184 KHOPALOCERA AFRICJE AUSTRALIA. 



FAMILY 6. SATYRID-ffl. 



SATYRID^E (pars), Swains. 

 SATYRIDES, Boisd. 

 SATYRI, Latr. 



NYMPH ALID.E (pars), Westw. 

 SATYRITES, Blanch. 

 SATYRIDI, Steph. 

 SATYRIT^, Chenu. 



IMAGO. Head rather small : eyes often clothed with short 

 hair ; palpi usually much flattened laterally, rather long, 

 porrect, ascendant, generally roughly hairy (in Erebia to the 

 very tip of the terminal joint) ; antennce generally short and 

 slender, the club very variable in form, being abrupt, rounded 

 and flattened in some Genera, while in others it is very 

 elongate and almost cylindrical. Thorax short and slender 

 in the more typical Genera, and never large or robust. 

 Wings large and broad, but of weak structure, variable in 

 outline, but rarely angulated, most commonly entire or 

 moderately dentated on hind-margin ; one or more of the 

 nervures of the fore-wing usually more or less swollen or 

 dilated at the base ; discoidal cell of both wings closed ; 

 inner-marginal groove formed by hind-wings shallow and 

 incomplete, generally leaving uncovered the apical half of 

 abdomen. Legs rather short and slender, with the femora 

 usually but slightly pilose ; the first pair very small and 

 imperfect (never so densely hairy as in many Nymphalidez), 

 especially in $ , where they are often with diificulty dis- 

 coverable among the hairs of the thorax. Abdomen slender, 

 usually not more than two-thirds the length of hind-wings. 



LARVA. Smooth or pubescent, attenuated towards hinder 

 extremity, which terminates in a bifid fork. Head more or 

 less bifid, or with two distinct horns. 



PUPA.; Not acutely angulated ; head bifid ; suspended by 

 the tail only.* 



The SATYRIIXE form a very distinct group of Butterflies, 

 well characterised by their general weakness of structure a 

 compared with the NYMPHALID.E, the thorax being small, 

 short, and compressed, while the wings, though broad and 



* Certain European species of the Genus Satyrua (S. Circe, Semele, &c.) 

 are, however, known not to suspend themselves after the usual manner, but 

 to form cocoons of silk and earth, like those of many Moths, in which to 

 the pupal state. 



