How to Know the Butterflies

The Cornell classic that taught America to name what it saw: every eastern butterfly described from life, with its caterpillar, its food-plants, its habits — and how to pronounce its Latin.

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The Giant Skippers (Family Megathymid)

Family Megathymidæ (Meg-a-thym'i-dæ) THIS family includes a small number of large skippers, which are found in the South and far West. In the adult insect the head is of moderate size, the width, including the eyes, being much less than that of the metathorax. The club of the antennæ is large, and although the tip is turned slightly to one side, it is neither drawn out to a point nor recurved. The body is very robust, even more so than in the common skippers. These insects fly in the daytime and with a rapid, darting flight. When at rest they fold their wings in a vertical position.

This family is represented in the United States by a single genus including five species. The two following are the bestknown species.

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