LEP1D0PTERA. 
395 
Family Nymphalid^E (Nym-phal'i-dae). 
The Four-footed Butterflies . 
The family Nymphalidae includes chiefly butterflies of 
medium or large size; but a few of the species are small. 
With a single exception, these butterflies differ from all 
others in our fauna in having the fore legs very greatly re¬ 
duced in size in both sexes . So great is the reduction that 
these legs cannot be used for walking, but are folded on 
the breast like a tippet. A slight reduction in the size of the 
fore legs occurs in the Lycaenidae, but there it occurs only in 
the males, and to a much less degree than in this family. 
In the venation of the wings (Fig. 467) the four-footed 
butterflies differ from 
the two preceding 
families in retaining m 
all of the branches 
of radius of the fore 
wings, this vein be¬ 
ing five-branched. 
The larvae are 
nearly or quite cylin- 
drical, and are 
clothed to a greater 
or less extent with 
hairs and sometimes 
with branching 
spines. 
The chrysalids are 
usually angular, and 
often bear large pro¬ 
jecting prominences; 
sometimes they are 
rounded. They al¬ 
ways hang head 
downwards, sup¬ 
ported only by the tail, which i‘ c fastened to a button of silk. 
