"In western Pennsylvania it is believed that if the chrysalids of butterflies be found suspended mostly on the under sides of rails, limbs, etc., as it were to protect them from rain, there will soon be much rain, or, as it is termed, a 'rainy spell'; but, on the contrary, if they are found on twigs and slender branches, that the weather will be dry and clear."--FRANK COWAN, _Curious History of Insects_, p. 229. SUBFAMILY HELICONIINÆ (THE HELICONIANS) "Men, like butterflies, Show not their mealy wings but to the summer." SHAKESPEARE, _Troilus and Cressida_, act iii, sc iii Medium or large-sized butterflies, with the fore wings twice as long as they are broad; the hind wings relatively small and rounded upon the outer margin; without tails. The palpi are produced. The antennæ, which are nearly as long as the body, are provided at the tip with a gradually tapering club, thicker and stouter than in the Ithomiinæ, and are clothed with scales on the upper surface. The fore legs are very feebly developed in both sexes. The eggs are cylindrical, twice as high as wide, tapering rather abruptly toward the apex, which is truncated; they are ribbed longitudinally, with strongly developed cross-ridges, giving the egg a somewhat pitted appearance. The caterpillar, when emerging from the egg, has the head somewhat larger than the body; each segment is clothed with hairs, which upon the first moult are replaced by branching spines. The caterpillar, when it reaches maturity, is provided with six branching spines on each segment. The chrysalis is very peculiar in shape, and is strongly angulated and covered with curious projections, which cause it to somewhat resemble a shriveled leaf. [Illustration FIG. 84.--Neuration of the genus _Heliconius_.] These butterflies are extremely numerous in the tropics of the New World, and are there represented by a number of genera which are rich in species. Most of them are very gaily colored, the prevalent tints being black banded with yellow or crimson, sometimes marked with a brilliant blue luster. They are evidently very strongly protected. Belt, in his "Naturalist in Nicaragua," tells us that birds and other animals observed by him invariably refused to eat these butterflies, although they swarm in the forests; and he vainly endeavored to induce a monkey which was very fond of insects to eat them, the creature revealing by his grimaces that they were extremely distasteful to him. Mr. Wallace believes their immunity from attack is owing to a "strong, pungent, semi-aromatic, or medicinal odor, which seems to pervade all the juices of their system." Genus HELICONIUS, Latreille The description of the subfamily applies to the genus sufficiently well to obviate the necessity of a more particular description, as there is but a single species in our fauna.