142 BULLETIN UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA. 



THE SKIPPERS, SUPERFAMILY HESPERIINA. 



Some authors consider the skippers to constitute a superfamily dis- 

 tinct from the butterflies. They are called skippers on account of their 

 peculiar mode of flight. They are day-fliers, like butterflies, darting 

 suddenly from place to place. When at rest most species hold the wings 

 erect in a vertical position like butterflies; in some the fore wings are so 

 held, the hind wings being extended horizontally. The antennae are 

 thread-like, and enlarged toward the tip; but in most cases the extreme 

 tip is pointed and recurved, forming a hook. The abdomen is usually 

 stout, resembling that of a moth rather than that of a butterfly. Skippers 

 are most easily distinguished by the peculiar venation of the fore wings, 

 see Fig. 102, the radius being five-branched, and all the branches arising 

 from the discal cell (R. M. of Comstock). 



There are two families of skippers, the Megathymidae or GIANT 

 SKIPPERS, and the Hesperiidae or Common Skippers. The former is 

 not reported from the state, and hence not included in this list. 



THE COMMON SKIPPERS. Family Hesperiidae. Fig. 102. 



The figures following represent the family. The larvae have large 

 heads and strongly constricted necks. They usually live concealed in a 

 folded leaf or in a nest made of several leaves fastened together. The 

 pupae are rounded, not angular, resembling those of moths more than 

 those of butterflies. The pupa state is passed in a slight cocoon, which 

 is generally composed of leaves fastened together with silk and thinly 

 lined with the same substance. 



Fig. 102. Venation of Hesperiidae. 

 Key to Subfamilies. 



Antennae usually ending with a finely pointed terminal crook, occasionally 



without crook and ending bluntly; males usually with a brand on 



the fore wings, never with a costal fold. Skippers with a brand 



and their allies Pamphilinae, P. 150 



