82 RHOPALOCERA AFRICA AUSTRAL1S. 



FAMILY 3. DANAID-ffi. 



DANAID.E, E. Doubl. 

 DANAIDES, Boisd. 

 DANAITES, Blanch. 

 NYMPHALID^E, (pars), Swains. 



IMAGO. Head rather broad : eyes oval, prominent, naked; 

 alpi short, divergent, clothed with hair beneath, rising but 

 ittle above forehead ; antenna rather thick, of moderate 

 length, terminating in an elongate, gradually-formed club. 

 Thorax sub-ovate, rather narrow, but of considerable depth, 

 clothed on the back with hair, which is longest at the junction 

 of abdomen. Fore-wings elongate, being more or less pro- 

 duced in the apical portion ; discoidal cell closed ; the first 

 discoidal nervule united to subcostal nervure ; costa very 

 slightly curved, almost straight ; apex more or less rounded ; 

 hind-margin more or less concave (owing to the apical 

 projection), slightly denticulate ; anal angle rounded, but in 

 some species rather prominent ; inner-margin somewhat waved, 

 being convex for a greater or less distance from base, and then 

 more or less excavate or concave. Hind-wings obovate, some- 

 what truncate, large; discoidal cell closed; costa almost 

 straight ; hind-margin more or less dentate ; inner-margins 

 long, almost straight, meeting at base of abdomen, forming 

 rather marked anal angles with the hind-margins. Legs rather 

 long and stout, the tibiae spined at their extremities ; first 

 pair of legs short, imperfect, never used in walking, hairy, 

 closely appressed to thorax. Abdomen elongate, thickened 

 towards extremity, nearly as long as inner-margins of hind- 

 wings. 



LARVA. Tolerably stout, cylindrical, somewhat attenuated 

 towards head, smooth ; possessing one or more pairs of long, 

 fleshy, slender filaments on the anterior segments, and one 

 shorter pair of similar organs on the last segment but one. 



PUPA. Short, stout, rounded, smooth ; somewhat con- 

 stricted at junction of thorax and abdomen ; often marked 

 with golden spots and lines ; suspended ly the tail only. 



This Family of Butterflies is looked upon by many 

 authors, and I think with much reason, as a Sub-family 

 forming with many others the great group of the NYMPHA- 

 LID.E, which Mr. Doubleday has restricted so as to comprise 

 only the most typical forms of the division. Most entomo- 

 logists are, however, agreed that the Danaidce should stand 

 first among the great assemblage of " four-legged " Butter- 

 flies, as being the nearest among them to the Papilionidce. 

 Though restricted in Genera, a large number of species, 



