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GenusTHALIURA. 



The genus to which we have assigned the above 

 name has been hitherto blended with the Uranice. 

 It is doubtless very closely connected with these 

 insects ; but the differences both in the appearance 

 of the perfect insects and the respective caterpillars, 

 render it expedient that they should be separated. 

 The character by which it and Urania are widely 

 separated from all others, is the form of the antennae, 

 which are filiform nearly to the middle, where they 

 thicken a little, and from that gradually narrow to a 

 point. The palpi are lengthened and slender, hav- 

 ing the second joint greatly compressed, the terminal 

 one more slender, nearly cylindrical, and naked. 

 There is no closed discoidal cell in any of the wings, 

 and almost all the nervures diverge from the base. 

 Not many different kinds are known, and, with 

 one exception, they are natives of America and the 

 West Indian Islands. Their splendid tints of 

 golden green arranged in transverse bars, render 

 them perhaps the most chastely beautiful insects 

 that exist, and has caused them to be named Eme- 

 rald Butterflies in this country. Sometimes also 

 they are called Pages. They fly so high in the air 

 and with so much velocity, that it is nearly impos- 

 sible, Madam Merian informs us, to catch them. 



