HESPERIDiE. 
177 
thorax tapers backward, and the abdomen is thin aitd long, contrast¬ 
ing greatly with most of the skippers. The antennae are knobbed 
but not pointed. The upper wings are yellowish-brown with a wide 
black margin. The lower wings are lighter or tan color with a 
heavy black border extending along the upper margin around to the 
inner angle and are fringed with yellow. This is a very common 
butterfly in August over the eastern half of the United States. It 
is fond of open fields, and the second crop of clover is a favorite 
with it. 
L YC JEN IBM. 
Blues, Coppers, Hairstreaks. 
A large number of frail but lovely little creatures comprise the 
great family Lyccenidce. Most of the species belonging to this family 
are small, our largest being about two inches in expanse of wing. 
The antennse are knobbed or clubbed, but not pointed as in the 
family of Hesperidoe , and the knob is straight. The wings are fre¬ 
quently delicate in structure and are large and flat in proportion to 
the body, which is slender. The thorax in a few species is robust 
but is generally slight. All six legs are well developed and are used 
in walking. The family is a very large one and insects belonging to 
it are to be found in almost every land. The beauty of some of the 
species is most extraordinary, comprising almost every conceivable 
color and shade. Many of them are metallic blue, while others are 
green, purple, red or golden, and some a combination of these. A 
number bear on the lower wings curiously shaped tails. Were these 
slight butterflies of large size some of them would rival the gorgeous 
Morplios and the regal Papilios and Ornithopteras. They are to my 
mind among the handsomest objects in nature. Some of them haunt 
open grassy fields and meadows, others delight in low shrubbery on 
the outskirts of forests, and still others prefer the woods and will 
often congregate in numbers in sunny open spaces among the trees. 
The flight of some, especially the more delicate, is slow and un¬ 
steady,* while others are swift flyers; but their flight is not usually 
long sustained. Their flight is generally low, and consequently they 
are easily taken with the net. When they alight their wings are 
most often closed tightly together over the back, and some have a 
habit while at rest on a leaf or flower of working each of the lower 
pair of wings alternately up and down. This habit, strange as it 
