6 RHOPALOCERA AFRICA AUSTRALIS. 



which it subsequently assumes, when its skin is hardened. Of 

 those Pupae not enclosed in cocoons, some are found in leaves 

 united by the larva, others buried in the ground, or lying 

 under stones or the bark of trees, and a large number, in- 

 cluding most of the Chrysalides of Butterflies, are simply 

 suspended by the tail to plants, copings of walls, &c. 



The Lepidoptera, of whose structure and life a brief 

 general account has been above given, are very universally 

 distributed over the world, even the Arctic regions having a 

 few peculiar species. From their elegance, and exceeding 

 beauty of colour and intricacy of marking, they early 

 attracted the attention of naturalists ; but little or nothing 

 was done as regards their classification till the rise of the 

 great Linne. He grouped the ORDER into three great 

 Genera : Papilio, containing the Butterflies ; Sphinx, the 

 Hawkmoths ; and Phaloena, the Moths par excellence. Even 

 in his time, the number of known Lepidoptera were but ill 

 accommodated in so limited a scope of classification ; and 

 since then, the vast increase of species, consisting of novel- 

 ties from all parts of the world, and including peculiar forms 

 of the highest interest, necessitated as rapid a creation of 

 fresh Genera and Families for their reception. Latreille's 

 subsequent establishment of the groups Diurna, Crepuscu- 

 laria, and Nocturna, analogous to Linne's three genera 

 though followed by many authors being only founded on 

 the general time of flight of the Butterflies, &c., and not on 

 structural distinctions, could not long satisfy naturalists. 

 The division, originally proposed by M. Dumeril, of the 

 Lepidoptera into groups depending on the structure of the 

 antennae, is now very generally followed. The Butterflies 

 are contained in the first of these divisions, and are termed 

 RHOPALOCERA (poTraXov, a club, /cepas, a horn), from their 

 antennae being thickened into a club or knob at the tip. 

 The whole of the Moths are comprised in the section HETE- 

 ROCERA (erepog, different, Kepas, a horn), from their antennae 

 being of various shapes, but never clubbed. M. Dumeril, 

 however, divided the Moths into three main structural 

 groups ; but these are all included in the one section Hete- 

 rocera, being replaced by the several sub -divisions of Sphin- 

 gina, Bombycina, &c. 



It is my object, in the present work, to give descriptions 

 of all the species of the first of these groups, known to 

 inhabit South Africa ; that is, of all the Butterflies yet 

 discovered in Africa, South of the Tropic of ' Capricorn. 



