168 LEPIDOPTEKA. 



collections, probably on account of their resemblance to various 

 Diptera and Hymenoptera. 



T. Scoliceforme, Lasp., one of the largest species, has transparent 

 wings, with steel-blue borders; the abdomen is belted with 

 yellow ; it is a rare Welsh insect. 



The jEgeriidce have more resemblance to the Pyralidce or 

 Gelechiidce than to the Sphingidce, and Mr. Butler has recently pro- 

 posed to remove them to the neighbourhood of the Pyralidce. 



FAMILY III.Thyridida. 



Size small; body slender; wings moderately broad, with 

 transparent spots ; body longer than the hind wings. 



A family containing only a few discordant species of very 

 doubtful affinities. Thyris Fitrina, Boisd., here figured, is a North 

 American species. It is brown, with a small transparent spot in 

 the middle of the fore wings, and a large one on the hind wings ; 

 the tips of the borders of all the wings are spotted with red, and the 

 base and inner margin of the hind wings are of the same colour. 



FAMILY IV. Uraniidce. 



Size large ; antennse filiform, scarcely thickened ; wings broad, 

 tailed; abdomen moderately stout, never extending beyond the 

 hind wings. 



The older writers on Entomology regarded these insects as 

 butterflies, associating them at first with the Papilionidce, and 

 subsequently with the Hesperiidce. They exhibit affinities to 

 several distinct groups of moths ; and many recent authors place 

 them next to the Geometrce. 



The species of Urania, Fabr., are banded with black and green, 

 tinged with golden in some species, as in the Cuban U. Boisduvalii, 

 Gue"r., and with coppery red in the Jamaican U. Sloanus, Linn. 

 The species of Urania are all American. Thaliura Ehipheus, Cram., 

 an allied Madagascar species, is half as large again, and has the 

 hind wings tricaudate, and splendidly suffused with coppery red, 

 much deeper than in U. Sloanus, and is varied with yellow on the 

 under surface. 



Nydalemon Orontes, Linn., is the type of a handsome genus 

 which is met with in North Australia and the adjacent islands. 

 It is velvety black, with green bands. 



Coronis, Latr., is an American genus, easily recognised by the 

 peculiar shape of the wings. C. Egina, Boisd., has dark-brown 



