"There be Insects with little hornes proaking out before their eyes, but weak and tender they be, and good for nothing; as the Butterflies."—Pliny, Philemon Holland's Translation.

Butterfly.—This subfamily is composed for the most part of species of moderate size, though a few are quite large. The fore wings are invariably greatly lengthened and are generally at least twice as long as broad. The hind wings are relatively small, rounded, and without tails. The wings in many of the genera are transparent. The extremity of the abdomen in both sexes extends far beyond the margin of the hind wings, but in the female not so much as in the male. The antennÆ are not clothed with scales, and are very long and slender, with the club also long and slender, gradually thickening to the tip, which is often drooping. The fore legs are greatly atrophied in the males, the tibia and tarsi in this sex being reduced to a minute knob-like appendage, but being more strongly developed in the females.

The life-history of none of the species reputed to be found in our fauna has been carefully worked out. The larvÆ are smooth, covered in most genera with longitudinal rows of conical prominences.

The chrysalids are said to show a likeness to those of the EuploeinÆ, being short, thick, and marked with golden spots. Some authors are inclined to view this subfamily as merely constituting a section of the EuploeinÆ. The insects are, however, so widely unlike the true EuploeinÆ that it seems well to keep them separate in our system of classification. In appearance they approach the Heliconians more nearly than the Euploeids. Ithomiid butterflies swarm in the tropics of the New World, and several hundreds of species are known to inhabit the hot lands of Central and South America. But one genus is found in the Old World, Hamadryas, confined to the Australian region. They are protected like the Euploeids and the Heliconians. In flight they are said to somewhat resemble the dragon-flies of the genus Agrion, their narrow wings, greatly elongated bodies, and slow, flitting motion recalling these insects, which are known by schoolboys as "darning-needles."

Three genera are said to be represented in the extreme southwestern portion of the United States. I myself have never received specimens of any of them which indisputably came from localities within our limits, and no such specimens are found in the great collection of Mr. W.H. Edwards, which is now in my possession. A paratype of Reakirt's species, Mechanitis californica, is contained in the collection of Theodore L. Mead, which I also possess. Mr. Mead obtained it from Herman Strecker of Reading, Pennsylvania. Reakirt gives Los Angeles as the locality from which his type came; but whether he was right in this is open to question, inasmuch, so far as is known, the species has not been found in that neighborhood since described by Reakirt.

Genus MECHANITIS, Fabricius

Butterfly.—Butterflies of moderate size, with the fore wings greatly produced, the inner margin bowed out just beyond the base, and deeply excavated between this projection and the inner angle. The lower discocellular vein in the hind wings is apparently continuous with the median vein, and the lower radial vein being parallel with the median nervules, the median vein has in consequence the appearance of being four-branched. The submedian vein of the fore wings is forked at the base. The costal margin of the hind wings is clothed with tufted erect hairs in the male sex. The fore legs of the male are greatly atrophied, the tarsi and the tibia being fused and reduced to a small knob-like appendage. The fore legs of the female are also greatly reduced, but the tarsi and tibia are still recognizable as slender, thread-like organs.

The caterpillars are smooth, cylindrical, ornamented with rows of short fleshy projections.

The chrysalids are short and stout, suspended, and marked with golden spots.

There are numerous species belonging to this genus, all natives of tropical America. The only species said to be found within the limits of the United States occurs, if at all, in southern California. It is, however, probably only found in the lower peninsula of California, which is Mexican territory. No examples from Upper California are known to the writer.

(1) Mechanitis californica, Reakirt, Plate VIII, Fig. 2, ? (The Californian Long-wing).

The original description given by Reakirt in the "Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Philadelphia," vol. v, p. 223, is as follows:

"Expanse, 2.45-2.56 inches. Fore wing above, brownish-black; a basal streak over the median nervure, and two rounded spots near the inner angle, orange-tawny; of these the outer is the largest, sometimes the inner is yellow, and sometimes both are nearly obsolete; a spot across the cell near its termination, much narrower than in M. isthmia, and in one example reduced to a mere dot on the median nervure; a more or less interrupted belt across the wing from the costa to near the middle of the outer margin, and an oblong subapical spot, yellow; in the specimen just mentioned there is an additional yellow spot below the medio-central veinlet.

"Beneath the same, suffused with orange-tawny at the base and the inner angle, with a row of eight or nine submarginal white spots along the outer margin.

"Hind wing above, orange-tawny, with a broad mesial band, entire, and a narrow outer border, from the middle of the costa to the anal angle, brownish-black.

"Beneath the same, a yellow spot on the root of the wing; a band runs along the subcostal nervure from the base to the margin, where it is somewhat dilated; immediately below its termination, a mark in the form of an irregular figure 2, usually with the upper part inordinately enlarged; between this and the base, on the central line of the band above, three small subtriangular spots; all these markings blackish-brown; a submarginal row of seven white spots on the outer margin.

"Body brownish; wing-lappets and thorax spotted with tawny-orange; antennÆ yellowish, with the base dusky.

"Hab.—Los Angeles, California."

The species is probably only a local race of the insect known to naturalists as M. polymnia, LinnÆus, as Reakirt himself admits. The figure in the plate is from one of Reakirt's paratypes.

Genus CERATINIA, Fabricius

Butterfly.—Butterflies of medium size, very closely related in structure to the butterflies of the genus Mechanitis. The peculiarity of this genus, by which it may be distinguished from others belonging to this subfamily, is the fact that the lower discocellular vein in the hind wing of the male sex is strongly in angled, while in the genus Mechanitis it is the middle discocellular vein of the hind wing which is bent inwardly.

Early Stages.—Unknown for the most part.

There are at least fifty species belonging to this genus found in the tropical regions of America; only one is said to occur occasionally within the limits of the region covered by this volume.

(1) Ceratinia lycaste, Fabricius, Plate VIII, Fig. 3, ? (Lycaste).

Butterfly.—The butterfly is rather small, wings semi-transparent, especially at the apex of the fore wings. The ground-color is pale reddish-orange, with the border black. There are a few irregular black spots on the discal area of the fore wings, and a row of minute white spots on the outer border. There is a black band on the middle of the hind wings, curved to correspond somewhat with the outline of the outer border. The markings on the under side are paler. The variety negreta, which is represented in the plate, has a small black spot at the end of the cell of the hind wings, replacing the black band in the form common upon the Isthmus of Panama.

Early Stages.—Unknown.

Reakirt says that this butterfly occurs about Los Angeles, in California, and the statement has been repeated by numerous authors, who have apparently based their assertions upon Reakirt's report. I have no personal knowledge of the occurrence of the species within our borders. It is very abundant, however, in the warmer parts of Mexico and Central America, and it may possibly occur as a straggler within the United States.

Genus DIRCENNA, Doubleday

Butterfly.—Medium-sized butterflies, for the most part with quite transparent wings. The most characteristic features of this genus, separating it from its near allies, are the thread-like front feet of the females, furnished with four-jointed tarsi (Fig. 83), the very hairy palpi, and the wide cell of the hind wing, abruptly terminating about the middle of the wing. Furthermore, in the male sex the hind wing is strongly bowed out about the middle of the costal margin, and the costal vein tends to coalesce with the subcostal about the middle.

Early Stages.—Very little is as yet known about the early stages of these insects, and what has been said of the characteristics of the caterpillars and chrysalids of the subfamily of the IthomiinÆ must suffice us here.

This genus numbers a large array of species which are found in the hottest parts of the tropics of the New World. They fairly swarm in wooded paths amid the jungle of the Amazonian region, and no collection, however small, is ever received from those parts without containing specimens belonging to the group.

(1) Dircenna klugii, HÜbner, Plate VIII, Fig. 1, ? (Klug's Dircenna).

Butterfly.—Fore wings transparent gray, broken by clear, transparent, colorless spots at the apex, on the outer borders, and on the middle of the wing. The inner margin of the fore wing is black. The hind wings are transparent yellowish, with a narrow black outer border marked with small whitish spots. The body is black, with the thorax spotted with white. Expanse, 2.75 inches.

The specimen figured in the plate is from Mexico. Whether the insect has ever been taken within the limits of the United States is uncertain. It is another of the species attributed to our fauna by Reakirt, but which since his day has not been caught in the nets of any of the numerous butterfly-hunters who have searched the region in which he said it occurs. It may, however, be found upon the borders of Mexico, in the hotter parts of which country it is not at all uncommon. The "gentle reader" will kindly look for it when visiting Brownsville, Texas, and southern California, and, when finding it, herald the fact to the entomological world.

SUPERSTITIONS

"If a butterfly alights upon your head, it foretells good news from a distance. This superstition obtains in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

"The first butterfly seen in the summer brings good luck to him who catches it. This notion prevails in New York.

"In western Pennsylvania it is believed that if the chrysalids of butterflies be found suspended mostly on the under sides of rails, limbs, etc., as it were to protect them from rain, there will soon be much rain, or, as it is termed, a 'rainy spell'; but, on the contrary, if they are found on twigs and slender branches, that the weather will be dry and clear."—Frank Cowan, Curious History of Insects, p. 229.