LEPIDOPTERA. 
71 
sixty-six; they are divided into live families. Of the 
Moths there are about two thousand species, and more 
than one hundred families, which consist of nine large 
groups. 
The following are the five families into which the 
British butterflies are divided :— 
# 
1. Papilionid ce. 
2. Nymphalidee. 
o. Erycinidse. 
4. Lycsenida). 
o. Hesperidre. 
\ 
The first family contains two sub-families, the Papili - 
onidee and the Pieridcv. In the first the inner margin 
of the hind wing is concave: in the other it is not so. 
Of the first sub-family only one species is known in this 
country, and that is the large, rare, and beautiful 
Sw^allow-tailed butterffy (Papilio machaon ), so called 
from the prolonged margin of the hind wings. Its 
colour is yellow and black, with lines and spots, a deep 
bluish black band near the hind margin, a bright red 
round spot on the inner margin of each hind wing. I 
do not know this species except in cabinets. It is chiefly 
to be found in the fenny districts of Huntingdon and 
Cambridgeshire, though it has occasionally been cap¬ 
tured in Sussex and Kent. The larva, which is of a 
bright pale green colour, with black bands and orange 
spots, feeds on the cow-parsley, marsh-parsley, and 
other umbelliferous plants. The perfect insect is said 
to be a high and rapid flyer, capable of soaring aloft. 
It emerges from its pupa the middle of May. 
