Nymi‘halid^. INSECTS. MoKPHiUiE. 
259 
Family— NYMPH A LID^. 
The butterflies of this family have almost without 
exception the fore legs short and not fitted for walking; 
the tibiae and tarsi of the male are often clothed at the 
sides with a fringe of fine hairs, forming a flattened 
brush ; the tarsus consists of a single elongated joint, 
blunt at the tip, and without claws (fig. 155) ; the eyes 
Fig. 155. 
and labial palpi are large, the latter extend considerably 
in front of the head ; the thorax is large, and the wings 
are large and often greatly variegated in colour, and 
marked with ocellated spots; the larva is long and 
more or less spined, it is generally not attenuated 
behind, and is blunt at the end; the chrysalis is elongated, 
and is simply suspended by the tail, hanging by the 
extremity of the body, and not girt across the middle 
by a skein of silken thread. 
Mr. Bates found out when in Brazil how to distinguish 
the sexes of the Nymphalidse by the fore legs — the 
fore tarsi in the males have a few pairs of minute 
spines at the apical joints, which are not found in 
the other sex. This difference prevails in the Heli- 
conidse, Satyridse, Erycinidse, and probably in the 
Polyommati, 
The Painted-lady butterfly ( Cynthia Cardui ) 
is universally distributed; it is found throughout 
Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, in Greenland, and 
a specimen has been taken as far north as lat. 59°, and 
west long. 319°; it has also been taken in Terra del 
Fuego. 
Vanessa Urtiem, Vanessa Polychloros, Vanessa Ata- 
lanta, Vanessa Id, Vanessa Antiopa, Grapta C. album, 
and the Argynnis and Melitoea genera, are all nym- 
phalidous butterflies. 
As illustrations of the curious larvie of the Nympli- 
alida>,, and no less curious angled chrysalids, there are 
figured two specimens from the work of Dr. Horsfield. 
Fig. 156 is the larva of Acantliea primaria ; Fig. 157 
the pupa of the same. 
To the Nymphalidce belong the genera Limenitis, 
and Apatura. The former genus with its allies, Neptis 
and Athyma, abounds in exotic species. One of our 
rarer British butterflies belongs to this genus. It is 
the Limenitis Sibilla or the White Admiral. The 
larva feeds on the honeysuckle. 
On Plate 9, fig. 1, and 1 a, is figured Mr. Hewitson’s 
exquisite Amazon Butterfly {Catagramma excelsior), 
one of a set of truly gorgeous South American Butter- 
flies, the under sides of which are so curiously marked. 
Columbia is particularly rich in species. On Plate 
9, fig. 6, is figured Epicalia Penthia, one of a genus 
the sexes of which differ greatly — so much so, that the 
males and females of one species have been described 
as two species of two genera. 
To this family belong many gorgeously decorated 
Butterflies, the males of which are shot over with vivid 
purple, or with metallic green and blue. 
Fig. 156. Fig. 157. 
In this country we have one of these, though it is 
confined to the southern parts. The Butterfly is named 
the “ Purple Emperor” {Apatura Iris). 
The Caterpillar of the Purple Emperor feeds on 
sallows and on the poplar ; it is a pretty object, espe- 
cially to a collector, who much admires tliat singularly 
armed head, which has two horns on it, somewhat like 
a snail or slug. Its colour is pale green, with slant- 
ing yellow lines and a yellow stripe on each side. 
The chrysalis is suspended by the tail on the under side 
of a leaf. The male is a truly beautiful insect, having 
for its basis colour blackish-brown, which, as the insect 
turns to the light, seems to change into the most bril- 
liant purple, the colour varying most surprisingly at 
every turn, while the white band and the broken white 
spots relieve the hues in a manner that is singularly 
charming. 
An insect from South America, figured in our plate 
(^Apatura laura — Plate 9, fig. 3), is one of a set 
washed with silver on the under side, and having the 
finest “ shot” of green and blue running over the 
greater part of the upper wings. 
The Celaenis Dido is a handsome, though not very 
showy butterfly, named by its first describer after the 
Queen of Carthage, celebrated in the classic page of 
Virgil. Mr. H. W. Bates found it and other species 
of the genus very abundantly in June, 1852, on the 
river Amazon. The species figured (Plate 10, fig. 1) 
is the Agrias Claudia. 
Family — MORPHIDHU. 
In this family of Butterflies are many of the largest 
and most brilliant of the Diurnal Lepidoptera. Although 
some of the group are found in Asia and the Asiatic 
