LEPIDOPTERA : CLASSIFICATION. 405 



for walking, alike in both sexes; pupa angulated, 

 suspended, and braced across the middle ; antennae 

 not hooked at the tip. Here belong the genera 

 Papilio, Zelima, Parnassius, Thais, Pieris, Pontia, 

 Colias. 



Fam. 2. NymphalidoR. Anterior legs abbreviated, not 

 fitted for walking; ungues bifid; pupa angulated, 

 and merely suspended by the tail ; middle cell of the 

 lower wings closed. Genera: Cethosia, Argynnis, 

 Meliteea, Vanessa, Libythea, Biblis, Nymphalis, &c. 

 Fam. 3. Heliconiida. Pupa smooth, suspended only by 

 the tail; anterior legs imperfect; discoidal cell some- 

 times open. Danais, Heliconia, Acreea, &c. 

 Fam. 4. Lycanidas. Anterior legs semi-abbreviated ; 

 claws minute; pupa smooth, braced; larva onisci- 

 form. Genera: Lyceena, Polyommatus, Thecla, &c. 

 Fam. 5. Hesperiidce. Anterior legs not abbreviated ; an- 

 tenna hooked at the tips ; pupa smooth, braced, and 

 folliculated. Genera : Hesperia, Thymele, &c. 

 These characters, it will be seen, are in some degree de- 

 rived from the preparatory stages of the insects. Indeed, 

 these considerations afford much more important clues to 

 the classification of insects than they were imagined to pos- 

 sess by the earlier authors upon this branch of natural 

 history. Of those who adopted a contrary opinion, Schrank 

 may especially be noticed. He consulted metamorphosis in 

 its various modifications, in his arrangement ; and on its im- 

 portance as a guide to minor subdivisions, he has the fol- 

 lowing ingenious observations, quoted by Dr. Horsfield in 

 his Lepidoptera Javanica : " Metamorphosis, in its larva 

 state, may, and I think must, be taken into the characters of 

 the genus, in the absence of other sufficiently distinctive 

 notices. Those botanists who have derived their systems 

 primarily from the fruit, have nevertheless a regard for the 

 flower, and by this means reciprocally elucidate existing 



