^80 INSECTA. 



filiform antennae * In these two subgenera the inferior palpi hardly 

 reacli above the clypeus, and their second joint is scarcely twice as 

 long as the first. 



In the two following subgenera, where the wings resemble those of 

 the preceding subgenus, but are usually narrower and more elongated, 

 and where the abdomen is also proportionally longer than that of 

 most of the preceding ones, that joint is much longer than the first, 

 and its extremity evidently extends beyond the clypeus. In the Heli- 

 conii — Heliconius, Lat. ; Mechanitis, F&h.; P.peliconii, Lin. — the 

 antennae are twice the length of the head and thorax, and insensibly 

 enlarged towards the extremity f. Those of the Acrese — AcRwEa, 

 Pab. — are shortly and abruptly globuliform %. 



Sometimes — P. nymphalis, L. — the two anterior legs are strongly 

 folded, either apparent and very hairy, or small and concealed. The 

 inferior wings, of which the central cell is open in several, evidently 

 embrace the abdomen beneath. The inferior palpi are proportion- 

 ally longer, and frequently thicker and more approximated. 



Here, the central cell of the inferior wing is open. 



Those in which the inferior palpi are but slightly compressed, 

 distant throughout their length, or at least at their extremity, and 

 abruptly terminated by a slender and acicular joint; where the under 

 surface of the wings frequently presents silvery or yellow spots on a 

 fulvous ground ; and the caterpillars of which are alway covered 

 with spines or fleshy and hairy tubercles, compose the subgenera 

 Cethosia, Fab., and Argynnis, Melitcea, Fab. In the first, several 

 species of which have elevated and elongated wings, the inferior 

 palpi are distant throughout their whole length, the hooks of the tarsi 

 are simple, and the club of the antennae is oblong §. In the second 

 it is short and abrupt; the hooks of the tarsi are unidentated, and the 

 inferior palpi are only distant at their extremity. The inferior wings 

 are frequently round. 



Some — Argynnis — Fab. — have nacred spots on the imder part of 

 their wings. Their caterpillars are furnished Avith spines, two on 

 the neck longer than the rest. Those of the others — Melitcea, Fab. — 

 have little hairy tubercles ; the wings are spotted like a chess-board, 

 and the nacre is replaced by yellow, a circumstance Avhich sometimes 

 occurs in the preceding ones ||. 



Those in Avhich the inferior palpi are contiguous throughout their 

 whole length, terminated almost insensibly in a point, and strongly 

 compressed, form five other subgenera. 



Vanessa, Fab. 

 The Vanessse are removed from the following ones by their an- 

 tennae, abruptly terminated by a short turbinated or ovoid button. 

 Their caterpillars are densely spinous. 



* Lat., Gen. Crust, et Insect., IV, 201 ; Encyc. Method., Ibid., genus Idea. 

 t Lat., Gen. Crust, et Insect.,|_IV, 201 ; Encyc. Method, article /'«^»7»o«, genus 

 Hiliconie. 



X Lat., Ibid., Idem; Encyc. Method,, ibid., genus Acrce, 

 § See the works already quoted, 

 II Idem. 



