of the Lepidoptera Diurna of Latreille. 185 



and apparently unconnected, forms ; yet all agreeing, so far 

 as we yet know, in the following characters. Larva somewhat 

 oniscitbrm. Pupa short, contracted, smooth, and braced. The 

 anterior legs, in some genera approaching to the insects we 

 have just quitted, are very short ; in succeeding groups they 

 become progressively longer, and finally, in Poli/ommatus, 

 Latr. the six feet, in both sexes, are alike furnished with nails. 

 These nails are, indeed, scarcely perceptible in Thecla, but in 

 Lycena they become perfectly developed. The forms and ha- 

 bits of this interesting group are no less varied. They are 

 mostly of a small size ; some are remarkable for their sombre, 

 others for their brilliant, colouring. Some are feeble, and when 

 at rest extend their wings horizontally ; others, of a more ro- 

 bust make, fly with swiftness, and repose with their wings 

 erect. Like the Acrita of MacLeay, this ,group appears, on 

 a hasty glance, to want that symmetiy of conformation so 

 observable in the preceding divisions. Yet this impression 

 soon vanishes, and we discover, in this apparently heteroge- 

 neous assemblage, that Nature has given symbolical representa- 

 tions of every form which she afterwards adopts to characterize 

 the leading divisions of the whole tribe. The Papilionidcey 

 Nijmphalidce, Heliconidce, and Hesperid^e, are not only repre- 

 sented, but every minor group and nearly every principal genus, 

 will find its prototype among the Eii/cinidcc. 



To lay any particular stress on the close affinity between the 

 aberrant groups of the Erycinidcc and the Hesperidee is quite 

 unnecessary. By Fabricius they were at first united in the 

 same genus, and M. Latreille has placed one almost imme- 

 diately after the other. The only difficulty is, in ascertaining 

 to what family the Hcsperidce are united by affinity at the op- 

 posite extremity of their own circle. The characters exhibit- 

 ed by the perfect insects have been sufficiently detailed by 

 others, although the minor groups remain, for the most part, 

 undefined. The larva, in every instance we know of, is cru- 

 ciform ; but the pupa, unlike that of any other division, is foli- 

 culated, or hid within a leaf, to which it is additionally attach- 

 ed by a transverse thread or brace. Now on looking to all the 

 groups we have here noticed, we find no approximation to 

 this metamorphos, unless it be among the Papilionidcc. The 

 pupae of most Hesperidcc, it is true, are smooth ; and so far 

 the affinity between them and the Erycinidcc is preserved ; 

 yet even here the form is elongated ; while there are not want- 

 ing instances of Hesperian pupae assuming something tlie an- 

 gulated form seen in Papilio. On a due consideration, there- 

 fore, of all these affinities, coupled with the fact of the pupii 

 o( Parnassus having been described by all writers as folicu- 

 New Series. Vol. 1. No, 3. Maich 1827. 2 B lated. 



