FAMILY X 



THE GOSSAMER-WINGED BUTTERFLIES 



Family Lycaenidae (Ly-csen'i-dae) 



This family includes butterflies which are of small size and 

 delicate structure. In size they resemble the smaller skippers ; 

 but they can be distinguished at a glance from the skippers, 

 as they present an entirely different appearance. The body 

 is slender, the wings delicate and 

 often brightly colored, and the 

 club of the antenna straight. The 

 antenna; are nearly always ringed 

 with white, and a conspicuous rim 

 of white scales encircles the eyes. 



In the venation of the wings 

 they agree with the metal-marks, 

 and differ from all other butter- 

 flies described in this book in the 

 following combination of charac- 

 ters : radius of the fore wings is 

 only three- or four-branched, and 

 vein M arises at or near the apex 

 of cell R + M (Fig. 40). In the 

 other butterflies occurring in our fauna in which radius is only 

 three- or four-branched, vein M i coalesces with radius for a 

 considerable distance beyond the apex of the discal cell. In 



215 



"-id-* 



Fig. 40. — Venation of the 

 wings of Chrysophanus. 



