226 NYMPHALID/E. NYMPHALIN^. PYRAMEIS. 



the tibia a little shorter than the femur ; the tarsus than the tibia ; tibia subcylindric, un- 

 armed; tarsus subcylindric, tapering towards the apex, which is obtusely conical. 

 Of the female with the femur, tibia, and base of tarsus densely hairy ; the proportions of 

 these parts as in the males ; //7'/(J subcylindric, sparingly spiny within; tarsus with the first 

 and second joints spiny below, the latter rather more than one-fifth the length of the former ; 

 both armed at the apex, as are the two following joints, with a stout spine on each side, cover- 

 ed by a more or less distinct tuft of hairs at the base of the following joint ; third joint little 

 more than half the length of the second, transverse; fourth joint shorter than the third, 

 transverse, obliquely truncate at the apex ; fifth joint short, transverse, about equal to the fourth- 

 Middle and hindlegs, moderately stout; the femur in the former longer than in the latter, 

 equal to the tibia; tibia with two latero-internal rows of spines, and lateral less regular series ; 

 spurs stout, elongate ; tarsi spiny above, laterally, and, except the fifth joint, below ; the spines 

 of the lower surface stout, long, arranged in two nearly regular series ; middle tarsi with the 

 first joint about three times the length of the second ; the posterior tarsi with the first joint 

 little more than double the length of the second ; third joint considerably shorter than the 

 second ; the fourth than the third ; fifth about equal to the second ; claws rather stout, 

 ciuved, grooved below. Paronychia very hairy, bilaciniate ; the outer lacinia strap-shaped, as 

 long as the claw ; the inner short, subtriangnlar, or with the inner lacinia rudimentary ; the outer 

 elongate, triangular, slender. Pulvillus jointed, shorter than the claws, or merely rudi- 

 mentary." 



•'Larva cylindric ; all the segments, except the head and prothoracic segment, armed 

 with verticillate* spines. Colouration brown or olive, tending more or less to green, with an 

 interrupted pale longitudinal band on each side. In their habits they are different from 

 Vanessa, being always solitary, drawing together the sides of a leaf with silken threads, and 

 thus forming a cylindrical dwelling. Pupa more or less angular and tuberculate ; the head 

 rather obtusely bifid. Colouration some shade of brown, grey, or olive, more or less orna- 

 raeated with golden spots." 



'■^ Pyrameis differs from Vanessa in having the wings less angular ; the palpi less hairy, 

 and of somewhat different form ; the club of the antennoe rather more pointed ; and in 

 other less obvious characters." {Doubleday, I. c.) According to Mr. Scudder the name of this 

 genus should fall before Vanessa. Except from a profound dislike to upsetting long-established 

 usage, I should have adopted this course, and placed the two species here included in the 

 genus Pyrameis in the next genus Vanessa, an additional argument in favour of adopting this 

 course being the close agreement in all stages that exists between all the species. 



The genus Pyrameis is very wide-spread, one species, P. cardui, having earned the 

 name of "The Cosmopolitan Butterfly," as it occurs almost throughout the world except in the 

 Arctic regions and in South America. The other Indian species, P. indica, occurs in India in 

 the hills wherever they are high enough to produce the nettles on which its larva feeds, in Amur- 

 land, China, Teneriffe, Madeira, Spain, and Portugal. Both species have numerous allied forms 

 which replace the typical forms in the countries where the latter do not penetrate, the 

 European "Red Admiral," P. atalanta, Linnaeus, for instance, replacing P. indica in Europe 

 and North America ; and other allied species in the Malay Archipelago, Australia, New 

 Zealand, the Sandwich Islands, North and South-Eastern Africa, Madagascar, &c. There 

 are also several allied forms of P. cardui, one of them, P. Auiitera, Fabricius, occurring 

 throughout America from Canada to the Argentine Republic ; P. kershawii, M'Coy, in 

 Australia and again in Costa Rica, and others in South America. 



The two species which occur in India are moderate-sized Butterflies, the ground-colour 

 of the upperside of one of them {P, indica') black, with a broad irregular oblique scarlet band 

 across the upperside of the forewing, and some whitish spots towards the apex, the 

 outer margin of the hindwing bordered in the middle with scarlet bearing four oblong black 

 spots ; the other species {P. cardui) has the basal two-thirds of the forewing on the upper- 

 side irregularly marked with patches of reddish-ochreous, that colour covering almost the 



" VrnTicii i.ATK, K-winB rnrts arrangeH in a whorl, from vertidllits, the whirl of a spindle. 



