2C0 



MoRrHID.E.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-EuRYTELID/K. 



islands, by far the larger number are peculiar to South 

 America. M. Laoordaire describes some of the species 

 of Moriiho as flying majestically round the tops of trees. 

 Although he spent twenty months in Cayenne, and 

 frequently saw some of these, he was unable to capture 

 them, while others differing from them in mode of 

 flight ho occasionally captured, as they jerked forward 

 to the distance of eight or ten steps at a bound, and 

 thus progressed rapidly through the forests. Many of 

 tlie species have on the upper surface large masses of 

 shining blue on a dark ground, and the under side of 

 the wings is ornamented with many ocellated spots. 

 The body is small and slender, the head of moderate 

 size, and the eyes generally large and prominent ; tha 

 labial palpi are generally erect, small and wide apart, 

 generally clothed in front with depressed scaly hairs. 

 Tlie antennas are slender, and end in a very slender 

 club ; the fore wings have the discoidal cell much elon- 

 gated and always closed; the hind wings of the males 

 are generally furnished with one or two tufts of hair 

 near the base ; the discoidal cell is in some open, in 

 others closed, while the anal margin forms a deep gutter 

 for the reception of the abdomen. The anterior logs 

 are imperfect. 



Some of the genera, such as Clerome, Drusilla, and 

 Tliaumaniis, are peculiar to the Old World, being re- 

 stricted to India and the Eastern islands. Some of 

 them seem as it were to link this family to Satyridcc. 

 Otie of these is figured Drusilla MylcBcha — Plate 10, 

 fig. 2 — a native of the Louisiade archipelago. 



Fig. 168. 



Fig. 159. 



.»7iiathusia Phidippus. 



Fig. 158 shows the pu^pa. o( Aynathusia PMdipjws ; 

 159 represents the larva ; one of the butterflies of the 

 East Indian archipelago. 



The Morphos are forest insects, rarely coming into 

 the open grounds, and often flying for miles along roads 



and open pathways. Their flight is slow and undulat- 

 ing, but they are very difBcult to take on the wing. 



Family— BRASSOLID^. 



The family Br.^s.solid^13 is characterized by the very 

 strong body, the small head, with very small palpi so 

 closely applied to the face that they appear, when seen 

 from above, simply to be two points between the eyes. 

 The fore legs of the males are small and bnish-like, and 

 have, as in the Nymphalidie, the tarsal joints obsolete. 

 The species are all inhabitants of the warmest regions 

 of the New World. The caterpillar is of a social dispo- 

 sition ; it lives in companies of considerable numbers in 

 a close web which it spins, and from this web it comes 

 out only during the night to feed. This caterpillar 

 changes into the chrysalis at the beginning of April, 

 and the butterfly appears in about two weeks after. 

 The chrysalis is pale, spotted with dark red, and 

 marked with four silvery spots ; the butterfly is of a 

 sombre brownish-black colour, barred with yellowish 

 brown, and is said to fly very swiftly, and it appears 

 only early and late in the day. 



Family- SATYRID^. 



The insects of this family differ from the butterflies 

 of the families Morphidce and Brassolidce, in having 

 very long palpi, which are more or less erect and clothed 

 in front with long porrected hairs ; the hind wings have 

 no praidiscoidal cell, and the insects are generally weak 

 compared with the stout large species so common in 

 the preceding groups. They have a va.st range, being 

 generally scattered over the world ; some of them, such 

 as the species of Chionobas are found in the arctic 

 regions — dusky, dull, brownish butterflies, which with 

 their life help, along with the flowers and grasses on 

 which they feed, to enliven these dreary parts. There 

 are more species of this family of butterflies in Europe 

 than a third of the whole number of European diurnal 

 Lepidoptera ; they are generally of small or moderate 

 size, and their prevailing colour is brown — hence the 

 name of '■ Meadow Browns," given to them by collec- 

 tors. The under surface of the wings is generally orna- 

 mented with eye-like spots. The larvae are attenuated 

 behind, the body ending in a fork or two small spines ; 

 they are covered with downy hairs. The head is more 

 or less rounded, and is armed with two spines. These 

 caterpillars almost exclusively feed on grasses, which 

 accounts for their wide geographical distribution. They 

 are not often seen, as they have the peculiar habit of 

 feeding only at night. Many of the species, such as 

 our Janira and others, in the chrysalis state suspend 

 themselves by the tail, while others, such as Circt; 

 Semele, and others, are found to retire into the ground 

 to undergo their change into the pupa state. The eggs 

 are more or less globular. We have eleven British 

 species. 



Family— EURYTELID^. 



The species are chiefly natives of the hottest regions 

 of the globe; such as Asia, tropical Africa, Brazil, and 



