THE HESPERIID^E. 



53 



base, and with transparent dots or spots on the fore wings. Telcgonus is another American genus, 

 containing rather larger species, with a lobe instead of a tail at the anal angle of the hind wings. 

 These are brown Butterflies, with yellowish-tawny markings. Casyapa is an East Indian genus, also 

 brown, with large yellowish spots on the fore wings, but the hind wings are not produced at the anal 

 an^le. These Butterflies are among the largest of the family, measuring three inches in expanse, but 

 they are surpassed by the African Ismene ipkis, the giant of the Hesperiidce, which sometimes 

 measures as much as four inches across the wings. This is a black or bronzy-greenish Butterfly, with 

 rather long fore wings and long hind wings, lobed at the anal angle ; the collar and part of the head 

 are scarlet. Other species of 

 Ismene, usually of rich dark 

 colours, but much smaller than 

 /. iphis, are common in Asia 

 and Africa. The genus Pyr- 

 rhopyga is South American, 

 and includes several black or 

 blue-black species, generally 

 with a red head and tail, and 

 sometimes with reddish or 

 yellowish borders. The hind 

 wings are often slightly pro- 

 duced at the anal angle. They 

 generally expand rather less 

 than two inches, but some of 

 the larger species are black, 

 with their bodies striped and 

 banded with black and white, 

 or black and green, and their 

 wings marked with transverse 

 bands, some green and some 

 transparent. 



The great genus Pam- 

 phila, the most typical of the 

 family, contains small species, 

 seldom exceeding an inch and 

 a half in expanse. Most of 

 the species are brown, with 

 tawny markings, and there is nearly always a black longitudinal patch of raised scales on the fore 

 wings of the male. In many species, as in the Pearl Skipper (P. comma), a common Butterfly on the 

 chalk in the South of England, the hind wings are green beneath, with white spots. The species 

 of Hesperia are small Butterflies resembling the Grizzled Skipper (H. malvai), which is common 

 in woods in spring. It is blackish- brown, with many white spots, which form irregular bands 

 on the fore wings, and the fringes are also spotted with black and white. Several allied species 

 are found on the Continent. 



The South American genus Pythonides is allied to this, and contains species of about the same 

 size. Some of these are white, with dark borders and dark veins ; others are dark brown, with bluish 

 or transparent spots on the fore wings, and a blue band or border on the hind wings. The Dingy 

 Skipper (Nisoniades tages), a dull brown butterfly, with very obscure markings, is found in England, 

 and several of the foreign genera are also very obscurely marked. The South American Achlyodes 

 busirus is a blackish Butterfly with obscure darker markings and a rather irregular outline. The 

 hind wings are bordered with yellowish beneath. 



At the end of the Hesperiidce we may place a few species of doubtful position, intermediate 

 between Butterflies and Moths. One of these (MegotJiymus yuccai) is a rather long-winged insect, 

 expanding nearly three inches. It is brown, with tawny markings, and is found in the Southern 



A, AM AURIS NIAVIUS; B, PAPILIO MEKOPE (FEMALE). 



