws ; in 

 the $ longer, the tarsus fully developed and with terminal claws. 



Larva. — Of ordinary elongate form, or rather short and subonisci- 

 form, usually more or less pubescent ; second segment sometimes bear- 

 ing dorsally two erect spines. 



Pupa. — Suspended vertically or obliquely by the tail only, or 

 horizontally by the tail and a silken girdle. 



The only constant characters apparently prevailing throughout this 

 extensive Family (containing 69 genera and about 900 species) are 

 those afforded by the fore-legs, w^hich differ so remarkably in the sexes. 

 These organs are in the female, besides the complete development of 

 the tarsi, sometimes twice as large as in the male. Other features 

 characteristic of these butterflies are the usually very small and slender 

 palpi — often scarcely noticeable from above ; the three-branched sub- 

 costal nervure of the fore-wings ; the slenderness of the body ; the 

 smoothness of the middle and hind legs, and the small size of their 

 terminal claw^s ; and the thin and fragile structure of the wings ; — but 

 all these characters, as Mr. H. W. Bates remarks in his Catalogue of 

 the Enjeinidoi (Jonrn. Linn. Soc. Lond., IX. ZooL, p. 367, 1868), are 

 liable to many exceptions. Though amazingly varied in form, colouring, 

 and pattern, the insects of this group are all of small size, — the largest 

 of them (Skdachiis and Sosjrifa) being less than 2^ inches in expanse of 

 wings, the great majority of much smaller stature, and many (such as 

 3Iese7ie, Calydna, Panics, Antcros) among the smallest known butterflies. 



Mr. Bates, who paid special attention to them in the Amazons 

 Valley, describes {loc. cit.) the habits of the Eri/cinida^ as very varied. 

 VOL. n. A 



