SATYRm.E. 



Genus MELANITIS. 



JIdanitis, Fabricius, " Illiger's Mag., vi. p. 282 (1807) ;" Butler, Cat. Sat. 



Brit. Mus., p. I (1S68). 

 Hipio, Hiibner, Verz. Bek. Scliinett., p. 56 (18 16). 

 C/jUo, Boisduval, "Voy. Astrolabe, Lep., p. 140 (1832)," and Faune Ent. 



Je Madag., &c., p. 57 (1833); Westwood, Gen. Diurn. Lep., ii. p. 



360 (185 1 ) ; Trhnen, Rhop. Afr. Aust., ii. p. 186 (1866). 

 Gnophodes, Westw., Gen. Diurn. Lep., ii. p. 363 (1851) ; Trimen, Ehop. 



Afr. Aust., ii. p. 189 (1S66). 



Imago. — Head small, clothed with short dense hair ; eyes very pro- 

 minerit, smooth ; palpi short, compressed, ascendant, densely clothed 

 with long scales, the terminal joint short, moderately acute ; antennm 

 rather short, slender, only very slightly and gradually thickened termi- 

 nally. Thorax moderately robust, elevated dorsally ; covered with short 

 down on breast, but hairy on back, especially posteriorly. Wint/s 

 large and broad, more or less angulated. Fore-wiiigs produced api- 

 cally, usually angulated at extremity of second discoidal nervule, 

 beneath which hind-margin is excavated (being moderately dentate 

 generally) ; costa strongly arched ; inner margin nearly straight (convex 

 in ^ of some species) ; first and second subcostal nervules originating 

 before extremity of discoidal cell, — the subcostal nervure and all its 

 branches situated very close to costa ; discoidal cell long and broad ; 

 upper and middle disco-cellular nervules both very short (so that the 

 two radial nervules arise very near each other), but lower one very long, 

 with an inward curve in its upper part ; in ^ of some species a large 

 oval tuft of long hairs, directed outwardly, lying between first median 

 nervule and submedian nervure, near base. Hind-ivings produced 

 inferiorly, more or less prominently angulated at extremity of third 

 median nervule, and with a smaller projection at extremity of first 

 median nervule ; hind-margin moderately dentate generally ; anal angle 

 prominent; costa prominent at base, but thence only slightly arched 

 or nearly straight ; costal nervure extending almost to apex ; discoidal 

 cell narrow, rather short, — the lower disco-cellular nervule considerably 

 longer than the upper, slightly bent just below origin of radial nervule, 

 and meeting third median nervule at acute angle ; inner margin pro- 

 duced to form a wide channel in its basal half, so as to cover almost all 

 the under surface of the abdomen, but excavated inferiorly. Fore-legs 

 of $ very small, rather thinly clothed with short rough hair on tibia 

 and short tarsus ; those of $ considerably larger, not hairy but scaly, 

 with the tarsus as long as the tibia, and indistinctly articulated. 

 Middle and hind legs moderately thick, smooth and scaly ; tibifB with 

 a few thin spines inferiorly, the terminal spurs very short ; tarsi with 

 a few very short spines beneath. 



Larva. — Elongate, thickened about middle. Head large, surmounted 

 by a pair of straight spinulose horns. Last segment bearing a i^air 

 of long, slightly divergent, bristly spikes, directed posteriorly. 



