INTRODUCTION. 



LEPIDOPTERA PAPILIONINA. 



The Lepidoptera or scaled-wing insects comprise the Butterflies 

 and Moths of popular Entomology. These, under the respective 

 names of Rhopalocera and Beterocera, in allusion to the difference 

 in the form of the antennae, were regarded as suborders. Of late 

 years, however, it has been recognized that not only are the 

 distinctions between the divisions, as above indicated, not sharply 

 defined, but that differences exist among the groups of the 

 Heterocera quite as, if not more, important than between the two 

 Suborders. In consequence, various revisions of the Order have 

 been proposed. 



Comstock (* Manual for the Study of Insects ') divides the 

 Lepidoptera into two Suborders : — 



A. The Jugate Lepidoptera. — " Moths in which the two wings 

 of each side are united by a jugum " *. 



B. The Frenate Lepidoptera. — " Moths, Skippers, Butterflies, 

 in which the two wings on each side are united by a frenulum f , 

 or by its substitute a large humeral angle to the hind wing." 



In the lesser divisions of the Prenates, the Skippers and the 

 Butterflies form two groups, Hesperiina and Papilionina. 



Much can be said for the separation of the Skippers from the 

 rest of the Butterflies, and there is no doubt that in the existing 

 fauna the former stand as an isolated group, in some respects 

 very different from the true Butterflies. 



Meyrick (' Handbook of British Lepidoptera ') divides the 

 Order into nine main groups, of which the Papilionina 

 ( 1= Papilionina -j- Hesperiina of Comstock) forms one. Accepting 

 this arrangement, the forms in the group of the Papilionina 

 can be distinguished from the rest of the Lepidoptera, (1) by the 



* Jugum — a yoke — a projection or lobe at the base of the dorsal margin of 

 the fore wing. 



t Frenulum — a little bridle — a spine or a bunch of bristles at the humeral 

 angle of the hind wing. 



Both the above serve to link fore and hind wings together during flight. 



