330 • HESPEEIIDAE; CAPILA. By P. Mubille. 



as soft as in a maggot. This is explained by the habits, the head leaving the shelter when feeding and 

 therefore being exposed, while the rest of the larva remains concealed. 



The Grypocera are obviously not protected by internal properties. The fast and somewhat skip- 

 ping flight may be the reason why they are but little molested by birds, as is the case in most 

 butterflies. Some instances of young birds (Muscicapidae, Tyrannidae) trying to catch Hesperids convinced 

 me that only very few species of birds are at all able to seize the Grypocera in their darting flight. The 

 Skippers are not very tenacious of life. The thorax is hard but brittle, and even a slight pressure 

 renders the specimen completelj' incapable of flight. 



1. Family: Hesperiidae, Skippers. 



• The Palearctic Skippers are medium-sized to small species, with the upperside on the whole dark or 

 black. The chief home of this famil}^ are the Tropics. The number of species considerabl}- decreases 

 towards the Pole. In structure they approach the moths, or rather form a sharply defined family by 

 themselves. The larvae — as far as they are known — have a characteristic facies. The first segment 

 behind the head is constricted and usually ornamented with a collar which contrasts conspicuously with the 

 colour of the body. They spin the leaves together with some threads and live in this shelter like Tortricids 

 and also Pyrameis. The imagines are at a glance recognized as belonging here by their thick head and 

 the shape of the club of the antenna. 



The species of our fauna have their place here and there in the midst of the large mass Hesperids. 

 We bring here a short characterization of the family and refer the reader for further details to the 

 respective fascicle of Wyfsman's Genera Insectorum. 



The habits of the Hesperids agree with those of the majority of our butterfhes. They love the 

 sun and hot places. The first individuals appear in May and the season closes for the Skippers in August. 

 The flight is extraordinarily rapid. Quick like lightning do they disappear from our view and return as 

 suddenly the next moment, settling on a leaf or on the ground. In some the wings are spread out when 

 at rest, in others they are kept raised. Nocturnal or crepuscular habits, as known from many American 

 and African Hesperids, do not seem to obtain among the forms of the Palaearctic fauna : the genera in 

 which such habits have been observed are indeed entirely restricted to America and Africa. 



The Skippers have a thick short head, which is always broader than the thorax, and large pro- 

 truding eyes, which are widely separated from each other. The legs are strong, on the whole short or of 

 medium length, in many genera spinose. The hindtibiae nearly alwaj's bear 2 pairs of spurs, one pair in 

 the centre, the other at the apex. The venation of the wings is very characteristic. The four main 

 veins arise from the base of the wing and all the branches from the cell. In the hindwing veins la and 

 lb are always present, but Ic is abseift in every instance; the hindwing has altogether 8 veins, the outer 

 margin is rounded in the European species or feebly lobate at the anal angle. The forewing has 

 12 veins, and its costal margin bears in the <^^ of many genera a fold, the so-called costal fold, which is 

 often a little open. The numerous other particularities will be given under the respective genera. 



The Hesperiidae of the Palearctic Eegion belong to 5 sections of the whole family: 



Hesperiinae, sections A and B., 

 Ismeninae, and 

 Pamphilinae, section A and B. 



1. Subfamily: HesperiJnae. 



Section A. 



This section is characterized as follows: the club of the antenna is curved in hook-shape or falcate, the 

 apex being always pointed. The third segment of the palpus is small, porrect or vertical, never curved back 

 over the frons. The cell of the forewing is always longer than two-thirds of the costal margin, vein ,5 is 

 nearer to the vein 4 than to vein 6, but never approaches it considerably. The outer margin of the hindwing 

 bears either a tail at the anal angle (American species), or has a tooth near the centre, or is rounded; vein 

 5 rarely developed. 



1. Genus: Capila Moore. 



This genus is characterized by the club of the antenna being hardly thicker than the shaft and 

 being curved into a slight hook, and b}' the vertical setose palpi, whose third segment is small. Vein 5 of 

 hindwing present, 3 arising from close to the lower angle of cell. (5'cJ without a costal fold. The hindtibia with 

 S.paiis of spurs and a long brush of hair. 



