Bossier.* A careful examination of these systems may with advantage and instruction be 

 made, but I have not found it necessary to depart from the classifieatory views of Mr, Bates. 



Fio. 1. Anterior tarsi of 



Fm, 2, l'lipa of Danaii 

 cU rysipp us . 



( From MtKvre'a * Lep. of 

 Ceylon* 1 ) 



Fam. NYMPHALIDA 



StjvtphatiJa, Bates, Trans, Linn. Sen", xxiiu. p. Hlf, ; lsGl i. -knim. Eutuuiol., i. p. 2^0 ilSGl) ; ii. p. 17G (1804). 



Front legs imperfect in both sexes ; in the female, at least, 

 wanting the tarsal claws \ in the male the fore torsi quite 

 rudimentary, consisting of one or two spineless joints. Pupa 

 suspended freely by the tail. 



This family corresponds with " The brash-footed 

 butterflies or Nymph ales" of Scudder,! and is placed at 

 the head of the Khopahnxra, a position so long held by 

 the Vapilioniitte. In that family, however, both sexea 

 are in the possession of six perfect legs, and the pupa is 

 secured not only by the tail, but by a girdle across the 

 middle, characters which approximate towards those of the Sesperida and Moths* That the 

 atrophy of the fore legs in the Nympitatultr is a character that should elevate the family in 

 rank, is well advocated by Scudder, who remarks : — " Now when we remember that this 

 atrophy affects only the legs borne by the first segment of the thorax, and that this very 

 segment, and this only, in passing from the low larval stage to the perfect form, has become 

 greatly reduced in size, we must accept atrophy of these legs as a conclusive mark of high 

 organization," The same author has also remarked, in refereuce to the suspension of the 

 chrysalis by the tail alone being considered a stage beyond that of hanging by tail and girth, 

 «*We have clear proof that all the 'suspensi/ as Boisduval happily calls them, have passed 

 through the stage of the 'succincti,' since the straight ventral stir/aee of the uUkwten, assumed 

 perforce by the succincti, when they left the cocoon stage, and became attached to hard 

 surfaces, still remains in the ehrijsalis of the brush- footed butter flies, where it no It^fji-r serves ttmj 

 purpose — as clear and striking an indication that the suspensi outrank the succincti, as that 

 the pupa is higher than the larva." 



On the contrary, however, it must be stated that so accomplished an entomologist and 

 naturalist as Mr, A. K. Wallace has strongly argued for the retention of the PapiUonida at the 

 head of the llhopaloccra, though he has since § used the arrangement proposed by Mr, Bates; 

 whilst our entomological Nestor, Prof, YVestwood, still maintains that he sees (i no reason or 

 even advantage in removing the six-legged Papiiion'ule from the head of the order, and 

 substituting in their stead the Xijmphalidte % with their imperfect fore feet, advocated by the 

 German writers, and servilely adopted by their English followers."]! 



* Jabrb, nasa. Ver. fur Natiirk., \\x\. is xxxii., p. *220 — 281. Wiesbaden, 1880. 



f Trans. Amor. Eut. tioe., vL, p. OVJ (1877). 



J The in ale is repteuented by the sign $ ; ihe female by £ . 



§ Geogv. Distr. Aniin. 



II Trans. Litm. Soc. Sec. uer., Zool., vd. L f p. 157 (1875). 



