PART III 

 THE SKIPPER BUTTERFLIES 



SuPERFAMiLY Hesperioidea 



The true butterflies are so distinct in their structure and 

 many of their habits from the Skippers that the most care- 

 ful students of the order are pretty well agreed in making 

 the two great superfamilies — Papilionoidea, the true 

 butterflies, and Hesperioidea, the Skipper butterflies. 

 The latter includes these two families: 



The Giant Skippers (Megathymidae) . 



The Common Skippers (Hesperiidae). 



These insects as a whole are distinguished from the 

 higher butterflies by their large moth-like bodies, small 

 wings, hooked antennae (except in the Giant Skippers), 

 by having five branches of the radius vein arising from 

 the large central cell. The larvae spin slight cocoons in 

 which to pupate and the pupae are rounded rather than 

 angular. 



The two families are readily distinguished by the differ- 

 ences in their size and the structure of the antennae. The 

 Giant Skippers measure two inches or more across the ex- 

 panded wings and have comparatively small heads, with 

 the clubs of the antennae not pointed or recurved. The 

 Common Skippers are smaller, and have very large heads 

 with the antennal clubs drawn out and recurved. 



266 



