HESPERIDiE. 
279 
inner side) ; femora finely hairy beneath ; tarsi long and stout, spinu- 
: lose. 
jj Abdomen stout, of moderate length ; in $ terminally tufted and 
I laterally compressed, and beneath with a more or less deeply excavated 
\ median groove, widest at base and extending to beyond basal half. 
I Larva. — Stout, somewhat tapering anteriorly, very sparsely and 
shortly pubescent ; head of moderate size, granulated. 
Pupa. — Eather stout; head prominent; thorax rounded and ele- 
vated dorsally ; covered generally with a bluish or whitish powder. 
(These characters of the earlier stages are from the descriptions and 
!! figures in Duponchel's Iconographie, &c., des Chenilles, i. (1849), of 
those of P. Malvm, L.) 
I The butterflies of this genus are further distinguished by the length 
if of the cilia of the wings, which is emphasised by their being white with 
conspicuous black interruptions at the extremities of the nervules. 
j Although, as indicated in the foregoing diagnosis, there exist con- 
I' siderable diversities in Pyrgus as far as the secondary sexual characters 
I of the $ are concerned, I agree with Dr. Speyer's later view (l. c., 1879) 
that these are insufficient to warrant the separation of the respective 
sets of species presenting them in the proposed distinct genera Car- 
charodus and Scelothrix. It is remarkable that, with the exception of 
I P. Elma, Trim, (a member of the Alcece group, which possesses the 
costal fold in the fore-wings), none of the South- African species pre- 
sents any of the secondary $ characters in question.^ 
These small but robust butterflies have been well studied in 
Europe, where no fewer than seventeen species are found (besides 
several marked varieties), and representatives of the genus occur 
throughout, but are more numerous in the southern countries. The re- 
corded Pyrgi amount in all to about seventy-six ; the Palsearctic Eegion 
yielding twenty-two ; the ISTearctic fourteen ; Central and South Ame- 
rica fifteen ; India and China six ; Africa nineteen ; and Australia, 
according to Plotz, one {Argijia, H. Schaff). There can be little doubt 
that many more species remain to be discovered ; the small stature, 
plain colouring, and swift flight (combined with the very restricted 
localities of some of the forms) rendering these insects very likely to 
escape the collector's observation. 
The black or blackish-brown (rarely greyish) ground-colour of 
Pyrgus is marked with white (rarely also with transparent) spots ; and 
on the under side a similar pattern prevails, but the ground-colour 
(except the blackish disk of the fore-wings) is of some tint of yellowish-, 
reddish-, greyish-, or greenish-ochreous. The fourteen known natives 
of South Africa are for the most part (nine species) of this prevalent 
^ Plotz {loc. cit., p. 6) notes of P. Sataspes, Trim., " der Umschlag der Vfl. ist orange ;" 
but in this he appears to have been misled by the colour ist of the figure in Rhop. Afr. Aust. 
pl- 5)> who has given the costa too warm a tint, and probably conveyed the impression 
that this stripe of colour indicated the presence of a costal fold. 
