30 SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 



phalidce, Li/cccnidcc, Ficrimv, aud many Erycinidcc ; but most of these, 

 when temporarily settled, open and shut the wings, or keep them a 

 little apart. The Pa^ilionina' usually settle with wings erect, but are 

 fond of resting with the wings expanded, in such a way that the hind- 

 wings are more or less covered by the fore-wings ; and they have further 

 the peculiar habit, when visiting flowers, of keeping the wings in rapid 

 vibration. The Lycaiiidcc universally, when settled temporarily, pro- 

 ceed to move the erect or half-erect hind-wings alternately up and 

 down.'^ A large number of Erycinidcv and some Ilcsperidiv keep their 

 wings fully extended when at rest on leaves or on the ground, but 

 many of the latter have the fore-wings only, and a few all the wings, 

 erect. It is not easy to discover butterflies when really in a state of 

 prolonged rest or of sleep, but those noticed lower the closed front 

 wings between the hind-wings, so that only the apical part of the former 

 remains exposed. It is most noticeable that, with very rare exceptions, 

 this apical part of the fore-wings is coloured in accordance with the 

 under side of the hind- wings, and that by this attitude the conspicuous 

 colours and marks so often found on the disk of the under side of the 

 fore-wings ai*e completely concealed.' "While most butterflies perch on 

 flowers or leaves, many are fond of sunning themselves on bare twigs 

 or on the ground. Others (among the Xymphalina' and Sati/rina) 

 prefer the stems of trees, and many of these always sit so that their 

 heads are downward. Some of the same groups commonly settle on 

 rocks or on the sides of overhanging banks ; and it is not rare among 

 these, as well as among those that frequent tree-trunks, to find little 

 companies of a dozen or more sitting close together in a sheltered 

 cranny. Such cases recall the hibernating KympJialincc and Pierinm 

 of Northern Europe and other countries, which in the autumn find 

 refuges in which to sleep away the winter, emerging in the ensuing 

 spring. 



Male butterflies usually make their appearance before the females, 

 and appear, as a rule, to be more numerous. The less active and more 

 retiring habits of the females no doubt render this disproportion in 

 numbers greater apparently than it really is, but observation has con- 

 vinced me that there is in most cases a decided majority of males."" It 



^ I believe that Swainson, Zool. lUustr., ist Series (1S21-22), was the first, in his 

 notice of Tkcda (Dcudon'x) Galathea, to record this curious habit. It is practised bv every 

 member of the Fiwnily that I have -watched when settled, and it seems not improbable — 

 looking to the brilliant eye-like metallic spot and (very often) adjacent tail or tails at the 

 posterior angle of the hind-wings of these butterflies — that the movement may serve to 

 accentuate these ornaments, either in rivalry or in menace. 



- An instance of remai'kably different port of the wings in temporary and in real repose 

 was discovered by me in 1S57, in the case of the well-known Hesperide T/tanaos Tivjt's of 

 Europe. This butterfly holds its wings horizontally when settled temporarily, but I found 

 two at rest in the evening with the wings deflected exactly as in a Bombycide or Xoctuide 

 Moth. This observation has recently been confirmed by Mr. Frohawk (see £ntomologUt, 

 1SS4, p. 49). 



* See a full collection of evidence on this point in Daiwiu's Dtsccnt of Man, &c., vol. i 

 p. 309. 



