HESPERID.E. 165 



species with bold dashes of color, lacking that soft blending so char- 

 acteristic of most of the moths. 



The butterflies, too, though strong and rapid of flight many of 

 them, have much smaller bodies generally in proportion to the size 

 of the wings than the moths. The eyes are usually well developed, 

 and the tongue is sufficiently long to enable the insect to extract the 

 sweets from flowers, or sip moisture from the ground. The legs of 

 butterflies are usually well developed, except in tlie Nyniphalida', 

 where the first pair are nearly aborted. 



HESPERIDJE. 



Skippers. 



The most moth-like of all Initterflies are tlie Hesperidce, a group 

 containing a liost of small, plain-colored insects, usually very abun- 

 dant in our fields and meadows. 



These insects are stout-bodied creatures with large heads, promi- 

 nent eyes and hooked or pointed antennte, suggesting those of the 

 Sphinx moths, placed wide apart at their base. Tlie palpi are 

 thick and hairy, making them look blunt and clums3\ The lower 

 wings, while the insects are at rest, are often spread horizontally, 

 while the forward pair are raised nearly vertically above the back. 

 In coloring, they are usually very plain, black, brown and tawny- 

 yellow predominating in our native insects. A few of the tropical 

 species, however, are gayl}^ colored. Some of the species bear tails 

 similar to those on the lower wings of the PapiUos. The flight of 

 these insects is rapid, but generally continued but for short distances 

 at a time. The jerking manner of their movements, with their rest- 

 less darting from place to place, has earned for tlie group the com- 

 mon name of skippers. The}^ are lovers of flowers, and the fields of 

 clover, the blossoms of milkweed, elder and various lowland shrubs 

 and plants usually swarm with them. 



The larva of the Hesperlda' is cylindrical in the middle, tapering 

 toward both ends. It has a large head placed on a narrow neck, 

 which gives it a most peculiar appearance. It is smootli, naked, or 

 at the most, downy and usually of dull and sombre tints. It is 

 solitary in its habits, and is largely a night feeder, inhabiting by day 

 a neatly constructed nest made of silken threads inside a curled leaf. 

 When not feeding, the larva retreats into this nest, and its large, 

 hard head acts as an operculum, completely filling the entrance and 



