S84 



INSECTA— ORDER LEPIDOPTERA. 



its allies. Many of these are butterflies of a rich velvety black or brown 

 with bluish-white spots towards the extremity of the long, broad, rounded 

 wings, and also in the middle. They are often flushed with rich purple. 

 The Danaince are butterflies with very tough integuments, and exhale an 

 odour which is supposed to render them distasteful to birds. 



Many other butterflies and moths resemble them externally, and are be- 

 lieved to share in their immunity from persecution. This phenomenon 

 is called "mimicry," and is exhibited in the greatest per- 

 Mimicry in fection by Limnas chrysippus, the pattern and colours of 

 Butterflies. which are more or less accurately reproduced in at least a 

 dozen butterflies and moths, belonging to difierent families; 

 but in several instances in the female only, the male exhibiting the normally 

 and frequently very difi'erent colouring of its proper genus. The larvce of the 

 DanaincR are usually provided with several pairs of long fleshy filaments and 

 feed on Aristolochice. 



Of the remaining sub-families, several are entirely exotic, and two, the Itho- 

 miincB and Heliconiiim, are American butterflies with long rounded wings and 

 slenderbodies, which havesometimesbeen compared to dragon- 

 flies. They are butterflies generally measuring from two to 

 four inches across the wings, which are often black, with red or 

 yellow markings, or yellow with black markings. The typical 

 species of the IthomiincB, however, often have transparent 

 wings, with only brown borders, and a brown band at the end of the discoidal 

 cell. 



The Acrmiiice are another long-winged sub-family of butterflies, chiefly 

 found in Africa and America. The African and the few Eastern species are 

 generally red or tawny, with black spots, and sometimes 

 partly transparent ; but the American group usually has 

 black markings on a tawny 

 ground, or radiated tawny 

 dark ground, especially on 



Sub-Families 



Ichomiince and 

 Heliconince. 



Sub-Family 



Acrceince. 



markings on a 

 the hind-wings. 



Two more sub-families of large butterflies 



are chiefly South American. These are the 



Morphince and Brassolinae. 



Sub-Families The typical species of Mor- 



Morphince and pho (Fabr.) measure from 



BrassoUnce. three to eight inches across 

 the wings, and many of them 

 are of a brilliant azure blue ; others are 

 black, with a broad blue band through the 

 wings ; while others, including some of the 

 largest and longest-winged species, are brown 

 or orange. Tliese are all American ; but 

 there is a greater variety of genera, though 

 much smaller, and more varied in colour, in 

 the East Indies. On the under-surface they 

 are always marked with large eye-spots, as 

 in the Satyriiun. The BrassoUn(e are large 

 brown or tawny butterflies (rarely dull blue), 

 which are entirely confined to Tropical America. They have generally one 

 large eye-spot on the under-side of the wings, and ti-aces of one or two more; 



Fig. GG.—Califio teucer. 

 Keduced. 



