INTRODUCTORY PAPERS ON LEPIDOPTERA. 199 



entomologists ; and being used, with some trifling modifi- 

 cations, in my 'Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera,' 

 will also be employed here. 



The first of the five great families of butterflies is that of 

 the Nymp]ialid(B, which con)prises about half the known 

 species. It may easily be distinguished from all the others 

 by the front legs being rudimentary in both sexes, especially 

 in the males ; and the pupa is suspended freely by the tail. 

 The Nympltalidce may be divided into the eight following 

 families, the last of which probably requires further sub- 

 division : — Ddnaiiue, Sati/riiKB, ElyminiiiiCB, Morphiufe, 

 Brassoliitce, Acroiince, HeliconincB, and NympholiiKB. In 

 the present paper we will consider the DanaiiKB only. 



The DanaiiKB have lately been extended to include all the 

 genera formerly classed with the Heliconitioi, except the 

 genus Helicov ius itself, and consequently comprises genera 

 of very different external appearance. The larvge are smooth, 

 with fleshy processes, and the submedian nervure of the 

 fore wing of the imago is double at its origin. 



The wings of the DanaitKB are usually rounded (sometimes 

 slightly dentated), and the hind wings are never tailed, 

 which only occurs, in this family, in some NympJialiiKP, 

 and very slightly in some Saiyrinae, &c. 



The first genus, and the one which contains the largest 

 species of this sub-family (averaging about five inches across 

 the wings) is Hastia, which is found in the East Indies. 

 These are butterflies of a semitransparent white, more or 

 less clouded or spotted with black or brown, especially on 

 the cell of the fore wings. They are said to be butterflies of 

 very elegant appearance on the wing, IVom which they have 

 sometimes been called, " spectre butterflies." They diflfer 

 considerably in shape, and the wings, as in most of the 

 butterflies of this group, are very large in comparison to the 

 size of their bodies. 



Passing over Ideopsis, an East Indian group resembling 

 the last, but smaller, and in some species more like the next 

 genus in markings, we arrive at Damius^ a large group found 

 in all tropical countries. The predominating pattern is a 

 dark ground colour, the centres of all the wings being 

 filled up with white, yellow, greenish, or fulvous. These 

 paler markings sometimes extend over the whole wing, and 



