137 



Sub-Genus. — PYRAMEIS. 

 Eulner. 



Pybameis differs from Vanessa, in having the wings less angular, the palpi 

 less hairy and of somewhat different form, and in the club of the antennae 

 being rather more pointed. The caterpillars differ in a striking manner in 

 their habits, those of Pyrantels being solitary, and often, as in Atalanta, con- 

 cealing themselves by drawing the edges of a leaf together. On the other 

 hand those of Vanessa are gregarious, the eggs being laid in batches, and the 

 whole of the caterpillars from one batch remaining together throughout their 

 existence as such. 



This sub-genus numbers only about a dozen species, divisable into 

 two sections of half-a-dozen species each. One of these sections containing 

 Atalanta, Professor Rennie formed into a genus, giving it the name of Ammi- 

 ralis. Mr. Doubleday, in " Doubleday and Westwood's Diurnal Lepi- 

 doptera " writes, " I have dwelt particularly on the geographical distribution 

 of this genus, so poor in species, yet so universally distributed, presenting 

 two distinct sections, species of which are known to co-exist in almost every 

 part of the world except the southern parts of Africa and America, never, 

 except in Australia, presenting more than two species in the same district, 

 and those generally of different sections. Thus Cardui has for its compatriot 

 , in Europe and North America, Atalanta ; further south, in the Old World, 

 CaUirhoe ; in Java, Dejeanii ; in Australia, Itea, and an undescribed species ; 

 in New Zealand, Itea and the beautiful Gonerilla; in the Sandwich Islands, 

 Tammeamea. At the Cape of Good Hope and Sierra Leone it seems to be 

 the only species of the genus. As it dies out, if I may use the expression, 

 in the equatorial and southern parts of America, it is replaced first by one 

 species, then by another, and if these species co-exist, one is sure to be rare, 

 for the co- existence is only found on the very limits of their respective terri- 

 tories." 



VANESSA CARDUI. 

 Painted Lady. 



Cardui, Linn. Car'dui, named from the thistle Carduus, on which the 

 caterpillars feed. 



This is a highly elegant butterfly, well named, in Prance " la Belle Dame." 



The colouring of the upper surface is composed of black and very dark 

 brown, with irregular markings of an orange red, tinged partially with a rosy 

 hue, those on the right fore-wings bear a tolerably good resemblance to a map 

 of England and Ireland, so writes Professor Westwood in "Humphrey and 



