Who replaced the velites in the princpate army

[William Panagopoulos]

so what youre saying is that, in general, the use of light javelins was almost entirely replaced by slings and bows for skirmishing?

I run with the primary sources and what they say. Archers and slingers became an important part of the legion's composition. So a legion consisted of legionaries, archers and slingers, but by the reign of Augustus, this was not the case, a legion consisted of all legionaries. So it was for a short period of time. A legion's archers and slingers could also act separately with javelin men.

and it is the nature and source of recruiting of those javelin men i am trying to delve into after the velites went away with the marian reforms