lIoKi’Hiu^. INSECTS. Eurytelid^. 
260 
islands, by far the larger number are peculiar to South 
America. M. Lacordaire describes some of the species 
of Morpho as flying majestically round the tops of trees. 
Although he spent twenty months in Cayenne, and 
frequently saw some of these, he was unable to capture 
them, while others differing from them in mode of 
flight he occasionally captured, as they jerked forward 
to the distance of eight or ten steps at a bound, and 
thus progressed rapidly through the forests Many of 
the species have on the upper surface large masses of 
shining blue on a dark ground, and the under side of 
the wings is ornamented with manj' ocellated spots. 
The body is small and slender, the head of moderate 
size, and the eyes generally large and prominent ; the 
labial palpi are generally erect, small and wide apart, 
generally clothed in front with depressed scaly hairs. 
The antennaj are slender, and end in a very slender 
club ; the fore wings have the discoidal cell much elon- 
gated and always closed ; the hind wings of the males 
are generally furnished with one or two tufts of hair 
near the base ; the discoidal cell is in some open, in 
others closed, wdiile the anal margin forms a deep gutter 
for the reception of the abdomen. The anterior legs 
are imperfect. 
Some of the genera, such as Clerome. Drusilla, and 
Thaumantis^ are peculiar to the Old World, being re- 
stricted to India and the Eastern islands. Some of 
them seem as it were to link this family to Satyridee. 
One of these is figured Drusilla Mylcech a — Plate 10, 
fig. 2 — a native of the Louisiade archipelago. 
Fig. 15a Fig. 159. 
Amatlm.sia Phidippus. 
Fig. 158 shows the pupa of Amatlmsia Phidippus; 
1 59 represents the larva ; one of the butterflies of the 
East Indian archipelago. 
The Morphos are forest insects, rarely coming into 
the open grounds, and often flying for miles along roads 
and open pathways. Their flight is slow and undulat- 
ing, but they are very difiicult to take on the wing. 
Family — BRASSOLIDJE. 
The family Brassolid.® is characterized by the very 
strong body, the small bead, with very small palpi so 
closely applied to the face that they appear, when seen 
from above, sirriply to be two points between the eyes. 
The fore legs of the males are small and brush-like, and 
have, as in the Nymphalidse, the tarsal joints obsolete. 
The species are all inhabitants of the warmest regions 
of the New World. The caterpillar is of a social dispo- 
sition ; it lives in companies of considerable numbers in 
a close web which it spins, and from this web it comes 
out only during the night to feed. This caterpillar 
changes into the chrysalis at the beginning of April, 
and the butterfly appears in about two weeks after. 
The chrysalis is pale, spotted wdth dark red, and 
marked with four silvery spots ; the butterfly is of a 
sombre brownish-black colour, barred with yellowish 
brown, and is said to fly very swiftly, and it appears 
only early and late in the day. 
Family— SAT YRIDiE. 
The insects of this family differ from the butterflies 
of the families MorpMdcB and Brassol.idcp, in having 
very long palpi, which are more or less erect and clothed 
in front with long porrected hairs ; the hind wings have 
no praediscoidal cell, and the insects are generally weak 
compared with the stout large species so common in 
the preceding groups. They have a vast range, being 
generally scattered over the world ; some of them, such 
as the species of Chionohas are found in the arctic 
regions — dusky, dull, brownish butterflies, which with 
their life help, along with the flowers and grasses on 
which they feed, to enliven these dreaiy parts. There 
are more species of this family of butterflies in Europe 
than a third of the whole number of European diurnal 
Lepidoptera ; they are generally of small or moderate 
size, and their prevailing colour is brown — hence the 
name of *• Meadow Browns,” given to them by collec- 
tors. The under surface of the wings is generally orna- 
mented with eye-like spots. The larvae are attenuated 
behind, the body ending in a fork or two small spines ; 
they are covered with downy hairs. The head is more 
or less rounded, and is armed with two spines. These 
caterpillars almost exclusively feed on grasses, which 
accounts for their wide geographical distribution. They 
are not often seen, as they have the peculiar habit of 
feeding only at night. Many of the species, such as 
our Janira and others, in the chrysalis state suspend 
themselves by the tail, while others, such as Circe, 
Semele, and others, are found to retire into the ground 
to undergo their change into the pupa state. The eggs 
are more or less globular. We have eleven British 
species. 
Family— EURYTELID.®. 
The species are chiefly natives of the hottest regions 
of the globe; such as Asia, tropical Africa, Brazil, and 
