6o European Butterflies and Moths. 



.ingle of the hind-wings. Hind-wings with a marginal orange band, edged inside with an indented 

 Llack line, witliin which is a whitish one. Hind margins intersected witli a white Hne, between 

 which and the orange band are several large black spots towards the anal angle. Expands from 

 I to li inches. Inhabits a great part of Europe (including England) and Northern and Western 

 Asia ; but seems to be everywhere confined to very restricted localities, and to be of somewhat 

 uncertain appearance. It is found in woods, or flying about elms, sometimes at a great height, 

 in June and July. The larva is green, with two rows of whitish humps on the back. The 

 belly is paler, spotted with dark red, and the head is yellowish-brown. It feeds on elm 

 in May. 



6. T. Spini (W. V.). — Brown, generally with orange spots towards the anal angle of the hind- 

 wings ; tail tipped with white, and the hind margin between this and the anal angle intersected 

 with a short white line. Under side grey; the white line very distinct, and not much broken ; hind- 

 wings with a large blue spot at the anal angle, above which is a marginal row of orange spots, 

 edged within with black ones slightly marked with white. Hind margin intersected with a narrow 

 white line. The orange spots on each side of the blue spot have a black spot on each side, and 

 the one which stands between it and the anal angle is much marked with white also. Expands 

 from I to 1 1 inches. It inhabits Southern and Central Europe, except the north-west (its reputed 

 occurrence in England being doubtless an error), and Northern and Western Asia. It prefers 

 warm sunny slopes covered with bushes, especially on a limestone formation ; but is not generally 

 common, though widely distributed. It flies from June to August. The larva is green, with three 

 yellowish lines on the back, and a whitish line and transverse streaks on the sides ; the head is 

 black. It lives on hawthorn and blackthorn in May and June. 



FAMILY IX.— HESPERIID^. 



These are small and generally rather thick-bodied butterflies, with short wings. The fore- 

 wings are triangular, and the hind-wings are rounded, and rarely dentated. They are either dark- 

 coloured, with pale spots and markings, or tawny. TI;e head is broad and hairy, the eyes are 

 semi-circular and naked, and the palpi are covered with bristly hairs. The antennae are short, with 

 a rather long club, which is frequently hooked at the tip ; they are placed widely apart on each 

 side of the broad head, and have a tuft of hair at the base. The legs are perfect in both sexes, 

 and the hind tibi;E have four spurs, or, more rarely, spurs at the end only. The fore-wings have 

 twelve diverging nervures ; nervule 5 of the hind-wings, and the disco-cellular nervule, are very 

 slightly developed ; and the discoidal cell is quite straight behind. The larvae are tapering at 

 both ends, and are short, covered with fine thin hair, and have a round head. They generally 

 live between leaves loosely spun together, and undergo their transformations in the same 

 situation in a slight cocoon. 



These butterflies are generally called Skippers, from their short jerking flight. They 

 are fairly represented in most parts of the world, but the great majority of both genera and 

 species are South American. There is no direct affinity between this and any of the other 

 families of butterflies ; and they appear to be more closely allied to some groups of Australian 

 and American moths than to any other insects. If, therefore, the distinction generally made 

 between butterflies and moths is worth retaining, it might, perhaps, be better to consider them 

 rather as the first family of moths than as the last family of butterflies, which Duncan and 

 some other writers have actually proposed. 



