442 The Moths and Butterflies 



markings, and all of them are more moth-like than butterfly-like in general 

 appearance. They may be looked on, indeed, as a sort of connecting link 

 between the moths and the true butterflies. 



The Hesperidae, or skipper-butterflies (PL IX), are a great family of small, 

 big-headed, robust-bodied butterflies of obscure patterning in browns and 

 blackish (a few forms white and dark gray). Nearly two hundred species 

 are known in this country, but few of them are at all familiarly recognized 

 as distinct species; general collectors and amateurs know them better 

 grouped into generic units, as Erynnis, Amblyscirtes, Eudamus, Thorybes, 

 Pholisora, etc. Indeed, but few professional entomologists feel competent 

 to undertake the identification of Hesperid species. A few well-marked or 

 specially numerous and wide-spread forms are, however, fairly well known. 

 The caterpillars of all have large heads, constricted necks, and bodies thick 

 in the middle and tapering both ways, and often make protecting nests of 

 leaves and silk. The silver-spotted skipper, Epargyreus tityrus (PL V, 

 Fig. 3), is abundant over all the country and is readily recognizable by 

 its large size and distinctive pattern; the broad, irregular, silver spot is on 

 the under side of the hind wing. The caterpillar feeds on various Legu- 

 minosae, especially wistaria and locust, and when full-grown is ij inches 

 long, with large, ferruginous head bearing two large orange spots, and lemon- 

 green body transversely banded with darker green; it builds a nest or case 

 of leaves, in which it remains when not feeding; it pupates either in this 

 larval nest or makes a loose cocoon somewhere on the ground, hibernating 

 in this stage. Another of the larger species is the cuiious long-tailed skipper, 

 Eudamus proteus, found in the south Atlantic states (ranging as far north 

 as New York City) and distinguished by the tailed hind wings and iridescent 

 green-brown color. The genus Hesperia includes a dozen or more species 

 which are thickly white-spotted on a blackish -brown ground, giving them 

 a checkered gray appearance; most of these checkered skippers are limited 

 to the western states, but one, H. lessellala, is found commonly all over 

 the country. It expands i^ inches, and has even more white than dark on 

 the wings; it flies rapidly about close to the ground and lays its eggs on 

 various mallows; the larva is green with a dark interrupted dorsal line, dark 

 lateral bands, and a pale band below the spiracles. 



A whole host of skippers are the " sooty -wings," members of several 

 genera, but almost impossible to be distinguished by means of written 

 descriptions. They vary in size from an expanse of i inch to nearly 2 inches, 

 and have the wings grayish brown to blackish brown to truly sooty, usually 

 with obscure indications of markings on both wings and almost always 

 with a few small distinct white spots near the apex of the fore wings. The 

 small sooty-wing, Pholisora catullus, common in the east, expands i inch 

 and has uniformly nearly black wings with a few distinct white dots on 



