744 LYCAENIDAE. General Topic>^ by Dr. A. Seitz. — EUMAEUS by Dr. JI. Deatdt. 



On the other hand, the American Lycaenidae often and j^referably come frequently to the water. The 

 large, magnificent .species, such as Thecla regalis and imperialis I saw, as soon as the morning-sun began to 

 send down its hot rays into the open spaces in the woods, drinking the dew-drops from the leaves of the bushes. 

 I never observed these large, magnificent forms coming down to the ground, in order to ch'ink on the road; 

 they seem persistently to remain in an altitude of about 2 or 3 m, so that I concluded that their laivae exclu- 

 sively live on trees. I have already jnentioned the gathering of Lycaenidae round watercourses being well-nigh 

 typical for some mountain-slopes of the paleartic region, but I was not able to find a parallel case in America, 

 although the Eumaeus are said to swarm in big crowds above the flooded surface of swampy fir-pine-woods, but 

 to my knowledge nobody has ever reported from America a similar occurrence as for instance at the southern 

 end of India proper, where tiie Z?2em-species are whirling along above the ground in such crowds that the air 

 seems to sparkle with them. 



A most peculiar symptom is the habit of many Thecla of descending to the ground, at certain hours 

 of the day. and of resting in the midst of the dust of the roads and highways. Wherever the desolate grassy 

 plains of the pampas or prairies are interrupted by bushes or little woods, there are from time to time Thecla 

 to be found resting on the sunny road, with tlieir wings closed and without drinking. These are 

 species that are extremely rarely met with at other occasions, and whoever has the chance of passing such 

 places on the road at such an hour, may sometimes capture in a few hours dozens of Lycaenidae that are other- 

 wise hardly obtainable. The same symptom I have observed in Germany in Thecla iv-alhum being otherwise 

 not common there, which I but once met with in great numbers, but which I otherwise discovered C[uite singly, 

 some years not at all. The butterflies quite suddenly, from the tops of the trees, flew down to the highroad 

 in the high dust of which they settled down. As their feet were not able to gain a footing in the fine dust, they 

 sometimes tumbled down and remained lying on the side or made only faint attempts to raise themselves again. 



The enemies of the American Lycaenidae presumably mostly consist in amphibia for tlie Lycaena, 

 in reptiles for the Thecla. From the former they are probably protected by an ant-guard, from the latter not. 

 The Indian Ijycaenidm are known to be strictly guarded and fetched by the ants into their nests for the sake 

 of their pupation; in doing so, the larvae were in due form escorted by the ants. The groups to which these 

 palearctic species belong, have no representatives in America; some species approximating the species known 

 from the Old World as the friends of ants, such as Lycaena glaucon etc. may have their larvae (not yet explored 

 in their habits) living in symbiosis also in America. These relations, however, are very difficult to ascertain, 

 and, for instance, we even do not know of some species which we have before us in Europe every summer, such 

 as Lye. avion, whether they pass their last larval weeks in the nests of ants or not. Ants that are agoodhand 

 in taking care of larvae, have also become known from Tropical America; it is, therefore, very likely that sym- 

 biosis with Lycaenid-larvae occurs there, too. 



The flight of the American Lycaenidae is mostly nimble and easy, vivid, irregular, but only rarely as 

 rapid as ic is seen in some palearctic genera, (e. g. Polyomnmfus haeticus). The larger buttei'flies of Theclii mostly 

 only fly for a short distance, often only from one leaf to another. But on the other hand, there are groujjs, 

 such as that of the Th. leucogyna and phaea, which are scarcely ever seen at rest, but always flying restlessly 

 in the sun along the broad roads in the woods. 



The pupae of the American Lycaenidae do not deviate considerably in the habitus from their palearctic 

 allies. They resemble minute fruits, being of the shape of beans or buds and mostly fixed with the ventral 

 surface on a petiole or twig. Their colour is mostly a subdued greenish or brown, some show a face-like figure 

 on their dorsal surface, which is said to resemble a monkey's head in the genus Feniseca, something like in the 

 palearctic genus Spalgis. 



I. Grroup: Theclini. 



1. Genus: Xlumaeus Hbn. 



This genus forming the transition to several Erycinidae, according to many examinations, is a real 

 Lycaenid genus. The tarsi of the male forelegs are annexed to a cylindrical joint densely set with spines. Tlie 

 anterior tibiae, in their distal half, are likewise spinous and exhibit 2 longer spines at the tarsal end. At the 

 proximal end of the median tibiae and at the distal end of the femur there are hair-spots. In the female all 

 the 5 tarsal joints, inclusive of the distal end of the tibiae, exhibit strong spines, the terminal joint being as 

 long as the 3rd and 4th together. The vigorous palpi are long and slender, the terminal joint in the $ longer 

 than in the (J. At the antennae we notice spines interspersed between the scaled cover. The eyes are almost 

 naked, exhibiting only quite few, thinly scattered hairs. On the forewing the cell is narrow, before the cell-end 

 there rise 2 subcostal veins, the upper discocellular is absent. On the hindwing the costal half of the cell is much 

 shorter than the median half; the lower discocellular forms an acute angle with the median. " : 



Further particulars referring to this genus containing 3 large, imposing species are to be found in the 

 General Topics. 



