HESPERIIDCE. 
123 
The larvae pupate within their shelters; some pupae are attached only by the tip of the 
abdomen; others in addition are girt round the middle with a band. The cremaster is attached to 
a group of filaments, often in the form of a Y, spun on to the interior of the shelter; the filaments 
themselves usually forming part of a loose-textured film of silk spun more or less over the interior 
of the shelter—an incipient cocoon in fact. The old larval skin is very often not got rid of in 
Hesperid pupae, but remains entangled near the cremaster. Both larvae and pupae of several 
species are covered more or less with a white powdery substance like that on many aphides and 
bugs. The abdominal part of the empty pupal shell of most butterflies contains a little clear 
liquid after the emergence of the insect, but that of many Hesperids is quite filled with liquid. 
The internal organs, especially the dorsal vessel and tracheas, can some of them be seen quite 
distinctly through the semi-transparent skin of some Hesperid larvae ; and towards the close of the 
pupal stage the wings in some pupae can be seen developing. Hesperid larvae appear to feed 
chiefly at night. 
Some of the commoner species of Hesperiidce , which swarm at certain flowers a great part of 
the year, seem often to fall victims to lizards, spiders and predaceous flies, and the larvae of some 
Skippers are much parasitised by Chalcid flies which lay their eggs on the bodies of the larvae. 
The above-mentioned predaceous flies (Asi/idce) are usually termed Robber-flies. Two species 
are very common here during certain months of the wet season—one a very large fly 
(Micro sty him spectrum , Wied.) about i\ inches in length, of a general red-brown colour, 
coarsely hairy and with long bristly legs and transparent brown iridescent wings. The other species 
(a Promachus) is about an inch in length, the abdomen dark brown, conspicuously banded on 
each segment with ochreous. Both flies have formidable beaks or probosces, with which if 
incautiously seized the larger species will draw blood from the hand, causing a smarting wound. 
These Asilidae prey on many insects besides Skippers—cicadae, grasshoppers of various kinds, 
bugs (even the evil-smelling species) wasps and flies of all sorts—which they seize and bear away 
to some convenient leaf or twig, where they drive their probosces into their victims and drain the 
juices from them. Like the dragonflies they occasionally become cannibals and devour one another. 
Their favourite food here seems to be a rather pretty green cicada with transparent wings, very 
common in the early summer—a larger insect than the Asilid which attacks it, but then these 
flies also kill the largest wasps and bees we have here, and instead of dropping their prey if one 
threatens them with a stick, they fly off with it, generally slowly and only a yard or so away. 
Most of the Skippers here may be seen on the wing almost every month except January 
and February, but they are chiefly numerous in spring and autumn. They scarcely seem to be 
affected seasonally in colour or pattern, but some of the dark brown, white- or ochreous-spotted 
species (Par nor a) vary greatly individually in the size and distinctness of the spots. 
The eggs of the Hesperiidce are usually smooth, hemispherical or conical, flat at the base 
where attached to the plant. They are often parasitised by small Chalcid flies: from one egg of 
Notocrypta feisthamelii taken in October four flies hatched out; they made a small hole in the top 
of the egg. 
