166 MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 



keeping out its enemies, reminding one in this respect of the larva of 

 some species of cachhs flies. Tlie chijsalis is smooth, shaped like 



Larva of Hesperidie. (Eiularaus tityius.) 



that of a moth, and is i)Owdered with a bluish dust. It is suspended 

 by the tail witliin its thin silken cocoon, and lias a thin band of silk 

 passing around the body after tlie manner of the PapUlonidce. 



At the beginning of the skippers, as they are often termed, is 

 a genus of large, po\verful insects which inhabit the soutliern states, 

 New Mexico and Arizona, known to entomologists by the name 

 3Iegat]njmid<x, or giant skippers. In this genus the head is not so 

 large in })roportion to the rest of tlie body as in most of the members 

 of tliis family, but the body is very stout and Avell su})plied wdth 

 muscles to work the stiff and proportionately short wings, making 

 these insects very strong on the wing. Tlie antenuie, though fur- 

 nished with a long curved knob, are not })ointed nor I'ecurved into a 

 hook as in most of the Hesperuhe. These insects fl}^ yevy rapidly, 

 but seem as if undecided where to go, and dart tirst to one side and 

 then the other, suddenly alighting, and seldom remaining more than 

 an instant in a place. All four wings are folded vertically (.)ver the 

 back when the insect is at rest, differing in this hal)!t in an important 

 degree from the majority of the skippers. 



The best known of this genus is Me(jafJit/))ius t/vcca\ so called 

 from the larva passing the most of its existence in the stem and root 

 of the yucca or Spanish bayonet. Tlie butterfly is dark um])er-brown, 

 the base and the margin of the wings l)eing tinged with yellow. The 

 light markings on the outer third of the upper wings are yellow. 

 All four wings are more or less hairy next the body. The under side 

 is much like the upper, the j-ellow spots being re})eated beneath, but 

 paler, while there are gray scales toward the outer [)ortion of both 

 sets of wings. The female is a good deal larger than her mate, 

 measuring three inches in expanse of wing, the male being but two 

 and one-half inches across the outstretched wings. The coloring is 

 much the same in both sexes. I have never seen the larva or chrys- 

 alis of this insect, and know nothing of its early life-histoiy, 

 taking the following interesting descriptions, with its habits, from 



