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The Common Skippers

Family Hesperiidæ (Hes-pe-ri'i-dæ) THE family Hesperiidæ includes all skippers found in the United States except those already described as the giant skippers. Fig. 41 represents the venation of a member of this family.

The larvæ of the common skippers presents a very characteristic appearance, having large heads and strongly constricted FIG. 43.-Larva of the silver-spotted skipper. necks (Fig. 43). They usually live concealed in a folded leaf or in a nest made of several leaves fastened together. The pupæ are rounded, not angular, resembling those of moths more than those of butterflies. The pupa state is passed in a slight cocoon, which is generally composed of leaves fastened together with silk and thinly lined with the same substance.

The family Hesperiidæ includes three subfamilies ; one of these is represented in this country by a single species found in Arizona and Mexico. The other two subfamilies can be separated by the following table:

A. Vein M, of the fore wings arising much nearer to vein M, than to vein M₁, the base of the vein usually curving notice- M 2 ably toward vein M (Fig.

R 44); antennæ usually end- R R R2 ing with a finely pointed M, R Sc terminal crook, occasionally without crook and ending bluntly; males usually with a brand on the fore wings, never with costal fold. a (Pamphilina), p. 261.