3o8 
SOUTH-AFRICAN BUTTERFLIES. 
ing considerably before extremity of cell ; median nervules long, the 
second and third given off very near each other. Legs rather long, 
stout ; femora with rather thin longish hair beneath ; appendage 
to fore-tibiae rather large ; middle and hind tibiae strongly spurred, 
usually sparsely spinose beneath, — the latter (and usually also the 
former) superiorly with long hair ; tarsi long and thick, strongly 
spinulose beneath. 
Abdomen of variable length, but usually rather shorter than inner 
margin of hind- wings, and rarely slightly exceeding it. 
Larva. — Rather thick, smooth ; head large, with the two lobes 
prominent. (Characters of P. Comma, Linn. — the type of the genua 
— as figured by Htibner and Duponchel.) 
This genus is more numerous in species than any other in the 
family, and has by several authors been regarded as the typical one — 
IIes;peria. Out of the very large number — between 500 and 600 — 
of species referred to it, about two-thirds are peculiar to the New 
World — seventy having been described from North America alone. 
From its Ethiopian Region about sixty species have been recorded, and 
about forty-five from the Oriental Region. The Palsearctic Region is 
exceedingly poor, having yielded but twelve species, and the Austra- 
lian Region (as far as known) is no richer. 
It is with some hesitation that I have admitted the South- African 
Cdllicles, Hewits., and Morantii, Trim., into this genus, because in the 
former the tip of the antenna, though curved and acuminate, cannot 
be said to form a hook at all ; and in the latter, the palpi (especially \ 
the terminal joint) are considerably longer and narrower than usual, and 
porrected forwards. Some latitude in respect of these organs is, how- 
ever, recognised by entomologists in the case of Famphila, — P. Alcides, 
Herr.-SchafF., from Asia Minor, having non-falcate antennae, and P. 
BucJiholzi, Plotz, from West Africa, possessing ^ long porrect, pointed, 
almost dependent palpi. The three larger South -African species — 
Erinnys, Trim., Dysmephila, Trim., and Fiara, Butl. — I was disposed, 
with Mr. Butler, to place in the genus Froteides ; but a more thorough 
examination of their structure has convinced me that the greater pro- 
portional length of their antennae is the only distinctive feature that 
they present. 
The fourteen known South-African species may be arranged as 
follows, viz. : — 
A. Antenneo of moderate length ; their club short, curved, and 
pointed at tip, but not hooked. — P. Callicles. 
B. Antennae of moderate length ; their club long, with a mode- 
rately long, gently-curved hook at tip; palpi long and 
porrect. — P. Morantii. 
C. Antennae of moderate length ; their club rather shorter and 
1 See Plotz, Stett. Ent. Zeit., 1882, p. 330. 
