226 



folded, the inside of the fold being covered with fine downy hairs, as in the 

 last genus, from which they may be distinguished by the fringe of Nisoniades 

 not being chequered. The antennae are short, but longer and more slender 

 than in Syrichthus; the club attenuated at the tip, not hooked. The butter- 

 flies of this genus sleep with their wings deflexed like a moth, not erect like 

 other butterflies. Curtis remarks on the Skippers in general, " These singu- 

 lar insects approach the Sphingida in the extreme length of the maxillae, and 

 the Noctuidte and Phal&nidce in their metamorphoses and doubly spurred 

 posterior tibise. The palpi are so densely clothed with scales and so very 

 tender, that although the relative proportions are correct in fig. 4. a., the 

 outline may vary a little. It is rather remarkable that old specimens have 

 have frequently lost one or both of their palpi, an accident I have never 

 observed in other Lepidoptera, excepting a few of the Pyralidce. Boisduval 

 bestowed the name of Thanaos a corruption of Thanalos, death, in allusion 

 to the dark colour of the species. 



NISONIADES TAGES. 

 Brown Skipper. 



TAGES, Linn. Ta'ges, a son of Genius, who first taught the Etruscans the 

 art of divination. Linnaeus probably chose this name for one of the Ruri- 

 culse, because the story is told of Tages being found by a rustic while plough- 

 ing : hence a clod-hopper. 



t This, the last of our British butterflies, sleeps with its wings deflexed like 

 a moth. It is of a dullish brown colour, with marginal rows of small pale 

 dots ; two obscure greyish bands on the fore-wings, and one on the hind- 

 wings. On the underside, the colour is uniformly greyish brown. The 

 width across the wings varies from an inch to an inch and a quarter. The 

 male is more dusky and uniformly coloured than the female. The grey 

 markings on the wings are sometimes more clearly defined in some specimens 

 than others : the costa also has sometimes a bright white spot towards the 

 tip, anterior to the band of zig-zags, and a spot or two in the band : other- 

 wise it is remarkably constant to the type. A form named Unicolor, Fu., 

 which as its names implies is unicolorous on the upperside, occurs in Greece 

 and Western Asia. Another, name,d Cervantes, Grael., is found in Andalusia. 

 It is larger than the type, and is more obscurely marked. 



The egg is of a somewhat elliptical figure standing on end, and is pale green 

 in colour. 



The caterpillar is of a yellowish green, with two yellow lines on each side, 



