LEPIDOPTERA RHOPALOCERA. 713 



Sub-farn. 2. Libytheinae. Palps very long and standing out from 

 head. A single genus Libythea with some twenty species is spread 

 throughout the warmer districts of the globe. 



Fam. 3. Lycaenidae. Front legs but little shorter than the others. 

 Front tarsus in male with one segment bearing but one claw. Claws not 

 toothed. Antennae emerge close to one another. Usually smallish, 

 slender butterflies, the " Blues " of popular nomenclature. Larvae short 

 and hairy. The pupae are also somewhat squat, and besides being sup- 

 ported by the cremaster they are usually made fast by a silken thread 

 w r hich engirdles the middle of the body. It is a large family with eighteen 

 British species. Lycaena, Thecla and Polyommatus are British. Liptena, 

 Vanessula, Mimacraea. 



Fam. 4. Pieridae. Six legs equally developed. Claws bifid or toothed. 

 A median structure of varying shape called the empodium is present 

 between the claws. A large family of moderate sized butterflies including 

 the Whites and Yellows, Brimstones, and Orange-tips. The caterpillars 

 are cylindrical and downy and usually greenish. The larva fixes itself 

 by its tail with its head upwards and the pupa is lashed to the support by 

 an encircling girdle. The distribution is world-wide. Euchloe, Aporia 

 and Pieris, Leucophasia, Colias and Gonepteryx are British genera. 



Fam. 5. Papilionidae. Legs fully developed. Front tibia, each with 

 a pad. Claws simple. No empodium. Inner margin of hind-wing concave. 

 Metanotum free. This family includes the most splendid butterflies 

 and is of world-wide distribution. The sexes often differ widely in 

 form and colour. The larvae are cylindrical, not hairy, and have a curious 

 retractile Y-shaped tentacle which can be protruded just behind the 

 head. The pupa is suspended as in the Pieridae. Papilio by far the 

 largest genus, Ornithoptera, Thais, Leptocircus, Parnassius. There is one 

 British representative, Papilio machaon. 



Fam. 6. Hesperiidae. Legs perfect. Metanotum not free, largely con- 

 cealed by mesonotum. Front tibia bears a pad. Claws short, toothed 

 at the base. Empodium present. The " Skippers " are butterflies 

 of medium or small size with largish bodies and of a prevailing brown 

 colour. Their head is broad ; their antennae arise far from one another, 

 and are thickened before the tip but not really clubbed ; their eyes are 

 prominent. Some fly with exceeding rapidity. Many have a brief, 

 jerky flight. The caterpillars have a broad head and narrow thoracic seg- 

 ments, then the body thickens again. They weave webs or fasten together 

 leaves in which they lie hidden, and in these shelters turn to pupae, which 

 are in some species protected by a weak cocoon. The larvae have com- 

 plete rings of hooks on their abdominal legs and in this and in many other 

 respects they approach the larger moths. This family is a large one with 

 some 200 genera : it is almost world- wide in its distribution. Syrichthus, 

 Nisoniades, Hesperia and Carter ocephalus are British. 



Series 2. HETEROCERA. Moths. 



Antennae very rarely clubbed ; and in the exceptions to this rule, as well as 

 in the great majority of other cases, a frenulum is present. 



Fam. 7. Castniidae. Antennae knobbed or hooked. Nervures of 

 fore-wings complex and forming accessory cells. Frenulum present. A 

 small family of day -flying moths found mainly in Central America, 

 Australia and the Malayan States, intermediate in many respects between 

 Rhopalocera and Heterocera. The caterpillars live on stems and roots 



