ISMENEIN^. 225 



Sub-Family ISMENEINiE. 



A well-marked group, confined to the Asiatic, African and Australian regions ; 

 Rkopalocamjjta is a genus with a large number of species, mostly African, only two or 

 three species being found within Asiatic limits ; Badamia, Hasora and Parata are 

 chiefly Malayan, extending into Australia ; the others arc confined to the Asiatic region. 

 All the members of this sub-family are heavy-bodied, of strong flight, and when at 

 rest close their wings over their backs, their habits are crepuscular 

 and generally they settle on the undersides of leaves. The antennae 

 have a thick club tapering to a fine point, occasionally hooked, 

 when the terminal portion is always more than half the length of 

 the club. The palpi are very distinct, and readily separate the 

 Ismeneinse from all the other groups of Indian Hesperiidce ; the 

 second joint is upturned, pressed closely against the face, the third 

 joint long, slender, naked, porrect, projecting horizontally in front 

 of the face. Davidson, Bell and Aitken say the larva is stout, 

 brightly coloured, cylindrical in shape, thickest in the middle, with 

 a more or less squarish head. The larva in its latter stages 

 makes a cell by cutting a leaf from the edge to the midrib, at right angle to the 

 midrib, on one side only, and turning over the piece on the top of the leaf, fixing 

 the edges down by silken threads all round except at the opening, which is towards 

 the main surface of the leaf ; the cell is always made at the point end of the leaf ; 

 when the leaf is small, the whole leaf is doubled lengthways, its edges being joined 

 to form the cell ; the inside of the cell is generally covered with silk. " The young 

 larva is very quick in its movements and resembles a moth larva. The pupa is stout, 

 circular in transverse section ; the head, shoulders and fore part of abdomen about the 

 same breadth ; a slight constriction ; thorax somewhat humped, very little higher at 

 apex than abdomen at segment 7 ; the head swollen between the eyes into a more or 

 less accentuated round boss ; pupa attached in the cell by the tail and body-band. 



The genus Ismene is monotypic, and is not represented within our limits ; its 

 venation in the male and its secondary sexual characters are distinctly difl"erent from 

 all the Indian species heretofore put in that genus, and the costa of its hindwing has 

 the extraordinary characteristic of being folded over. The Indian representatives of 

 this group can well be divided into four genera, the venation and male characters 

 being quite distinct from each other. The venation in the females does not materially 

 differ, they have vein 3 in the forewing emitted from close to the lower end of the cell ; 

 the hind tibiae, slightly fringed, with two pairs of spurs, as in the females of Ismene 

 VOL. IX. 2 G 



