The sixth family, HESPERIIDE, corresponding with the Plebeii Urbicoli of Linnæus (fig. 101. 9. Hesperia Comma), is a very distinct tribe of butterflies, constituting, indeed, a primary division, INVOLUTI, approaching, in many respects, to the moths, as already indicated. The six feet are of uniform size in both sexes, the hind tibiæ having a pair of spurs at the apex, and another pair near the middle of the limb (fig. 101. 12. hind leg); the lower wings are generally horizontal during repose*; the antennæ are wide apart at the base, and are often terminated in a very strong hook (fig. 101. 11.); and the labial palpi have the last joint very small; the maxillæ are exceedingly long (fig. 101. 10. head sideways). The caterpillars, of which, however, but few are known, are cylindrical without spines, with the anterior segments narrowed, and the head very large; they roll up leaves (Poey, Cent. Lep. Cuba, pl. 4., H. Papinianus), in which they construct a very slender silken cocoon, wherein they are transformed to chrysalides, which are entire, without angular prominences (Swainson, Zool. Illustr. vol. i. t. 16., Ismene Edipodea). These chrysalides are further attached by the tail as well as girt round the middle (fig. 101. 13. larva, and 14. pupa, of H. Tages, enclosed in a silken cocoon, after Guérin.). The species are of comparatively small size, and of obscure colours, but some are ornamented with pellucid spots, and others have the hind wings furnished with long tails. These butterflies have the body very robust, and their flight is accordingly very strong and peculiar, whence they have obtained the name of skippers, indicative of their peculiar short jerking kind of flight. They frequently settle on flowers, leaves, or branches. H. Tages (according to Dr. Abbott, Linn. Trans. vol. v. p. 276.) flies early in the morning, its flight being extremely short and very near the ground. Mr. Curtis mentions the curious circumstance, that old specimens, when alive, have frequently lost one or both of their palpi, an accident he had only observed amongst the Pyralidæ. Réaumur has figured the transformations of H. Malvæ (Mém. Ins. tom. i. pl. 11.), the caterpillar of which rolls up leaves, forming them into an oval ball for the period of pupation. The history of various other species is represented in Abbot and Smith's work on the Lepidoptera of Georgia. In some species all the wings are horizontal when at rest (Tamyris Zeleucus Fab., Swains. Zool. Ill. vol. i. pl. 33.) The second general section of the Lepidoptera, that of the HETEROCERA Boisd., corresponding with the Linnæan genera Sphinx and Phalana, derives its name from the diversified formation of the antennæ, which are never terminated by a club, like those of the butterflies, but are generally setaceous, filiform, or fusiform, those of the males being moreover often furnished with more or less developed lateral appendages, forming branches; the wings are ordinarily furnished with the spring and socket apparatus, above described: the caterpillars are even more varied than in the Rhopalocera, but the pupæ are generally of a conical form, without angular projections, and they are ordinarily enclosed in a cocoon of varied construction, the quiescent state being often undergone in the ground. The group thus constructed will be seen to correspond with the genus Phalana alone, of the earlier editions of Linnæus's Systema Natura; with the sections Crepuscularia and Nocturna of Latreille, and with the Crepuscularia, Pomeridiana, Nocturna, Semidiurna, and Vespertina of Stephens. (See antè, p. 325.) * ; It is here most especially that we have to lament our great ignorance of exotic groups in their preparatory, as well as of their precise structure in the imago states; and it is owing to this that we are unable to form due notions of the relative value of the characters upon which the various primary groups of moths have been constructed, and are thereby prevented from defining these various groups so accurately as is done in other and better studied tribes for instance, it is impossible not to be convinced, upon the most casual glance, that the four groups, of which the Crepuscularia have been composed, are held together by the slightest ties, and yet we are not sufficiently acquainted with the general grouping of the Nocturna to decide upon the propriety of cutting up the former group, and placing its dismemberments amongst them, or retaining them as a heterogeneous group. Urania, Castnia, Agarista, Sphinx, Ægeria, and Anthrocera (Zygæna Fab.), are groups of equal value amongst themselves; and on account of the peculiar conformation of their antennæ, they were united into one group by Linnæus, who, it is well known, considered this character as of the highest importance. Take, for instance, the three English groups, Sphinx, Ægeria, and Anthrocera, and we * Mr. Bird (Ent. Mag. vol. ii. p. 40.) has objected to Mr. Stephens's employment of these terms, having captured the males of a vast number of the Pomeridian genera during the night, they having been attracted to the light of a lamp. find the first isolated; the second, in its fenestrated wings, approaches some of the Sphingidæ, but its metamorphoses are totally different, resembling those of Cossus ; whilst Anthrocera, on the other hand, is, in its preparatory states, a Bombyx, and in its final one probably intermediate between Macroglossa and Pyralis; Ægeria, nevertheless, is not farther removed from Sphinx than is Castnia or Urania, nor than Hepialus or Lithosia are from Attacus, in the tribe of Bombycida. Geometra, Tortrix, Noctua, &c., in their extended state, are groups admirably defined, and yet it is impossible to look at Euclidia, Acosmetia, Nola, or Platypteryx, without perceiving, either that we must extend the limits of our families, so as to admit these anomalous groups, or else must create a far greater number of families than has hitherto been done. The works of foreign authors, who have elsewhere so materially tended to forward our acquaintance with the insect tribes here (that is, more especially amongst the smaller European, as well as the Exotic tribes), give us but little assistance. On reviewing the sketch given in a previous page (p. 325.) of Mr. Stephens's arrangement of these groups, we find them to correspond nearly with the Linnæan grouping, but I cannot understand wherefore Lithosia is introduced into the same group with Noctua, whilst its legitimate station seems to be intermediate between the aberrant Bombycidae and the Yponomeutidæ ; neither can I understand why Pyralis is united with Geometræ, agreeing neither in habit nor transformations. Platypteryx, on the other hand, agrees with Geometra in the habit of the imago, but in its transformations it is much nearer to Cerura amongst the Bombycida. As to the Vespertina, comprising all the minute moths, they may be said to be still in a state of chaos, as any one may be convinced by comparing the works of Haworth, Curtis, and Stephens, * Mr. Stephens's arrangement of these tribes is exhibited by him in the following sketch, published in the Introduction to his Systematic Catalogue, with a view to prove the circular distribution of the order: : and the little unity of principle existing between them, or by examining the lists of the minute tribes given by continental authors, who, content with the showy objects in the order, almost overlook the minute, but highly interesting, and often exquisitely beautiful species. If we cast our eyes over the sketch of the distribution of these tribes, given by Dr. Horsfield (see antè, p. 328.), we shall find still less reason to be satisfied, either as regards the primary or the secondary groups. Compare, for instance, the Sphingidæ, where four genera are regarded as primary types of form, with the Phalanidæ, where each type of form is of as a high a rank as the whole of the Sphingidæ. If the arrangement of Dr. Horsfield, founded as it is upon the quinarian principles of MacLeay, presents us with too few primary groups amongst the moths, that of Latreille is, on the other hand, to be guarded against as establishing too many, in other words as regarding as primary groups those which are only secondary. He distributes the Crepuscularia into four primary sections, and the Nocturna into ten, namely, 1. Hepialites. 2. Bombycites. 3. Pseudo-Bombyces (Arctiidæ, Notodontidæ, and Lithosiida). 4. Aposura (genera Cerura and Platypteryx). 5. Noctuelites. 6. Tortrices. 7. Phalænites. 8. Deltoides (Crambus rostratus Fabr., &c.). 9. Tineites, including Botys, Galleria, and all the small moths except, 10. Pterophorites. This arrangement of the families appears to me on the whole more natural than any other hitherto proposed, and especially than that of the German naturalists. The section Aposura ought, however, to be rejected, consisting as it does of two genera, having no other relation than that their larvæ are destitute of anal feet; the Tortrices also unnaturally break the transition from the Noctuidae to the Geometrida so beautifully effected by Catocala, Plusia, and other half-loopers, as their larvæ are termed, and Ophiusa, Erastria, &c. Again, the 9th tribe, Tineites, requires further dismemberment. With regard, therefore, to the primary groups of the Heterocera, I candidly admit that I am not able to offer a satisfactory classification, although it seems unquestionable that Sphinx (or the hawk moths), Bombyx (or the feather-horned full-bodies), Noctua (or the thread-horned full-bodies), Geometra (or the loopers), Pyralis, Tortrix, and Tinea, are, as Linnæus considered them, amongst the primary types. I shall, therefore, proceed to the consideration of the secondary groups or families independent of their primary tribes, which may be arranged as fol lows: 1. Sphingidæ. 2. Uraniidae. 3. Anthrocerida. 4. Ægeriida. 5. Hepialidæ. 6. Bombycidæ. 7. Arctiidae (including the Notodontidae). 8. Lithosiida. 9. Noctuidæ. 10. Geometrida. 11. Pyralidæ. 12. Tortricidae. 13. Yponomeutidæ. 14. Tineida. And 15. Alucitidæ. I leave it as a matter undecided whether the Uraniidæ be nearer related to the butterflies than they are to the Anthroceridæ. Should the former opinion be maintained (as in the arrangement of Latreille), the family ought to precede all the rest. I cannot, however, with Latreille, introduce them amongst the true butterflies. * The first family SPHINGIDE comprises the most robust and powerful insects in the order, generally distinguished by their strength of flight (whence their English name hawk moths) and large size. The spiral tongue is often extremely long, exceeding the whole body in length in some species; (fig. 102. 14. Macroglossa stellatarum, with the spiral tongue extended; 102. 1. head of Deilephila Celerio); the antennæ are prismatic, and terminated by a little feather, or thread (fig. 102, 5. apex of antenna of Acherontia Atropos; 102. 6. transverse section of antennæ of Sphinx Ligustri after Newport); the labial palpi are broad and compressed, and closely covered with scales, the terminal BIBLIOGR. REFER. TO THE SPHINGIDE. Scheven. Anmerk. zur Gesch. der fleckigen Schwarmer (in Fuessly's N. Mag. vol. i. 1782.). Bergstraesser. Sphingum Europ. Larvæ, &c. Hanau, 1782. 4to. Fuessly. Von der Sphinx Enothera, in Mag. Entomol. 2 bd. Feisthamel. Descript. d'une Nouv. Espèce de Sphinx (Sph. Amelia), in Bull. Sci. Passerini. Osservazioni sopra la Sphinx Athropos. 8vo. Pisa, 1828. Lettera sulla Farfalla a testa di morte, in Opusc. Scelti, tom. v. Dalman, in Trans. Swed. Acad. 1816. Poey. Centurie Lépid. Cuba (pl. 5. Amphonyx Duponchel), and the general Works of Fabricius, Drury, Cramer, Godart, Palisot Beauvois, Boisduval, Donovan, Abbot and Smith, Curtis, Stephens, &c. M. Lefebvre de Cerisy, several years ago, prepared a monograph of the Sphingidæ, with figures (for which he obtained very considerable materials from the collection of Mr. Haworth); but this monograph has never yet been published, |