38 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



his system, founded principally on the preparatory stages, 

 corresponds almost exactly with that of the illustrious 

 Latreille, founded principally on the imago ; but Mr. Swain- 

 son's views as to the principles of classification have found 

 no favour in the eyes of more practical systematists. 



Lastly, M. Boisduval has given an elaborate classification 

 of butterflies, in which he combines the characters of the 

 preparatory and perfect stages in a masterly manner, ex- 

 hibiting an amount of knowledge derived from practical 

 observation that has never previously been attained. 



From these several sources 1 deduce the following formula, 

 in the compilation of which I have been compelled to trust, 

 in great measure, to authority rather than observation : these 

 two sources of knowledge I have distinguished by referring 

 to figures and descriptions where the information conveyed 

 is not mine : this distinction will separate the species or 

 groups mentioned into British and Exotic. 



LEPIDOPTERA PEDUNCULATA. 



I. Detegentes, or those which expose their pupae to the 

 full influence of weather and light, providing them 

 with no cocoon or case as a protection, and in which 

 the pupa thus exposed has a tendency to be angu- 

 lated, a tendency sometimes very obviously exhibited, 

 at other times scarcely at all pronounced. 

 i. Suspensi, in which the pupae are attached by the tail 

 only, and generally hang head downwards. The 

 imago has but four perfect legs, the mesopedes and 

 metapedes which possess claws on the tarsi : the 

 propedes are aborted and not used in walking, and 

 are without claws to the tarsi, 

 a. Spinigeri, in which the larva is armed with branched 

 spines (ex. Vanessida^ Argynnidae) or tubercles 

 (ex. Sybilla). I am not aware by what name 

 this truly natural and very extensive family is 

 known, to which such species as FlanieWa, Hubner, 

 99, 100; Lucilla, Hubner, 101 ; Populi, Hubner^ 

 108; Sibylla and Camilla, Hubner, 106, 7, pro- 

 perly belong : they certainly exhibit but little 

 affinity with Vanessa, Pyrameis, Argynnis and 

 Melitaea, and still less with Apatura. 



