332 



Family VIII. MORPHID^. 



Body small and slender, or but moderately robust. 

 Head moderate-sized. 



Eyes generally large and prominent. 



Labial Palpi generally erect, small, wide apart, with the front edge not broad and dilated, but narrowed or 



sometimes sharp ; generally scaly, or clothed with depressed scaly hairs, in front. 

 AntenncB slender, and terminated by a very slender club. 

 Thorax moderate. 



Wings very large, more or less ocellated beneath. 



Fore Wings with the discoidal cell very much elongated, and always closed. 



Hind Wings of the males generally furnished with one or two tufts of hairs near the base. Discoidal cell open 



or closed. Anal margin forming a deep gutter for the reception of the abdomen. 

 Fore Legs imperfect. Those of the male very minute and brush-like, with the joints of the tarsi obsolete ; those 

 of the female generally somewhat larger than those of the male, with the joints of the tarsi distinct, but 

 without any terminal claws. 

 Abdomen small. 



Cateiipillar long, pubescent or spiny, attenuated behind. Head armed with several obtuse horns. 



Abdomen terminated by two long conical tails. 

 Chrysalis short, suspended by the tail, thick, cylindrical, or slightly carinated down the back. 



It is unfortunate that Mr. E. Doubleday did not develope his views relative to the distribution of the Diurnal liepidoptera into 

 primary groups ; as the present is one which he appears to have regarded in a light different from that in which all previous writers 

 had done, but as the plates of this work have been inscribed with distinct family headings, I have here endeavoured to carry out 

 his views. 



Dr. Boisduval, in the introduction to his Species general des Lepidopteres, divided the section containing the butterflies with simply 

 suspended chrysalides into as many as eight tribes (or, as they are termed in the present work, families), including the Nymphalides, 

 Brassolklcs, Morphides, Satyrides, BibllJes, and Libythides ; these coi-respond exactly with the fiimilies NymphalidK, Brassolida;, 

 Morpliidie, Satyrida^, Eurytelida;, and Libytheida; of Mr. E. Doublcday's List of the Lejndopterous Insects in the Collection of the British 

 Museum. The Morphides, in Dr. Boisduval's arrangement (which corresponds very nearly with those of Latreille and Godart), are 

 characterised by having the discoiilal cell of the hind wings always open ; whence we learn that he evidently intended to exclude from 

 the group Morphides (as Mr. E. Doublcday subsequently did) those large South American butterflies allied to P. Eurylochus, Ido- 

 mena^us, &c., all of which have the discoidal cell of the hind wings closed ; in addition to which, they possess a character hitherto 

 unnoticed (in common with Brassolis), namely, the existence of a cell near the base of the hind wings, formed, as it were, by a supple- 

 mental basal branch of the postcoital vein uniting with the costal vein at some little distance beyond the precostal (a character which 

 is also present in the true Papilionida;). In the plates of the present work, however, Mr. E. Doubleday restricted the Brassolida3 

 to tlie single genus Brassolis, and these giant South American butterflies (forming the genera Pavonia, Opsiphanes, &c.) are united 

 with the other Morphida; ; so that the group nearly corresponds with the genus Morpho of the Encyclopedie Methodique, the chai'acters 

 of which, as laid down in the introduction to that work, are extremely vague, being founded merely on the form of the wings and 

 the slenderness of tlie antenna;, and the contents of which, as there indicated, do not, in tact, coincide with those in the body of the 

 work, the second section being removed to the next genus, Satyrus. It is true, indeed, that, although the arrangement of the 

 veins of the wings of Brassolis and Pavonia, Opsiphanes, &c., exactly agrees, yet the j)alpi of Brassolis are very peculiar, and the cater- 

 pillar of that genus, as figured both by Meriau and Stoll, differs most materially from that of Pavonia (even from Pavonia Berecynthus) 

 in wanting the cornuted head and bifid tail. 



By Dr. Horsfield and Mr. Swainson, the Morphida; were united with the Satyrida; into one family, or stirps, which, on account of 

 the supposed resemblance of the caterpillars to the Thysanura (Lepisma, Podura, &c.), was termed by the former Thysanuromorpha, 

 the genera Apatura, Paphia, Amathusia, Morpho, Melanitis, Hiiiparchia, and Nemeobius being given as the typical genera, and 

 Cethosia and Brassolis as aberrant genera. Mr. Swainson, with more particular reference to our Morphida;, observes, that, although he 

 liad previously arranged these insects with the Nymphalida;, yet more matured reflection, and the analogies they bear to other groups 

 of higher value, induced him to consider them as entitled to a distinct station. " They have many peculiarities in their habits, independent 

 of all such as have been pointed out in their metamorphosis. Here we find the largest butterflies in existence ; the whole group being 

 analogous to that of the ruminating animals among quadrupeds. Nearly all the tyjncal species are confined to Tropical America. 

 Their colours are distributed, on the upper surface, in large masses of shining Iilue upon a brown or dark ground. The genus 

 Amathusia represents these noble insects in India, but their size is smaller, and they are destitute of brilliant colours. The smaller 

 groups of this family [here allusion is made to the Satyrid;e] arc those only which arc distributed over Europe ; we have many species 

 in Engl.ind, known by the familiar name of Meadow -browns (Hipparchia F.). The strong peculiarity which runs through all these 

 groups is, that the under surface of the wings is invariably ornamented with beautiful ocellated spots : these spots, in the large 

 American species, resemble in form, but not in brilliancy of colour, those on the tail of the peacock ; but in the European examples 

 they are smaller, more numerous, and often silvery. The general structure of all these insects, even that of the largest, is weak. 

 Ihe^ ty{)ical groups live only in the dark primeval forests, resting on the trunks of trees during the meridian heat, and show a decided 

 partiality for shade : some, indeed, only flying towards the dusk of the evening. These habits, strikingly contrasting with those of the 

 1 .apuionida3 and the Nymphalidae, show tliat we have reached an aberrant group of these Diurnal Lepidoptera, and illustrates that 



