RHOPALOCERA. 
Family NYMPHALIDAE. 
Front legs imperfect in both sexes; those in the male with only 
one or two tarsal joints; those in the female usually with 
four or five joints: imagines rarely of small size. Pupa 
generally suspended by the tail. 
Sub-Family DANAINAE. 
Ovum —Much longer than wide, leathery, radiate, with numerous 
broad flattened ribs and distinct cross-lines, reticulate over 
a small area at apex. 
Larva —Smooth, with long fleshy appendages. 
Pupa —Suspended by tail, short, stout, often metallic. 
Imago —-Large; wings generally entire, sometimes slightly 
scalloped, but never tailed ; the wing-cells closed. Male 
often with conspicuous patches of raised scales on various 
parts of the wings. 
1. DANAUd, Linne. 
Syst. Nat. x. pp. 458, 468, 1758; Latr. Gen. Crust. Ins. iv. 
p. 201, 1809; Butler P.Z.S. 1866, pp. 43, 171 ; Moore lx. 1883, 
pp. 223-252. 
Sometimes this is regarded as one large genus, and as such 
is split up into a number of sub-genera. Some authors consider 
these sub-genera as of equal rank to Danaus , which then takes 
the place of the sub-genus Salatura. I have indicated by 
parentheses the various sub-genera to which our Australian 
species 'belong. 
1. D. (Salatxjra) plexippus, Linn. Syst. Nat. x. p. 471, 1758 ; 
Papilio genutia , Cram. Pap. Exot. iii. pi. 206, f. C. D, 
1779; Danais genutia , Marsh. & de Nicev. Butt. Ind. i. 
pp. 7, 52, 1882. 
This is the species recorded in Miskin’s Catalogue under 
Cramer’s name genutia, but there seems little doubt that this is the 
true plexippus of Linnaeus. Two distinct sub-species are recog¬ 
nisable in Australia The indigenous form in N.W. Australia is 
small and almost identical with 8. laratensis Butl.» from Timor; while 
the form at Cairns is allied to the Chinese sub-species, and is a very 
recent introduction. 
Bab. Cairns, N.W. Australia, Port Darwin. 
