Part 58 (1/2)

This subfamily is composed of closely related genera which are found only in the New World. They may be easily recognized by the large blunt club of the antennae. The cell of the fore wing is always very long, being two thirds the length of the costa; the lower radial vein usually rises from the end of the cell, a little above the third median nervule, and at a considerable remove from the upper radial. They are said when at rest to extend all their wings horizontally.

But one genus belonging to this subfamily is represented within the limits of the United States.

Genus PYRRHOPYGE, Hubner

_b.u.t.terfly._--The neuration is as represented in the cut, and need not, therefore, be described at length. The club of the antennae is thickened, usually bluntly pointed and bent into a hook.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 150.--Head and antenna of _Pyrrhopyge_, magnified 2 diameters.]

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 151.--Neuration of the genus _Pyrrhopyge_.]

(1) =Pyrrhopyge araxes=, Hewitson, Plate XLV, Fig. 9, ? (Araxes).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Easily recognized from the figure in the plate. The hind wings are prevalently yellow on the under side. It is wholly unlike any other species found within the faunal limits with which this book deals.

The wings expand about two inches. We have no knowledge whatever of the life-history of the insect. It occurs in southern Texas occasionally, but is quite common in Mexico and more southern countries.

SUBFAMILY HESPERIINae (THE HESPERIDS)

”Twine ye in an airy round, Brush the dew and print the lea; Skip and gambol, hop and bound.”

DRAKE, _The Culprit Fay_.

This subfamily falls into two groups:

_Group A._--In this group the cell of the fore wing is always more than two thirds the length of the costa; the lower radial vein lies approximately equidistant between the third median nervule and the upper radial. The hind wing is frequently produced at the extremity of the submedian vein into a long tail or tooth-like projection. The fore wing is usually furnished in the male s.e.x with a costal fold, but is never marked with a discal stigma, or bunch of raised scales. The antennae always terminate in a fine point and are usually bent into a hook. The b.u.t.terflies when at rest, for the most part, hold their wings erect, though some of them hold them extended horizontally.

_Group B._--In this group the cell of the fore wing is less than two thirds the length of the costa, and the lower radial is always emitted from the end of the cell near the upper angle, much nearer to the upper radial than to the third median. The hind wings are often somewhat lobed at the a.n.a.l angle, but never produced as in the first group. The antennae are very seldom hooked.

Genus EUDAMUS, Swainson

_b.u.t.terfly._--The antennae terminate in a fine point bent into a hook at the thickest part of the club. The cell of the fore wing is very long.

The discocellulars are inwardly oblique and on the same straight line, the upper discocellulars being reduced to a mere point. The lower radial is equidistant between the upper radial and the third median nervule.

The hind wing is without the lower radial and is always produced into a long tail.

_Egg._--The egg is more nearly globular than is true in most of the genera, but is strongly flattened at the base and is marked with a number of transverse longitudinal ridges, somewhat widely separated, between which are finer cross-lines. The micropyle at the summit is deeply depressed.

_Caterpillar._--The caterpillar is cylindrical, tapering rapidly from the middle forward and backward. The head is much larger than the neck and is distinctly bilobed.

_Chrysalis._--The chrysalis is provided with a somewhat hooked cremaster, is rounded at the head, humped over the thorax, and marked on the dorsal side of the abdominal segments with a few small conical projections. The chrysalis is formed between leaves loosely drawn together with a few strands of silk.

This genus is confined to the tropics of the New World, and is represented in the extreme southern portions of the United States by the species figured in our plate--_E. proteus_.

(1) =Eudamus proteus=, Linnaeus, Plate XLV, Fig. 6, ?; Plate II, Fig. 34, _larva_; Plate VI, Fig. 23, _chrysalis_ (The Long-tailed Skipper).