_Butterfly._--Medium-sized butterflies, for the most part with quite transparent wings. The most characteristic features of this genus, separating it from its near allies, are the thread-like front feet of the females, furnished with four-jointed tarsi (Fig. 83), the very hairy palpi, and the wide cell of the hind wing, abruptly terminating about the middle of the wing. Furthermore, in the male sex the hind wing is strongly bowed out about the middle of the costal margin, and the costal vein tends to coalesce with the subcostal about the middle. [Illustration FIG. 83.--Fore leg of _Dircenna klugii_, ♀, greatly magnified.] _Early Stages._--Very little is as yet known about the early stages of these insects, and what has been said of the characteristics of the caterpillars and chrysalids of the subfamily of the Ithomiinæ must suffice us here. [Illustration FIG. 82.--Neuration of the genus _Dircenna_.] This genus numbers a large array of species which are found in the hottest parts of the tropics of the New World. They fairly swarm in wooded paths amid the jungle of the Amazonian region, and no collection, however small, is ever received from those parts without containing specimens belonging to the group. (1) =Dircenna klugii=, Hübner, Plate VIII, Fig. 1, ♂ (Klug's Dircenna). _Butterfly._--Fore wings transparent gray, broken by clear, transparent, colorless spots at the apex, on the outer borders, and on the middle of the wing. The inner margin of the fore wing is black. The hind wings are transparent yellowish, with a narrow black outer border marked with small whitish spots. The body is black, with the thorax spotted with white. Expanse, 2.75 inches. The specimen figured in the plate is from Mexico. Whether the insect has ever been taken within the limits of the United States is uncertain. It is another of the species attributed to our fauna by Reakirt, but which since his day has not been caught in the nets of any of the numerous butterfly-hunters who have searched the region in which he said it occurs. It may, however, be found upon the borders of Mexico, in the hotter parts of which country it is not at all uncommon. The "gentle reader" will kindly look for it when visiting Brownsville, Texas, and southern California, and, when finding it, herald the fact to the entomological world. * * * * * SUPERSTITIONS "If a butterfly alights upon your head, it foretells good news from a distance. This superstition obtains in Pennsylvania and Maryland. "The first butterfly seen in the summer brings good luck to him who catches it. This notion prevails in New York.