﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



173 



pressed, and with the costa of primaries at an angle of about 45° from the body. Ke- 

 garding the flight, which is diurnal, Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, of Bluffton, S. C, was im- 

 pressed with the extremely rapid and 

 darting motions of the insect as it 

 passes from plant to plant ; and Mr. 

 E. A. Schwarz, of Detroit, who has 

 had very excellent opportunity of ob- 

 serving the species in Volusia county, 

 Florida, informs me that, when start- 

 led, Megathymus flies directly up- 

 ward 20 or .SO feet, then horizontally 

 for a long stretch — sometimes out of 

 .sight — and descends as directly as it 

 rose. It frequents open places, is 



Megathymus tucc-i: : — Walking. 



very shy, and generally settles near the ground. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL, 



The first notice of this insect that we have any record of is that by Boisduval and 

 LeConte, who figure it under the name of Eudamus ? yucca; on Plate 70 of their Icono- 



graphie.^ Though there is no text accompanying the plate, it is evident, from the 

 generic reference, that the insect is considered Hesperian, and no one could hesitate to 

 so consider it if guided by the figures. In those of the imago the head is unnaturally 

 broad, the body too slender, and the antennae with the club too slender and too much 

 hooked. The wings, in repose, are thrown forward as in Tkecla ; the antennte erect, 

 and the legs too slender. The larva has the large and nutant head, narrow thoracic 



joints, and green, yellow and white longitudinal stripes so characteristic of Hesperid 

 larvne. The pupa has much the form and color of Epargyreus Tityrus (Fabr.) In short, 

 these figures, in many respects, and those of the larva and pupa more particularly, are 

 so unlike the insect considered in the present jmper, that the question might justly be 

 raised as to whether I am dealing with the Yuccce of Boisduval and LeConte, if the 

 figures in the work in question were known to be generally trustworthy. But I have 



' already shownf how inaccurate and unreliable some of the said figures are ; while the 

 food-plant, as indicated by the specific name, and the size, markings and color of the 

 perfect insects in the plate, leave no doubt as to the identity of Yuccce B. & L., and the 

 species here considered. Too much imagination entered into the composition of that 

 plate, and the probability is that after LeConte's figures were received in Europe by 

 BoLsdiival, the latter, by mistake, coupled with Yuccce the larva and pupa of some other 

 large Southern Hesperian. 



The next reference to this insect is by ■Walker,+ in 18r)6, who is the first to briefly 

 describe it as Castnia yuccce. In 1871, Kirby referred it doubtingly to JEgiale, Feld. in 

 Hesperidae.g In 1872, Scudder made it the type of a new genus {Megathymus) in Hes- 

 perida3||, without further diagnosis than the incorrect figures in the Inconographie 

 alluded to. This reference is followed by Wm. H.Edwards in the Synopsis accom 

 panying the first volume of his work on N. A. Butterflies (1872). Scudder subse- 



* Hist. Gen. ct Icon, des Lepid. de I' Am. Sept, 1833. 

 t Sixth Rep., p. 136. 



X List of the specimens of Lep. Ins. iu the CoU. of the British Museum, Part VII., p. 1.583, No. 43. 

 § Synonymic Cat. Diurnal Lep., p. 008. "VV. F. Kirby : London, 1871. 

 II Systematic revision of some of the Am. Butterflies, etc., p. G2. S. H. Scudder: Salem, 1872. 



