DANAIS. 89 



Genus II. DANAIS. 



Euplcea Fab. 



Danaida, Danaus, or Danais, Latr. 



Danais God'., Boisd. eye. 



Amaueis, Hestia, Euplcea, Anosia, Htibn. 



Antennas about one half the length of the body, gradually but distinctly clavate. 



Anterior Legs with the femora and tibise about equal in length ; the tarsi shorter. Tarsi of the 

 males sometimes obscurely two-jointed ; the basal joint subcylindric, rather stoutest at the apex ; 

 the second joint about one fourth the length of the first, more or less pointed ; sometimes without 

 any indication of joints, subcylindric, tapering towards the base and apex. Tarsi of the females 

 four-jointed, the last often indistinct ; all except the last with a stout spine on each side at the apex. 

 Middle and Posterior Legs with the tarsi very spiny ; the claws long, slightly curved ; the pulvilli and 

 paronychia obsolete. 



Larva subcylindrical, tapering towards the head ; furnished on the third and last segments, and 



sometimes on the sixth, with long, fleshy, not retractile tentacula. 

 Pupa suspended, ovate, contracted about the middle ; the abdomen very short. 



Danais is at once known from Euplcea by the apparent want of pulvilli and paronychia ; from Hestia by this 

 character and its distinctly clavate antennas. A very minute examination of the claws in a recent state, or after 

 soaking them in water if the specimen be a dried one, will show the rudiments of both paronychia and pulvilli quite at 

 the base of the claw, but so small, as almost to justify their being described as wanting. They are most visible in the 

 species nearest to Hestia. 



The genus is divisible into four distinct groups, easily distinguishable in general by the form and markings of the 

 wings, independently of slight structural differences. The first of these has hitherto been confounded with Euplcea, 

 which genus it resembles in its dark colour, and seems to replace in Africa, to which continent it is confined. 

 The males have a patch of peculiarly formed and closely placed scales situated on the submedian uervure of the posterior 

 wings, not far from the anal angle. 



The second group is more widely dispersed, occurring in the warm latitudes of every part of the globe. The species 

 of which it is composed are mostly of a fulvous colour bordered with black ; this border often very broad at the apex, 

 and spotted with white ; the nervures and nervules also are often black. The posterior wings are sometimes fuscescent, 

 and longitudinally streaked with white. One species, Danais affinis, differs much in colouring from the general 

 character of the group ; being fuscous, with the disc of both wings more or less white, the apex and outer margin being 

 spotted with the same colour. This group has the sexual spot on the first median nervule. Both in the Old and 

 New Worlds the species have a wide range. Danais Chrysippus occurs from Naples to the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and eastward to China. Danais Archippus is found throughout America, from Canada to Rio Janeiro. 



A third group is almost peculiar to the East, being found throughout China, the continent of India, the Indian 

 Islands, and Australia. They are generally of a dark colour, streaked longitudinally between the nervures and 

 nervules with white or greenish, sometimes the posterior wings are bordered with fulvous. There is a considerable 

 difference in the form of the wings in the different species of this group, some being much more elongate than others. 



