Its nearest ally among living European types would seem to be _Maniola Hermione_, in which the costal and median veins are about equally swollen. The neuration of Lethites agrees with this genus in much the same way as it does with Cercyonis, the comparative width of the interspaces beyond the cell being very different in the living genera from what it is in the fossil. In the form of the wing Maniola agrees much better with Lethites than Cercyonis does, but the costa is much more arched, and the cell is much the longer in Maniola; were there no obscure spot in the lower median interspace in the male of _M. Hermione_, the markings of the fossil would agree with it almost perfectly.
_Satyrites Reynesii_ SCUDD., Rev. et. Mag. de Zool., 1871-72, 66-72, pl. vii (1872); IB., Descr. Pap. Foss. 1-7, pl. (1872); IB., Geol. Mag. ix, 532-33, pl. xiii, figs. 2, 3 (1872); IB., Descr. Foss. Butt. 1-2, pl., figs. 2, 3 (1872); BROD., Distr. Corr. Foss. Ins. [_Satyrites Reynesii_], 8-9 (1873).
I give below the original of the first paper cited above, excepting the portion which was quoted under the genus.
In a recent examination of the rich collection of fossil insects from Aix, preserved in the Museum of the city of Marseilles, my attention was attracted by two little slabs containing the traces of a fossil butterfly. Although by no means so well preserved, nor so perfect as the remains of a butterfly from the same beds, described by Dr. Boisduval more than thirty years ago, a glance showed that it could not be referred to that species, since the costal nervure of the fore wings was greatly swollen. No such form having to my knowledge been described from these beds, Dr. Reynès, the accomplished director of the establishment, courteously placed the best specimen in my hands for closer study; and from it the following account and illustrations have been drawn. The second specimen is very imperfectly preserved, but since it exhibits in all its features an exact resemblance to similar parts in the better specimen it undoubtedly belongs to the same species.
The fossil (Pl. I, fig. 2) is a natural cast of a butterfly lying upon its side, the wings folded back to back, the legs extended as if hanging, the tongue uncurled and, with the antennæ, drooping in a direction similar to that of the legs. The right fore wing, which lies beneath, is pushed a little outward and also forward, even at its base, showing that the specimen must have been greatly macerated in very quiet water, before being covered by the deposits which have preserved its more essential features. The condition and position of all the parts also lead us to conjecture that it was swept into its final resting place by a gentle current, which left the slighter appendages lying in the direction of its final action.