210 NTMPHALID^. 
Genus MELIT^A. 
MelHtea, Fabricius^ Tlliger's Magazin, vi. p. 284 (1807) ; Doubleday, Gen. Diurn. Lep. i. 
p. 177 (1848) ; de Niceville, Butt. lud. ii. p. 23 (188G). 
"Head rather small, clothed with hair; forehead narrow. 
" Etjes oval, not prominent. 
" Palpi divergent, porrect, slightly ascending, projecting considerahly beyond the forehead ; aU 
the joints hairy. First joint stout, curved ; second joint subcylindric, rather compressed, 
somewhat stoutest in the middle, twice the length of the first ; third joint slender, almost 
aoicular, about the same length as the first. 
" Antenna' short, scarcely half the length of the costal margin of the wiug, rather slender, 
terminating in a short, pyriform, large club. 
" Thorax moderately stout, elongate oval, clothed with long hairs. 
" Fore irinr/ nearly triangular ; the costal margin scarcely, or not at all, rounded ; outer margin 
two thirds the length of the costal, rounded, often but slightly ; inner margin nearly 
straight, longer than the outer. Costal nervure rather stout, scarcely extending beyond 
the middle of the costal margin. Subcostal nervure slender ; its first nervule thrown off 
before the end of the cell ; its second beyond the cell, opposite, or nearly so, to the termi- 
nation of the costal nervure ; the third nearer to the second than to the fourth ; fourth 
nearer to the third than to the apex. Upper discocellular nervule very short ; middle 
discocellular curved inwards, about half the length of the lower, which is but little curved, 
and anastomoses with the third median nervule not far from its origin. Internal nervure 
wanting. 
"■ Hind winy oho\&ie \ the shoulder very prominent; the costal margin nearly straight, equal 
in length to the inner ; outer much rounded, but little more than half the length of the 
other margins. Prfecostal nervure simple. Discoidal nervule appearing to be a third 
subcostal nervule, arising from the second subcostal nervule soon after its origin. Cell 
open. Third median nervule but little curved. Inner margin entirely embracing the 
abdomen. 
" Fore legs of the male hairy and scaly ; the femur and tibia of about equal length, unarmed. 
Tarsus smooth, subcylindric, slightly tapering at the base and apex ; one-jointed, but some- 
times showing slight indications of articulations ; shorter than the tibia. Of the female with 
the tibiae shorter than the femora, unarmed, rather stouter towards the apex. Tarsus five- 
jointed ; the first joint cylindric, elongate, equal or more than equal to the rest combined, 
mostly armed at the apex, as are the three following joints always, with a spine on each 
side ; second joint much shorter ; rest transverse ; fifth sometimes very small. 
" Middle and land legs with the femora about eijual in length to the tibi«, rather robust. 
Tibi» and tarsi densely clothed with scales, the former rather longer than the latter, smooth 
externally, spiny laterally and internally ; the lateral spines long, the internal ones very 
short. Tarsi with all the joints nearly cylindric, slightly tapering to the claw, spiny 
laterally and below, not above ; the spines on the lower surface of all the joints arranged 
m a double series ; lateral spines long. First joint not equal to the rest combined ; second 
joint nearly half the length of the first ; third and fourth progressively shorter ; fifth equal 
