Almost all of the species are American, and the family attains its highest development in the tropical regions of South America.
Genus LEMONIAS, Westwood
Butterfly.—Small, brightly colored, the sexes often differing greatly in appearance from each other. The eyes are naked. The palpi are produced, porrect; the last joint is short, thin, pointed, and depressed. The antennæ are moderately long, provided with a gradually thickening, inconspicuous club. The upper discocellular vein is wanting in the fore wing. The middle and lower discocellulars are of equal length. The hind wing has the end of the cell obliquely terminated by the middle and lower discocellular veins. The apex of the fore wing is somewhat pointed, the outward margin straight. The outward margin of the hind wing is evenly rounded.
[a]Fig. 126.]—Neuration of the genus Lemonias.
Egg.—Flattened, turban-shaped, with a small, depressed, circular micropyle, the whole surface covered with minute hexagonal reticulations.
Caterpillar.—Short, flattened, tapering posteriorly; the segments arched; provided with tufts of hair ranged in longitudinal series, the hairs on the sides and at the anal extremity being long, bent outward and downward.
Chrysalis.—Short, suspended at the anal extremity, and held in position by a silk girdle, but not closely appressed to the surface upon which pupation has taken place; thickly covered with short, projecting hair.
The citadel of this genus is found about the head waters of the Amazon, where there are many species. Thence the genus spreads northward and southward, being represented in the limits of our fauna by only a few species, which are found on the extreme southern borders of the United States.
(1) Lemonias mormo, Felder, Plate XXVIII, Fig. 7, ♂, under side (The Mormon).