90 DANAiaE. 



The sexual spot is placed upon the first median nervule or submedian nervure, and sometimes assumes the form 

 of a distinct pouch, the opening being on the upper surface of the wing ; the bottom being, in dried specimens at 

 least, filled with a brown powder. One species of tliis group, Danais Limniace, is found in Africa as well as Asia and 

 Australia; though the African specimens vary slightly from the Indian ones, as will be seen by comparing the 

 accompanying figure with an Indian or Australian specimen. 



The fourth group has hitherto been confounded with the next genus, which it closely resembles in the form, texture, 

 and colouring of the wings, and to which it has another resemblance in the absence of the sexual spot on the posterior 

 wintrs. Like some species of the preceding group, and like the genus Hestia, it has the first subcostal nervule 

 anastomosing with the costal nervure. It is curious to trace, in the different species of the preceding group, the 

 gradual approximation of the first subcostal nervure to the costal nervule. First we find each bent considerably in 

 opposite directions, the angles approximating, but separated by a distinct space ; next we find the angles almost if not 

 quite touching; then we find them in Danais Melissa and other species, and in the present group, united so as to 

 give the appearance of the subcostal nervule actually crossing the costal. Like most species of Hestia, this group 

 has the wings somewhat diaphanous, white ; the outer margin, nervures, nervules, two or more vitta? in the cell, and a 

 series of dots between the nervules sometimes coalescing, all fuscous : but, notwithstanding these points of resemblance, 

 it may always be known from Hestia at first sight by its distinctly clavate antenna;, and on closer examination by 

 its claws devoid of paronychia or pul villi. I am not aware of its occurrence beyond the islands of the Indian Archipelago, 

 and the southernmost promontories and peninsulas of India. 



The males of the first group have the anterior tibia; and tarsi covered with closely appressed scales; those of the 

 second with long, hair-like, not appressed scales ; those of the third and fourth with short scales, and they are also 

 fringed with thinlv scattered lona; hairs. 



The Laev.5; of the first and fourth groups are as yet unknown. Those of the other groups are mostly white, tinged 

 with green or purple, marked with transverse bands or narrow rings of black, the space between them often marked 

 with yellow dots. Stoll's figure of the larva of Danais Eresimus represents the colours as more blended and equally 

 distributed than they are in Danais Archippus, Danais Limniace, &c. Those of Danais Juventa and Danais Plexippus 

 are black, dotted with white in the former, spotted along the sides with yellow in the latter. The tentacula in both 

 are red at the base. As far as known, all the species feed on Asclepiadeas. 



The Pur^E are commonly of a beautiful transparent green, spotted with black, and banded and spotted with gold, 

 sometimes altogether of the most brilliant golden colour. That of Danais Plexippus is represented by Dr. Horsfield as 

 Hesh-coloured, spotted with gold, and marked on the first abdominal segment with a gold band bordered anteriorly with 

 black. 



The Perfect Insects generally appear within fifteen days after the change from the larva to the pupa state. They 

 are insects of slow, but tolerably powerful, flight, often sailing high in the air with their wings expanded. I have 

 frequently seen Danais Archippus cross the Ohio and Mississippi, where these streams are more than a mile in breadth. 

 Both this species and its more southern ally, Danais Berenice, are fond of alighting on flowers, especially those of the 

 Asclepiadea?. In the evening and in cloudy weather they are found resting on the stems of herbaceous plants. They 

 never are to be found in the thick part of the woods, but are common in the open spaces of the forests, and prefer 

 meadows and plantations. Danais Archippus is abundant even in the largest towns of the Middle and Northern 

 States. M. Lacordaire's account of the habits of Danais Eresimus in Cayenne is very similar. It is found exclusively 

 in the open plantations, sometimes many hundreds may be found together. The Australian variety of Danais Limniace, 

 described by Mr. W. S. MacLeay under the name of Euploea hamata, was found by Captain King in countless 

 myriads on the northern coast of Australia, and is probably the species which Captain Cook saw in far greater 

 profusion in the neighbourhood of Thirsty Sound, on the twenty-ninth of May, 1770, when he found a space of three 

 or four acres covered by millions of them on the wing, and every twig and branch loaded with almost equal 

 numbers at rest. This insect is stated by Mr. Hope, in the Transactions of the Entomological Society (in. 143. 149.), 

 to be used for food by the natives of Australia, and he gives Mr. MacLeay as his authority for the fact. But, as at 

 the same time he gives Euploea hamata as the scientific name of the Bugong Moth, I imagine that, forgetting that 

 the genus Euploea of Fabricius is a genus of Butterflies, he has been misled, by a hasty reference to Mr. Bennett's 

 Wanderings, into the supposition that Euploea hamata and the Bugong Moth are identical. 



I may here refer to two passages in Herrera, where flights of butterflies are mentioned, which did not occur to me 



