FAMIL7 1.-N7IA:FHALZD^. 



This family includes the whole of the great division of Butterflies in which the forelegs 

 of the perfect insect are undeveloped, having the tarsus rudimentary in both sexes. As thus 

 defined it includes all genera in which the chrysalis is simply suspended by the tail 

 and not girt about the body by a thread, (see Plate II, Athyma leucothoe and Adolias 

 lubentind), with the single exception of the genus Libythea, which forms the link between 

 the NymphalidcE and the next family, LemoniidcB. Libythea is a very distinct form ; it was 

 placed as a separate family by Westwood, and is still retained as a separate subfamily by 

 Kirby ; it is classed with LtmoniidcE rather than with Nymphalidis, on account of the struc- 

 ture of the forelegs. 



It also includes two distinct types of caterpillar : — the " Scolopendriform" (see Plate II, 

 Athyma leucothoe), and the " Thysanuriform " (see Plate II, Adolias garuda), sections of 

 Horsfield's classification of 1857. 



In the aspect of the perfect insect, the NymphalidcB vary greatly; in shape from the 

 long wing of Hestia to the short deep wing of Kallima ; in colour from the sombre 

 Satyrincz to the brilliant Euploea and Apatura ; in size from the tiny Ypthima to the 

 gigantic Thaumantis ; in structure from the weak Erebia and the delicately formed Cyrestis 

 to the strong and rapid Charaxes ; in habit too there is an equally wide divergence, from the 

 shade-loving, sometimes crepuscular Melanilis to the Vanessa, which basks in the hottest 

 sunshine ; but throughout the family the small undeveloped foreleg folded closely against 

 the thorax is a constant and well-marked feature. 



STJBPAMILT I.— DANAINS,* Bates. (Plates III to IX inclusive.) 



Danaince, Bates, Journ. Ent., vol. ii, p. 176 (1864) ; Danaidee, Felder, Wien. Ent. Mon., vol. vi, p. 74 (1862); 

 Danaidee, Doubl.,Geti. D. L., p. 84 (1847). 



Head, round. Eyes,o-^a\, prominent. Zai5/a//>rt/;>?, divergent, ascending, scarcely rising 

 above the forehead, distinctly triarticulate ; the basal joint short, stout, curved ; second 

 double the length of the first, subcylindric, slightly curved, rounded at each extremity ; 

 third minute, about one-fifth the length of the second, obovate, slightly pointed. Antenttce, 

 gradually clavate. Thorax, moderately stout. Forewing, elongate, the cell closed ; the 

 subcostal nervure always with four branches exclusive of the terminal portion ; the first 

 nervule thrown off before the end of the cell, generally distant, at its origin, about one-fourth 

 the length of the cell from the disco-cellular nervule, the second thrown off at the end of the 

 cell or very little before it, the third rather more distant from the second than from 

 the fourth, the fourth about midway between the third and the apex. Upper disco-cellular 

 nervule very short, or altogether wanting ; middle and lower, about equal in length ; internal 

 nervure slender, running into the submedian, causing the latter to appear as if double at its 



• In his recently published " Lepidoptera of Ceylon," Mr. F. Moore alters the name of this subfamily 

 to Eufilceince with the following remark : " Linnaeus's name of Dan/ius having been adopted in a Reneric 

 sense by Esper in 1777, and also by Panzer in iBoi, for species of /'/>r;«is. its use — as applied by I.atreille 

 in 1809, cannot be retained in this group of Butterflies." Possibly this may be strictly correct ; but as the 

 name of Danais has been in general, if not universal, use in connection with the present subfamily for upwards 

 of seventy years, and as its use in this sense cannot possibly be misunderstood, we have deemed it advisable 

 to retain it here. It is so interwoven withthis sense in all entomological literature that it seems a pity to 

 have disturbed its claim to acceptation on account of an objection founded solely on works which are 

 practically obsolete. 



