peculiar for the shortness of its cell, which is less than half as long
as the wing, and is broadest in the middle of its distal half, beyond
which it narrows rather rapidly. The costal nervure terminates a little
before the middle of the outer two-thirds of the costal border. The
subcostal nervure emits two superior branches before the tip of the
cell; the first is thrown off near the middle of the outer half of the
cell and terminates as far beyond the tip of the costal nervure as it
is beyond the middle of the costal border; beyond the emission of the
first superior nervule the subcostal nervure curves downward away from
the costal nervure, with which it had hitherto been parallel, and throws
off the second superior nervule shortly before the apex of the cell; this
nervule terminates exactly at the apex of the wing, but, just before
the tip, divides, sending a short branch to the outer border; about
two-fifths of the distance from the tip of the cell to the outer border,
the subcostal nervure divides into two branches which reach the outer
border near the middle of its upper half; the inferior subcostal nervule
leaves the nervure nearly at right angles, but almost immediately turns
and runs subparallel to it and its lower ultimate branch. The median
nervure throws off its first nervule a little beyond the middle of the
cell; its second midway between this and the base of the fourth, and
the third midway between its two neighbors; beyond the emission of the
second nervule the nervure bends upward, and still more on throwing off
the subsequent one; the first two nervules are straight, the upper two
arched, and the base of the last is united to the short basal fragment of
the inferior subcostal nervule by a curving vein opening outward, whose
general course is nearly at right angles to the costal border.
In the hind wing the relation of the cell to the length of the wing is
as in the front pair; it is broadest at the first divarications of the
bordering nervures and narrows rapidly beyond. The first branches of
the subcostal and median nervures are emitted near the middle of the
distal half of the cell, and that of the subcostal is a nearly straight
continuation of the basal portion of the nervure; the outer subcostal
and median nervules are twice as close at base as any of the others, and
the middle nervules divide the space between the first and third; the
submedian nervure is parallel to, and scarcely removed from, the inner
border.
In the pattern of their markings (Pl. III, fig. 3) the wings of
Thaites are rather simple. The fore wing is provided with four nearly
equidistant, nearly straight, transverse, pale stripes, depending at
about right angles from the subcostal nervure, unequal in length and
width, the third from the base situated in the middle of the wing; and
also with a submarginal curving row of moderately large, transversely
ovate spots, one in each interspace opening on the outer border,
excepting the subcosto-median and medio-submedian interspaces, all ranged
in a series curving more strongly than the outer border. The hind wing is
nearly uniform on the basal half, but beyond is crossed by transverse,
curving, dark, cloudy bands, broadening on the nervures and enclosing
between them roundish or transversely ovate pale spots.
The abdomen is stout, half as long as the hind wings, well arched, and
the terminal segment (of the female?) half as long as broad, the segments
provided with a latero-dorsal and pleural row of very small, vertically
ovate, pale spots.
This genus differs from Thais (Pl. III, figs. 2, 4) and the other
genera allied to the swallow-tails in about the same degree as they do
among themselves. It is closely allied to Thais in most particulars;
the antennæ resemble those of Thais, more than they do those of other
genera, if we except only Sericinus; in the form of the wings it lies
midway between Thais and Archon; as to neuration the discoidal cell of
the fore wings has the form seen in Sericinus, being broadest apically,
while in Parnassius (Pl. III, fig. 5), Thais and Eurycus it is largest
in the middle; but it is shorter than half the length of the wing, while
in Sericinus, as in all the other genera, it is considerably more than
half the length of the wing; the tip of the cell is limited above, in
most of these genera, by the vein closing the cell; that is, the inferior
subcostal nervule originates beyond the tip of the cell; but in Thais
it originates at the tip of the cell, while in Thaites the cell is
limited by the inferior subcostal nervule and the vein closing the cell
originates from it; in other particulars of its neuration it resembles
the tailed Sericinus.
In design (Pl. III, fig. 3) Thaites recalls none of the recent genera
very closely. In the fore wings it approaches Thais (Pl. III, fig. 4)
rather than the others, and in the hind wings some species of Parnassius
(Pl. III, fig. 5). It has none of the eccentric spots of Parnassius and
a darker ground than any of the modern types. It is wholly unprovided
with the strongly marked crescentic spots of Thais, but in the position,
form and arrangement of the principal markings rather recalls Archon.
Excepting Eurycus and some species of Thais, no modern genera resemble
Thaites in the extension of a distinctive pattern upon the hind wings
to or nearly to the extremity of the cell. Whether any of the markings
were accompanied by the brilliant spots often seen in Thais, Archon and
Parnassius cannot be determined, but we may presume that they were not,
since in these genera the markings are dark upon a lighter ground, while
in Thaites they are light upon a dark ground,—a combination found among
the Papilonid genera, only in some of the swallow tails.
In the markings of the abdomen, I do not know that we find anything
parallel to Thaites among the Parnassians, but among the neighboring
Equites there are similar examples of rows of small light spots on a dark
ground. I have not been able, however, to examine this point carefully.
THAITES RUMINIANA HEER MS.
Plate III, figs. 1, 3, 6-10.
_Thaites Ruminiana_ HEER, Climat pays tert., trad. Gaudin, 205
(1861) [absq. descr.]; Sap., Ann. Sc. Nat. [5], Bot., xv, 343
(1872) [ibid.].
The wings were evidently dark with light markings. On the fore wings the
first transverse stripe (Pl. III, fig. 3) extends from the subcostal
nervure, midway between its first divarication and the base of the wing,
almost to the middle of the basal two-thirds of the inner border; it is
slender, nearly equal and straight, the portion within the cell about
four times as long as broad; the second transverse band is the largest,
and lies midway between the first and the third, parallel to them,
reaching from the subcostal nervure almost to the inner border; it is
straight and equal, and the portion within the cell (which is half of
the whole, although traversing the cell at its broadest part) is three
times as long as broad; the third transverse bar is in the middle of the
wing, smaller than the first and equally slender, extending from the
subcostal nervure, just beyond the tip of the cell, almost to the upper
median nervule; it is equal and straight excepting above, where it curves
inward following the border of the cell; the outermost is broader and
more irregular, depending from the first superior subcostal nervule and
extending nearly to the upper median nervule, so that its exterior border
just strikes the subcostal nervure at its divarication far beyond the
cell; the inner margin is straight and the spot thus forms a transverse
bar, straight and equal above the subcostal nervure, but with the outer
border sloping away so that the lower extremity is twice as broad as
the upper. The submarginal series of spots are of nearly equal size,
the uppermost largest, the next two smallest; each set of three forms a
nearly straight line, but all together they follow a strong curve which
approaches close to the border in the lowest subcostal interspace, being
separated from it by but its own width; above this they recede rapidly
from the border, the outer edge of the innermost being next the fork of
the second superior subcostal nervule; but below, the spots are parallel
to the outer border and separated by about an interspace’s width from
it; the upper spots are transversely broad ovate; the lower transversely
subquadrate; apparently the fringe is exceedingly short and concolorous
as in Parnassius.
The basal parts of the hind wing are almost uniformly dark, excepting
that there is a paler suffusion in the outer part of the cell; beyond,
the wing is clouded with darker, transverse, strongly curving, powdery
stripes; the most conspicuous of these is one which crosses the wing
a little outside the middle of the portion beyond the cell; it takes
its rise in a darker spot, which borders the wing just above the tip
of the upper subcostal nervure, and runs in a nearly straight line,
widening as it goes, to the lowest subcostal nervule, where it reaches
its greatest width, and scarcely narrowing curves around to the inner
border a little before its tip; on the nervules it reaches further
baseward and borderward. Between this belt and another similar but much
less conspicuous band, half way between it and the tip of the cell, are
enclosed circular pale spots, one occupying the entire width of each
interspace below the middle subcostal nervule and a portion of the one
above it; following the principal dark band are two alternating sets
of dark and light, narrow, inconspicuous, transverse stripes, more or
less confused in the middle of the wing, the dark bands broadening and
deepening at the nervures, breaking the paler bands to a greater or less
extent into broad transverse spots; the fringe appears to be as on the
fore wings. Judging from the form of the last abdominal segment, and the
great size of the abdomen, this specimen was probably a female. Length of
fore wing, 25mm.; breadth of the same, 14·3mm.; length of antennæ, about
6mm.; breadth of antennæ in middle of stem, ·2mm.; breadth of antennæ
toward tip of club, ·5mm..
Tertiaries of Aix. Collection of Professor Heer; Zurich, Switzerland.
URBICOLÆ—HESPERIDES.
THANATITES SCUDDER.
Very much of the general appearance of Thanaos Boisd. (Pl. III, fig.
11) but with somewhat differently formed wings and markings which will
not accord with those of the latter genus, although the two genera are
certainly nearly allied.
The body (Pl. III, fig. 12) is fully as stout as in Thanaos (Pl. III,
fig. 11), the tongue at least as long as the thorax, the eyes ovate
and larger, than in Thanaos, and the palpi with the terminal joint
proportionally larger, which is an unusual feature in the Urbicolæ. The
legs are apparently short, the wings ample. The costal margin of the fore
wings is nearly straight, being scarcely arched on the apical half, the
upper half of outer border as in Thanaos, the rest not preserved; the
costal fold of the male is narrow and extends a very little beyond the
middle of the costal border, while in Thanaos it reaches considerably
further; the hind wings have the general shape of Thanaos, but the upper
outer angle is much more produced, and the base of the costal border
is arched only to the degree that the apex is, and the portion between
them is but slightly convex; the outer border is almost precisely as
in Thanaos and the inner border is, doubtless, folded in the fossil
so as to conceal its true character. Very little of the neuration can
be determined, and what can be made out is comparatively unimportant
and agrees with the neuration of Thanaos; the third superior subcostal
nervule strikes the apex of the fore wing as in that genus. As to the
markings, the agreement with Thanaos is less striking, although the
pattern resembles that of Thanaos more closely than it does that of any
other genus. In the fore wings the spot in the cell of Thanaos is wanting
in the fossil, but in its stead there is a costal spot at the extremity
of the costal fold; the subapical spots of Thanaos depending from the
costa are distinctly repeated in Thanatites, and in addition there is a
submarginal series of small round spots of which the upper two, in the
uppermost interspaces opening on the outer border, are the only ones
visible on the fossil by its mode of preservation. On the under surface
of the hind wings of Thanatites, there is a regular submarginal series
of equal, rather small, round spots, one in each interspace, placed
between the location of the marginal and submarginal spots which occur
in Thanaos, often distinctly, occasionally as faint blurred bands, as
in _T. Juvenalis_ (Pl. III, fig. 11); the inner of these two series in
Thanaos, which corresponds best to the submarginal series of Thanatites,
is irregular instead of parallel to the border, being always bent inward
opposite the cell. Instead of the spot, placed in the costo-subcostal
interspace of Thanaos near the middle of the wing, and seen distinctly
in _T. Juvenalis_, there are two spots, which, with a third near the
base of the wing above the costal nervure, are placed at equal distances
apart and from the costal border; in addition there are two spots, seldom
even indicated in Thanaos, near the centre of the wing, the larger of
which is near the apex of the cell. These differences alone would suffice
to show that the fossil cannot be referred to Thanaos, and, with the
other indications we have given, compel us to place it apart, but in the
immediate vicinity of this group of Urbicolæ.
THANATITES VETULA (HEYDEN) SCUDDER.
Plate III, figs. 12, 16.
_Vanessa vetula_ HEYD., Palæontographica, viii, 12-13, Taf. i,
fig. 10 (1859).
_Araschnia vetula_ KIRB., Syn. Cat. Diurn. Lep. 179 (1871).
The only notice of this insect that has been published is the original
figure and description of von Heyden. The figure is reproduced in our Pl.
III, fig. 16. The description is as follows:[AF]—
Es scheint diese Art in die Nähe der bei uns lebenden Vanessa
Levana zu gehören. Sie ist kleiner als diese, indem der
Vorderflügel von seiner Basis bis zur Spitze nur 6½‴ misst.
Der Schmetterling liegt auf der rechten Seite, wobei der linke
Hinterflügel den linken Vorderflügel völlig bis auf die Spitze
und einen Theil des Aussenrandes deckt. Von diesen Flügeln ist
daher nur die Unterseite sichtbar. Der rechte Vorderflügel ist
mehr vorgeschoben und daher ein grosser Theil seiner Überseite
sichtbar.
Die Flügel sind im Allgemeinen gut erhalten und scheinen am
Aussenrande an einigen [13] Stellen schwach ausgerandet gewesen
zu seyn. Sie zeigen auf der Grundfarbe grössere, undeutlich
schwarze und viele weisse Flecken von verschiedener Grösse.
Auf den Vorderflügeln zeichnen sich ein grösserer weisser
Flecken, etwa ein Drittel von der Spitze entfernt und nach
dem Vorderrande hinzielend, sowie drei weisse Fleckchen aus,
die in einer Reihe in der Nähe des Aussenrandes stehen. Auf
den Hinterflügeln, etwa ein Drittel vom Aussenrand entfernt,
bilden sechs weisse Fleckchen eine Querreihe. Es ist nicht
unwahrscheinlich, dass die Grundfarbe der Flügel im Leben braun
oder rothbraun war, und man glaubt sogar noch einen schwachen
Schimmer von dieser Farbe wahrzunehmen.
Der Kopf ist etwas zerdrückt und zeigt zwei ziemlich lange,
zugespitzte, in die Höhe gerichtete Taster, von denen der eine
vom Kopf getrennt liegt. Oben am Kopf ist noch ein Auge und
unten die in einen Bogen aufgerollte Zunge sichtbar. Die Brust
ist undeutlich, der Hinterleib fast ganz durch die Flügel
gedeckt, und von den Beinen sind nur Bruchstücke vorhanden.
Dark brown or blackish with light markings. On the upper half of the fore
wing (Pl. III, fig. 12), both above and below, the following markings
are found: a small quadrate spot on the costal border at the extremity
of the costal fold; depending from the costal border between the tips
of the second and third superior subcostal nervures a confluent series
of spots extending to the cell at right angles to the costal margin,
narrowing a little in passing downward; and midway between this and the
outer border, in the upper two subcostal interspaces opening on the
outer border, a small round spot; probably similar spots belong in some
of the interspaces below. On the under surface of the hind wings there
is a submarginal series of three small spots along the costa at equal
distances apart, the central one near the middle of the costa, and the
basal one nearly midway between it and the base of the wing; there is
also a larger spot near the tip of the cell and a second smaller one
a little below and beyond it; also a submarginal series of spots as
large as that in the cell parallel to the outer border, at about an
interspace’s distance from it, one in each interspace. Length of fore
wing, 14mm.; length of hind wing, 13·65mm.; extreme breadth of hind wing,
11·25mm..
The single fossil represented by von Heyden under the name of _Vanessa
vetula_, is preserved on a greasy, dark brown, thin and exceedingly
fragile sheet of “brown coal,” and is likely to become so affected by
weathering as to be almost or quite indistinguishable in the course
of time. Indeed it is excessively obscure at the present time, and no
fossil object I have ever studied has proved so difficult to decipher
as this. It represents an insect (Pl. III, fig. 12) lying upon its side
in a somewhat natural attitude (compare fig. 11), so that one can see
the whole of the under surface of the left hind wing, the costal quarter
of the under surface of the left fore wing, and a little more than a
quarter of the upper surface of the right fore wing, also of the costal
area; the thorax and head with the eyes, the denuded palpi, the partially
unrolled tongue and fragments of the legs in a confused medley may also
be seen, but there is no trace of the antennæ, nor of the right hind
wing (nor of the abdomen?). The left hind wing has an immaterial part
of its outer border removed, and a small portion of the outer border of
the left fore wing is also wanting, but the corresponding portion of the
right fore wing is present. The markings can only be made out by extreme
care, and a very meagre portion of the neuration, especially toward the
borders of the wings, by great patience and the closest examination; but
most of what can be seen of the neuration adds but very little to our
actual knowledge of the animal; it simply adds its testimony in the same
direction as other features of the object.
The illustration of von Heyden (Pl. III, fig. 16) is faulty in several
particulars, but this is not surprising when we consider the excessively
obscure nature of the fossil; it represents the insect as if the under
surface of both wings of one side were seen, the fore wing concealing a
portion of the hind; a break in the stone is taken for the outline of the
wing (just above the extremity of the costal border of the hind wing) and
the markings of the two front wings are blended into one; an abdomen is
represented and above it an outline of the inner border of the hind wing.
The fossil has at first sight this appearance, but I think this view is
erroneous, although on this point one may not speak with confidence, and
it is comparatively unimportant. It is remarkable, however, that von
Heyden, in his _description_, takes the same view of it as I have done. I
have not attempted to give the shading of the darker parts of the wing,
partly from its obscure nature, partly from a doubt whether they really
represent the original markings of the insect; for the basal half of the
under surface of the hind wings, where most of the dark mottling in Von
Heyden’s figure occurs, is usually devoid of any such variegation in
the insects of this group; they are almost always of a uniform grayish
or brownish hue. Von Heyden’s figure does not show the division of the
palpal joints.
Tertiaries of Rott, Rhenish Provinces of Germany. British Museum.
URBICOLÆ—ASTYCI.
PAMPHILITES SCUDDER.
This genus belongs to the Astyci and falls in the neighborhood of
Pansydia and Carystus, if we take as an illustration of the latter group
the _Hesperia Lucasii_ of Fabricius. The former genus has a male with a
discal dash, the latter without one. As the fossil species is represented
by a single fore wing of what is probably a female, it is impossible
to say into which category it would fall. The costal border (Pl. III,
fig. 18) is almost exactly straight throughout; next the base, however,
it is arched a little and it slopes slightly downward on the apical
fifth to a rather sharply defined apex; the outer margin is gently and
almost regularly convex, but with its greatest convexity a little above
the middle, and at its upper end is at right angles to the tip of the
costal margin; the lower angle is rounded off and the inner margin is
slightly sinuous, being hollowed in the middle; the wing is slightly more
than twice as long as broad. In all these respects it agrees far better
with Pansydia (Pl. III, fig. 15) than with Carystus (Pl. III, fig. 13).
Indeed, excepting in the greater length of the wing and the lack of any
change of direction in the outer border at the tip of the lowest median
nervule, the form of the wing scarcely differs from that of _Pansydia
Mesogramma_.
In neuration it agrees better with Pansydia than with Carystus. Poey’s
figure, which for want of better material I have been forced to copy
in illustration, is not executed with sufficient care, for of the
first and second superior subcostal nervules he has made but one. The
principal difference between Pansydia and the fossil genus is in the
fourth superior subcostal nervule; in Pansydia this terminates upon the
costal border just before the apex of the wing, while in Pamphilites it
terminates on the outer border just below the apex of the wing, bringing
the latter into a different interspace in the two genera. From Carystus
it differs, not only in having a proportionally shorter cell, but in the
same point as that in which it is distinguishable from Pansydia; and
further in the uppermost median nervule, which in Carystus is thrown
off abruptly from the nervure just beyond its second divarication and
which, by curving strongly, makes the upper median interspace of nearly
equal width throughout; while in Pamphilites, the nervule parts gently
from the nervure like the others, and at some distance beyond its second
divarication, passing in a regular curved line to the outer border, and
causing the upper median interspace to increase in breadth throughout the
whole of its basal half.
In the disposition of its spots, Pamphilites (Pl. III, figs. 14, 17)
agrees perhaps better with Carystus (Pl. III, fig. 19) than with Pansydia
(Pl. III, fig. 15). This is especially true of the large spots in the
cell and in the lower two median interspaces; although in Carystus the
spots of the median interspaces are further removed from the base than
in Pamphilites, while the opposite is true of the spot surmounting the
submedian nervure; the submarginal spots beyond the cell of Pamphilites
are wanting in Carystus, and the latter genus has but two of the three
subcostal spots of Pamphilites. The spots of Pansydia are smaller and
far less conspicuous than in Pamphilites, that of the cell being reduced
almost to a dot; the median spots are however large, though removed
farther from the base, as in Carystus; there is also a small spot in the
upper median interspace, but further from the margin than in Pamphilites
and unaccompanied by any spot in the interspace beyond the cell; as in
Carystus, the spot surmounting the submedian nervure is further from the
outer margin than in Pamphilites, but the subcostal spots accord very
well with those of the fossil.
By these considerations it would appear that Pansydia is to be placed
between Carystus and Pamphilites, the latter being more nearly related to
Pansydia than to Carystus, leading us to believe it more probable that
we are dealing with a female, whose partner was possessed of the ornament
of a discal dash of specialized scales. The species of Pansydia are
smaller than those of most of the neighboring genera, but _Pamphilites
abdita_ is somewhat smaller even than _Pansydia mesogramma_.
PAMPHILITES ABDITA SCUDDER.
Pl. III, figs. 14, 17, 18.