﻿344 



LEPIDOPTERA 



though in the female there arc usually five but i^ithout any claws. 

 Pupa suspended % the tail so as to hang d&wn freely. We 

 include in this family several sub -families treated by some 

 taxonomists as families; in this respect we follow Bates, whose 

 arrangement 1 still remains the basis of butterfly classification. 

 With this extension the Nymphalidae is the most important of 

 the families of' butterflies, and includes upwards of 250 genera, 

 and between 4000 and 5000 species. There are eight sub- 

 families. 



It is in Nymphalidae that the act of pupation reaches its 

 acme of complication and perfection ; the pupae hang suspended 

 by the tail, and the cremaster, that is the process at the end 



of the body, bears highly- 

 developed hooks (Fig. 177, 

 C, D). The variety in 

 form of the chrysalids is 

 extraordinary ; humps or 

 processes often project 

 from the body, making 

 the Insect a fantastic 

 object; the strange ap- 

 pearance is frequently in- 

 creased by patches like 



gold or silver, placed on 



Fig. 177. — Pupa of the Purple Emperor butterfly, 

 Ajni/iirn iiis. New Forest. A, Lateral, B, 

 dorsal aspect ; C, enlarged view of cremaster 

 with the suspensory hook; D, one hook still Various parts of the bodv. 



raore eularged - It is believed that the 



term chrysalid was first suggested by these golden pupae. 

 The Purple Emperor, Apatura iris, differs strikingly in the pupa- 

 as well as in the larva-stage from all our other Nymphalids ; it 

 is of green colour, very broad along the sides, but narrow on 

 the dorsal and ventral aspects (Fig. 177). The skin of this 

 pupa is less hard than usual, and the pupa seems to be of a 

 very delicate constitution. The Purple Emperor, like some of 

 the Satyrides as well as some of its more immediate congeners, 

 hibernates in our climate as a partially grown larva and passes 

 consecpuently only a very brief period of its existence in the 

 form of a pupa. 



Sub-Fam. 1. Danaides. — Front wing with inner-margin 



1 Journal of Eivtoirwlogy, i. 1S6'2, p. 218: for early instars of South American 

 Nymphalidae see Miiller. Zool. Jahrb. Syst. i. 1S86, p. 417. 



