Genus NATHALIS, Boisduval
"The butterflies, gay triflers Who in the sunlight sport."
Heine.
Butterfly.—The butterfly is very small, yellow, margined with black. The upper radial vein in the fore wing is wanting. The subcostal has four nervules, the third and fourth rising from a common stalk emitted from the upper outer corner of the cell, the first and second from before the end of the cell. The precostal vein on the hind wing is reduced to a small swelling beyond the base. The palpi are slender; the third joint long and curved; the second joint oval; the third fine, spindle-shaped, and pointed. The antennæ are rather short, with a somewhat thick and abruptly developed club.
[a]Fig. 142.]—Neuration of the genus Nathalis, enlarged.
Early Stages.—Very little is known of these.
Three species belong to this genus, which is confined to the subtropical regions of the New World, one species only invading the region of which this volume treats.
(1) Nathalis iole, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 21, ♂; Fig. 22, ♁ (The Dwarf Yellow).
Butterfly.—This little species, which cannot be mistaken, and which requires no description, as the plate conveys more information concerning it than could be given in mere words, ranges from southern Illinois and Missouri to Arizona and southern California. Its life-history has not yet been described. Expanse, 1.00-1.25 inch.