154 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



last of these belong the sawflies, a group of insects that seem 

 isolated in a very remarkable manner, so much so indeed that 

 our more philosophic and systematic entomologists exclude 

 them from the Hymenoptera altogether. In the larva state 

 they resemble Lepidoptera, in the pupa state they assimilate 

 to Coleoptera, and the perfect insect is a complete Hyme- 

 nopteron, possessed of most of the distinctive characters in 

 a very marked degree, the wings being also extended. 



INTRODUCTORY PAPERS ON LEPIDOPTERA. 



By W. F. KiRBY, 



Assistant-Naturalist in Museum of Science and Art, Dublin. 

 No. IX. NYMPHALIDiE— HELICONINiE. 



In structure the butterflies of this subfamily resemble the 

 AcrcBiiicB, and their larvae are also spiny, but the palpi of the 

 imago are clothed with fine scales, and hairy in front. Their 

 closed uing-cells will prevent their being confounded with 

 the typical Nt/mphalince, and their very long rounded wings 

 separate them at a glance from nearly all other butterflies, 

 except the DanaincB, which some of them mimic, but from 

 which the simple submedian nervure of the fore wings will 

 distinguish them. The snbfau)ily, as at present coustiuited, 

 includes but two genera, Heliconius and Eueides, the former 

 of which may be known by its longer and slenderer antennae, 

 with a uiucli more gradually formed club. All the species 

 are tropical American. 



The first section of Heliconius comprises black and 

 fulvous species, spotted or banded with yellow, and frequently 

 resembling Tithorea, Lycorea, iVJelincea, &c., in markings. 

 Some of these, such as H. Eucrale, have a conspicuous 

 white spot in the broadly black tip of the fore wings. 

 Another section is black, or bluish black, variously banded 

 with white or yellow. Thus H. Aittiochus has two narrow 

 white bands on the fore wings; H. Diotrephes a very broad 

 one ; H. Cydno a broad yellow one on the fore wings, and a 

 submarginal white band on the hind wings ; and H. Rhea, 

 and allies, a broad yellow band on the fore wings, and a 

 narrower one towards the tip. 



H. Charillionia, the commonest species in the West 

 Indies, has two narrow yellow bands across the tip of the 

 fore wings, and another running from the base, and curving 



