6 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 



great need of systematic lepidopterists. It was intended, as the 

 name implies, merely as a synopsis of the genera and species and 

 follows the "Famille Hesperidae" with comparatively few 

 changes. 



These works are the foundation of our present system of class- 

 ification. Many others with a wider range have contributed to 

 our knowledge of the skippers but in none of these is any work 

 of importance on the gross classification attempted. 



It will be noted in the preceding sketch of the history of the 

 skippers that they have been treated as the family Hesperiidae, 

 equivalent to the several families of butterfles with which they 

 have been associated. This position is the only one to which 

 they have been widely assigned, though a number of writers have 

 given them superfamily rank. E. Renter carries this a step 

 further and proposes a distinct suborder under the name Grypo- 

 cera,^ equivalent to the Rhopalocera and Heterocera, while 

 Spuler does likewise, but applies the name Netrocera." This re- 

 opens the question of suborders, for if we accept Comstock's 

 Frenatae and Jugatae the two older groups can no longer occupy 

 this rank and must be either reduced or discarded. I regard 

 them as natural groups though I am inclined to agree with Com- 

 stock's subdivision. The Rhopalocera and Heterocera may con- 

 veniently be designated as series. In this arrangement I cannot 

 accept Renter's Grypocera as indicative of the true relations of 

 the skippers, but the name is still given some use in Europe. 

 There are many points, however, in which the skippers show 

 more primitive development or peculiar uniform specialization 

 which distinguish them from the true butterflies, and the most 

 natural arrangement appears to be that of Comstock " in which 

 they are made a superfamily equivalent to the butterflies proper, 

 According to our present nomenclature this superfamily should 

 be known as the Hesperioidea. The following synopsis indicates 

 the foundation of this classification for the suborder Frenatae. 

 Frenatae 



Series Heterocera. Antennae rarely clavate. "When clavate 

 usually more or less pectinate or ciliate. Hind tibiae usual- 



»Act. Soc. Faun. Flor. Fenn. xxii. 



i» Spuler, Die Schmetterlinge Europas r, 70, 1908. 



"Manual 364, 1895. 



