( 15 ) 
RHOPALOCERA. 
Imago.— Head of moderate size (ratlier large in tlie family Eespe- 
oidce). Jntennce slender ; tlie joints of tlie middle third longer than 
broad ; some of the terminal joints almost always broadened more or 
less, so as to form a club ; bases of insertion close together (except in 
the Hcs^pcridm). Labial ])cclvi well-developed, ascendent, three-jointed, 
scaly, more or less hairy (except in maiy cases the terminal joint) ; 
the middle joint almost always the longesL Haiistellum always well- 
developed (longest in the Hesperidm). Stemmata obsolete. 
Thorax compact, rounded anteriorly and posteriorly, usually rather 
thick and deep, with the sides somewhat flattened; mcsothorax with 
its dorsal median suture and posteriorly-situated triangular scutellum 
usually very distinct. Wings large and broad, without the bristle and 
socket (retinacidum) found in most Heterocem ; ^ general outline of 
fore wings sub-triangular, of hind wings sub-circular ; neuraiion almost 
wholly longitudinal, with the exception of the disco-cellular nervules, 
and in its main plan the same in both fore and hind wings; near 
bases, especially in hind wings, usually a clothing of fine hairs as well 
as of scales; fringe of hair-like scales (cilia) projecting from outer 
edge (hind-margin) of wings usually short. Legs slender, rather short ; 
the first pair often atrophied (family I^ymphalidce, and males of family 
Erycinidce) ; femora generally hairy ; tibim and tarsi finely spinulose ; 
tihice of hind pair armed with a terminal pair of spurs only (except in 
the Hesperidce^ almost all of which have an additional pair rather 
beyond the middle of the joint) ; tarsi terminating in a pair of simple 
or bifid claws, usually accompanied by a foot-cushion (jpulvillus') and 
two bifid supplementary membranaceous claws {loaronycliid). 
Abdomen short (except in the Sub-Families Ba7iaince,IIeliconince, and 
Acra^ince), slender, laterally compressed, dorsally arched, and with more 
or less of a median ridge ; the extremity inferiorly obliquely truncate, 
and fissured longitudinally for the anal and genital outlets. 
Larva. — Usually elongate and sub-cylindrical (but widened and 
inferiorly flattened — onisciform — in Family Lyca^nidx and in some 
This structure, which links together the fore and hind wings in many Moths (and is 
particularly well shown in the Sphinges), is formed by the free precostal nervure at the base 
of the hind wing passing through a small horny loop or ring, which arches the subcostal 
nervure near the base on the under side of the fore wing. 
