276 BUTTERFLIES OF THE PAST 



the same time the atrophy of the male fore legs is 

 shown to have reached in Nymphalites the same 

 stage which it now possesses. In other words, the 

 developmental plane of butterflies ajipears to have 

 been the same in those days as now. 



On the other hand, there are some marks of a 

 lesser degree of development in one of our fossils, 

 in the character of the ornamentation ; for Pro- 

 dryas has fore wings which in form, proportions, 

 and markings would be taken at once for those of an 

 Hesperian, the lowest, rather than of a Nymphalid, 

 the highest, of butterflies ; the markings of the 

 hind wings are, however, distinctly Nymphalideous, 

 though some tropical American Hesperidae have 

 some features nearly resembling them. A greater 

 simplicity of markings than is common to their 

 existing relatives is also seen in Neorino23is and 

 Aj)an thesis. 



