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Genus VANESSA. 



In this genus the antennae terminate in an oval 

 club ; the palpi approximate at the extremity, and 

 project obliquely, forming a kind of beak in front of 

 the head : the basal joint is short and curved, the se- 

 cond very long and tapering, and the terminal one 

 slender and conical : the wings angular, or having 

 projecting points on the hinder margin ; legs alike in 

 both sexes ; the anterior pair not formed for walking, 

 the tarsus being composed of a single compressed 

 spatulate piece, and densely clothed with long hairs ; 

 the four posterior tarsi terminating in double claws, 

 with a minute heart-shaped appendage between them. 

 The caterpillars are armed with long spines, but 

 have the segment next the head naked. The chry- 

 salis is angular, with two projecting points on the 

 bead, and is suspended by the tail. Several of the 

 Vanessa^are among our most common insects, and 

 they are surpassed by few in the beauty and variety 

 of their colours. The wings are thick and of a rigid 

 texture, and the body so much more robust than in 

 the generality of their tribe, that they frequently pass 

 the winter in a kind of dormant state, and again take 

 wing on the returning warmth of spring. They pre- 

 sent some differences in the, structure of their oral 

 organs, and ought perhaps, in strict propriety, to 

 form two or three subgenera. 



