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L0\1X)N SAM1TRL JCIGBI.EY32 FLEET STREET

THE

NATURALIST’S LIBRARY.

EDITED BY

SIR WILLIAM JARDINE, BART.

F.R.S.E., F.L.S., ETC., ETC.

YOL. XXXI.

ENTOMOLOGY.
FOREIGN BUTTERFLIES.
BY JAMES DUNCAN,

ETC.

EDINBURGH :

W. H. LIZARS, 3, ST. JAMES’ SQUARE.
LONDON :

HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.

1852.

CONTENTS.

Memoir op Lamarck

PAGE

17

Introduction

65

Genus Ornithoptera

87

Omithoptera Priamus. Plate I. Pig. 1.

89

Ornithoptera Remus. Plate I. Fig. 2.

92

Genus Papilio . . . ,

93

Papilio Mcmnon. Plate II. Fig. 1.

97

Papilio AEneas. Plate II. Fig. 2.

99

Papilio Ascanius. Plate III. Fig. 1. .

' 101

Papilio Paris. Plate III. Fig. 2.

102

Papilio Protesilaus. Plate IY. Fig. 1.

104

Papilio Sinon. Plate IV. Fig. 2.

106

Leptocircus Curius. Plate V. Fig. 1. .

107

Thais Medesicaste . Plate Y, Fig. 2.

108

Genus Pieris

110

Pieris Epicliaris. Plate VI. Figs. 1 and 2.

112

Pieris Philyra. Plate VI. Fig. 3.

113

Pieris Belisama. Plate VII. Fig. 1 . ' .

114

Genus Anthocharis

115

Anthocharis Danes. Plate VII. Fig. 2.

116

CONTENTS.

TAGS

Genus li'HUS ]18

Iphias Leucippe. Plate VII. Fig. 3. . . . 119

Genua Callidkyas 120

Callidryas Eubule. Plate VIII. Fig. 1. . . 122

Genus Terias . 124

Terias Mexicana. Plate VIII. Fig. 4. . . 125

Genus Eupkea 126

Euplcea Limniace. Plate IX. Fig. 1. . . 127

Euplcea Plexippe. Plate IX. Fig. 2. . . . 128

Genus Idea' 130

Idea Agelia. Plate X. Fig. 1 131

Idea Daos. Plate X. Fig. 2. ..132

Genus IIeliconia 133

Heliconia Erato. Plate XI. Fig. 1. . . . 135

IIeliconia Cynisca. Plate XI. Fig. 2. . . . 137

Heliconia Sylvana. Plate XI. Fig. 3. . . . 138

Heliconia Flora. Plate XII. Figs. 1 and 2. . 139

Heliconia Diaphcma. Plate XII. Fig. 3. . . 141

Genus Acraja . . . . ■ . . . 142

Acrcca Pasiphts. Plate XII. Fig. 4. . . . 143

Genus Cethosia 144

Cethosia Dido. Plate XIII. . . . . 145

* Cethosia Cyane. Plato XIV. . . . . 147

Genus Vanessa 149

Vanessa Juliana. Plate XV. Fig. 1. . . , ISO

Vanessa Amathea. Plate XV. Fig. 2. . . 151

FaKefso Orithya. Plate XV. Fig. 3. . . . 152

Charaxes Jasius. Plate XVI 154

Nymphalis Etheocles. Plate XVII. Fig. 1. . . 157

Nymphalis Tiridates. Plate XVII. Figs. 2 and 3. 159

Peridromia Arethusa. Plate XVIII. Fig. 1. . 160

Peridromia Amphinome. Plate XVIII. Fig. 2. . 162

Marius Thetis. Plate XIX. Fig. 1. 164

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Falius Hippona. Plate XIX. Fig. 2. . . 167

Catagramma Condomanus. Plate XX. Figs. 1 and 2. 169
Catagramma Pyramus. Plate XX. Figs. 3 and 4. 171

Genus Morpho 172

Morpho Hdenor. Plate XXL . . . . 174

Morpho Adonis. Plate XXII. Fig. 1. . . 176

Genus Patonia 178

Pavonia Tomer. Plate XXII. Fig. 2. . . 179

Arpidea Chorinaea. Plate XXIII. . . . 180

Helicopis Gnidus. Plate XXIV. Figs. 1 and 2. . 183

Erycina Octavius. Plate XXIV. Fig. 3. . . 185

Enja.ua Melibaus. Plate XXV. Figs. 1 and 2. . 187

Loxura Alcides. Plate XXV. Fig. 3. . . 188

Polyommatus Marsyas. Plate XXVI. Figs. 1 and 2. 190

Polyommatus Endymion. Plate XXVI. Figs. 3 and 4. 192
Polyommatus Venus. Plate XXVII. Figs. 1 and 2. 193

Polyommatus AcIubus. Plate XXVII. P'igs 3 and 4. 194

Genus Thaliura 195

Thaliura Rhipheus. Plate XXVIII. . . . 197

Genus Urania 200

Urania Sloanus. Plate XXIX. Fig. 1 . . . 202

Urania leilus. Plate XXIX. Fig. 2. . . 203

Rhipheus Dasycephalus. Plate XXX. . . . 205

Portrait of Lamarck 2

Vignette, Title Page 3

In all, Thirty-two Plates in this Volume. With one Plate
double, making the number equal to
THIRTY-THREE.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

I

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

Among the many eminent French naturalists, whose
loss to science we have so often had occasion to
lament during the few past years, the above indivi-
dual occupied a conspicuous place. He was long
known in Paris by his public prelections, and his
numerous writings have procured for him a high
degree of reputation throughout Europe. In this
country he is best known by his admirable works on
invertebrate animals, which may he said to have
formed a new era in the history of that extensive
department of the animal kingdom. But his studies
had a very extensive range; many of the most
interesting inquiries which for ages have fixed the
attention of mankind, were the subjects of his
meditation, and on most of them he formed a
number of definite ideas which he promulgated
under the form of theories. Although these specu-
lations are of a highly fanciful description, and some
of them greatly to he deprecated on account of their
hurtful tendency, yet they merit attention as the
productions of a mind remarkable for originality
B

18

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

and penetration, as well as for extensive and varied
knowledge.

Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet,
generally called the Chevalier de Lamarck, was
descended from an ancient family of some dis-
tinction, possessed of considerable property in the
province of Bearn. lie was bom at Bezantin, a
small village in Picardy, on the 1st August, 1744.
His father’s pecuniary resources having become
considerably impaired, among other things by the
maintenance of a numerous family, Jean Baptiste
being his eleventh child, he found it necessary to
educate his sons for some useful profession. Several
of them entered the army, and the subject of the
present notice was destined for the church, which
at that period offered many lucrative and influential
appointments to the members of noble families.
To qualify him for this office, he was sent to study
under the Jesuits at Amiens, with whom he remained
for a considerable time. From the first, however, he
appears to have had some aversion to the profession
selected for him by his father, and this was increased
to positive dislike by the mode of life which he was
obliged to lead at college. His active and excursive
mind submitted with impatience to the punctilious
restraints of college discipline, and the mechanical
routine of studies prescribed indiscriminately to all,
without reference to natural bias or acquired predi-
lection. Most of his companions were actively
engaged in the field or in other public services, for

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

19

France was now occupied with the eventful struggle
which commenced in 1756. His eldest brother
had fallen in the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom ; others
of them were still in the army ; and all his most
cherished associations were connected with the pro-
fession of arms. With so much to inspire an aver-
sion to seclusion and comparative inactivity, nothing
could have induced him to remain at college but the
authority of his father, who still enforced compliance
with his wishes. That salutary restraint, however,
having been removed by death, in 1760, no time
was lost by young Lamarck in following his own
inclinations. With nothing hut a letter of recom-
mendation from a lady residing in the neighbourhood
of his father, addressed to the colonel of a French
regiment, he set out for the army, which was then in
Germany. Lamarck’s somewhat diminutive stature
and boyish appearance, which made him lookyounger
than he really was, were ill fitted to make amends
for the want of influential patronage. His reception
was by no means flattering, hut nothing could daunt
the zeal of the young volunteer. Lie joined a com-
pany of grenadiers, and determined to trust to fortune
and his own exertions for obtaining that rank which
individuals of his birth and education commonly
acquire by other means.

Zeal like this seldom fails sooner or later in
attaining its object, and in the present instance it
was speedily rewarded. Lamarck had joined the
army on the day preceding the battle of Fis-
singshausen, in which a vigorous but unsuccessful

20

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

attack was made by the combined troops of the
marshal de Broglie and the prince of Soubise, on the
army commanded by Prince Ferdinand of Bruns-
wick. Cuvier relates*, that in the vicissitudes of
the contest, the company to which M. Lamarck
was attached happened to be thrown into such a
position as completely exposed it to the fire of the
enemy’s artillery, and that, owing to the confusion
which took place in the French army, it was entirely
forgotten and left in that perilous situation. All
the officers were soon killed, as well as the greater
number of privates, when an old grenadier, perceiv-
ing that there were no longer any of the French
within sight, proposed to the young volunteer, who
by the death of the officers had unexpectedly
acquired the temporary command, that the little
troop should be withdrawn. This, however, he
resolutely refused to do until he received regular
orders to that effect, which at last were dispatched,
w r hen the troop were discovered to be missing, and
reached him with the utmost difficulty, owing to the
rapid advance of the enemy. This instance of
intrepidity and vigorous adherence to orders gave
so much satisfaction to the commander-in-chief,
that he instantly issued an order for Lamarck’s
promotion. Some time afterwards, he was nomi-
nated to a lieutenancy, and his warmest anticipations

* See liis eloge on Lamarck, of which a translation will be
found in the Thirty-ninth Number of the Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal. To this memoir we have been chiefly
indebted for the particulars of Lamarck’s life.

MEMOIR OP LAMARCK.

21

of success, iu a profession which he had made so
many sacrifices to embrace, promised in time to be
realized. But these prospects were speedily oyer-
clouded by an accident which completely put a stop
to his military career, and gave a different com-
plexion to the whole tenor of his life and habits.
Some one of his companions, in sport, had lifted
him by the head, and thereby strained so severely
the glands of his neck, that he was for some time
placed in the greatest danger. After many reme-
dies had been tried to no purpose, a cure was at
last effected by the celebrated M. Tenon, by means
of a complicated operation. But his health had by
this time become so much impaired, that after
residing for a length of time in Paris in the hope
of its amendment, he found it necessary to abandon
all intention of rejoining the army.

In these circumstances it became necessary for
him to think of some new occupation, and he seems
not to have been long in forming a resolution to
study medicine. Ilis pecuniary circumstances, how-
ever, were so very limited, consisting of a pension
of only 400 francs, that he was obliged in the mean
time to employ himself as a clerk in the office of a
banker in order to obtain the means of daily sub-
sistence. The intervals he spent in study ; and
such were the buoyancy and activity of his mind,
that even when his prospects were most discou
raging, he never seems to have lost the expectation
of rising to usefulness and distinction. He reverted
with eagerness to the physical studies which he had

22

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

commenced at college, and soon showed a prefer-
ence for certain departments of natural history. He
delighted to engage in controversial discussions on
these subjects with his companions, and to indulge
in speculations respecting the most abstruse points
in physics and the phenomena of the natural world.
It is not - improbable that it was about this time,
when the wide and varied fields of science were
just beginning to open to his view, that he con-
ceived some of those crude and fanciful notions
which characterise so many of his theoretical views.
It is less a matter of surprise that such ideas should
suggest themselves, at the outset of his career, to one
of his ardent temperament and lively imagination,
than that he should have persisted in maintaining
them when his knowledge was more extended and
his judgment matured, although in the opinion of
almost every other person their fallacy appeared
demonstrable.

Botany and meteorology were the branches on
which he first bestowed the greatest degree of
attention. Even before he left the army, he had
become attached to the former ; and during his stay
at Monaco, had examined the singular vegetation
of that rocky country. During his illness, he was
lodged, for the sake of economy, in an apartment at
the top of a high house, from which the clouds
formed almost the only spectacle; and to relieve
the tedium of his long solitude, he was accustomed
to watch their varying forms and aspects, and care-
fully to observe all the other atmospheric pheno-

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

23

mena, indulging his fancy in forming conjectures
about their nature and origin. This circumstance,
he himself states, first inspired him with a desire to
study meteorology; and we can perceive in these
solitary meditations, one of the causes which tended
to give their fanciful complexion to many of his
subsequent speculations.

After continuing his physical studies with much
ardour for several years, he at length appeared in
the character of an author. His “ French Flora, or
a brief Description of all the Plants which grow
naturally in France,” was published in 1778. The
immediate occasion of this work was a desire to
furnish his fellow-students with a system of arrange-
ment which should lead with greater ease and
certainty to the determination of plants than any
then in use. For this purpose he adopted a modi-
fication of the binary or dichotomous method, the
principle of which consists in arranging natural
objects by their positive and negative characters,
dividing and subdividing always by two, and allow-
ing a choice only between two opposite characters.
Although this plan is, of course, highly artificial,
and ill calculated to throw light on the affinities and
analogies of objects, yet it is much recommended
by its extreme simplicity, which adapts it to the
comprehension of those who have hut little acquaint-
ance with the technical and. descriptive language of
natural history. If judiciously applied, it affords an
easy index to particular genera and species, and
renders the subject at once accessible without any

21

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

preparatory labour. Indeed, the principle on which
it rests must to a certain extent be implied in every
artificial system of arrangement.

This work soon acquired a considerable degree of
popularity, not only by its intrinsic value, but from
the seasonable time of its appearance. The study of
botany,, which had hitherto been confined almost
exclusively to the members of the medical profes-
sion, was now becoming a popular and even fashion-
able pursuit ; a distinction which it owed chiefly to
the writings and example of J. J. Rousseau. Every
work, therefore, calculated to facilitate the study,
was likely to meet with a favourable reception
among those who would probably have been repelled
by dry technical details and rigorous scientific pre-
cision. Its publication had an important influence
on Lamarck’s fortune and prospects. It secured for
him the friendship and patronage of M. de Buffon,
who was then in the height of his popularity, and
possessed of much influence, not only from his rank,
character, and celebrity, but also from his authority
with the government. Even its want of a very
philosophical and precise system was probably one
of the circumstances that recommended it to Buf-
fon’s attention, as it was thereby assimilated to his
own writings, from which every thing of that nature
was expressly excluded. Through his influence, an
edition of the work was printed at the royal press,
and its author introduced to the favourable notice of
many of the leading savans of the day. He had
soon an opportunity of turning his popularity to

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

25

some profitable account, for a place happening to
become vacant in the botanical department of the
Academy of Sciences, Lamarck was presented with
the appointment, in preference to others of older
standing and much higher pretensions. He thus
acquired a certain status among men of science,
which encouraged him to prosecute the studies
which he had so successfully begun, and at the
same time afforded him the means of doing so in a
more efficient manner.

Another important advantage was derived by
Lamarck from the friendship of M. de Buffon.
When the son of the latter had completed his
studies, and was about to make a tour through
various parts of Europe, Lamarck was invited to
accompany him as tutor; and hi order that he
might enjoy greater privileges hy appearing in a
kind of official character, Buffon procured for him a
commission as botanist to the king, for the purpose
of visiting foreign gardens and cabinets, and open-
ing a correspondence between them and similar
establishments in Paris. In this double capacity he
travelled through various countries in the year 1781
and 1782 ; visited Gleditsch at Berlin, Jacquin at
Vienna, Murray at Gottingen, and many other cele-
brated naturalists ; greatly extending his acquaint-
ance, not only with botany, but with many other
branches of natural history.

The extent and accuracy of his botanical know-
ledge was evinced by the important works in which
he engaged shortly after his return, which have

26 MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

conferred on him a high reputation in this depart-
ment. These consisted of voluminous contribu-
tions to the Encyclopedic Mcthodiqne , forming a
Dictionary of Botany , and an extensive series of
Illustrations of Genera. Of that portion of the
Encyclopiedia known by the former name, Lamarck
wrote the whole of the two first volumes, and a
part of the third, fourth, and fifth. The object of
the work is to give a detailed history of plants,
accompanied with descriptions, remarks on their
synonymy, an account of their uses, and peculiarities
of their structure. The Illustrations profess to afford
“ an exposition of the characters of all the plants
established by botanists, arranged according to the
sexual system of Linnaeus, -with figures displaying
the characters of these genera, and a table of all the
known species referable thereto, the description of
which is found in the Botanical Dictionary of the
Encyclopaedia.” This laborious work contains no
fewer than two thousand genera, illustrated by half
that number of quarto plates, executed with great
care, and generally representing one or two of the
typical species, with a Anew to afford a knowledge
of their general appearance and habit. The flower
and parts of fructification are carefully delineated,
and the precision and accuracy of the whole work,
renders it one of the most valuable that can be
named for conveying a speedy knowledge of the
extensive and interesting subject of which it treats.
The zeal with which Lamarck laboured to produce
works of such research and interest, is characteristic

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 27

of the temperament of his mind. He seems for a
time to have allowed the subject wholly to engross
his thoughts ; to have occupied himself with nothing
but plants, and to have associated almost exclusively
with botanists. lie was a frequent visitor at the house
of M. de Jussieu, whose celebrity drew around him
all who devoted themselves to this branch of science.
Whenever a new collection of plants arrived in Paris,
Lamarck was the first to inspect it ; and when the
celebrated Sonnerat returned from India in 1781,
he was so much pleased with Lamarck’s enthusiasm,
as contrasted with the comparative indifference of
most other naturalists, that he presented him with
the magnificent herbarium which he had made in
the east. It is to zeal like this that we are entitled
to look for the achievement of the highest results in
science.

Notwithstanding the patronage of Buffon, and
others having the greatest influence with the go-
vernment, it was long before Lamarck succeeded in
obtaining any permanent and lucrative appointment.
His chief dependence was on the casual and preca-
rious engagements which he formed with booksellers,
according to whose direction he was obliged to
labour ; a painful restraint to a man of genius, im-
patient to developc his own conceptions in whatever
way he judged best fitted to render them effective.
He was at length nominated by M. de la Billardiere,
a relation of his own, to a place which seems to
have been created expressly for him, by which the
duty was assigned him of keeping the herbaria in

28

MEMOJR OF LAMARCK.

the king’s cabinet. Although the emolument aris-
ing from this office was inconsiderable, and the
tenure of it uncertain and invidious, for the National
Assembly were called upon to suppress it as un-
necessary, he continued to hold it for several years,
till a change occurred which opened new prospects
and entailed new duties. This happened in 1793,
when the establishment known by the name of the
king’s garden and cabinet were remodelled and dis-
tinguished by the title of Museum of Natural
History. The professors of the suppressed institu-
tion were appointed to superintend such departments
taught in the new, as most nearly corresponded to
their previous occupations; and as Lamarck was
the last appointed, he was obliged to take charge of
that branch unappropriated by the others, which
happened to be the two extensive classes of the
animal kingdom, named Insecta and Vermes by
Linnams.

A new direction was thus given to his studies,
for zoology as a science had hitherto occupied but
little of his regard. Indeed, the only knowledge of
this subject which he possessed, directly available
in his new station, seems to have been limited to
Testaceous Mollusca, which attracted his attention
at a pretty early period. But the occasion was
just such a one as was best calculated to excite
the natural ardour and energy of his character. He
entered upon this new field of inquiry with the
utmost eagerness, and cultivated it with so much
skill and facility, that he was soon in a condition

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 29

to instruct others, and ultimately to produce works
which will form a lasting monument to his fame.

Before engaging in the study of practical zoology,
Lamarck had rendered himself conspicuous by the
boldness and originality of his speculations regarding
a variety of physical phenomena. The general laws
of chemistry, the origin of the globe and its inhabi-
tants, the condition of the atmosphere and of living
bodies, and most other great questions fitted to
attract an active fancy, had by turns been the
subjects of his contemplation ; and on many of
them he had elaborated a theory which he conceived
calculated to elucidate the most abstruse phenomena
they presented. To these views he attached the
highest importance, considering them destined to
place almost every branch of knowledge on a new
and secure foundation. lie therefore took advan-
tage of every opportunity to enforce and illustrate
them, and they will be found to pervade most of
his published works, even such as afford no obvious
plea for their introduction. Although most of
them are exploded as fanciful and untenable, these
theories display much ingenuity and extensive know-
ledge, and a pretty full account of them is necessary
to show the character of Lamarck’s mind, and the
wide range of his studies.

As early as 1780, he had presented his Theory of
Chemistry to the Academy of Sciences ; but it was
not published for several years afterwards, when it
appeared under the title of “ Researches on the
Causes of the most important physical Facts, and

30

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

particularly on those of Combustion ; of the raising
of Water in the State of Vapour ; of the Heat pro-
duced by the Friction of solid Bodies against each
other,” &c. &c. A condensed view of the opinions
promulgated in that work, and some others on the
same subject, is thus given by Cuvier. According
to our author, “ Matter is not homogeneous; it
consists ‘ of simple principles, essentially different
among themselves. The connexion of these prin-
ciples in compounds varies in intensity; they mu-
tually conceal each other, more or less, according as
each of them is more or less predominant. The
principle of no compound is ever in a natural state,
but always more or less modified : as, however, it is
not agreeable to reason that a substance should
have a tendency to depart from its natural condition,
it must be concluded, that combinations are not
produced by Nature, but that, on the contrary, she
tends unceasingly to destroy the combinations which
exist, and each principle of a compound body tries
to disengage itself according to the degree of its
energy. From this tendency, favoured by the pre-
sence of water, dissolutions result: affinities have
no influence ; and all experiments by which it is
attempted to be proved that water decomposes, and
consists of many kinds of air, are mere illusions,
and that it is fire which produces them. The
element of fire* is subject, like the others, to modi-
fication when combined. In its natural state, every-

* Memoir on tlie substance of fire, considered as a chemical
agent in analysis.— Journal de Physique , Floreal , An. vii.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

31

ivhere diffused and penetrating every substance, it
is absolutely imperceptible : only, when it is put in
vibration, it becomes the essence of sound ; for air
is not the vehicle of soimd as natural philosophers
believe*. But fire is fixed in a great number of
bodies, where it accumulates, and becomes, in its
highest degree of condensation, carbonic fire , the
basis of all combustible substances, and the cause of
all colours. When lesS condensed, and more liable
to escape, it is acidific fire (feu acidifique ), the
cause of causticity when in great abundance, and of
tastes and smells when less so. At the moment
when it disengages itself, and in its transitory state
of expansive motion, it is caloric fire. It is in this
form that it dilates, warms, liquifies, and volatilizes
bodies by surrounding their molecules ; that it bums
them by destroying their aggregation ; and that it
calcines or acidifies them by again becoming fixed
in them. In the greatest force of its expansion, it
possesses the power of emitting light, which is of a
white, red, or violet-blue colour, according to the
force with which it acts ; and it is, therefore, the
origin of the prismatic colours, as also of the tints
seen in the flame of candles. Light, in its turn,
has likewise the power of acting upon fire, and it is
thus that the sun continually produces new sources
of heat. Besides, all the compound substances
observed on the globe are owing to the organic
powers of beings endowed with life, of which, con-

* Memoir on the substance of sound.— Journal de Physique,
1 6 26 Brumaire, An. vii.

32

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

sequently it may be said, that they are not conform-
able to nature, and are even opposed to it, because
they unceasingly reproduce what nature continually
tends to destroy. Vegetables form direct combina-
tions of the elements ; animals produce more com -
plicated compounds by combining those formed by
vegetables; but there is in every living body a
power which tends to destroy it ; all therefore die,
each in his appointed season, and all mineral sub-
stances, and all organic bodies whatsoever, are
nothing but the remains of bodies which once had
life, and from which the more volatile principles
have been successfully disengaged. The products
of the most complex animals are calcareous sub-
stances, those of vegetables are argils or earths.
Both of these pass into a siliceous state, by freeing
themselves more and more from their less fixed
principles, and at last are reduced to rock-crystal,
which is earth in its greatest purity. Salts, pyrites,
metals, differ from other minerals, only because
certain circumstances have had the effect of accu-
mulating in them, in different proportions, a greater
quantity of carbonic or acidific fire.”

Lamarck’s opinion regarding the origin of living
beings, and the manner in which they acquired the
various organs and forms which they now possess,
are well known. They were first given to the
public in 1802, in a work entitled “ Researches on
the Organization of living Bodies, on the Cause of
its Developements, and the Progress of its Composi-
tion, and on that Principle, which, by continually

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

33

tending to destroy it in every Individual necessarily
brings on Death.” He conceives that the egg, for
example, contains nothing prepared for life before
being fecundated, and that the embryo of the chick
becomes susceptible of vital motion only by the
action of the seminal vapour ; hut if we admit that
there exists in the universe a fluid analogous to this
vapour, and capable of acting upon matter placed
in favourable circumstances, as in the case of em-
bryos, we will then be able to form an idea of
spontaneous generations. The more simple bodies,
such as a monad or a polypus, arc easily formed ;
and this being the case, it is easy to conceive how,
in the lapse of time, animals of more complex
structure should be produced, for it must be ad-
mitted as a fundamental law, that the production of
a new organ in an animal body results from any
new want or desire which it may experience. The
first effort of a being just beginning to develope
itself, must be to procure the means of subsistence,
and hence in time there came to be produced a
stomach or alimentary cavity. Other wants, oc-
casioned by circumstances, will lead to other efforts,
which in their turn 11111 produce new organs. One
of the gasteropode mollusc®, for example, may be
conceived to have felt the necessity, as it moved
along, of exploring by touch the bodies in its path
and to have made efforts to do so with some of the
anterior points of its head, which would continually
direct to that point masses of the nervous fluid, as
v ell as other liquids : from these reiterated affluences

c

34

MEMOIR OP LAMARCK.

to the point in question, there would follow a gra-
dual expansion of the nerves which terminate there ;
and as the nutritious and other juices likewise flow
to the same point, it must necessarily happen that
two or four tentacula would insensibly be produced.
This is no doubt what happens in regard .to all the
gasteropodc tribes, whose wants occasion the habit
of feeling bodies by touching them with the parts of
their head ; and when such wants arc not felt, the
head remains destitute of tentacula, as may be seen
in other instances, &c. * In like manner it is the
desire and the attempt to swim, that had, in time,
the effect of extending the skin that unites the toes
of many aquatic birds, and thus the web-foot of the
gull and duck were at last produced. The necessity
of wading in search of food, accompanied with the
desire to keep their bodies from coming in contact
with the water, has lengthened to these present
dimensions, the legs of the grail® or wading-birds ;
while the desire of flying has converted the arms of
all birds into wings, and their hairs and scales into
feathers. Changes of this nature may appear to us
contrary to what falls under our observation, which
leads us to suppose that the specific forms of animals
are constant ; but this error is entirely owing to the
difficulty we experience in embracing a considerable
portion of time within the scope of our observations.
It is from this cause that we cannot he ourselves
witnesses of these changes, and neither liistory nor
written observations extend to sufficiently remote a
* Animaux sans rertZlres, vol. i. p. 188, 189.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

35

date to convince us of our mistake. If vve observe
that the forms of the parts of animals are always
perfect when viewed in relation to their use, as is
really the case, it is not to be inferred that it is the
form of the parts which has led them to be employed
in a certain way, as zoologists assert, but that it is,
on the contrary, tho need of action which has pro-
duced the peculiar parts, and it is the employment
of these parts which has developed them, and esta-
blished a proper relation between them and their
functions. To affirm that the form of the parts in-
duced their functions, would be to leave Nature
without power, incapable of producing any act, or
any change in bodies; and the different parts of
animals, as well as the animals themselves, as all
created at first, would from that moment present as
many forms as are required by the diversity of cir-
cumstances in which animals live ; and it would be
necessary that these circumstances should never
vary, and that such should likewise be the case with
the parts of each animal. Nothing, however, of' this
kind takes place, and nothing can be more opposite
to the means which observation shows us that
Nature employs to call into existence her manifold
productions. It must hence appear, that what are
called species do not exist in nature ; that the con-
stancy of races to which that name has been given,
can only be temporary and not absolute, although
they would no doubt continue the same as long as
the circumstances which effect them undergo no
change, and they are not forced to alter their ha-

36

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

bitudes. It is susceptible of demonstration, that if
species had an absolute constancy, there would be
no varieties, but naturalists cannot help acknowledg-
ing that such exist*.

Whatever changes circumstances may have pro-
duced in individuals, are all preserved by genera-
tion, and transmitted to new individuals emanating
from those which have undergone these changes.
Unless this were the case, Nature could never have
introduced the diversity among animals which we
now witness, nor a progression in the composition
of their organs and faculties - !.

Such is Lamarck’s theory of life, and manner of
accounting for the innumerable variety of forms in
which living nature now appears. If his principles
were once admitted, they would not only produce
the effects he ascribes to them, but it would be
a matter of surprise that natural productions are
not infinitely more diversified than they really are,
for nothing more is necessary than time and cir-
cumstances for any one animal form to be trans-
formed into any other, — for a monad or a polypus
to become indifferently a frog, an eagle, an elephant,
or a man. But the two suppositions on which they
rest, viz. that it is the seminal vapour which orga-
nizes the embryo, and that efforts and desires en-
gender organs, are both so entirely arbitrary, and
the latter so obviously fallacious, that very few have
ever thought it worth while to attempt a formal

* Aminaux sans Vertebrae, vol. i. p. 197, 198.

+ lb. p. 199.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 37

refutation of them. It is difficult, indeed, to con-
ceive how Lamarck could advance a theory so
utterly opposed to observation and probability, and
at the same time succeed so effectually in convincing
himself of its truth. He must have perceived many
of the inadmissible and absurd conclusions to which
it led ; yet he persists in maintaining it by a kind
of sophistry which could impose on none hut him-
self. He admits the value of observation and ex-
perience in the discovery of truth ; but finding that
they bore no testimony to the wonderful transforma-
tions he was desirous to prove, he gets rid of their
evidence altogether, by alleging that they do not
extend over a sufficiently lengthened period to take
cognizance of these changes. The argument, there-
fore, on this point, virtually amounts to this, that
observation gives no notice of these operations, but
that instead of thence inferring that they do not
take place, the proper conclusion is, that they are
actually going on, and have been in progress since
the creation ! How indispensable unlimited time is
to give an air of plausibility to Lamarck’s theory, is
strikingly evinced by the fact, of which he was
perfectly aware, that we have the means of com-
paring animals that lived upwards of two or three
thousand years ago, with the same species as they
exist at present, and the conformity between them
is found to be complete. Numerous quadrupeds,
birds, reptiles, and insects, have been found em-
balmed in the Egyptian cemeteries, with all the
parts in such a state of preservation as to be per-

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

£8

fectly recognizable. “ It would seem,” says the
professors of the museum at Paris, in their report on
these valuable remains*, “ as if the superstition of
the ancient Egyptians had been inspired by Nature,
in order to transmit to future times a monument of
her history. By embalming with so much care the
brutes which were the objects of their foolish ado-
ration, that extraordinary and capricious people
hare left us, in their sacred grottoes, almost com-
plete cabinets of zoology. The climate has con-
spired with the art of embalming to preserve bodies
from corruption, and we can now satisfy ourselves,
by our own eyes, what was the condition of many
species three thousand years ago. It is difficult to
restrain the transports of our imagination, when we
behold thus preserved, with their minutest hones,
the smallest portions of their skin, and in every
respect most perfectly recognizable, many animals,
which at Thebes or Memphis, two or three thousand
years ago, had their own priests and altars.” In
regard to these curious relicts, Lamarck was forced
to admit that they were identical with their living
descendants in the same country, and accounted for
it by saying that this happened because the climate
and other physical conditions of the latter had long
continued unaltered. But he makes no attempt to
account for the fact which is so fatal to his theory,
that these remains entirely correspond to individuals
of the same species in many different quarters of the
globe, where the physical conditions are so dis-
* Ann. du Museum d'Hist. Nat., tom. i. p. 234,

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 39

similar that they ought to- hare produced important
changes*.

It will likewise he observed as an important
defect in Lamarck’s argument, that he can cite no
positive fact to exemplify the substitution of some
entirely new sense, faculty, or organ, in the room of
some other suppressed as useless. “ All the in-
stances adduced,” says Mr. Lyell, “ go only to prove
that the dimensions and strength of members, and
the perfection of certain attributes may, in a long
succession of generations, be lessened and enfeebled
by disuse ; or, on the contrary, be matured and
augmented by active exertion, just as we know that
the power of scent is feeble in the greyhound, while
its swiftness of pace and its acuteness of sight are
remarkable ; that the hanier and staghound, on the
contrary, are comparatively slow in their move-
ments, but excel in their sense of smelling. We
point out to the reader this important chasm in the
chain of the evidence, because he might otherwise
imagine that we had merely omitted the illustrations
for the sake of brevity ; but the plain truth is, that
there were no examples to be found, and when
Lamarck talks of * the efforts of internal sentiment,’
‘ the influence of subtile fluids,’ and the ‘ acts of
organization,’ as causes whereby animals and plants
may acquire new organs , he gives us names for
things, and with a disregard of the strict rales
of induction, resorts to fictions, as ideal as the

Lyell’s Principles of Geology, ii. p. 31.

40

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

‘ plastic virtue,’ and other phantoms of the middle
ages.

“ It is evident, that if some well authenticated
facts could have been adduced to establish one com -
plete step in the process of transformation, such as
the appearance in individuals descending from a
common stock, of a sense or organ entirely new,
and a complete disappearance of some other en-
joyed by their progenitors, that time alone might
then be supposed sufficient to bring about any
amount of metamorphosis. The gratuitous assump-
tion, therefore, of a point so vital to the theory of
transmutation, was unpardonable on the part of its
advocate

The transmutability of species is a point which
has been maintained by many naturalists besides
Lamarck, and the reasons they have adduced in
support of their opinions are so various, that the
full consideration of them would be inconsistent
with our present purpose. It may be assumed as
capable of most satisfactory proof, that the muta-
tions which species undergo in accommodating them-
selves to a change of external circumstances, have a
definite limit, and are regulated by constant laws ;
and that the capability of so varying, forms part of
the specific character. Indefinite divergence from
the original type is guarded against, in the case of
intermixture of distinct species, by the sterility of
the mule offspring ; circumstances which show that

Frinciple8 of Geology, ii. p. 8.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

41

species were designed to retain the individuality of
character with which they were endowed at the
time of their creation, and that they have a real
existence in nature*.

The intellectual faculties of animals, Lamarck
regards as entirely the result of organization. Even
in the case of the most perfect of them, the human
species, there is no distinct recognition of a spiritual
substance derived from heaven ; and all intellectual
phenomena whatever, are ascribed to some physi-
cal cause. Nature, he conceives, offers nothing
cognizable by us but body ; the movements, changes,
and properties of bodies , form the only field open to
our observation, and the only source of real know-
ledge and useful truthst. The place of the soul
seems to be usurped by a certain interior sentiment ,
to which he continually refers, as exercising a most
powerful influence over all the faculties, and giving
rise to all the passions and affections J. Thus the
noblest faculties of the mind, “ the capability and
godlike reason,” by which we are distinguished
from other animals,

and this spirit,

This all-pervading, this all-conscious soul,

This particle of energy divine.

Which travels nature, flies from star to star.

And visits gods, and emulates their powers ;

* This subject will he found to he discussed at considerable
length, and in a very satisfactory manner, in the second volume
of Mr. Lyell’s Principles of Geology, p. 1 — 65.
f A nimaux sans Vertebras, i. p. 260.
i Ibid. 258, A 7 ", Diet . d' llist. Nat. xvi. Art. Intelligence.

42

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

arc made to emanate from a certain relation of parts
and organs, — a particular conformation of material
substances, just as a desired result is obtained by
arranging in a certain order the parts of a piece of
mechanism.

“ But who can believe that such a faculty, so
divine, so godlike and spiritual, can be the mere
result of organization? That any juxta-position of
material molecules, of whatsoever nature, from
whatever source derived, in whatever order and
forms arranged, and wherever placed, could generate
thought, and reflection, and reasoning powers, could
acquire and store up ideas and notions, as well con-
cerning metaphysical as physical essences, may as
safely be pronounced impossible, as that matter and
spirit should be homogeneous. Though the intel-
lectual part acts by the brain and nerves, yet the
brain and nerves, however ample, however de-
veloped, are not the intellect, nor an intellectual
substance, but only its instrument, fitted for the
passage of the prime messenger of the soul, its
nervous fluid or power to every motive organ. It
is a substance calculated to convey instantaneously
that subtile agent, by which spirit can act upon
body, wherever the soul bids it to go and enables it
to act. When death separates the intellectual and
the spiritual from the material part, the introduction
of a fluid, homogeneous with the nervous, or related
to it by a galvanic battery, can put the nerves in
action, lift the eyelids, move the limbs ; but though
the action of the intellectual part may thus be

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

43

imitated, in newly deceased persons, still there are
no signs of returning intelligence, there is no life, no
voluntary action, not a trace of the spiritual agent
that has been summoned from its dwelling. Whence
it follows, that though the organization is that by
which the intellectual and governing power manifests
its presence and habitation, still it is evidently some-
thing distinct from and independent of it*.”

With opinions having such a decided tendency
to materialism, it is not surprising that Lamarck
seldom makes allusion to a Deity, and when he
does so, he nearly confines himself to the bare
acknowledgment of his existence. In his earlier
works, there is no mention made of a Supreme
Being whatever; and even when his existence is
admitted, He is divested of the attributes ■which
belong to him. The glory of forming the works of
creation, in which His beneficence and power are so
signally manifested, is ascribed to nature, or a cer-
tain order of things. This power to which the Deity
has delegated his prerogatives, and w'hich he has
appointed his vicegerent, Lamarck defines as “ An
order of things composed of objects independent of
matter, which are determined by the observation of
bodies, and the whole amount of which constitutes
a power, unalterable in its essence, governed in all
its acts, and constantly acting upon all the parts of
the physical universe t.” This blind power, which

* Kirby's Bridge. Treat. Intro, p. xxxii.

t N. Diet. d’Hist. Nat. xxii. Art. Nature, 377 ; Anim. sans
Vert. i. p. 317.

44

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

acts necessarily, has not, indeed, called matter into
existence, but it has formed all bodies of which
matter is essentially the base ; and as it exercises
no power except on the latter, which it modifies
and changes in every possible manner, producing
all its various aggregates and combinations, we may
he assured that it is it which has made all bodies
such as we now behold them, and that it is Na-
ture which confers on some their properties, and
on others the faculties which they exercise*. All
this power Lamarck distinctly admits has been de-
legated to Nature by the Deity, and among other
errors which he conceives to have attached to the
ideas which have been entertained regarding Nature,
he refutes the notion that N ature is the Deity him-
self. “ Strange occurrence ! that the watch should
have been confounded with its maker, the work
with its author. Assuredly this idea is illogical and
unfit to he maintained. The power which has
created Nature, has, without doubt, no limits, can-
not be restricted in its will or made subject to
others, and is independent of all law. It alone can
change Nature and her laws, and even annihilate
them ; and although we have no positive knowledge
of this great object, the idea which we thus form
of the Almighty Power, is at least the most suitable
for man to entertain of the Divinity, when he can
raise his thoughts to the contemplation of him. I f
Nature were an intelligence, it could exercise voli-
tion, and change its laws, or rather there could be
* Arum, sans Vert. i. p. 316.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

45

no lair. Finally, if Nature were God, its will
would be independent, its acts unconstrained ; but
this is not the case ; it is, on the contrary, con-
tinually subject to constant laws, over which it has
no power : it hence follows, that although its means
are infinitely diversified and inexhaustible, it acts
always in the same manner in the same circum-
stances, without the power of acting otherwise

While thus admitting the existence of the Deity,
any direct interference in the affairs of the universe
is wholly denied to him. His sovereignty is re-
duced to a mere nominal supremacy, as he is sup-
posed to take no care or thought for the worlds
which he authorized or permitted to be created, and
can have no sympathy for the creatures which in-
habit them. As with La Place, and so many other
philosophers of the French school, every thing is
ascribed to secondary causes , which are made to
usurp the place and attributes of the Divinity.
Lamarck’s deity r , therefore, is the exact counterpart
of the god of Epicurus, whose being is allowed
seemingly more for the purpose of giving consistency
to a theory, or a compliance with generally received
opinions, than from any urgent conviction of his
reality; and we may justly apply to him what was
said of the Grecian philosopher ; Re tollit, oratione
relinquit Deum.

It has been already mentioned, that Lamarck’s
attention was early directed to meteorology, and it
seems long to have continued to form one of his
* Anim. sans Vert., vol. i. 322.

46

MEMOIR OP LAMARCK.

most favourite studies. So comparatively limited
is our positive knowledge of atmospheric pheno-
mena, that a careful investigation of them alforded
the prospect of new and important discoveries ;
while the endless variety of appearances which
they present, and the complicated influences which
operate ' in producing them, offered a wide and
interesting field for the exercise of that specu-
lative kind off inquiry which Lamarck loved to
indulge. "With his usual facility in such matters,
he was not long in advancing a theory, according to
which the atmosphere is regarded as resembling the
sea, having a surface, waves, and storms ; it ought,
likewise, to have a flux and reflux, for the moon
ought to exercise the same influence upon it that it
does on the ocean. In the temperate and frigid
zones, therefore, the wind, which is only the tide of
ihe atmosphere, must depend greatly on the decli-
nation of the moon ; it ought to blow towards the
pole that is nearest to it, and advancing in that
direction only, in order to reach every place, travers-
ing dry countries or extensive seas, it ought then
to render the sky serene or stormy. If the influence
of the moon on the weather is denied, it is only
that it may be referred to its phases ; but its posi-
tion in the ecliptic is regarded as affording pro-
babilities much nearer the truth*.

* On the Influence of the Moon on the Earth’s Atmosphere ;
Journal do Physique , Prairial, an. vi. Most of Lamarck's other
essays on Meteorology will be found in the periodical just
named.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 47

So convinced was Lamarck of the accuracy and
value of his theory, that he resolved on reducing it
to practice, and thus at the same time establish its
truth, and attract the attention of the public towards
it. For this purpose he drew up a scries of alma-
nacks, which he had the perseverance to publish for
ten consecutive years, the nature of which will be
best understood from the title of that which first
appeared. “ Annual Meteorology for the Year vm
of the Republic (1800, A. d.), containing an Exposi-
tion of the Probabilities acquired by a long Series of
Observations on the State of the Weather, and
Variations of the Atmosphere, in different Seasons
of the Year; an Indication of the Times when it
may be expected to be fine AVeather, or Rain.
Storms and Tempests, Frosts, &c. : finally, an Enu-
meration, according to Probabilities, of the Times
favourable for Fetes, Journeys, Voyages, Harvest,
and other Undertakings, in which it is of Import-
ance not to be interrupted by the Weather; with
simple and concise Directions regarding these new
Measures.” His predictions, as might have been
expected, proved more frequently erroneous than
otherwise, but this circumstance was far from in-
ducing him to discontinue his exertions. Every
year he had recourse to some new consideration, —
such as the phases, the apogee and perigee of the
moon, and the relative position of the sun, to
account for his previous failure, and afford greater
certainty in his future prognostications. After every
expedient had been tried without success, he was

48

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

at last obliged to renounce the labour as fruitless,
satisfied that, however important it would be to
foresee the -state of the weather, it depends on
causes far too remote and complex to be made the
subject of calculation.

Speculations of an analogous character regarding
the formation of the globe and the changes which it
has undergone, were laid before the public, in 1802,
in a work entitled “ Hydrogeology, or Researches
on the Influence exerted by Water on the Surface
of the terrestrial Globe,” &c. &c. Ilis opinions rest
on the assumption that all composite minerals are
the remains of living beings. According to him,
the seas are continually' hollowing out their bed in
consequence of being unceasingly agitated by the
tides, produced by the action of the moon ; in pro-
portion as the bed deepens in the crust of the earth,
it necessarily follows that their level lowers, and
their surface diminishes ; and thus the dry land,
formed by the delris of living creatures, is more
and more disclosed. As the land emerges from the
sea, the water from the clouds forms currents upon
its surface, by which it is rent and excavated, and
divided into valleys and mountains. With the ex-
ception of volcanoes, our steepest and most elevated
ridges have formerly belonged to plains, even their
substance once made a part of the bodies of animals
and plants ; and it is in consequence of being so
long purified from foreign principles that they are
reduced to a siliceous nature. But running waters
furrow them in all directions, and carry their mate-

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 49

rials into tlie bed of the sea ; and tlie latter, from
continual efforts to deepen its bottom, necessarily
brows them out on one side or other. Hence there
results a general movement and a constant trans-
portation of the ocean, which has perhaps already
made several circuits of the globe. This shifting
cannot occur without displacing the centre of gravity
in the globe ; a circumstance which would have the
effect of displacing the axis itself, and changing the
temperature of the different climates. — In order to
silence any doubts that may arise in the minds of
his readers from not observing these changes going
forward, Lamarck is careful to add, as in the case
of the supposed transformation of species, that an
unlimited length of time must be allowed for their
accomplishment.

But the work on which Lamarck’s fame is prin-
cipally founded, and which has conferred a most
important service on zoology, is his Histoire Naturelle
des Animaux sans Vertelres. From the time of its
appearance, this work has ever been regarded as
one of the highest authority, and has formed the
principal regulator of most departments of this ex-
tensive race of animals. The work extends to seven
octavo volumes, and is entitled “ Natural History
of invertebrate Animals, presenting the general
and particular Characters of these Animals, their
Distribution, Classes, Families, Genera, and the
principal Species referable thereto.” The first vo-
lume is entirely occupied with an introduction, the
object of which is to determine the essential cha-

D

50

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

racters of an animal, its distinction from vegetables
and other natural bodies, and to explain the funda-
mental principles of zoology. This introduction
may be regarded as furnishing a synoptical view of
all the author’s peculiar opinions on the origin and
developemcnt of living beings, which are illustrated
more in detail in separate works. The first five
volumes are mitten entirely by Lamarck, but he
was assisted in the part relating to insects by M.
Latreille. A portion of the sixth volume and the
whole of the seventh, were drawn up by his daughter
from his notes and papers, his want of sight pre-
venting him from undertaking that labour himself ;
and that part of the sixth, which relates to the
mytilacis , malliaces, pectinides, and ostraces, is
written by M. Valenciennes. The first part was
published in 1815, and the other parts appeared at
intervals up to 1822, when the whole was com-
pleted. Besides a luminous and comprehensive
account of the general history of the different groups
and genera, the principal species are cited and
briefly characterized, with their synonymes, reference
to figures, and localities. The enumeration of species
sometimes includes all the known kinds, and is
particularly copious and instructive in relation to
sponges and shell-bearing mollusc®. The genera
are established with much discrimination, and ju-
diciously characterized by obvious properties, such
as form, proportion, nature of the surface, and
structure. The synonymy is unravelled with great
care, and the descriptions, though necessarily often

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

51

very brief, are in general highly satisfactory. These
circumstances have rendered this work the most
valuable system that has ever appeared of the in-
vertebrate animals ; and it has formed the guide to
most authors who have since written on the sub-
ject*.

The phrase invertebrate animals originated with
Lamarck, and it expresses, as Cuvier remarks, per-
haps the only circumstances in their organization
which is common to them all. They were pre-
viously known as white-blooded animals, a designa-
tion which was soon shown to be improper, by the
discovery that an entire class (the annelides ) pos-
sesses red blood. The system of Linnams and Bru-
guiere formed the basis of his course when he first
began to lecture on the subject; he subsequently
adopted a new classification, founded on their
anatomy, which had been published in 1795. This
he afterwards modified in various ways, as new dis-
coveries were made, and as new relations sucgested
themselves to him. In his system of invertebrata,
forming an octavo volume, published in 1810, he
adopted the class of Crustacea, and created that of
arachnites, a step which he judged necessary, in
consequence of some new information that had been
communicated to him on the heart and pulmonary
sacs of spiders. In a previous work he had ad-
mitted the annelides to the rank of a separate class,

* The most recent and probably the best edition of the
Animaux sans Vertebres, is in eight volumes octavo, augmented
with notes by >1. M. Deshages and Milne Edwards.

52

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

in consequence of Baron Cuvier’s observations on
their circulating organs and the colour of their
blood, which resembles that of the vertebrate races.
Two other classes were created, in his “ Philosophi-
cal Zoology,” viz. the infusoria and the ccniripedes ;
and in this work also he first deviated from the
ordinary practice of commencing the arrangement
with the most perfectly organized, the inverse order
being more in accordance with his theoretical views,
which assumed a gradual progression in the compo-
sition of animal organs, proceeding from the most
simple to the most complex.

It was in a small volume, entitled “ An Extract
from the Zoological Course in the Museum of Na-
tural History, on the invertebrate Animals,” &c.
published in 181 2, that, he first presented his general
distribution of animals into three grand divisions,
apathetic , sentient , and intelligent. This plan he
made the foundation of his great work, and the
method in which he applied it, as well as his ideas
regarding the constitution of the different classes,
and their relation to each other, will be understood
from the subjoined table.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

53

I. Apathetic Animals.

1. Infusoria.

2. Polypes.

3. Radiarii.

4. Vermes.

( Epizoaires.)

II. Sentient Animals.

5. Insecta.

6. Arachnidcs.

7- Crustacea.

8. Annelides.

9. Cirrhipedes.

10. Mollusca.

III. Intelligent Animals.

11. Pisces.

12. Reptilia.

13. Aces.

14. Mammiferce.

The animals of the first primary division he de-
fines as destitute of feeling, and moving only hy
their excited irritability ; and he assigns as their
character, the absence of a brain and of an elongate
medullary mass; senses wanting; forms various;
articulations rarely existing. The animals of the
second division feel, but they obtain from their sen-
sations only perceptions of objects, a kind of simple
ideas which they are unable to combine with each
other in order to form complex ones. They possess
no vertebral column, but have a brain and most
frequently an elongate medullary mass ; some dis-
tinct senses ; organs of motion attached under the

54

MEMOIR OP LAMARCK.

skin ; the form symmetrical, the parts arranged in
pairs. The intelligent animals, forming the third
grand division, feel, and acquire ideas capable of
being preserved, and execute operations between
these ideas which furnish them with others; and
they are intelligent in different degrees. They
possess a vertebral column, a brain and spinal mar-
row ; distinct senses ; organs of motion fixed to an
interior skeleton, and symmetrical forms, the parts
being placed in pairs*.

This general distribution of animals has not been
very much approved of by naturalists ; and Cuvier
asserts that it is neither founded on their organiza-
tion, nor an exact observation of their faculties.
The degree of intelligence observed in the different
classes, would certainly lead most observers to give
a very different position to several, from that which
tli ey have obtained in the above scale. The insecta
and arachnides, for example, which are made to
occupy the lowest place among the sentient races,
are undoubtedly entitled to the rank assigned to
the mollutca and cirrhipedes ; for there can be no
comparison in this respect between a hive-bee or an
ant, and an imperfectly organized and almost inani-
mate mollusc.

At a subsequent period, in consequence of some
new discoveries made by M. M. Savigny, Leseur,
and Desmarets, he separated certain tribes from the
polypi, and formed them into a distinct class under
the name of ascidims. Some new views likewise
* Animaux sans Vertcbres , i. 381.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

55

occurred to him regarding the general arrangement
of animals, and instead of presenting them in a
simple series, he divided them into two subramose
series, as follows : —

Series of articulated
Animals.

a

Series of inarticulated
Animals.

Infusoria

Polypes

■A

•2

e.

<

Radiarii

Ascidiens

Epizoaria

Acephala

Mollusca

Insecta.

Annehdes

Arachnides

Crustacea

Cinhipeda

■= s

£ c
s <

'Pisces

Reptilia

Aves

Mammalia

58 MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

This arrangement is particularly deserving of
attention, from its being admitted by the author of
the circular system to be the first approach to a
perception of that order of affinities which he sup-
poses to pervade the whole animal kingdom. “ In
the first volume of his celebrated work,” says Mr.
Mac Leay, “ Lamarck acknowledges that the idea
of a simple series constituting the whole of the ani-
mal kingdom does not agree with the evident order
of nature, because, to use his own words, this order
is far from simple ; it is branched, and is at the
same time composed of several distinct series. He
then presumes, that animals offer two separate sub-
ramose series, one commencing with the infusoria ,
and leading by means of the mollusea to the cuttle-
fish ( cephalopoda J, and the other commencing
with the intestinal worms, and leading to insects.
Now, this notion could only have gained a place in
the mind of Lamarck from a conviction by experi-
ence of its being an incontrovertible truth. His
table of affinities, however confused it may appear,
or subramose, as it is termed, coincides with the
tabular Hew which I have laid before the public.
"We have only to join the radiata to the cirripeda.
and the anndides to fishes, aud Lamarck’s table of
affinities, with scarcely any alteration, becomes pre-
cisely the same as mine*."

In addition to the various branches of natural
history already enumerated as cultivated by this
indefatigable and ingenious inquirer, another still
* Horse Entomologies:, p. 21?.

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK. 57

remains to be mentioned, to which he communicated
a remarkable impulse ; namely, the history of fossil
shells. This highly important and interesting sub-
ject had long attracted the attention of geologists,
but owing to the difficulties with which it is in-
vested. it still remained in comparative obscurity.
One of the facts most desirable to be ascertained in
relation to these remains, was, whether they were
identical with species now living, a point which
could be determined only by a careful comparison.
Applying to this investigation that profound know-
ledge which he had acquired of recent shells, La-
marck was enabled to illustrate the subject in a
most satisfactory manner, and to throw light on
some of the most anomalous phenomena which it
presents to the inquirer. Besides his extensive
acquaintance with the testacea , he enjoyed another
advantage for entering upon an inquiry of this nature
by residing at Paris, the vicinity of which has long
been celebrated for the number and variety of its
fossil productions*. The result of his investigation
appeared in several of the earlier volumes of the
Annals of the Museum ; but the memoir was never
brought to a conclusion. It was accompanied with a
quarto volume of plates, containing figures of greac
beauty and accuracy.

Such are the principal subjects to which Lamarck’s

* Cuvier conceives that the basin of Paris contains a greater
accumulation of fossil shells than any other place of equal
extent. At Grignon, no fewer than six hundred different
species have been collected in a space not exceeding a few
square toises.

58

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

attention was directed, together with some of the
results to which his investigations led him. After
his establishment in the Museum of Natural History,
much of his time was occupied with the objects
whose history he was appointed to teach; and so
favourably were his labours in this department re-
ceived by the public, that his interest as well as his
inclination would have conspired to make him cul-
tivate it to the uttermost. But his exertions re-
ceived an early check, and were at last entirely
stopped, by the inroads of a most afflicting cala-
mity. His eyes had long been weak, and as he
advanced in years, they became so diseased, that he
was obliged to refrain from using them for the
examination of any minute object. Hence it was
that he had recourse to the celebrated Latreillc to
assist him in that part of his system of invertebrata
which related to insects. Notwithstanding every
precaution, the disorder increased, and at last pro-
duced total blindness, which continued till his death.
“ This event was the more distressing,” says Cuvier,
“ because it overtook him in such circumstances that
he could obtain none of those means of alleviation
which might otherwise have been procured. He had
been married four times, and was the father of seven
children. The whole of his little patrimony, and even
the fruits of his early economy, were lost in one of
those hazardous investments which shameless spe-
culators so often hold out as baits to the credulous.
His retired life, the consequence of his youthful
habits, and attachment to systems so little in accord-

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

59

ance with the ideas which prevailed in science,
were not calculated to recommend him to those who
had the power of dispensing favours. When num-
berless infirmities, brought on by old age, had in-
creased his wants, nearly his whole means of support
consisted of a small income derived from his chair.
The friends of science, attracted by the high reputa-
tion which his botanical and zoological works had
conferred on him, witnessed this with surprise. It
appeared to them, that a government which protects
the sciences, ought to have provided for the wants
of a celebrated individual ; but their esteem for him
was doubled, when they saw the fortitude with which
the illustrious old man bore up against the assaults
both of fortune and of nature. They particularly
admired the devotedness which he inspired in such
of his children as remained with him. His eldest
daughter, entirely devoted to the duties of filial
affection for many years, never left him for an
instant, readily engaged in every study which might
supply his want of sight, wrote to his dictation a
portion of his last works, and accompanied and
supported him as long as he was able to take some
exercise. Her sacrifices, indeed, were carried to a
degree which it is impossible to express ; when the
father could no longer leave his room, the daughter
never left the house. When she afterwards did so,
for the first time, she was incommoded by the free
air, the use of which had been so long unfamiliar
to her. It is rare to see virtue carried to such a
degree, and it is not less so to inspire it to that

60

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

degree ; and it is adding to the praise of M. de La-
marck, to recount what his children did for him.”

After several years of affliction, his constitution
at last gave way, and he died on the 18th December,
1829, in the 85th year of his age. Some of his
children had been carried off previously, and at the
time of his disease only two sons and two daughters
survived. The eldest of the former was appointed
to a situation of considerable trust under govern-
ment.

A just estimate of Lamarck’s merits, will entitle
him to occupy a high place among modem na-
turalists. Endowed by nature with varied and
vigorous mental powers, he was fitted to excel in
many branches of knowledge, and never failed to
strike out a new path in every department to which
he attached himself. He possessed, in an eminent
degree, some intellectual qualities which are not
frequently combined ; a lofty and active imagination,
in no way unfitted him for the most unwearied and
laborious investigation of minute matters of fact.
Hence he seems equally following the natural bent of
his mind, when devising a theory to explain the most
recondite operations of nature, and describing the
markings of a shell, or the ramifications of a coral.
It is to be lamented that his imagination so often
gained the ascendency over his other faculties, and
led to those daring and licentious speculations which
have been alluded to. But in other instances, his
fancy becomes the legitimate handmaid of his reason,
and lends her aid in beautifying and illustrating his

MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

61

speculations. He possessed especially all the re-
quisite qualifications for a zoologist, and it is on
what he accomplished in this department that his
fame must principally rest. When we perceive the
admirable manner in which he discerned and cha-
racterized natural groups, his skill in seizing on the
most distinctive marks of species, the indefatigable
industry with which he investigated their history and
synonymy, together with the excellence of his system
of arrangement, — we are led to regret that he was
so late in entering upon this field of labour, as to
be obliged to confine his attention to one division
of the animal kingdom, and that he so frequently
deviated even from that, in order to indulge his
favourite practice of theorizing.

However little value may now be attached to
these theories, without a due consideration of them,
we can neither appreciate some of the best of La-
marck’s writings, nor understand the character of
the man himself. In his own eyes, they appeared
of paramount importance. The most practically
useful of his zoological and botanical works he re-
garded as trivial in comparison. He conceived them
to present a key to some of the most secret opera-
tions of nature, and to afford the means of placing
many branches of knowledge on a new foundation.
This ardent attachment to views which have so
generally been considered extravagant and untenable,
may seem surprising in the case of an individual
whom all must acknowledge to be possessed of
much acuteness and discrimination. It is perhaps

G2 MEMOIR OF LAMARCK.

to be accounted for by their being nursed in the
long solitudes to which his bad health and limited
circumstances frequently confined him, without hav-
ing his eyes opened to their fallacies by a discussion
of their merits, or interchange of thought with
others : for

’Tis thought’s exchange, which, like the alternate rush
Of waves conflicting, breaks the learned scum,

And defecates the student’s standing pool ;

By that untutor’d, contemplation raves,

And nature’s fool by wisdom is outdone.

It may likewise be supposed that he would be un-
willing to perceive, or if he did perceive, equally
reluctant to acknowledge, the imperfection of systems
which he had wrought out with so much care and
labour. For that they must have cost him a great
degree of laborious thought, will appear from the
slightest inspection. It must also be allowed, that
they evince a reach of mind, a power of original
thinking, and a degree of varied knowledge, ealeu
lated to convey no mean idea of his intellectual
character. Neither can we deny to them a certain
degree of consistency, or adaptation of parts to each
other ; and although the praise of consistency must
be qualified by the admission that it is consistency
in error, yet, in such cases, this is of such difficult
attainment, as of itself to imply a high degree of
acuteness and circumspection. However startling
the conclusions to which Lamarck leads us, they
are generally drawn by a legitimate and fairly
managed process of induction from the assumed

MEMOIR OP LAMARCK.

63

premises. But the very extravagance of the con-
clusions ought to have created a suspicion that the
premises were erroneous ; and they are, in fact,
almost invariably found to be wholly inadmissible.

While, therefore, we acknowledge Lamarck’s pre-
eminent excellence in the ordinary subjects of na-
tural history, we cannot fail to lament that his
attention was so often engrossed by fanciful specu-
lations ; speculations of which, all tilings considered,
it is no undue depreciation to affirm that they
are at once absurd and impious — alike opposed to
reason and religion ; and the regret which must be
felt in making such an assertion in regard to so
celebrated a man, is not a little enhanced by the
accompanying reflection, that, with Lamarck and
others of his school, the latter imputation would be
regarded as infinitely less discreditable than the
former.

■■

G5

INTRODUCTION.

But 0 ! what terms expressive may relate

The change, the splendour of their new-formed state !

Their texture, nor composed of filmy skin.

Of cumbrous flesh without, or bone within,

But something than corporeal more refined.

And agile as their blithe informing mind.

In every eye ten thousand brilliants blaze.

And living pearls the vast horizon gaze ;

Gemmed o’er their heads the mines of India gleam.

And heaven’s own wardrobe has arrayed their frame :
Each spangled back bright sprinkled specks adorn.

Each plume imbibes the rosy tinctured mom,

Spread on each wing the florid seasons glow,

Shaded and verged with the celestial bow ;

Where colours blend an ever varying dye.

And wanton in their gay exchanges vie.

Brooke.

Having already discussed the general history of
butterflies at considerable length, in a volume de-
voted to the illustration of the kinds found in Bri-
tain, it is not our intention to resume the subject
in this place, further than to. make a few remarks
on certain peculiarities presented- by many foreign
species, a selection from which forms the subject of
the present volume.

E

66

INTRODUCTION.

The remarkable superiority in size and beauty of
most tropical productions over those of temperate
regions, is scarcely more strikingly exemplified in
any department of nature than in this. The most
richly ornamented of our native species, and we
possess many of great beauty, appear insignificant
when contrasted with those of Brazil and Eastern
Asia. Various as are the modifications of form
which they present in this country, we find nothing
to prepare us for the peculiar outline and aspect
which many kinds assume in the warmer regions of
the earth. Here we seldom find any having the
hinder wings prolonged into a tail, but among fo-
reign species this is a common appendage, some-
times long and linear, at other times broad and
spatulate ; and occasionally there are not fewer than
three or four on each of the hinder wings. Along
with this variety of outline, they exhibit almost
every possible shade of colour, from the most bril-
liant to the most obscure, combined and blended in
the most elegant and harmonious designs, rendering
this tribe of creatures one of the most ornamental
to be found in nature.

Although such endless diversity of colouring is ob-
servable in this class as a whole, it is, at the same time,
worthy of remark, that most of the principal groups
are characterized by the prevalence of particular
hues, as well as considerable uniformity in their mode
of distribution ; that is to say, certain modifications
of structure are generally accompanied with a cer-
tain pictorial design. Thus, the greater proportion

INTRODUCTION.

67

of the genus Pieris are white ; Colias and Calli-
dryas various shades of yellow, from the palest sul-
phur-yellow to deep reddish-ochre. A rgynnis is
almost invariably fulvous or reddish brown, varie-
gated with numerous undulating black lines or spots;
the under side more or less ornamented with silvery
streaks and spots. In the species of the European
genus Thais, the wings are spotted or chequered
with black and red. The prevailing colour in the
genus Argus is azure-blue. Danais , Idcea, and
Euplcea, have this character in common, that the
breast and head are always punctured with white.
In Cetkosia, hieroglyphical markings cover the under
side of the wings in such a manner as is observable
in no other genus.

Many of the caterpillars of exotic butterflies offer
peculiarities in their forms and appendages, of which
we find no prototype in the kinds occurring in Bri-
tain. In the place of spines, some have the body
thickly covered with long fleshy prominences, of a
corneous consistency at the tip, and probably serv-
ing as a means of defence. In others, spines of
singular conformation and formidable size are thick-
ly stuck over the whole surface, making it resemble
a miniature forest. A few are provided with a long
anal horn, resembling that which is so conspicuous
in the caterpillars of the Sphinges. If Madam
Merian’s delineation of the larva of Urania Leilus
be correct (which there is now reason to believe is
the case), it bears many slender spines, as long as
the whole body, and as stiff as iron wire. Another

68

INTRODUCTION.

species (that of Papilio Protesilaus), is likewise
clothed with plumose spines, two of which at the
hinder extremity are much longer than the rest, and
terminate in an appendage like a star. Equally re-
markable with any of these is the caterpillar of one
of the Nymphalid® ( Adolem Aconlhea ), which has a
series of long filiform bodies projecting from each
side, thickly clothed laterally with hairs of consi-
derable length diminishing gradually to the extre-
mity, which is armed with a few minute spines.

As might be expected, great diversity likewise
prevails in the appearance of the chrysalides ; but
to these it will be more convenient hereafter to re-
fer, in the preliminary notices to the respective
genera. One of the most remarkable, however,
may be mentioned, that of Moi'pho Menelans, which
has the nasal prominence of the prothorax produced
into a long curved hom, which extends to the middle
of the abdomen. In another species of the same
group, the head is obtuse, projects considerably, and
is curved upwards at the extremity, exactly like the
beak of an ancient galley.

Our acquaintance with the geographical distribu-
tion of the diurnal lepidoptera was long very im-
perfect, and it may yet be said to be very far from
complete. The older naturalists seem to have been
but little alive to the importance of the subject, and
even if it had been otherwise, the means they pos-
sessed for illustrating it were comparatively limited.
Those who had opportunities of collecting speci-
mens in foreign countries, valued them merely as

INTRODUCTION.

69

specimens, and, in general, kept no record of their
localities, or natural history properly so called.
Collections from China and the East Indies were
indiscriminately mixed, in their wayhomewards, with
others from the Cape of Good Hope ; and American
species were in like manner mingled with such as
are proper to the West Indian islands. Hence it
followed, that Fabricius and others were so often
led into error when they indicated the native coun-
try of the kinds they described : but, indeed, the
author just named did not very frequently attempt
this, but merely says, “ From the Indies” — an ex-
pression which means nothing more explicit, in his
acceptation of it, than that the species in question
is exotic. Linnmus, also, when he uses the same
word, means indiscriminately either the East or
West Indies. The indications of localities in mo-
dem works are in general copious and accurate, hut
they have not hitherto been made the basis of any
general and satisfactory view of the distribution of
the species.

As might be expected in the case of animals en-
dowed with considerable power of flight, certain
kinds of diurnal lepidoptcra have a much more ex-
tensive range than most other insects — than the
coleoptera for example. It is now ascertained that
Cynthia cardui, a species well known throughout
Europe, (without confounding'it, as may sometimes
have been done, with the kindred species C. Hun-
teri J, occurs in Senegal, Egypt, Barbary, Cape of
Good Hope, in the islands of Bourbon and Mada-

INTRODUCTION.

70

gascar, in Bengal, China, Java, New Holland, Bra-
zil, and North America ; so that it may be called a
complete cosmopolite. Of the four quarters of the
globe, Europe is poorest in these insects ; and nest
to it is Africa. Asia, including the great islands of
the Indian Archipelago and America, are both ex-
ceedingly rich. Of the former, the islands seem to
be much more prolific than the continent ; they are
the exclusive haunts of the gigantic Omithqptera,
several of the largest and most richly coloured of
the Plenties, as well as several of the most remark-
able species of the genus Morpho. South America
produces a greater number than any other country ;
and Brazil, always preeminent for its exuberance
both in animal and vegetable life, may be said to be
the richest portion of the new continent. It has
been estimated by an individual who has enjoyed
the advantage of personally examining the country,
that Brazil alone affords between b'OO and 700 spe-
cies of diurnal lepidoptera, a calculation which seems
in no degree overcharged. Among these are many
genera peculiar to America, such as Heliconia, Cast-
nia, Erycina, &c. In almost every one of its phy-
sical properties, Africa affords a complete contrast
to the country just named ; and however favourable
its arid soil, and far-extending desarts of parched
and drifting sand, may be to the existence of certain
peculiar races of coleoptera, it is by no means gene-
rally adapted to the support of creatures which de-
rive their entire sustenance from vegetable juices.
The sea-coast, and umbrageous banks of the larger

INTRODUCTION.

71

livers, however, are pretty abundantly supplied, and
afford many species peculiar to the country. This
is the metropolitan station of the genus Acrea, and
it is likewise inhabited by several peculiar groups
of the genera Papilio, Pieris, &c. The neighbouring
island of Madagascar is much richer than the con-
tinent, and exemplifies what has been observed in
relation to many other islands, that their zoological
productions by no means correspond to those of the
nearest portion of the main land. Little relation
exists between the diurnal lepidoptera of Madagas-
car and the Cape of Good Hope, but a very close
one can be traced between the former and those
inhabiting distant parts of the continent, such as
Senegal and Sierra Leone. Mauritius and Bourbon
likewise differ considerably in their lepidopterous
productions from Madagascar. In the latter, magni-
ficent Papilios, Acrcece, Euplcew, Pan aides, Uranice,
Cyrestes , and Xanthidia, embellish by their elegant
forms and splendid colours, the marshy and pesti-
lential forests of that extensive island, and rival in
beauty that majestic and teeming vegetation which
has always excited the admiration of botanists*.
New Holland is not without its peculiar species,
although this department of its zoology is not cha-
racterised by such marked singularities as are
observed among its higher animals and vegetable
productions.

A singular circumstance has been recorded by a

See Boisduval, Nouv. Ann. du Museum, vol, ii.

INTRODUCTION.

recent traveller regarding one of the species, Euplcea
liumata (Mac Lcay), found in the country just re-
ferred to, namely, that it is employed as an article
of food !

He states that there is a certain mountain, called
the Bugong Mountain from multitudes of small
moths, named Bugong by the natives, which con-
gregate at certain times upon the masses of granite
which compose it. The months of November, De-
cember, and January are quite a season of festivity
among these people, who assemble fiom every quarter
to collect these moths. They are stated also to form
the principal summer food of those who inhabit to
the south of the Snow Mountains. To collect these
moths (improperly' so called, for as above indicated,
they are true butterflies), the natives make smo-
thered fires under die rocks on which they congre-
gate ; and suffocating them with smoke, collect
them by bushels, and then bake them by placing
them on heated ground. Thus they' separate from
them the down and the wings ; they are then
grounded and formed into cakes, Tesembling lumps
of fat, and often smoked, which preserves them for
some time. When accustomed to this diet, they
thrive and fatten exceedingly upon it*. Millions
of these butterflies were likewise observed on the
coasts of New Holland, both by Captains Cook and
King ; and thus, says Mr. Kirby, has a kind Pro-
vidence provided an abundant supply of food for a

Benett's "Wanderings, &c. i. p. 265.

INTRODUCTION. 73

race that, subsisting entirely on hunting and fishing,
must often be reduced to great straits*.

These insects were, no doubt, the first that at-
tracted the attention of naturalists, in consequence
of their imposing appearance and striking metamor-
phoses. Collections of them began to be made at
an early time, and were valued not only by the
lover of nature, but by those who had no farther or
more worthy design in view than to possess them
as objects highly ornamental. Very extensive col-
lections exist in nearly all the principal cities and
museums of Europe ; and many are to be found
throughout Britain, not only belonging to public
institutions for promoting natural history, but also
in the possession of private individuals. One of the
best conditioned collections of exotic lepidoptera in
this country, is that in the possession of the East
India Company, made in Java by Dr. Horsfield.
As the method followed by that gentleman for pre-
serving his specimens was attended with great suc-
cess, the following account of it will be interesting
and useful to those who have opportunities of mak-
ing collections in foreign countries : — “ During the
inquiries I made,” says Dr. Horsfield, “ in the early
part of my residence in Java, to become acquainted
with the best methods for securing what I obtained
in my excursions, I noticed the plan described by
Le Vaillant in his Travels in Africa, for the preser-
vation of entomological collections. It is the fol-
lowing : — Boxes or chests carefully made of light
* 13riclg. Treat, ii. 350.

INTRODUCTION.

71

wood, of a convenient portable size, are provided
with partitions or moveable shelves, each consisting
of a simple board ; these are fitted at the distance
of two inches one from another, in grooves in the
sides of the bos, in which they are made to slide
with accuracy and facility, and are therefore re-
movable at pleasure. These boards or shelves have
necessarily the exact dimensions of the ends of the
chest, and are placed in a vertical position ; a small
vacancy is preserved between this lower extremity
and the floor, and any object detached by accident
falls to the bottom without causing further injury.
Each board or shelf, lined with cork or soft wood,
supplies, in some measure, the place of a cabinet
drawer. When taken out of the box and placed
on a table, it rests securely, and affords a plain sur-
face, upon which insects may be fixed and examined
with perfect ease and security: it is returned into
the box in an instant, which, if carefully made,
w'hen closed secures most effectually the contents.
A small quantity of camphor, at the bottom, spreads
its influence over the whole. One large box may
conveniently contain fourteen boards, answering the
purpose of as many drawers ; and, being eighteen
inches long, they have a manageable size. This
plan I resolved to adopt. In the early period of
my pursuits, the boxes which I provided were made
of light wood, and to their use I must ascribe, in a
great measure, the preservation of my collection.
I found that they afforded a complete protection
against the ants and other destructive insects which

INTRODUCTION.

73

abound in the island of Java, perhaps as much as
in any other tropical region. They were peculiarly
useful in travelling, and possessed the advantage of
affording a ready access to the subjects. As the
ultimate object of my pursuits was to provide an
extensive and well-conditioned collection, which
might be useful and instructive in England, I had,
soon after receiving the patronage of the Honour-
able East India Company, directed my attention to
the provision necessary for its safety during a voyage.
My residence at Surakarta afforded me peculiar ad-
vantages in this point of view. Both materials and
workmen are here obtained, perhaps more readily
than in any other part of Java. Boxes, according
to the plan described, were therefore provided, of
more substantial materials than those employed in
travelling, in proportion to the increase of the col-
lection. The wood of the Bombux penUmdrum was
employed for lining the boards and securing the
pins; and I ascribe to an acquaintance with the
peculiar property of this wood — which renders it an
effectual substitute for cork — the preservation of the
collection during its transportation. After having
carefully packed the subjects, every necessary pre-
caution that suggested itself was used in securing
the boxes against accidents during the voyage.
They were individually painted and covered with
oil-clotli. Each box was then placed in an outer
case, made of the same substantial materials, and
secured in the same manner. By these various
precautions, and by the care which the collection

INTRODUCTION.

76

received from tlie commander of the vessel during
the voyage, I enjoy the satisfaction of having brought
the whole in safety to England '"'."

The systematic arrangement of this tribe of in-
sects has always been considered a task of great
difficulty. So convinced of this was Latreille, who
had himself studied the subject profoundly, that he
says a classification of lepidoptera may be considered
the touchstone of entomologists. This difficulty
arises chiefly from the uniformity of organization
which prevails throughout the order — a uniformity
occasioned by all of them being designed to subsist
on liquid food, and to imbibe it in the same man-
ner. The oral organs, therefore, which are of the
first importance in classifying other tribes — the cole-
optera, for example, in which they undergo almost
endless valuations of form and consistency to fit
them for consuming every kind of organic substance,
from semi-fluid animal or vegetable matter to the
hardest ligneous tissue — are, in this instance, of
comparatively little avail. Recourse must be had
to secondary and subordinate characters ; and even
when we are convinced that, owing to a peculiar
facies, and the concurrence of many minute resem-
blances, certain groups should be regarded as dis-
tinct, it is found difficult to define them in a satis-
factory manner. Neither has the difficulty been
much lessened by the manner in which the subject

* Horsfi eld’s Catal. of the Lepidopterous Insects of Java,
Intro, p. 9,

INTRODUCTION.

77

has been handled by many modem naturalists. The
numerous illustrations of lepidoptcra published of
late years, have been partial, being either selections
from the rvhole class, or forming part of a local
fauna. In either case, the subject is regarded in
too insulated a light. The illustrator of foreign
butterflies selects a species, and by giving promi-
nence to all its minute characters, proposes it with
considerable plausibility as a distinct genus. The
local faunist divides his groups in reference to his
own limited sphere of observation. Neither con-
templates the possibility of being ever called upon
to elaborate a general system, and he leaves it to
those who are to reconcile all existing inconsist-
ences. Hence it follows, that so many of the
genera proposed in local and partial works can find
no place in a general one ; for however specious they
may appear when standing alone, it is often found
that they will not unite into a consistent whole,
and they may therefore be said still further to em-
broil the very subject they were designed to. eluci-
date.

The Linnean distribution was vague and unsatis-
factory, even at the time rvlien it was first produced,
and soon became utterly inapplicable when the
amount of known species was increased. But it did
not fail to exercise, like every other system ema-
nating from that gifted mind, a powerful influence
on the progress of the science, and is interesting on
account of its ingenuity and poetical elegance.

INTRODUCTION.

78

“ It is an attempt,” says Dr. Shaw, “ to combine,
in some degree, natural and civil history, by attach-
ing the memory of some illustrious ancient name to
an insect of a particular cast.” The first Linnasan
division consists of Equites, which are distinguished
by the shape of the upper wings ; these are longer,
measured from their posterior angle to their ante-
rior extremity, than from the same point to the
base ; the antennas sometimes filiform. The equites
are denominated Troes or Trojans, distinguished by
having blood-coloured spots on each side of the
breast : or Jehivi, Greeks, which are without red
marks on the breast, of gayer colours, and having
an eye-shaped spot on the anal angle of the inferior
wings. The second division consists of Helioonii ,
which are distinguished by having the wings narrow
and entire, often naked or without scales ; the su-
perior oblong, the inferior very short. The third
division consists of the Danai , so called from the
sons and daughters of Danaus. They are divided
into Danai candtdi, or such as have whitish wings,
and Danai festivi , in which the ground colour is
never white, and the surface variegated. The fourth
division consists of the Nympkales, distinguished by
the edges of the wings being scolloped or indented ;
it is subdivided into N. gcmmati , in which the wings
are marked with ocellated spots, and .V. Phalerati ,
without these spots. The fifth division contains
the Plebeii. These are commonly smaller than the
preceding butterflies, and are subdivided into ru-

INTRODUCTION.

79

rales and urlicolw ; the former having the wings
marked with obscure spots, the latter for the most
part with transparent spots.

In his earlier works, Mantissa and Species , Fa-
bricius made no important change on the Linnasaii
method ; but the many additional species which
had come to his knowledge when he drew up his
Systema glossatarum , led him to establish many new
genera, and remodel the arrangement of the old
ones. This method consists of forty-one genera,
most of which have been adopted by subsequent
authors ; but it is less complete than it might other-
wise have been rendered, owing to the death of the
author before it was finished. Latreille did not
deviate materially from the Fabrician method, adopt-
ing nearly all the genera ; but he did not derive the
distinctive characters exclusively from the antennas
and palpi, as the Danish entomologist had done,
but had recourse to other parts of structure, and
likewise judiciously took into account the peculiari-
ties of the caterpillar and chrysalis. Several ar-
rangements were proposed subsequent to or contem-
poraneous with that of Latreille, such as those of
Lamarck, Dumeril, Dalman, &c. but most of them
are of little importance. The last mentioned indi-
vidual, however, appears to have been the first to
apply to actual practice, in his description of the
lepidoptera of Sweden, characters derived from the
neuration of the wings, the value of which were
first pointed out by Mr. Jones, in a paper in the
Linnsean Transactions, published in 1794. Godart.

80

INTRODUCTION.

■without appearing to have been, acquainted with
what had been done by Dalman, likewise had re-
course to the structure of the wings in his arrange-
ment, as published in the Encyclopedie Methodique,
and Lepidoptera of France. In the latter work,
the diurnal series is classified with reference to the
appearance of the discoidal cell in the inferior
wings ; and by adopting this excellent character, he
has, in most instances, greatly improved on La-
treille’s method.

In 1776, an arrangement was proposed which
attracted little attention at the time, but which has
since risen to considerable distinction. It is that
exhibited in the Systematic Catalogue of the Lepi-
doptera found in the neighbourhood of Vienna,
by MM. Denis and Sckiffermiiller. This original
and highly valuable system is entirely founded on
the appearance of the caterpillars. It is singular
that characters almost exclusively drawn from that
state, should confirm the classifications founded
on characters afforded by the imago or complete
insect. But to such a degree does this coinci-
dence obtain, that almost all the families proposed
by the Austrian naturalists have been adopted as
genera by those who were guided by other prin-
ciples. This method remained for a long time al-
most unknown to the naturalists of this country,
and even on the continent its excellence seems to
have been but inadequately appreciated, except
among the Germans. The only authors that have
acted upon it are Ochsenheimer, and his continuator

INTRODUCTION. 81

Treitschke, in their valuable and extensive work
on the Lepidoptera of Europe*.

But there can he little doubt that those arrange-
ments are the most accurate and philosophical which
are founded on characters derived from all the dif-
ferent states in which these insects exist. This
conviction seems now' to be generally entertained,
and most writers of very recent date have seen the
propriety of acting upon it. In the w'orks of Cur-
tis,. Stephens, Ilorsfield, &c. it has been adhered to
to a greater or less extent, and in a general work
on Lepidoptera lately published by Dr. Boisduval
of Paris, nearly equal importance is assigned to the
peculiarities of the caterpillar, chrysalis, and butter-
fly. As this method presents some new features,
and is the last that has been laid before the public,
we shall give an account of it along with the ac-
companying remarks in the author’s own words : —
“ It is not till after a most attentive study of the
butterflies of Europe in their different states, and
after having collected a certain number of materials
on the metamorphoses of exotic species, that we
have attempted to group the lepidoptera in a man-
ner different from that hitherto followed, nof ne-
glecting, at the same time, the study of those authors
who have occupied themselves with this order, that
we might be enabled to combine the results of
their labours with our own. .We do not flatter our-

* This work extends to fourteen volumes (the last pub-
lished in 1833), and three supplementary ones are in course
of preparation.

82

INTRODUCTION.

selves, however, that the combinations which we
have made are altogether free from blame, any more
than those of our predecessors. When occupied
with the productions of a single country, the classi-
fication is much more easy ; the greater number of
species associate pretty well with each other, and,
if we except a few of the most anomalous, a series
is obtained free from much irregularity. In this
way, the European species form a pretty homoge-
neous assemblage, and the same thing holds with
regard to those of South America, New Holland,
or any other country taken by itself ; but when we
attempt to classify those of the whole globe, we fre-
quently meet with intermediate genera which in-
terrupt this harmony. If we even take a somewhat
numerous genus belonging at the same time to several
different countries, we find species which form a
passage to other races proper to each of these coun-
tries. For example, the genus Pieris of Latreille
offers species in America (genus Leplalis ) which
bear a perfect resemblance to the Heliconii in their
colour, the length of their bodies, and narrowness of
the wings. Others of the same country (genus
Euterpe ) insensibly unite with that division of
American PapiHones which is ef a black colour
with red spots ; those of Europe, on the contrary,
present certain relations to Pamassius , Pieris Cra-
tcegi appearing to form the passage to P. Mnemo-
syne, while those of India gradually approach Colias
through P. Judith and P. Panda, and to Danais
with green spots through P. Valeria. All other

INTRODUCTION. 83

genera of some extent, and distributed over several
countries, are in the same condition.

“ What we have just stated, applies equally to
the correlation of species with each other. If we
take, for example, the genus Satyrus of Latreille,
we perceive that it is composed of an infinite num-
ber of secondary groups, scarcely any of which are
proper to one country. Thus, in Europe, we have
the division to which Galatea belongs, extending
along the basin of the Mediterranean, even into
Persia; that of Hermione, which takes the, same
direction, and continues to Cachmere ; that of Noma ,
proper to the polar regions of the two continents ;
that of Nigres, which inhabits mountainous coun-
tries, and is found only at the Cape and at Chili ;
finally, that of the Satyres, properly so called, which
are connected with the species of New Holland,
some of them with those of Chili, of North Ame-
rica, and Siberia. 'America and the East Indies,
likewise, present groups which in general appear-
ance differ widely from our European species ;
while there are others which resemble several at
the same time. A collection of the Satyres of one
country would, therefore, form a sufficiently natural
series ; but it would appear most irregular when
the species of several countries were brought to-
gether.

“ Our method is partly founded on the caterpillar,
and partly on the perfect insect. We attach the
greatest importance to the caterpillar state, and the
characters which it furnishes have often more value

84

INTRODUCTION.

in our estimation, than those afforded by the butter-
fly; but generally these characters confirm each
other, in other words, two caterpillars presenting
the same characters produce flies which likewise
partake of the same generic characters. It will no
doubt be objected to us, that it is illogical to deduce
characters except from the animals we are attempt-
ing to classify. TV e reply, that by following any other
plan we must despair of attaining to a natural
method. Besides, it is not necessary to he acquaint-
ed with the caterpillars of every species ; it is suf-
ficient to study a caterpillar and chrysalis of Vanessa
or Pieris to have an exact idea of those of the two
genera. Even though it should he very difficult to
verify the characters taken from the larva, this is
no reason why we should abstain from employing
them. It is not merely from the fruit that botanists
obtain their characters, but likewise from the flower,
and even from the first developement of the vege-
table embryo. The flower is to the plant what the
caterpillar is to the lepidopteron, and the different
modes of metamorphosis have as much value as
those of inflorescence.

“ It appears to us that Latreille's three divisions,
taken from Linnams — Diurnal, Crepuscular , and
Nocturnal — are too inaccurate to be retained, espe-
cially the crepuscular section. The denomination
Diurnal not only applies to all the known kinds of
day butterflies, but also to an almost infinite num-
ber of others forming a part of the two other divi-
sions, such as Macroglossa, Zygenides , Castniarice,

INTRODUCTION.

85

JEgocerides , &c. That of Crepuscular is adapted
more or less to some sphinges, but by no means to the
Zygenid.es , which fly only in the heat of the sun.
Finally, the term Nocturnal is not more properly
applicable to all the species, since many belonging
to this section appear only during the day. In order
to avoid these improper denominations, we have
substituted for the word Diurnal , that of Rhopalo-
ceres, proposed by M. Dumeril. Being unable to
perceive limits between the Crepuscular and Noc-
turnal divisions of Latreille, we have united those
two great sections under the name of Heteroceres.
In our method, therefore, the lepidoptera are di-
vided into two grand legions, Itkopaloccres and
Heteroceres*."

Dr. Boisduval then proceeds to explain that the
first of these divisions is characterised by antennas
thickening to a club at the extremity ; and the se-
cond, by having these organs variously shaped; this
indeed is implied by the words themselves. The
first division is subdivided into three sections, ac-
cording to the manner in which the caterpillars
transform themselves into chrysalides. Such as un-
dergo this change by attaching themselves by the tail
and a band round the middle, form the first division,
named Succincli ; such as are suspended by the tail
only, the second, Penduli ; while those which form
a cocoon by rolling leaves together, compose the
third division, termed Involuli.

Species gdndral des Lepidopteres, p. 158.

INTRODUCTION.

80

Each of these three sections is then divided info
tribes, according to characters derived from the ca-
terpillars and the perfect insect. . Among those
furnished by the latter, the most important are con-
sidered to be the number of ambulatory legs and
the form of the palpi. The genera are characterised
by the form of the caterpillar and chrysalis, by the
dispositions of the nervures of the wings, the form
of the antennae, legs, palpi, thorax, &c. of the per-
fect insect.

07

Genus ORNITHOPTERA.

The present generic group was first separated from
Papilio by Dr. Boisduval. None of its characters,
taken singly, are very strongly marked, but their
aggregate importance is sufficiently considerable to
authorise its adoption. As in Papilio the antennre
form an elongate club, having the extremity slightly
curved upwards, the palpi are longer than in the
genus just named, but they never rise above the,
forehead. The protliorax is much developed an-
teriorly, and forms a pretty distinct neck. The
abdomen is long and robust, that of the male deeply-
grooved on the under side, and provided at the anal
extremity with tyvo large rounded valves. The
wings are large, of a strong texture, and furnished
yvith salient nervures ; the anterior pair elongate ;
the posterior with wide shallow indentations, and
never prolonged into a tail.

We are very imperfectly acquainted with the
natural history of the insects of this group in their
early stages. Their remote localities, and the rarity
of most of the species, have, for the most part,
prevented them from falling under the notice of
competent observers. The caterpillar and meta-
morphoses of one of them (0. Heliacon ), however,
have been described by Dr. Horsfield. Like the

88 ORNIXIIOPTERA.

caterpillars of Papilio, it is furnished with two
retractile tentacula ; the body is large and thick,

and bears eight rows
of rather long fleshy
prominences, of a co-
nical shape. The chry-
salis into which it is
transformed is some-
what curved, having
the head obtuse, and
a few projecting points
above the middle. It
is suspended by the
tail, and a transverse
band, which, however,
does not encompass the
body, but is inserted on
each side. (See Fig.)

This group is but of limited extent, but it com-
prehends some of the largest and most beautiful
lepidoptera yet known to us. With one exception,
which extends over a portion of the Indian conti-
nent, they are confined to the Mollueca, Philippine,
and others of the numerous and extensive islands
of the Indian Archipelago. The species figured,
which is the most beautiful of the whole, and to
which Linnaeus applies the epithet of august, has
been long known and highly prized by collectors.
It is named

PLATE 1.

1. Oi'ri i-th optara, Pruimus.

Natives of the Island of Amboina.

2. Ormtlwptercb Remus.

89

ORNITHOPTERA PRIAMUS.

PLATE I. Fig. 1.

Boisd. Species gener. des Lepidop ., 173. — Papilio Priamns, Linn.
Latr. Godart, Cramer ; Papillons exotiqu.es, 23, A, B ; Do-
novan's Insects of India , PI. 3.

Female. Pap. Panthous, Linn. ; Cramer , 123, A, and 124, A ;
Don. Ins. of India, PI. 2.

Such a remarkable discrepancy exists in the ap-
pearance of the sexes, that they were always re-
garded as separate species till lately, when their
proper relationship to each other happened to be
ascertained. The anterior wings of the male are
deep velvety black, with two broad longitudinal
stripes of rich silky green, curved, and narrowing
at both extremities ; between these stripes there is
a large brownish spot disposed longitudinally. The
hinder wings are silky green, with the posterior
margin, and a series of four pretty large circular
spots, velvet-black ; between the black spots and
posterior border are two orange spots, and another
of larger size towards the base of the wing. On the
under side, the anterior wings have a macular band
of gilded green, formed of contiguous wedge-shaped
spots, an irregular patch towards the centre, and
two streaks near the apex. The under side of the

90

ORNITHOPTERA PEIAMU3.

hinder wings corresponds to the surface, hut the
green is of a more golden hue, and the circular spots
larger, and seven in number. The antennae, head,
and thorax, black — the latter with a central line
and two posterior spots of golden green; breast
spotted with red on the sides ; abdomen bright
yellow.

The female is considerably larger, frequently
measuring nearly eight inches between the tips of
the wings. The prevailing colour is dark brown,
deepening towards the extremities of the wings ;
the upper pair traversed by a macular band of im-
pure white, the spots unequal and generally inter-
rupted or notched ; the hinder pair having a curved
row of six large wedge-shaped spots behind, of a
whitish colour powdered with black, the base tinged
with yellow, and each with an orbicular black spot
in the centre. Head and thorax entirely black, the
abdomen whitish yellow above and deep yellow
beneath.

Varieties of both sexes have occurred, for there
seems little reason to doubt that the insect figured
by Guerin ( Voyage de la Coquille , Ins., pi. 13, fig.
1 and 2) under the name of P. urvillianus, is a
variety of the male, while a female variety is de-
scribed by Boisduval*. In the former, the green
of the superior wings is replaced by violet-blue of a
very brilliant tint, and in the hinder part that colour
runs in a broad stripe along the nervures, dilating

Voyage de 1'Aslrolabe, Ent., pi. 4, fig. 1 and 2.

0RNITH0PTERA PRIAMUS. 91

considerably towards the posterior margin. This
example was found at OfFack.

The Priam butterfly is found in the islands of
Amboina, Rawack, and Ceram. It has been ob-
served to hover about the Mangifera Indica in
preference to other trees, and it has hence been
conjectured that it deposits its eggs on the leaves,
and that they constitute the food of the caterpillar.
It never occurs in large numbers, and is hence
somewhat rare in collections- Specimens of both
sexes are preserved in the valuable collection of in-
sects belonging to the Edinburgh University Mu-
seum.

92

ORNITHOPTERA REMUS.

PLATE I. Pig. 2.

Pap. Remus, Fubr. Godart , Cramer , 135, A, 136, A, and 386,
A, B. — Pap. hypolithus, var. Cramer , 10, A, B, 11, A, B.

One of the largest species, the expansion of the
wings sometimes measuring nearly eight inches.
The superior pair are black, with a slight greenish
reflection, and having a broad greyisli-white stripe
running along each side of the secondary nervures.
The inferior wings are dark grey on the surface,
and of a shining white on the under side, the latter
having a black sinuated border interrupted by seven
irregular spots of golden-yellow' diminishing in size
as they approach the abdominal margin. In the
female, which is the sex represented on the adjoin-
ing plate, the golden-yellow spots are much larger,
somewhat wedge-shaped, and each of them, except
the outermost, marked with a large oval black spot.
The abdomen is bright yellow above, paler on the
under side, and irregularly spotted with black ; the
head, thorax, breast, and antennae entirely of the
latter colour.

The native country of this elegant species is the
island of Amboina.

93

Genus PAPILIO.

Passing from the Omithoptera, which may he
esteemed the chiefs and princes of their race, we
now come to the Papilios, properly so called, some
of which are scarcely inferior in their dimensions
and imposing aspect. Such, at least, is the case
with P. Antimachus and P. Anterior, which besides
their large size, partake of some of the other charac-
ters of the group just referred to, and thus form the
passage from it to Papilio. But the great majority
are of very inferior size, and many of them so dis-
similar in aspect that the}’- might be thought to
afford sufficient distinctions for arranging them in
numerous different genera. On a close examina-
tion, however, the species are found to be so inti-
mately allied in all essential parts of structure, that
the most judicious systematists have not attempted
to separate them. Such authors as have followed
an opposite course, Hubner for example, have
proved by no means successful in establishing sub-
divisions ; and the only effect of such a proceeding
is to encumber the subject with a number of generic
names without eliciting a more philosophical ar-
rangement, or one better adapted to aid the student.
As at present constituted, the genus is compact and

£4

PAPILIO.

natural ; and if it rvere broken up by attaching un-
due importance to very subordinate characters, no
partial change would suffice; for any principle that
might be thought to justify the establishment of
one genus, would render it necessary, if consistently
acted upon, to create not fewer than thirty or forty.
One of the most obvious differences among the spe-
cies is the presence or absence of a tail ; but an
arrangement founded on this circumstance, sepa-
rates, by a wide interval, kinds which are in other
respects most closely allied. Nay, the tail itself is
often more or less developed in the same species,
being sometimes distinct in the one sex while it is
inconspicuous or wanting in the other ; its value as
a diagnosis of genera is thus in a great measure de-
stroyed.

Considerable differences likewise prevail in the
appearance of the caterpillars, but these are too im-
perfectly known to be made the groundwork of an
arrangement, even if they were likely to be avail-
able for such a purpose by indicating natural groups
or affording additional means of characterising them.
“ Some of them,” says Dr. Boisduval, “ such as
those of Machaon, Alcxanor, Asterias, are cylindri-
cal and smooth ; others (Crassus, Philenor), are
protected with rather long fleshy prominences ; in
a very- great number ( Pammon , Memnon, C hale has,
&c.) the two first segments are attenuated, and
capable of being retracted under the third and
fourth, which are dilated and often ornamented
with ocular spots analogous to those presented by

PAPILIO.

95

many of the Sphingides ; others are short and thick,
and furnished with numerous rather short fleshy
points ; finally, there are some ( Podalirius , Ajax,
Antiphates) which somewhat resemble snails in
shape. The caterpillars of Papilio may he distin-
guished from those of other genera belonging to the
same tribe by the following characters : — They differ
from those of Ornithoptera in their retractile tenta-
culum not being enclosed in two exterior cases ;
from those of Thais, in the projections which they
sometimes present being never hispid at the extre-
mity ; and from those of Pamassius, in the body
being always free from pubescence ; but it is more
particularly from the characters drawn from the
chrysalis and perfect insect that this last genus is
distinguished from Papilio*.’'

The perfect insects are characterised by very short
palpi not passing beyond the eyes, all the joints
very indistinct, the third quite invisible ; antennae
pretty long, the club slightly curved upwards ; ab-
domen pretty large, the anal valves in the male of
moderate size ; wings rather strong, the inferior pair
having the abdominal margin folded upwards and
leaving the abdomen free, their exterior border
more or less denfatcd, and often prolonged poste-
riorly into a tail.

According to the above definition, the genus com-
prehends rather upwards of 220 species. They are
distributed over almost every quarter of the globe,

Species general dcs Lcpidoptercs, vol. i. p. 184.

96

PAPIUO.

but are by far most abundant in intertropical coun-
tries. They are more numerous in the new conti-
nent than the old, but the difference is by no means
considerable. In the former, Brazil alone produces
between forty aud fifty species ; in the latter, the
greatest number occur in the islands of the Indian
Archipelago, already referred to as the native coun-
try of the magnificent Omithoptera. The conti-
nental parts of India, China, Java, Sec. likewise
possess many fine species, and a few are found in
New Holland. Europe is exceedingly poor in in-
sects belonging to this group, there being only four
indigenous kinds. These are P. Xnthus , P. Alex-
anor, P. Machaon, and P. Podalirius ; the two
latter, which are the most common, are well known
to extend to Britain.

The first species selected to exemplify one of the
prevailing forms of this important genus, is

/

PLATE 2.

1. Papilio Memrum . Pap. /Eneas.
China. Surinam.

Zuattsc.

97

PAPILIO MEMNON.

PLATE II. Fig. 1 .

Linn. Fubr. Cramer, .01, C. — Papilio A gcnor, Linn. Fair.

Cramer , 32, A, B.

The upper wings in this species expand about five
inches ; they are blackish and marked with numer-
ous longitudinal rays of a greyish-ash colour, each
of them having a large blood-red or oclirey-yellow
triangular patch at the base. The inferior wings
are waved on the hinder margin, and narrowly edged
with white in the cmarginations, the disk almost
entirely occupied by a broad white band divided by
the dark nervures, the hinder portion dusky with a
series of deep-hlaclc spots of an ovate or rounded
form, that placed on the anal angle smaller than the
rest and encircled with fulvous, which colour ex-
tends to the extremity of the internal border ; on
the under side they arc spotted with red or ochre-
yellow at the base : body black, the prothorax
marked with several white points.

The above description applies to one of the fe-
male varieties of P. Memnon, which was usually
regarded as a distinct species and known by the
name of Agenor. Indeed it is so unlike the male,
a

98

PAPILIO MEMNON.

that authors would probably never have thought of
associating them, had they not been reared from
the same description of caterpillar. The male is
entirely without the basal red spot, and the dark
ground colour has a greenish reflection ; the upper
■wings have a red or ochreous spot at the base on
the under side, and there are likewise four small red
marks on the same part of the inferior wings : the
latter are deep black anteriorly and cinereous behind ;
the cinereous portions containing two rows of deep
black rounded spots, that next the anal angle
encircled with yellow. P. Androgeos of Cramer
(pi. 91, A. B.) is a variety of this sex, while the
P. Anceus, and P. Laomcdon, of the same icono-
graphist are varieties of the female.

The caterpillar, which feeds on the different kinds
of Citrus , is described by Dr. Horsfield as of a green
colour, with an ocelliform lateral mark on the third
segment, and a transverse white hand ; a hand of
pale green between the fourth and fifth segments,
and an oblique white stripe on the eighth and ninth ;
the anal segment likewise of that colour. The ante-
rior part of the body is considerably attenuated,
similar to what is observed in the caterpillars of
many of the Hawkmoths. Chrysalis green, reddish-
yellow on the back.

This insect is found in China, and the islands of
the Indian Ocean, and is rather a common species.

99

PAPILIO 2ENEAS.

PLATE II. Fig. 2.

Linn., Fabr., Cramer, PI. 279, Figs. A, B, C, D . — Rosel Insect.
vol. iv. PI. 2, Fig. 2. — Godart, Encr/clop. No. 24. — Boisduval ,
Spec, gener. 286, No. 112.

We have figured this insect as characteristic of a
pretty extensive group of butterflies inhabiting South
America, distinguished by a peculiar outline, and a
certain similarity of design in the markings. The
space between the tips of the anterior wings always
exceeds by more than one half the space between the
anterior edge of these wings and the hinder margin
of the posterior pair ; that is to say, the width of
the insect, with its wings expanded, is more, than
double its length. The ground colour of the wings
is generally deep black, with one or two insulated
patches of some light colour on the disk of the
anterior pair, and a large blood-red patch in the
middle of the hinder wings ; the latter deeply den-
tated on the margin, but without a tail. In P.
JEneas the upper wings expand about three inches
and a quarter : they are velvet-black, becoming
lighter towards the apex, with a pretty large green
spot, of a somewhat quadrangular shape, towards
the interior border, surmounted by three smaller

100

PAPILIO AiNEAS.

ones of an obscure white. Inferior wings likewise
velvet-black, with a large discoidal patch, deep red
anteriorly and carmine behind intersected by dark
nervures ; posterior margin with obtuse unequal den-
tations, the notches margined with red. Under side
of the inferior wings w r ith five oval, rose-coloured
spots, placed in an irregular transverse line. Body
black, the sides of the breast spotted with red.

The insect regarded as the female of this species
differs greatly from the above : the wings are more
rounded at the apex, and there is only a single spot,
of shining green, on the upper pair : the notches of
the hinder wings bordered with white.

This butterfly is found in greatest plenty in
Surinam, but it likewise occurs in other quarters of
South America.

The other species belonging to this group, easily
recognised by their peculiar facies , are, P. Opleus,
Hippason, Euristeus , Polymetus , Jacinthus, Eury-
mas, Eurymcdes, Echelus, Ariaratb.es, Marcius,
Numa (Boisd.), Ccelus (Lacordair), Arbates, An-
chises, Dimas, Tphidamas, Areas, and a few others.

PLATE 5

r

101

PAPILIO ASCANIUS.

PLATE III. Fig. 1.

Fair. Drury's Emt. Insects , iii. PI. Lx. fig. 1 ; Cramer , PI. xiv.
fig. A.

This insect may be regarded as tlie type of another
South American group, somewhat allied to the pre-
ceding in general appearance, and in the distribution
of colours, but presenting at the same time consider-
able differences. The length of the hinder wings is
proportionally much greater, and each of them has a
pretty long spatula-shaped tail. In the species
figured, the wings are deep-black above, inclining to
brown on the under side ; the superior pair with a
broad transverse white band, crossed by black ner-
vures, and surmounted by a white arch, or two or
three small white spots at the extremity of the dis-
coidal cell. The hinder wings are likewise traversed
by a wide band, frequently deeply notched or pal-
mate, white anteriorly, and tinged with carmine
behind ; beyond which there is a series of narrow,
slightly lunate, red spots parallel with the margin ;
tail of moderate length, black : body black, with red
spots on the sides of the breast and abdomen.

This beautiful butterfly is not uncommon in the
northern regions of Brazil, but it becomes scarce in
the south.

102

PAPILIO PARIS.

PLATE IIL Fig. 2.

Unn. Fubr. Drury's Ins. PI. xii. fig. 1 ; Cramer, PI. 103, A, B ;
Boisd. Spec. gen. p. 208.

P. Ulysses, Perianthus, Bianor, Polyctor (Boisd.),
Blumer (Boisd.), Crino, Palinurus, Paris, and
Atyma, form a very natural group of butterflies,
distributed over the eastern parts of the continent of
Asia, and the islands of the Indian Archipelago.
Tire great breadth of the wings and tail, combined
with the general darkness of their colours, give them
a somewhat heavy appearance, but this is often in
some degree relieved by great richness of decoration.
They are occasionally ornamented with patches of
very brilliant azure-blue, and nearly all of them are
sprinkled with shining points of golden-green, making
the surface appear as if powdered with gold-dust.
The species figured as an example is a native of
China, and is often received in collections from that
country, although it does not appear to be very
common. In many cabinets a closely allied species
stands for this, which is so similar that the two may
easily be confounded. The species alluded to is
Pap. Arjuna, a native of Java, accurately described
by Dr. Horsfield ; but although now regarded as

PAPILIO PARIS.

103

distinct, it may ultimately prove to be a mere local
variety. Godart confounds three species, conceiving
that P. Bianor was the female of P. Paris, and
P. Arjuna a variety. * The extension of the wings
in P. Paris is about four inches ; the surface dark-
brown, powdered with particles of golden-green,
which are condensed into two or three spots near
the extremity of the inner border of the upper wings :
the under wings have, towards the middle, a large
patch of very brilliant azure-blue, sinuated poste-
riorly, where it is on a line with a series of spots
formed by the union or condensation of the minute
golden atoms ; the anal angle with an ocellated spot
having a red iris surmounted by a very narrow violet
arc : tail black : under side brown, sprinkled w ith
grey particles, which are so condensed towards the
apex of the upper wings as to form a hroad trans-
verse band, interrupted by dark nervures : under
wings with a posterior row of seven ocelliform spots,
dark in the centre and having a yellowish-red iris,
divided anteriorly by a slender violet arc : body black,
powdered with particles, in the same manner as the
wings.

The female differs only in the ground colour being
a little darker, and in having a transverse ray of
condensed particles, which reaches from the internal
border nearly to the middle.

The caterpillar is probably very similar to that of
P. Arjuna, described by Dr. Horsfield. +

* Eneyclop. Metliodique, Art. Papillon , p. 67. No. 116.

+ Dcscrip. Catal. of Lepid. of Indian Company, pi. i. fig. 14.

104

PAP. PROTE9ILAUS.

PLATE IV. Fig. 1.

Linn. Fair. Cramer, PI. 202, fig. A, IS ; Merian's Tvsee. Stirin .

PI. 43.

The two insects delineated on the adjoining plate
exemplify a form which prevails among a pretty
extensive group of the genus Papilio, and which is
familiar to European entomologists as represented in
a very characteristic manner by the beautiful P.
Podalirius. The prolongation of the hinder wings
into a long narrow tail is the most striking feature,
and has caused them to be termed swallow tails. The
ground colour is for the most part pale, — light yellow,
or green, — and the wings are marked with numerous
transverse stripes of dark brown or black. They
are not confined to any particular country, but are
distributed over most regions of the globe, although
the greatest number are found in Brazil and other
parts of America. P. Protesilau 3 is one of the most
common inhabiting the country just named. It ex-
pands nearly four inches ; surface pale white, almost
transparent, tinged with green at the base of the
superior wings ; the latter having seven narrow trans-
verse black bands commencing at the anterior margin,
the innermost five very short, the sixth descending

PLATE 4.

IFapilw Protesilans. 2. Pap. Si non

Zizurssc.

j l

PAP. PEOTESILAUS.

105

to the internal angle, where it unites with the seventh,
which runs along the margin : inferior wings black
at the hinder extremity, that colour divided by two
rows of large lunules of the ground colour, the anal
angle with a bright transverse spot of carmine-red ;
tail very long and narrow, bordered with white, and
having before its base two or three greyish-blue spots,
composed of minute particles. On the under side
the most remarkable differences are, that the two
interior bands are prolonged to the anal angle, where
they unite, and the outer one is bordered on one of
its sides with a stripe of carmine : body whitish, with
a broad black stripe along the back, another on the
sides, and three along the belly.

10G

PAPILIO SINON.

PLATE IV. Fig. 2.

Pahr. Cramer , PI. 317, fig. C, D, E, F llerhst. Pap. PI. 4-4,

fig. 5, 6 Pap. Protesilaus, Drury, vol. i. P 1 . 22, fig. 3, 4.

Considerably less than the preceding, the space
between the tips of the wings seldom exceeding
three inches ; wings black, with pale coloured bands
slightly tinged with green ; viz. two towards the
base, extending across both wings, the third very
slender and short, the fourth forming a pretty broad
central stripe bifid anteriorly, and terminating in a
point near the middle of the hinder wings ; beyond
this are two transverse spots or rudimentary hands
anteriorly, and lastly a macular one of rounded spots
parallel with the hinder margin ; the latter likewise
extends along the hinder wings, the spots assuming
a crescent shape ; anal angle marked with an oblique
vermilion spot ; tail long, lineal - , and black. Under
side brown, the design corresponding to that on the
surface, hut baling a narrow stripe of red near the
middle, placed in a dark band and edged with white
on the anal angle : body black, with tw r o W'hite
streaks on the thorax, the abdomen ringed with
white above, and greyish-white beneath.

Inhabits Jamaica, Florida, and various parts of
South America.

PLATE 5.

I Lep to circus Cunus. 2.

107

LEPTOCIRCUS CURIUS.

PLATE V. Fig. 1.

Itvauison's Zoolog. lllus. 2d series, PI. 106 — Boisduv. Spec .

gener. 380. — Pap. Curius, Fabr Donov. Insects of India . —

Erycina Curius, Godart, Ency. Meth.

This genus was first proposed by Mr. Swainson for
the reception of a remarkable insect from Siam and
Java, to which various situations had been assigned
by different naturalists. In external aspect it has all
the appearance of an Erycina , but, on examining
the disposition of the nervures of the wings, the
form of the palpi and antenna:, together with the
structure of the feet, which are all complete in both
sexes, its close affinity to the true Papiliones becomes
apparent. The head and body are very thick;
abdomen short ; eyes large and salient ; palpi very
short, the articulations very indistinct ; antenna;
rather long, thickening at the extremity into a club
which is slightly curved upw T ards. The anterior
wings are nearly hyaline, and have the discoidal cell
closed ; the posterior folded longitudinally, and each
drawn out into a very long tail curved at the extre-
mity. The expansion of the wings, in the only
known species, is about an inch and a half; the
inner half of the superior pair black, traversed in
the middle by a pretty broad green band ; the exte-
rior portion, consisting of a large triangular space,
transparent, with the nervures and external border

108

LEPTOCIROUS curius.

black. The inferior wings are black, edged exter-
nally with white, and having a central blue band in
continuation of the anterior one. On the under
side, the base of all the wings is whitish, and the
abdominal margin of the under pair is marked with
three curved white streaks : abdomen whitish be-
neath, and having a double row of black dots on
each side. In the female the bands on the wings
are white.

A few years ago this curious butterfly was to be
found in Yery few cabinets, but it is now received
not unfrequently.

THAIS MEDESICASTE.

PLATE V. Fig. 2.

Codart's Pap. de France , ii. PI. 3, fig. 3, 4 Pap. Medesicaste,

Hubn. Pap. 124, fig. GS2 Pap. Rumina, Huhn. PI. 394,

395. — Thais Honnoratii, Boisd. Icon. Pi. 3, fig. 3 — 5, var.

The genus Thais is confined to the southern coun-
tries of Europe, the north of Africa, and Asia
Minor. All the species are of moderate size, and
may at once be known by the peculiar design of the
colouring of the wings, which are always yellow
spotted with red and black, and bordered externally
with a dark festooned line. The palpi are composed
of three nearly equal articulations, and rise conspi-
cuously above the head ; the antennas rather short
and terminating in a club slightly curved upwards.
The body is slender, and the abdominal margin of the

TIIAIS MEDES1CASTE.

1C9

hinder pair of wings is curved downwards as if to
leave room for the movements of the abdomen. The
caterpillars are short and cylindrical, covered with
fleshy spines and short hairs, the first segment pro-
vided with a fleshy bifurcated tentaculum. They
live solitarily or in small groups on the Aristolochia ,
and obviously bear a considerable analogy, as well
as the perfect insect, to 1’arnassius. The chrysalis
is cylindrico-conic, somewhat angular in front.

The species represented on the annexed plate may
possibly be a variety of T. Rumina. Surface pale
oclireous yellow, with a black marginal band divided
on the upper wings by a series of eight or nine
yellow spots ; along the costal margin are several
black irregular transverse bands, some of them in-
closing rounded red spots; inferior wings with a
black festooned line along the exterior border ;
towards the base are always three red spots, one
near the abdominal margin, another in the upper
part of the discoidal cell, and a third near the ante-
rior edge, usually united in the form of a transverse
band with that in the cell. Body blackish, marked
with rows of fulvous spots.

The caterpillar lives on the Aristolochia pistolochia.
f''ometimes the colour is reddish-yellow, at other
times brown or dull yellowish-green, with numerous
rows of black lines often interrupted ; the body
bearing six rows of fleshy spines, of an orange yel-
low hue, and ciliated with black at the extremity.

The insect is found in Languedoc, in the neigh-
bourhood of Digne, &c.

110

Genus PIERIS.

According to the definition which it has been
found necessary to give to this genus in general works
on the lepidoptera, it includes a very extensive range
of species, and may be said to be represented in
this country by the white butterflies, which British
authors generally place in the genus Pontia. In
this extended acceptation, however, it comprehends
individuals somewhat diversified in appearance, and
■which may be assumed as the types of particular
groups or sub-divisions, perhaps of sufficient im-
portance ultimately to become genera, if a corres-
ponding dissimilarity he found to characterise their
different states and metamorphoses. The antennas
are of moderate length or slightly elongated, the
articulations pretty distinct, the club ohconic and
compressed ; palpi thickly covered with fascicles of
long hairs, the terminal joint at least as long as the
penultimate : wings of ordinary size, the discoidal
cell closed ; the under pair partially embracing the
abdomen : eyes naked, head rather small.

The caterpillar is elongated, and nearly cylindri-
cal, pubescent, and marked with longitudinal rays ;
the head small and rounded. Chrysalis terminating
in a single conical point anteriorly, attached by the
tail and a medial hand.

PIERIS.

Ill

Not fewer than one hundred and sixty-six diffe-
rent kinds of butterflies are referred to this genus.
“ They are diffused," says Dr. Boisduval, “ nearly
over the whole globe, but are particularly abundant
in the intertropical countries of the old continent.
Considering the extent of the New World, it pro-
duces comparatively few species. The most re-
markable inhabit Africa, the Indian continent and
Archipelago, and New Holland. Such of the ca-
terpillars as are known, feed almost exclusively on
the crucifera ). , rcsidacece, tropiolue, and caparidece.
Our P. Cratcegi is the only one in Europe which
lives on trees ; but it is probable that many exotic
kinds are of the same habits. The prevailing colour
among these lepidoptera is white, more or less pure,
with a black border, variable in width, but seldom
wanting. There are likewise species in which the
ground colour is yellow or even orange, while in
others it is blackish or blue, &c. The inferior face
of the posterior wings generally differs considerably
from the upper, and is often very agreeably varied
with brilliant colours. The sexual differences, in
certain species, are very conspicuous, particularly on
the surface; in others, they are much less so, the
females being distinguished from the males only by
a somewhat wider border, or by having the upper
wings more rounded at the apex*.”

Species genunil dea I.epidopterea, i. p. 435.

112

PIERIS EPICHARIS.

PLATE VI. Figs. 1 and 2.

Godart, Doisd. Pap. Hyparete, Fair. — Pap. Euchavis, Drury's

Insect. PI. 10, fig. 5, 6 Cramer s PI. 201, fig. B, C ^ ; PI.

202, fig. C?.

This pretty insect belongs to a sub-division which
inhabits the continent of India and the adjacent
islands. The wings, which expand about three
inches, are white, very faintly tinged with blue, with
a broad black border, interrupted by a series of
rather larger oval spots, the same as the ground
colour on the upper wings, but flesh-colour on the
under ; the nervures, on the former, defined by
a dilated black line : in the female, this is like-
wise the case with the inferior wings. Under side
■of the primary wings similar to the surface, except
three marginal spots towards the apex, which are
yellowish in the male and of a bright yellow in the
female ; secondary wings bright yellow beneath, the
nervures black, and along the hinder border a row
of <-large oval, or somewhat heart-shaped, scarlet
spots, placed in a white circle; body whitish.

Common in Bengal, and many places in the more
eastern parts of Asia.

PLATE 6.

1 & 2. Pier is Epicharis. ‘i P. Phil if ra.

Liz/u s sc.

- -

i • ■

■ : -v- •' . -

_'.T- • .,.1

.

'■ V.

:v • •

. • /•■

113

PIERIS PHILYRA.

PLATE VI. Fig. 3.

Godart, Doisd — Pap. Hyparcte, Cramer , PI. 210, fig. A, B, and
PI. 339, fig. E, F.

The figure above referred to represents tbe under
side of the female of this handsome species. The
male is of a bluish-white above, surrounded with a
black external margin, and having a black patch on
the tip of the anterior wings, divided by an arched
row of white oval spots; the female nearly black
above, the inner half of the wings dull white, the
apex with white oval spots : on the under side both
sexes are black, with the inner half of all the wings
yellow, sprinkled with minute black points; the
upper pair having a small white spot at the ex-
tremity of the discoidal cell, and a posterior row of
yellow oval spots largest towards the anterior mar-
gin ; the under pair with seven long wedge-shaped
reddish-brown spots behind the middle, becoming
somewhat lighter posteriorly, making the hinder
part of the wing from the middle of the discoidal
cell sometimes appear entirely of that colour, with
dilated black nervures and a black border.

Inhabits Amboina, New Guinea, &c. Pieris
Plexaris, described by Godart ( Encyc . Meth. p. 151)
from a figure in Donovan’s Insects of New Holland,
is regarded by a recent author as a variety.

n

1 14

PIER1S BELISAMA.

PLATE VII. Fig. 1.

Gudurl, Boisd Pap. Belisama, Cramer, PI. 2.58,

fig. A, B, C, D.

P. Belisama is another of these handsome and
warmly tinted species which abound in Eastern
Asia and the adjacent islands. It is generally about
a third larger than our common cabbage butterflies,
but smaller examples frequently occur ; the male
yellowish-white above, with the whole of the outer
angle and the costa of the anterior wings black;
the limb of the hinder pair of the same colour.
Female with the greater portion of the upper wings
black, the remainder pale ochreous. Under side of
the upper wings black in both sexes, with a group
of yellow spots on the apex, and a small transverse
whitish streak at the extremity of the discoidal cell ;
the same side of the under wings bright yellow,
inclining to orange, with a black posterior border
dentated on the inner side, and bearing a row of
rounded yellow spots ; at the base there is a trans-
verse red stripe lying parallel with the margin ;
body whitish ; antenna; black.

Occurs plentifully in Java, Amboina, Sumatra, &c.

I

PLATE 7.

1. Java.

2. Cape.

3. Amboina.

I J icYix JU’hxtim/i.

- inthochiii y . tttuhu
• Ip/uas Zet/cippc.

’

V

115

Genus ANTHOCHARIS.

A section of Pieris has lately been established as a
genus under the above name, founded, however, on
characters not of a very decided description. The
most important one perhaps is the shape of the chry-
salis, which is boat-shaped, or equally attenuated to
both extremities, somewhat arched, and without late-
ral points. The antennae of the perfect insect are
short, with the articulations distinctly marked, the
club rather abrupt and forming an ovoid compressed
mass. The common British species Mwncipium
Cardamines is referred to it, and this insect may be
regarded as a characteristic example of the kinds
which it includes. Like the Orange-lip , the ma-
jority have a patch of bright red on the tips of. the
anterior wings, and the under side of the posterior
is often beautifully marked with green and pearl
white. Several other species, besides that just
mentioned, are natives of Europe, but their principal
resort seems to be the intertropical countries of
Africa.

116

ANTHOCHARIS DAN2E.

PLATE VII. Pig. 2.

Bnisd — Pap. Danse, Fair., Donov. Insects of India, PI. 1 , fig. 2-

— Pap. Eborea, Cramer, PI. 352, fig. C, D, E, F Fieri i

Dana;, Godart Pontia Dana-, Horsfidd, Insects of hid.

Comp., p. 141, 68.

Surface of the male pure white ; the upper wings
having a large triangular patch of bright carmine at
the extremity bounded on the inner side by a black
oblique band, and narrowly margined with the same
colour externally, where the nervures are likewise
black ; there is likewise a black point at the ex-
tremity of the discoidal cell : under wings with a
black border, variable in breadth, and occasionally
macular. Under side impure white, with a black
streak at the extremity of all the discoidal cells,
those on the hinder wings divided by a reddish
brown point ; the apex of the upper wings fulvous-
red, divided by a curved row of blackish spots, con-
tinued across the under wings as far as the anal
angle. The female differs from the male in having
a large space at the base of the wings dusky, and

ANTH0CHAR1S DAN^E. 1 17

the marginal band wider, and better defined on its
inner edge.

Males sometimes occur in which the marginal
band is entirely wanting in the hinder wings.

Found in the East Indies, at the Cape of Good
Hope, &c.

J 13

Genus IPIIIAS, Boisd.

The two conspicuous insects which at present com-
pose this genus, were wont to he referred either to
Pieris or Colias. They have certainly a close rela-
tion to both, as well as to Anthocharis, but the fol-
lowing characters seem to warrant their separation ;
antenna; long, gradually increasing into a club which
is truncated at the extremity ; palpi contiguous and
compressed, thickly covered with scales cut of equal
length, the terminal joint minute and truncated ;
head clothed with rather long projecting scaly hairs ;
thorax robust ; abdomen much shorter than the
inferior wings ; wings very large and strong, the
discoidal cell closed. The caterpillar is attenuated
at both extremities and shagreened on the surface,
the chrysalis much arched and fusiform at both
ends.

119

IPHIAS LEUCIPPE.

PLATE VII. Fig. 3.

Pap. Leueippe, Fair. Cramer, PI. 36, fig. A, B, C Donovan ,

Insects of India , — Pieris Leueippe, Godaii.

One of tile largest of the Pierides, frequently mea-
suring upwards of four inches between the tips of
the w'ings ; anterior pair bright fulvous red, clouded
at the base with greenish yellow, the nervures and
all the exterior parts black, the female with a row
of fulvous spots parallel with the external margin,
and not far from it ; posterior wings citron-yellow,
having a dentated or macular black border in the
female, usually preceded by a curved line of spots of
the same colour ; but in the male marked with only
one or two black spots towards the external border.
Under side deep fulvous in both sexes, sprinkled
with black points and marked with short transverse
dusky lines, which are greatly most numerous in the
female ; head and thorax brown ; abdomen citron-
yellow ; antennae black, the extremity of the club
reddish.

It is a native of Amboina ; we have seen no par-
ticular account of the caterpillar, but it is no doubt
similar to that of T. Glaucippe , which is described
by Dr. Horsfield as of a green colour with a white
lateral ray. It feeds on a species of Capparis.

] 20

Genus CALLIDRYAS.

This genus is composed of a selection of species
from Colias, to which it hears a very close relation.
It is not long since it was proposed by Dr Bois-
duval, who thinks that the following characters
entitle it to this distinction. Palpi approximating
and very much compressed, clothed with short hairs
and dense scales, the terminal joint conical and much
shorter than the preceding one ; antennas thickening
gradually from the base to the apex, which is dis-
tinctly truncated ; body robust, the abdomen much
shorter than the inferior wings ; the latter forming
a groove which completely embraces the under side
of the abdomen. The caterpillars are naked and
somewhat attenuated at both extremities ; the chry-
salis arched, or boat shaped, with the extremities
drawn out to a narrow point ; always attached by
the tail and a transverse hand.

According to the manner in which they have
been respectively constituted, Callidryas therefore
is best distinguished from Colias by the antennas,
which in the latter terminate in an obconical club ;
and from Tihodocera (including Gonopteryx of Dr.
Leach), which has these organs likewise truncated,
by the shape of the wings, which never present acute
angular projections. The prevailing colour of the

CALLIDRYAS.

121

species is yellow, from deep orange to the palest
sulphur yellow. The females are usually of a paler
hue than the males, and the sexual differences are
strongly marked in other particulars. On the under
side of the wings there are almost invariably one or
two small spots, near the middle, of a silvery or
rusty-brown hue ; these are either wanting or very
minute in the males, while they are distinctly marked
in the females. The former sex, in the majority of
species, presents a very peculiar character in having
the anterior edge of the under wings provided with
a kind of pulverulent glandular sac, which varies
much in size and colour in different species.

A great similarity prevails among the different
species of Callidryas , and they are consequently dif-
ficult to determine. They inhabit the intertropical
regions of the tuo continents.

122

CALLIDRYAS EUBULE.

PLATE VIII. Fig. 1.

Pap. Eubule, Linn. Cramer , PI. ] 20, F, C. — Caterpillar, Stoll's

Supp. to Cramer, PI. 3, fig. 1, A Callidryas Eubule,

Boisd. Species general, i. 613.

This insect so closely resembles C. Marccllina that
it is possible they would still have continued to be
confounded, as they were by the earlier entomolo-
gists, had not the different appearance of the cater-
pillar indicated their essential distinction. In the
male the surface of the wings is a fine citron-yellow,
with a narrow border of a deeper hue ; the fringe
of all the wings marked at remote intervals with
small rust-coloured spots. Beneath the colour is
red, or brownish-yellow ; the upper wings with a
double ferruginous spot at the extremity of the
discoidal cell, and a brownish zig-zag ray towards
the outer margin ; the under wings likewise with
two rounded discoidal spots, silvery in the centre,
and surrounded by a rust-coloured ring ; there are
likewise several undulating brown lines running
across the surface more or less distinctly defined.
The female is bright yellow inclining to orange, the
inferior wings much rounded, and having an orange-
coloured fringe interrupted with transverse brown

• 1. Ca2Udn/as£iibule with- £tUzr.&Cfaysalts. Brazil.
4 .IkriasJIdkrteana-. Mexico.

Luarssc.

CALLIDRYAS eubule.

123

stripes. The position and appearance of the discoi-
dal spots similar to what has been described in the
male : the nnder side deep ochre yellow. Body
yellow, with greenish hairs on the thorax ; antenna;,
and terminal joint of the palpi, rose-colour mixed
with brown.

The caterpillar (PI. VIII. fig. 2) is green, covered
with small black granules, and having a yellow line
along each side, surmounted by another of a blue
colour. It feeds on the different kinds of Cassia .
The chrysalis (PI. VIII. fig. 3) is likewise green,
changing ultimately to brown.

The butterfly is very common in Guiana, Brazil,
and many other parts of America.

12-1

Gencs TERIAS.

"We owe the establishment of this genus to Mr.
Swainson. It includes a considerable number of
species, the greater proportion of which hare been
but lately discovered. They are small insects, of
delicate structure, and usually of a light yellow
colour, with the apex of the upper wings deep black.
The caterpillars, as far as we are acquainted with
them, are attached to leguminous plants, and live
between the tropics both of the old and new world
The most important generic characters are the fol-
lowing : antenna of moderate length, the articulations
pretty distinct, terminating in an ovoid or conical
club, which is slightly curved downwards, and com-
pressed laterally : palpi very short, the terminal joint
half the length of the preceding one, naked, and a
little salient ; abdomen slender and compressed,
nearly as long as the inferior wings ; wings of deli-
cate texture, the costal line a good deal arched
towards the base. Caterpillars slender, linear, and
pubescent ; chrysalis a little arched, and somewhat
compressed, terminating in a point anteriorly.

125

TERIAS MEXICANA.

PLATE VIII. Fig. 4.

Boisd. Spec. geu. p. 655. PL iii. C, fig. 1.

This insect was discovered not long since in Mexico,
and is considered rare. The colour of the surface
is very bright citron-yellow, the upper wings with a
broad black border externally, which ends in a
quadrangular expansion a little before the middle of
the internal margin. The under wings have the
outer border prolonged into an acute angle, forming
a kind of rudimentary tail, and the anterior half is
widely bordered with black. The primary wings
are pale citron-yellow on the under side, with a
central black point, and have the outer border near
the fringe tinged -with red ; the secondary pair
yellow, speckled with ferruginous particles, and
having a black point in the centre, the extreme
angle marked with a ferruginous spot, and the pos-
terior half with four or five other spots of the same
colour, having sometimes a tendency to form an irre-
gular transverse band. The above description applies
to the male ; the female has the surface of the wings
whitish-yellow, with the black border broader, and
the anterior margin of the secondary wings widely
orange yellow. The expansion varies from twenty
to twenty three lines.

126

Genus EUPLCEA.

This and several of tlie following genera may be
readily distinguished from any of the preceding by
having the anterior legs, in both sexes, short and
imperfect, the tarsi not being distinguishable into
five joints, but generally consisting of a single piece
with several crowded spines at the extremity. In
the present genus there is a slight indication of an
articulated structure, but very indistinct, and there
are scarcely any projecting points in the room of
claws. The antennas, which are placed very close
to each other at the base, terminate in a pretty thick
club elongated and somewhat curved. The palpi,
which stand considerably apart from each other, are
short, not rising above the head, densely clothed with
hair-like scales which completely conceal the joints :
of the latter the terminal one is minute and globular
ending in a point, the second long and thick, the
radical one about one-third its length. Outline of
the upper wings triangular : claws simple. Chry-
salis suspended by the tail, and never supported by
a band round the middle.

■

PLATE I).

1. Eiiplaea Limn face . E . Asia .
2s _ Ffecippe c

J27

EUPLCEA LIMNIACE.

PLATE IX. Fig. 1.

Danais Limniace, Godart Pap. Limniaee, Cramer, PI. £9,

fig. D, E. — Pap. Similis, Fair.

Expands nearly four inches ; surface of the wings
deep black, entirely covered with stripes and spots of
shining light green, more or less mixed with white :
towards the base of the wings the green colour is
arranged in longitudinal stripes, externally in rounded
spots, becoming smaller at the hinder margin where
they form a regular row. The design on the under
side is similar, but the ground colour of the under
wings and a large space at the apex of the upper
are pale brown, and the green marks are usually
pale ; the sinuosities fringed with white, the projec-
tions on the margin of the hinder wings forming a
pretty acute angle ; thorax and breast black, with
numerous white points ; abdomen yellowish be-
neath.

Eather extensively distributed over the eastern
countries of Asia, and the adjacent islands.

128

EUPLCEA PLEXIPPE.
PLATE IX. Fig. 2.

Danais Plexippe, Godart. — Pap. Plexippus, Linn., Fabr. — Pap.

Genutia, Cramer , PI. 206, fig. C, D.

This insect affords an example of a pretty extensive
and beautiful group which is strikingly characterised
by the prevalence of a peculiar colour and unifor-
mity of design in the markings. The ground colour
is a rich chestnut-brown, varying considerably in
the intensity of the shade, the wings widely mar-
gined on the outside with black, more or less
interrupted with white spots; the black colour
sometimes running along the nervures in a broad
stripe. They are common both to the old and new
world, and many of them are very abundant. E.
Plexippe occurs in the East Indies and China, also
in the islands of Java, Ceylon, &c. and often ap-
pears in great plenty. The colour is light chestnut-
brown, approaching to fulvous, the whole external
border of the wings with a broad black band, dilated
at the apex of the superior pair so as to occupy the
whole angle ; this band bears two rows of small
unequal white spots, and the black space at the
summit of the upper wings has a broad oblique
band of pure white, angular on the edges, and formed

EUPLCEA PLEXIPPE.

129

by the confluence of five spots ; between this and
the middle of the costa is a small group of white
spots : all the nervures hlack and dilated. The
under side differs in having the space between the
white patch at the apex of the upper wings and the
external margin ashy-brown ; in having the ground
colour of the inferior wings pale fulvous, and the
nervures of the same wings narrowly edged with
white. The abdomen is nearly of the same colour
as the wings ; the thorax, hreast, and head black,
punctured with white ; antenna; black, the extre-
mity of the club rust-red.

I

130

Genus IDEA.

The above genus is of very limited extent, compre-
hending only four species. They are, however,
somewhat remarkable insects, both on account of
their size, and the manner in which their colours
are distributed. The wings are slightly transparent
and of a greyish white, with black stripes running
along all the nervures, and occasionally forming
blotches on the surface. The nearest approach to
this mode of colouring among other tribes is pre-
sented by certain species of Euploea, and particu-
larly by Pap. dissimilis, which on this account has
been termed the Idea-likeness butterfly. The most
conspicuous of its generic characters are the slender-
ness of the antenna;, which are so slightly thickened
towards the apex as to appear nearly filiform, and
the elongated oval form of the wings : in other
respects Idea nearly conforms to the genera with
which it is associated. The palpi have the terminal
joint minute and conical, the second long and thick-
est in the middle, the radical one not half its length.
The tarsal division of the anterior legs is dilated,
and furnished with two or three unequal spines.

PLATE 10.

2. Idea stc/elia- 2. Idea, Duos.
Java. Borneo-

131

IDEA AGELIA.

PLATE X. Fig. 1.

Pap. Idea, Linn. Fair. Cramer, PI. 193, fig. 1, A, B, and
pi. 362, fig. D. — Donovan's Insects of India.

Varying in size from upwards of six inches across
the wings to nearly four and a half. The sur-
face is of a greyish white, with the nervures and
posterior border black ; the latter sinuated inter-
nally, and divided by a series of large spots of a
whitish colour, and generally an oval shape ; be-
tween each of the nervures, and beyond the middle
of the wing, is a longitudinal black stripe : the
primary wings are moreover marked rather before
the middle with four irregular black spots, the an-
terior one on the costa, the other three forming an
abbreviated arched band. The under side does not
differ materially from the upper, but the black
stripes are rather broader, and there is a large irre-
gular patch in the discoidal cell. The body is
whitish with a black line along the back, the thorax
having two black central lines and two short trans-
verse ones at their extremity : the breast is marked
with oblique black lines, and a row of dusky points
runs along each side of the abdomen : antennas
black.

The insect is a native of Java, Amboina, and
other Asiatic islands.

132

IDEA DAOS.

PLATE X. Fig. 2.

Boisd. Spec. gen. PI. 24, fig. 3.

This delicate and handsome species is much the
smallest, the expansion of the wings not being quite
four inches. The ground colour is dusky white,
with two remote rows of rounded spots, another at
the extremity of the discoidal cell, and several
smaller ones on the costa beyond the middle. The
abdomen is entirely whitish, the thorax with two
connivent black rays on the back and numerous
black spots anteriorly : antenna black.

It is said by Dr. Boisduval, to whose excellent
work we are indebted for a knowledge of it, to be
a native of Borneo.

133

Genus HELICONIA.

This beautiful genus is easily recognized by its pe-
culiar aspect, as well as by tbe more precise cha-
racters which it affords. The anterior wings are
long, narrow, and entire, and the hinder pair often
recede considerably from the abdomen, which is
long and slender. The breadth of the insect, there-
fore, when flying, always greatly exceeds its length.
No lepidopterous insect is ever entirely without
scales, but in a section of this group, they are so
few and minute as to leave the wings perfectly trans-
parent. The palpi rise obviously above the head ;
the second joint is greatly longer than the first, and
has a long tuft of hair near the apex, the terminal
one is also a good deal produced. The antennae
are, at least, double the length of the head and
thorax, and thicken gradually at the extremity. The
anterior tarsus is considerably dilated and slightly
dentated ; claws simple. Such of the caterpillars as
have been described, differ remarkably from each
other, and some of them seem to have no analogy
with those of the neighbouring groups. This dis-
crepancy, in connexion with some others in the
perfect insects, has already led to the separation of
certain groups from Heliconia as it was formerly
constituted. The larva of II. Euterpe is robust and

134

HELICONIA.

depressed, -with a series of long fleshy lobes on each
side ; that of II. Calliope short and cylindrical,
clothed with slender spines and tufts of hair : these
species form the genus Nerias, although they are
too dissimilar to he associated with propriety. Others
are smooth ( II. Ps'ulii ). and some are covered with
very long white hairs (H. liicini ). In these cir-
cumstances, it is not likely that a natural arrange-
ment of this pretty group will be effected until we
become better acquainted with the caterpillars, very
few of which have hitherto been examined. Chry-
salis invariably suspended by the tail only.

These insects, as has been already mentioned, are
confined to America and the West India Islands,
the larva subsisting on the different kinds of Passi-
florce, a beautiful tribe of plants well known to be
likewise peculiar to the new world. They seem to
be represented in India, as Dr. Horsficld remarks,
by the genera Euplcea and Idea.

.

F L AT L 11

1 Surinam

2 Guiana.

3 Surinam.

L Helicon iii Hi nto. 3. H. ( j/msi n
H. Siflvtina .

HELICONIA ERATO.

PLATE XI. Fig. 1.

Godart Pap. Erato, Linn. — Heb. Ricini (Mas.), Fair. — Pap.

Amathusia, Cramer, PI. 177, fig. F.

Extent of tlie wings about three inches ; the ground
colour deep black. Upper wings with three diverg-
ing rays of deep red at the base, the inferior one
longest and extending rather beyond the middle ;
not far from the extremity of these rays there is a
large discoidal patch of sulphur-yellow, unequally
divided into two parts by a black bifurcated nervure ;
beyond this, near the apex, is a series of contiguous
spots of the same colour, varying from two to five.
Under wings with six deep red rays extending from
the base towards the hinder margin, and behind the
place where these terminate, an arched row of small
blue spots. The colour beneath is dark brown ; the
upper wings marked nearly as on the surface, ex-
cept that the costa at the base is alone tinged
with red ; under wings with eight diverging pale-
red lines, and a row of whitish marks parallel with
the hinder margin. Body black; the sides of the
thorax and abdomen marked with small yellow

136

HELICONIA ERATO.

spots. In the beautiful variety figured, the red
lines on the secondary wings, as well as the dis-
coidal nervure, are bordered with a narrow stripe of
shining blue.

This species is a native of Surinam, where it
occurs not unfrequontly.

137

HELICONIA OYNISCA.
PLATE XI. Fig. 2.

Godart. — Pap. Ricini (Fem.), linn. — H. Erato, Fubr Pap.

Vesta, Cramer, PI. 119, fig. A.

This species presents a considerable similarity to
tbe preceding, both in size and distribution of
colours. The surface is deep black ; a large portion
at the base of the anterior tvings fulvous-red, tra-
versed by three black nervures ; near the middle a
large spot of sulphur-yellow, and beyond it a circular
series of smaller unequal spots of the same colour.
The under wings have from five to seven red stripes,
extending in a radiated form from the base towards
the hinder margin. Beneath the design is similar,
but the ground colour inclines to brown, and one of
the yellow spots on the superior wings is prolonged
nearly to the base. The body is black, the sides of
the thorax spotted with yellow, and the breast
marked with transverse lines of the same colour ;
there is likewise a yellow line, along the under side
of the abdomen.

The above description applies to the most ordi-
nary form of this insect, but it is liable to a good
deal of variation. It occurs in Guiana.

130

HELICONIA SYLVANA.

PLATE XI. Fig. 3.

Godart — Pap. Sylvana, Cramer, PI. 364, C, D. — Hcrlst., Pap.
tab. -xvii. fig. I, 2.

Tnis handsome species measures upwards of three
inches and a quarter between the tips of the wings ;
the latter are very much rounded, entire on the
edges, and the hinder pair diverge widely from the
abdomen ; the superior fulvous from the base to the
middle, with the costa, a slender streak at the base,
and a central kidney-shaped spot, black; beyond
this a pretty wide oblique band of sulphur yellow ;
the space between this band and the apes deep
black, with eight unequal spots of dull yellow,
slightly transparent, disposed in two irregular trans-
verse bands, and two or three small white points at
the apes. Inferior wings likewise with the inner
half fulvous, the outer half black, emitting narrow
stripes internally, one of which reaches nearly to the
base, dividing the wing into two portions ; towards
the hinder margin are a few yellow spots : body
cinereous, with a yellow longitudinal line on each
side, and a similarly coloured band along the belly ;
antennas reddish-brown, dusky at the base.

A native of Surinam.

1

PLATE 12 .

lA.Hrlicomn flora.

3. diapluuuL.

4. Acraea. Ttisifmaa.

139

HELICONIA FLORA.
PLATE XII. Figs. 1 and 2.

Godart Pap. Flora, Cramer, PI. 257, fig. B, C

The above plate affords examples of that division
of the Heliconian butterflies, in which the greater
proportion of the wings is denuded of scales and
transparent. H. Flora of Cramer very closely
resembles H. TEgle (Fabr.), and may possibly prove
a mere variety of that species. It expands nearly
two inches. The upper wings are black with two
transparent bands, that next the base very large,
lying parallel with the costa as far as the middle,
and then descending obliquely towards the posterior
angle, divided by a transverse black stripe, and a
longitudinal nervure of the same colour ; the second
band macular, and placed near the apex. The under
wings are transparent, the whole of the outer border
surrounded by a black stripe, which is divided
towards the angle by a fulvous line ; the nervures
black. Under side similar in design to the upper,
but the whole of the outer border of the wings sur-
rounded by a rust-coloured line, and the extreme

140

IIELICONIA FLORA.

edge marked with a few very small white points.
Body cinereous above and greyish beneath ; antennas
black.

The caterpillar probably resembles that of H.
Mgle , represented by Madam Merian, which is
brown, clothed with hairs, and feeds on the Sophora.
Both species are found in Surinam.

141

HELICONIA DIAPHANA.

PLATE XII. Fig. 3.

Codart. — Pap. Diaphana, Fair., Cramer, PI. 231, fig. C, and
PI. 315, fig. D, E Drury's Exot. Insects, ii. PI. 7, fig. 3.

About the size of the preceding, hut the wings
narrower and wholly transparent, with the outer
margin and nervures brownish-black. On the upper
wings, rather beyond the middle, there is a black
abbreviated transverse band, placed somewhat ob-
liquely, and preceded by a small white spot on the
costa. On the under side the marginal band is not
so dark as above, and there is frequently a series of
small white spots on the hinder edge of the posterior
wings ; in the latter also, the anterior edge is tinged
with sulphur yellow. Body black above and grey
beneath, with white points on the head; antenna;
black.

The marginal band varies in breadth, and in the
secondary wings it is sometimes longitudinally di-
vided by a narrow line of rust-red.

Occurs in Jamaica, Brazil, Virginia, &c.

142

Genus ACRAEA.

The insects of this genus are generally below the
middle size, and of a brownish-red colour, variously
striped and spotted with black. With the exception
of a small division, which ought probably to be
referred to another genus, they arc natives of the
old world, principally of the western coasts of Africa.
The palpi are slender and nearly cylindrical, the
terminal joint minute, forming a kind of nipple on
the apex of the second which is very long ; antenna:
rather short and terminating somewhat suddenly in
a club ; anterior tarsus spatulate, scarcely toothed at
the extremity; internal edge of the inferior wings
not embracing the abdomen. The caterpillars are
either spiny, like those of Argynnis , or covered with
rigid hairs, but we are yet acquainted with very few
of them. The chrysalis is suspended by the tail.

143

ACR-ffiA PASIPHA5.

PLATE XII. Fig. 4.

Codart. — Helic. Pasipha?, Fair. — Pap. Media, Cramer, PI. 81,
fig. C, D.

Surface of the wings white, with a slight tinge of
blue, a large space at the base, and the nervures
brown ; the whole of the middle portion clouded
with black spots of various dimensions, and the
extremity bordered with a rather wide black band,
sinuated on the inner side. The under side is paler
and has the marginal band interrupted by a row of
small greyish-blue quadrangular spots preceded by a
reddish macular line. Body black above, variegated
with white marks on the back, and yellowish be-
neath.

Found in Guinea, and other countries on the west
coast of Africa.

144

Genus CETHOSIA.

This genus includes several pretty large and showy
insects, several of which have some resemblance, in
the wide expansion of their wings compared with
their limited breadth in the direction of the body,
to the genera immediately preceding, while others
shew a decided affinity to Argynnis. The greater
part of them are natives of America, but others occur
in the eastern countries of the old world. The palpi
are contiguous below, but diverge at the extremity',
and terminate in a slender acicular joint ; antennas
■with an oblong club ; inferior wings embracing the
abdomen ; claws simple. The caterpillars appear
to he generally spiny, and to resemble those of
Argynnis.

—

PLATE 13.

CetJu'sia Dido.
Bra'/.il .

145

CETHOSIA DIDO.

PLATE XIII.

Ceth. Dido. Fabr. — Pap. Dido, Linn. — Marian's Surin. Insects,
PI. 2, (with Caterpillar). — Cramer, Pi. 196, fig. E, F.

This species expands about four incites ; the ground
colour of the surface is black, variously interrupted
tvith stripes and patches of green. On the upper
wings a longitudinal stripe of that colour extends
from the base to the extremity of the discoidal cell ;
beyond which there is a transverse series of large
contiguous spots, and two or three small insulated
ones. The inferior wings have two transverse green
bands, one of them broad and continuous placed near
the base, and terminating nearly in a point towards
the outer margin ; the other consisting of six or
seven orbicular spots, and placed nearly midway
between the former band and the hinder extremity.
The under side differs considerably from the upper,
the ground colour being blackish-brown, while all
the green parts are bordered with pearl-white, and
along the posterior margin there is a series of white
lunules, each of them divided by a brown nervure ;
near the origin of the secondary wings a small lon-
gitudinal red line is likewise observable. The body

K

146

CETHOSIA DIDO.

is blackish above and grey beneath, the thorax
marked ivith a few reddish points.

The caterpillar has been figured by Madam Me-
rian. She represents it as bearing several rows of
short spines, rising in a radiated manner from a
tubercle, and two very long caudal appendages. It
is of a green colour, having a red and white ray
along each side of the body.

The insect is found in Brazil and Guiana.

PLATE 14.

Cetfwsij i ri/aiie.

Coast of Malabar.

147

CETHOSIA CYANE.

PLATE XIV.

Pap. Cyane, Linn Cetliosia Cyane, Fair. Godart Pap.

Cyane, Drury, i. pi. i, fig. 1. var.

Extent of the -wings nearly four inches, the length
not much exceeding the breadth, the whole external
margin deeply dentated and the notches margined
with white. Upper wings fulvous towards the base
and spotted with black ; the external half brownish-
black, traversed by an oblique white band, having
two rounded black spots at its lower extremity ;
behind this are a few white marks in the shape
of a horse-shoe, and a line of white lunules ; and bn
the margin itself a narrow festooned white line.
Surface of the secondary wings fulvous-yellow, with
several irregular black spots near the base, and three
regular transverse rows of black spots, the inner-
most formed of small rounded spots, the interme-
diate one of larger spots surrounded with white, and
the external one of spots inclining to a crescent-
shape ; the hinder margin brownish-black with a
festooned white line similar to that on the upper
wings. The whole of the under side is reddish-
yellow, with markings nearly corresponding to those
on the surface, but on the anterior wings there are

148

CETH0SIA CYANE.

several abbreviated transverse yellow lines anteriorly,
bordered with black ; and the under wings are tra-
versed by two yellow bands, bearing rows of black
spots. The body is fulvous above, and spotted
beneath with black.

Found on the coast of Malabar. Drury’s figure
seems to represent a variety.

149

Genus VANESSA.

The insects referred to this genus, which is well
known as having many handsome representatives in
Britain, are distributed over almost every quarter of
the globe. Besides those which occur in this coun-
try, many others are found on the continent of
Europe, and they are equally abundant in tropical
regions. Contrary to what is observed in most
other instances, the species inhabiting the latter are
in general not superior in size or richness of colours
to those of temperate latitudes ; our own V. Ata-
lanta will contrast favourably with any of them.
Among the few exceptions to this remark, in respect
to size, may be mentioned V. Arsinoe and the rare
species figured on the adjoining plate. The latter is

150

VANESSA JULIANA.

PLATE XV. Fig. 1.

Godart. — Pap. N. Juliana, Fabr Pap. Juliana, Cramer, PL

280, fig. A, B Hcrbst. Pap. PI. 220, fig. 1, 2.

It is tie largest of tie Vanessae, measuring nearly
five incles across tie upper wings. Tie sur-
face is dull brown, witl a broad common trans-
verse band of greenish white, placed between tie
middle and tie external margin of the wings. On
tie upper wings this band is composed of a double
series of spots, tie interior ones small and crescent -
shaped, tie exterior large and oval witl a large
black mark in the centre : on tie under wings it is
more continuous, witl a row of white lunules exter-
nally, and two large ocelli, remote from each other,
having a blue pupil and a yellow iris. The under
side is much paler than the upper, and the band on
the anterior wings is nearly as entire as in the pos-
terior pair.

This conspicuous species is a native of the island
of Amboina.

PLATE L r >.

/ V/ifWSSYt Jut ////!//

151

VANESSA AMATHEA.

PLATE XV. Fig. 2.

Pap. N. Amatliea, Linn. Fair Pap. Amaltliea, Cramer, PI.

209, fig. A,B.

The surface of tlie wings in this pretty insect is dark
lirown approaching to black, with a broad hand of
deep red running across the centre of both wings,
hut scarcely reaching the anal angle, and. bifid at
its anterior extremity : beyond this on the anterior
wings are two transverse rows of small white spots,
both of them irregular ; and on the hinder pair a
single row of similar spots : the notches on the mar-
gins of the wings are also whitish. The under side
is much paler than the surface, but the markings
are similar. Body dull black above ; antennse of
the same colour, with the extremity of the club red-
dish. Expansion of the wings from two inches to
two and a quarter.

A South American species, inhabiting Brazil,
Guiana, &e.

152

VANESSA ORITHYA.

PLATE XV. Fig. 3.

Codart Pap. N. Oritliya, Linn. Fabr. — Roesel's Beslust. In-
sect. vol. iv. pi. 6, fig. 2 Pap. Orithya, Cramer , PI. 1 9,

fig. C, D ; PI. 32, fig. E, F ; PI. 281, fig. E, F : PI. 209,
fig. A, B, C, D.

This very elegant species, which is a native of China
and the island of Java, is subject to much variation
in its colour and markings. In its most ordinary
state the colour of the surface is velvet-black in the
male and dark brown in the female, with two large
ocelli on each wing having a violet-blue pupil and
a yellowish-red iris. The costa of the primary wings
is generally dull white, and towards the base are
two or three transverse stripes alternately blue and
tawny-yellow ; towards the apex are three whitish
bands, the interior one broadest, the middle one
interrupted by the ocellus, the third narrow and ly-
ing along the external margin. The secondaiy wing8
are surrounded by a white hand divided throughout
its whole length by a double undulating black line ;
the space between this band and the middle of the
wing bluish-green in the male, a colour which
scarcely appears in the female, and the anterior
portion generally black in the former sex. Under
side pale, the transverse stripes much elongated and

VANESSA ORITUYA.

153

six in number ; the under wings greyish-brown or
greyish-white, with several obscure undulating lines
towards the base, with a row of four or five unequal
ocelli having a blue iris in the female, but almost
obsolete in the male- Body black above, greyish
beneath.

The figure represents a variety of the female, the
same as that delineated by Cramer.

The caterpillar, beset witli branched spines, is of
a black colour with numerous scattered white points,
and has a white line along each side above the legs,
and two rows of yellowish brown spots.

154

CHARAXES JASIUS.

PLATE XVI.

Oclisenheimer Pap. Jason, Linn. — Pap. Jasius, Fair. — Esper.

cater, and chrys. — Drury’s Insects, i. PI. ]. fig. 1. — Pap.

Jason. Cramer , PI. 339, A, B Nymph. Jasius, Godart ,

latreUle .

The genus Charaxes was separated from Nymphalis
by Ochsenheimer for the reception of this butterfly,
which may be regarded as the most beautiful inha-
biting Europe. It varies in the expansion of the
wings from three to four inches ; the surface a
rich silky brown, changing slightly with the light.
Along the hinder margin of the primary wings there
is a broad fulvous hand, more or less sinuated on
the inner side and narrowly edged with black exter-
nally, divided by eight nervures, which are dark
brown ; rather beyond the middle of the wing, a
transverse band of large fulvous continuous spots
extends from the costa to the inner margin, and is
sometimes continued for a short way on the se-
condary wings ; the latter likewise with a posterior
band, formed of contiguous spots of a fulvous colour,
more or less tinged with green, preceded by a series
of from five to seven bluish-green spots, commencing
at the anal angle ; the margin itself black, as well

PLATE 16.

£ tzars sc

Chaj'a&es Jasius.

S Exit nit?.

CHAR AXES JASIDS.

loo

as the projecting angles, two of which are prolonged
into tails. Beneath, the anterior portion of all the
wings is rust-red, marked with spots and transverse
stripes of olive-brown, encircled with white ; beyond
this there is a white band of a satiny lustre, bordered
externally on the upper wings with dusky lunules ;
the space beyond these lunules is fulvous, traversed
by a hand of slate-grey, with a series of black spots,
inclining to triangular, on the inner side of it. Be-
yond the white band on the secondary wings there
is a row of ferruginous spots, succeeded by an olive-
coloured space hearing a row of violet-blue points ;
the posterior band similar to that on the upper side.
Head and thorax rust-brown ; abdomen dull brown,
with greyish hairs ; antennae black, proboscis shining
rust-red.

The female scarcely differs in appearance from the
male, except in having the under side of the hinder
wings finely sprinkled in the middle with blue points.

“ The Jasius butterfly is one of the largest, rarest,
and most beautiful of the European diurnal Lepi-
doptera. It occurs in the southern countries of
France, for example, in the neighbourhood of Lyons,
the Isles d’Hicres, near Toulon and Montpellier;
also in Italy, Sicily, Corsica, some parts of Northern
Africa, and in Asia Minor. Lefcbure de Cerisy of
Toulon has payed considerable attention to the
metamorphoses of this fine insect. The caterpillar,
which in its early stage is green, becomes after-
wards of a yellowish hue, and its skin is as it were
shagreened and transversely plaited. Its head is

156

CHARAXES JASIUS.

singularly armed with four vertical yellow horns
tipped with red, of which the two intermediate are
the longest. A yellow line passes along each side of
the body in the region of the stigmata, and the back <
is marked with four' indistinct orange spots. The'
true feet are black, the membranous ones green. It
feeds on the leaves of the strawberry tree, and never
eats except during the night. Its habits are very
lethargic. During day-light it remains fixed and
motionless on its favourite plant, which it resembles
in colour, and thus escapes observation. The chry-
salis is smooth, thick, carinated, and of a coriaceous
texture, the colour pale green. Two broods or flights
of the perfect insect are produced each year, the
first in June, the second in September. The cater-
pillars of the autumnal brood survive the winter, and
are not transformed into chrysalids till the ensuing
May. The perfect insects are then produced in
about fifteen days. These speedily deposit their
eggs, which aTe hatched in June, and after three
months occupied in the usual transformations, the
second flight appears in September, and continues
the race in the manner above mentioned. In many
parts of France the butterfly is named the Pacha
with two Tails * "

Wilson’s Illust. of Zoology, fol. 27.

1

157

NYMPHALIS ETHEOCLES.

PLATE XVII. Fig. 1.

Pap. Etheocles, Fair Cramer, PI. 1 1 9, fig. D, E. — Nymph.

Etheocles, GodarL

This and the following species present an outline
very similar to that of C. Jasius, and they might
even, without much impropriety, be referred to the
same genus ; hut, as there are several points of dif-
ference, and as we are yet unacquainted with the
caterpillars, it may be preferable in the mean time
to allow them to remain in the situation they occu-
pied in Latreille’s arrangement.

N. Etheocles is a native of Africa, and is found
chiefly on the coast of Guinea. It is nearly of the
size of C. Jasius ; the surface greenish-hlaclr, with
a broad white hand running obliquely across the
middle of the wings; on the primary wings this
band is divided into spots and contracted anteriorly,
having a group of three or four small w'hite spots
on the inner side near its origin. Besides the white
hand, which is regular and continuous, the under
wings have a row of white crescents parallel with
the hinder border, succeeded by a black line, the
border itself of a lighter green than the general

158

NYJIPHALIS ETHEOCLES.

ground colour, and having a few rust-coloured cres-
cent-shaped marks. On the under side the prevailing
colour is pale brown, somewhat glossy, with a white
band similar to that described ; three ocellated spots
are observable at the base of the upper wings, and
in the same situation on the other pair are three
black transverse lines edged with blue. The internal
angle of the superior wings bears a double black
spot, and a series of violet lunules runs along the
hinder border of the under wings ; the border itself
green marked with a row of black points.

159

NYMPHALIS TIRIDATES.

PLATE XYII. Fig. 2 and 3.

Pap. Tiridates, Fabr. Cramer , PI. 161, fig. A, B ; Drury's
Insects, iii. PI. 23, fig. 1, 2 ; Donor. Insects of India, Part iii.
PI. 2, fig. 3.

Extent of the wings nearly four inches, the surface
very dark blue approaching to black, the nervures
brown ; beyond the middle are two transverse rows
of small round spots of pale blue, and along the
hinder margin a series of small dull yellow crescents.
The ground colour beneath is brownish-grey, some-
what glossy ; the superior wings hating a few trans-
verse waved streaks of black edged with blue towards
the base, then a few yellow streaks succeeded by a
pretty regular row of yellow spots, and on the inter-
nal angle are too black spots, partially or wholly
surrounded with blue and surmounted by yellow
crescents : under wings marked in a manner some-
what similar to the upper pair at the base ; the
hinder margin with a continuous row of violet
ocellated spots, preceded and followed by a row of
yellow lunules ; tails rather short and slender, brown;
body dark brown above with four whitish points on
the head, the under side inclining to yellow, anten-
nae black, the palpi yellow beneath.

Found in the islands of Java and Amboina.

PERIDIvOMIA ARETHUSA.

PLATE XVIII. Fig. 1, Fem.

This genus lias lately been proposed for the recep-
tion of a few species formerly classed among the
Nymphales. They are re-
markable for having the
surface covered with blue
markings on a dark
ground, and in other re-
spects seem to be entitled
to generic distinction.
The neuration of the
wings presents the an-
nexed arrangement. —
The caterpillar (at least
of P. Amphimome) bears
some resemblance to that
of Morpho. It is long
and attenuated behind,
the anal extremity deeply
forked, and the head armed with eight strong
unequal spines, resembling a kind of coronet. The
chrysalis is elongated, bifid anteriorly, and having a
series of dorsal spines. They are natives of the New

1. F eridj'omi/uii ‘ethusa 2. F Amphinome.
S. America .

plate in.

0

PERIDROMIA ARETUUSA.

161

World. The male of the species above referred to
is of a deep black colour on the surface, with a silky
gloss, sprinkled with numerous small blue spots;
the female is larger, and besides markings similar to
those of the male, has a broad white band in the
middle of each of the superior wings lying obliquely,
and terminating in a point. The whole of the
under side, in both sexes, is shining brown with a
very slight tinge of green ; the hinder wings with
ten rounded bright red spots, three near the base,
two on the interior edge, and five forming a row on
the hinder margin towards the anal angle. The
white band is likewise conspicuous on the under
side of the female, and in place of it, in the male,
there is a bluish interrupted oblique line ; body
black above and spotted with blue ; brown beneath,
with red spots on the breast.

This beautiful species is a native of Brazil.

L

162

PERIDROMIA AMPHINOME.
PLATE XVIII. Fig. 2.

Pap. Amphinome, Linn. Cramer , PI. 54, fig. E, F RoeseL's

Ins. i. Pi. 10, fig. 1,2 ; Merian, Ins . Surin. PI. 8 Le Papier

Marbre de la Chine, Daubenton , PI. enl. 92, fig. 7, 8.

Bears considerable resemblance to the preceding on
the upper side, the ground colour being glossy black,
the whole surface variegated with waved streaks and
spots of greenish-blue ; these markings frequently
assume the appearance of hieroglyphics, and towards
the hinder margin of the inferior wings they indis-
tinctly represent a series of oval ocelli. Both sexes
have a broad oblique white band across the upper
wings, but it is sinuated on the edges, while in the
female of P. Arethusa the edges are always entire.
On the under side the general colour is brown ; the
upper wings with a triangular red patch at the base,
the colour between this and the central white band
is black glossed with green ; beyond the white band
are two rows of white points, one of them lying
along the margin. The under wings have the ante-
rior half red, that colour divided by rays of greenish-
black, which occupies the whole of the hinder
portion, except where it is interrupted by a few'

PEUIDBOMIA AMPHINOME. 163

whitish spots. Body coloured like the wings above,
greyish beneath, the breast red.

We are indebted to Madam Merian for a repre-
sentation of the caterpillar, the peculiar appendages
of which have heen already mentioned. The colour
of its body is a delicate green, with longitudinal
rays alternately blue and yellow ; the pectoral legs
black ; the head dull yellow. It feeds on the Jas-
minum Indicum. The chrysalis is of a yellow
colour.

The insect inhabits various parts of South Ame-
rica, in some places rather plentifully.

MARIUS THETIS.

PLATE XIX. Fig. 1 *.

Pap. Thetis, Fair. — Nymph. Thetis, Godart Pap. Petrena,

Cramer , PI. 87, fig. D, E ; Stoll's Sapp. PI. 2, fig. 2, A,
(caterpillar), fig. 2, B, (chrysalis) ; Swainson's Zool. Him.
Pis. 59 and 110.

This singular looking insect is distinguished gene-
rically by the peculiar shape of the wings, and the
equally remarkable appearance of the caterpillar.
Of the former the posterior edge of the primary pair
is concave, and the apex is distinctly truncated ; the
same edge of the secondary wings has two long
linear tails, the anal one shorter and curved out-
wards, the external long, obtuse at the extremity,
and turned somewhat obliquely outwards. The
caterpillar is naked, with four long fleshy filaments
on the hack, and two others projecting from the
hinder part of the head; the chrysalis likewise with
several projecting filaments.

The Marius butterfly is a native of Guiana and
Brazil. The colour of the upper side is tawny, vary-
ing somewhat in the shade according to the sex,

* On tlie Plate the under figure should have been marked
1, the upper 2.

PLATE 19.

l.Marmx Thefts. 2.Fabinsjfrippomz. Guiana.

Lizarssc.

MARIUS THETIS.

165

the surface traversed bj three black narrow lines,
running obliquely from the anterior to the abdominal
margin : near the base, and between the second and
third lines are the rudiments of two others, and the
costa is likewise black, as well as the posterior mar-
gin behind the middle : the under wings are black
along the hinder edge, and likewise the tails, and on
the anal angle are a few whitish crescents placed
over two black points surrounded by a white circle.
The colour of the under side is rusty-brown, glossed
with violet and pale green, and across the middle of
both wings there is a dark oblique line, having a se-
ries of black ocellatcd spots behind it.

The following description of the caterpillar and
chrysalis is given by Stoll : — “ The head of this
beautifully coloured caterpillar is dull yellow, with
two short rays and small spots of black. The head
is furnished with two long black spines garnished
with short stiff hairs. The first five segments of
the body are reddish-brown, spotted with black.
The belly is white, and the anterior legs black.
The rest of the body is reddish-brown ; hut from the
sixth to the eleventh segment, the back is of a
beautiful yellow, and bordered on the sides with
short black and white rays. The back is armed
with four long spines, the last of which, placed on
the eleventh segment, is curved backwards, and
very similar to the horns with which most of the
caterpillars of the Sphinges are provided. The in-
termediate and posterior legs are yellow. It feeds
on the leaves of the Cashew tree ( Anacardium oc-

lf!(5

MARIUS THETIS.

eidmtale), and transforms into a perpendicular chry
salis of a yellow colour, spotted with black, garnished
with black spines on the head, thorax, and back.
When the butterfly is about to appear, the yellow
colour changes into white.'*”

Sapp, to Cramer, p. 10, 11.

367

FABIUS IIirPONA.

PLATE XIX. Fig. 2.

Pap. Hippona, Fabr , Donovan, Insects of India Pap. Fa-

bius, Drury's Ins. iii. PI. 16, fig. 1,2; Cramer, PI. 90, fig.
C, D ; Stoll's Supp. (caterpillar and chrysalis.)

This species presents another remarkable form, bear-
ing some analogy to the preceding, hut at once dis-
tinguished by having only one tail. The hinder
margin of the supeiior wings is dilated, in the mid-
dle, into an acute angle ; the same margin of the
hinder pair is cut in a square form towards the anal
angle, and is furnished with an oblique lengthened
tail rounded at the extremity. The caterpillar tapers
lightly towards the hinder extremity, and has two
short obtuse horns on the hinder part of the head.
The chrysalis is very short and thick, and without
any angular projections.

The butterfly expands from three to three and a
half inches, and is coloured somewhat in the manner
of certain kind., of Ileliconia. The upper wings are
black above with two broad bands, that next the
base tawny-red, the exterior one yellow, sinuated
and oblique, extending from the costa to the pro-
jecting angle on the hinder margin of the wing ;
near the apex are likewise two or three yellow spots.
Posterior wings black, with a tawny-red stripe along

JG8

FABIUS HIPP0NA.

the anterior border, and a few white linear marks
running transversely along the hinder margin be-
tween the tail and anal angle. Beneath, the surface
is rust-brown, with pale clouds and transverse bands
on the upper wings, and violet reflections on the
under pair. Body ferruginous above and brown
beneath.

The caterpillar is accurately figured by Stoll, in
his valuable Supplement to Cramer's work. It is of
a dull green, with a brown or nearly black ray on
the back, and spots and short stripes of the same
colour on the sides. The head is black, with green
rays ; on the upper part are two, and on each side
of the anterior part of the first segment, three small
rounded yellow spots. It feeds on the leaves of a
species of Piperis, but only during the night, con-
cealing itself in the day by rolling a portion of the
leaf round its body, in order to protect it from the
sun. The chrysalis is greyish, tinged with flesh-
colour, and marked with small brown spots.

The insect occurs in Guiana, Brazil, See.

PLATE 20.

1. 2. Cataoramnia Condo?tiamis . )

2.4. : Fyrrtmus. ( Brazil.

4f

Z/Mzrssc.

ICO

GATACRAM5IA CONDOMANUS.
PLATE XX. Figs. 1 and 2.

Pap. Astarte, Cramer, PI. 256, fig. C, D Nymph. Condo-

manus, Godart . — CatagTamuia Condomanus, Buisd.

Tnis genus includes a pretty group of Nymphalida >,
which are mostly of small size, and marked with an-
nular lines of bright colours on the under side of the
inferior wings. They are pretty closely allied to Hip-
parchia, hut are natives of the new world. The wings
• are ample, and all of them rounded on the posterior
edges. In the species referred to, the colour of the
surface is black, glossed with violet, the upper
wings with two wide transverse red hands, one near
the hasq, the other beyond the middle ; on the un-
der wings the interior band is continued nearly to
the hinder margin. The under side of the superior
wings resembles the surface, but the costa is yellow
at the base, and a narrow blue line runs along the
outer margin. The under w ings are black beneath,
having a large oval yellow ring on the disk, enclos-
ing three pale blue points and a short yellow streak :
behind this ring there is a curved row of blue dots,
succeeded by a yellow line running parallel with the
hinder border, and not far from it : at the base of

1 /O CATAGRAMMA CONDOM ANUS.

the wing there is likewise a yellow 7 streak, and the
sinuosities on the hinder edge are white.

The individual figured differs slightly from most
other examples, in as much as it has two small white
spots on the surface of the hinder wings near the
anal angle.

This species inhabits Brazil and Surinam.

CATAGRAMMA PYRAMU3.

PLATE XX. Figs. 3 and 4.

Pap. Pyramus, Drury's Insects , iii. PI. 23, fig. 3, 4, (Male) ;

Stoll's Supp. PI. 32, fig. 3, and 3 C.

This prettily coloured butterfly measures about an
inch and three-quarters between the tips of the
wings. The surface is black, finely tinged with
violet, with a broad central common band of bright
red, not extending either to the costa or hinder ex-
tremity. The under side of the upper wings nearly
corresponds to the surface, but they are grey at the
base and tip, and near the latter there is an undu-
lating blue line : the under wings dark brown
sprinkled with grey, with two whitish spots towards
the base, without any vestige of a red band, a
curved row' of ocellated spots behind the middle,
and a waved blue line near the extremity.

The female is black on the surface without any
violet reflection, and the red band, which is nar-
rower than in the male, does not extend to the
secondary wings. This insect is a native of Brazil.
We have placed it in the genus Catagramma, with-
out knowing what limits are assigned to the group
so called by the continental entomologists, as the
name only has yet been published. Perhaps it
rather belongs to the division named Hipparchia.

172

Genus MORPHO.

Tub butterflies arranged together under the above
name are, in many respects, the most remarkable of
any to which our attention has yet been directed.
In size they are superior to all the other diurnal
lepidopterous tribes, except the Ornithoptera, and
many of them rival even that conspicuous group in
their dimensions. Although surpassed by many
others of their tribe in elegance of form and har-
monious blending of colours, they afford examples
of as rich tints as are to be found in any other
natural objects. The blue which adorns the whole
surface of M. Menelans and Adonis, has a beauty
and lustre which it is impossible to witness without
admiration. When flying under the blaze of a
tropical sun, the brilliancy of the surface, as con-
trasted with the dark hue of the under side, as
they are alternately displayed, must render them
very striking objects. Most of them are from South
America, but a few occur in the eastern parts of
India and the great islands of the adjacent Archi-
pelago.

The generic characters are more determinate than
is the case with many others of this order. The an-
tennas are slender, linear throughout their whole
length, or thickening so insensibly towards the ex-

MORI’TIO.

173

tremity as to deviate but sliglitly from tbat shape.
The palpi are placed close together, ascending, and
clothed with scales, the terminal portion narrow and
very much compressed : abdominal margin of the
inferior wings curved downwards, and forming a
deep groove for receiving the body. Discoidal cell
of the posterior wings open behind ; claws bifid.
The caterpillars vary in form, as well as the chry-
salides, and may probably, if more fully known,
enable us to subdivide this family into more natural
groups.

174

MORPHO HELENOR.

PLATE XXI.

Godart Pap. Helenor, Cramer , PI. 86, fig. A, B ; Herbst.

Pap. PI. 26, fig. 1, 2 ; Esjjer. Papillon's Exotiques, PI. 42,
fig. 2.

This affords an example of that section of the genus
in which the upper w ings are more or less concave
on the outer margin, and the inferior pair without
any prolongation behind. They are almost exclu-
sively South American. M. Helenor expands from
four to five inches ; surface black, with a broad band
of silvery blue or violet blue, extending from the
middle of the anterior margin to the anal extremity ;
sometimes rather narrow and well defined on the
inner edge, at other times enlarged to within a short
distance of the base of the wings ; at the anterior
extremity of this band, on the costa, there is an
oblique white patch, and beyond it, on the upper
wings, a single row T of small white spots in the male,
and two in the female. The secondary wings have
an indistinct row of red crescents near the hinder
margin, and the sinuosities in all the wings are
white. The colour beneath is dark brown, the upper
wings with three large ocelli having a white pupil
surrounded with ferruginous and violet, the iris yel-

YLATT. 21 .

Morpho E&lenor

Prom S. America.

i

MORPHO HELENOR- I 7~>

low, enclosed in a green circle which has a crescent
of the same colour on the inner side ; under wings
with four similar ocelli, three of them contiguous,
the interior one insulated. Towards the base of
both wings are several transverse flexuose green
stripes, and along the outer edge three greyish lines,
more or less interrupted with red, especially in the
hinder wings. The body is black above and brown
beneath.

In the variety figured there are a few yellow
streaks on the under side of the anterior wings, and
a red stripe at the base of each wing ; at the same
time the three posterior ocelli are prolonged into a
point, and a spurious ocellus is observable adjoining
the anterior one.

Found not unfrequently in many countries of
South America.

MORPHO ADONIS.

PLATE XXII. Fig. 1.

Godart Pap. Adonis, Cramer. PI. Cl, fig. A, B ; Herhst. Pap.

PI. 2C, fig. 3, 4 ; Esper. Pap. Exotiques, PI. 55, fig. 2.

As a specimen of that division of Morpho which has
the upper wings scarcely or not at all concave on
their outer edge, and the anal angle of the under
pair prolonged into an obtuse rudimentary tail, we
have represented a species of great beauty although
inferior in size to many of its congeners, the expan-
sion of the wings seldom exceeding three inches and
a half. The surface of the male, when seen in cer-
tain directions, is of the most brilliant azure-blue,
the whole of the exterior margin of the primary
wings surrounded with black, and near the apex
are two small white spots, the anterior one longi-
tudinal, the other orbicular. In the female the blue
colour has not such a high degree of lustre; the
posterior margin is widely black, and bears two rows
of white spots in the upper wings and one row in
the under. On the under side the colour is greyish-
brown, with several common oblique bands of a paler
hue, and three or four oblong ocelli with a white

t

LMorpTio Adonis. :J Pavonia Teucer.
Brazil.

MOIlpnO. ADONIS.

177

pupil and a black iris surrounded by a yellow ring ;
the anal angle marked with short undulating black
lines. Body brownish-black above, concolorous with
the same face of the wings beneath.

Found in various parts of South America, but
apparently most plentiful in Brazil and Guiana.

M

178

Genus PAYONIA.

The group composing this genus was separated from
the preceding by Godart, chiefly on account of the
discoidal cell in the secondary wings being closed.
Besides this character the palpi are not so densely
clothed with scales, and the inferior nervure of the
upper wings is curved near its origin in the form of
the letter S. The species very closely resemble the
Morphos in most other respects, but their colours
are generally less brilliant. They are all from South
America, and in that country they are far most abun-
dant in Brazil. The caterpillars of several different
kinds have been represented by Madam Merian, and,
like those of Morpho, they differ from each other
in their appearance and properties.

179

PAVONIA TEUCER.

PLATE XXII. Fig. 2.

Pap. Teucer, Linn.—Merian, Surinam Ins. PI. 23 ; Cramer,
PI. 51, fig. A, 13.

Extent of the wings from fiye to six inches ; the
surface of the primary pair of a livid hue at the base
and dark brown at the extremity, the latter colour
traversed by a yellow flexuose line near the middle
of the secondary wings, slate-blue anteriorly, and
black behind. On the under side the wings are
very richly mottled, the ground colour being light
brown, variegated with numerous undulating black
lines, the anterior pair with five very irregular yel-
lowisli-white transverse bands, and four ocellated
spots near the apex, the hinder one larger than the
others, surrounded by a yellow ring and having a
white point within, not in the centre, but inclining
to the inner side : the secondary pair with three
broad indistinct whitish bands, and near the mid-
dle three ocelli, the intermediate one minute, the
hinder very large and surmounted by a black arch.
The body is dark brown above.

This insect inhabits an extensive tract of the
warmer parts of South America.

180

ARPIDEA CHORIN.EA.
PLATE XXIII.

Pap. Cliorinseus, Fair Pap. Arcesilaus, Cramer , PI. 294,

fig. A, B (male), fig. C, D (fern.) ; Stoll's Supp. PI. (?, fig.
I (caterpillar), fig. 1, A (chrysalis). — Satyrus Chorinacos,
Godart.

Finding it impossible to include this insect, owing
to its remarkable form, in any of the genera hither-
to proposed, we have been under the necessity of
assigning it a new name. Many of its characters
seem to be quite peculiar both in the perfect and
preparatory states. The species which makes the
nearest approach to it is Satyrus P/iiloctetes, but the
differences are considerable, as will be seen by
comparing the adjoining figure with that insect.
The costal line of the upper wings is very much
arched, and the hinder margin is strongly falcate.
The external edge of the under wings is likewise
falcate posteriorly, and the anal angle is a little pro-
duced ; the line from that point runs somewhat
obliquely nearly to the middle of the hinder edge
of the wing, where there is a broad obtuse oblique

PLATE 23.

I tzars sc

ArpiiletL tfwritutccL.
with CaierpUler & Cty salts.
Surinam.

ARR1DEA. C1I0RINA5A.

181 ■

tail. This outline forms a broad, somewhat square
figure,' haring perhaps rather a heavy appearance,
but the curves are graceful. The caterpillar is
naked, or covered only with short pubescence,
thickest in the middle, and having two very long
hairy appendages at the kinder extremity. The
chrysalis is short, without any conspicuous projec-
tions, the abdominal portion very much incurved.

The colour of the surface in the above species is
deep brown, darkest on the upper wings, which
have a wide fulvous sinuated band, rather beyond
the middle, commencing at the costa and reaching
nearly to the opposite side, where it terminates in a
point : the costa is likewise yellowish, and towards
the apex there is a round white spot. Posterior
wings of a lighter hue round the margin than on
the disk, and near the hinder extremity an indis-
tinct row of whitish points. On the under side all
Jjethe wings are light brown and ash colour, covered
with short waved lines of dark brown, and bearing
several continuous transverse bands of the same co-
lour, and towards the hinder margin of the inferior
pair a row of pale rounded spots. Body brown ;
prothorax with a fulvous mark.

The caterpillar is very beautifully coloured. The
body is reddish, inclining to violet, the sides of the
belly and the legs dull yellow. Along the back
there is a broad yellow band formed of confluent
lozenge-shaped spots, each of them having a dusky
line in the centre : head ferruginous, bordered and
rayed with yellow. The anal fork is grey, with

182

ARP1DEA cnORIN-EA.

Black cilias. This caterpillar feeds on the leaves of
the sugar-cane, and changes into a pale brown
chrysalis dotted with black, from which the butterfly
emerges in about eleven days. The insect is a na-
tive of Surinam

t

1. 2Ifelicopis Grri/his.y
2 ErUCUUL Octavius. I Surinam.

HELICOPIS GNIDUS*.

PLATE XXIV. Figs. 1 and 2, Fem.

Hesperia Gnidus, Fabr Pap. Endymion, Cramer, PI. 224,

C, D, (Male,) E, F, (Fem) Eryeina Gnidus, Codart ;

Stoll's Supp. PL 4, fig. 5, A, (Cater), 5, B, (Chrysalis).

The genus Helicopis was proposed by Fabricius in
his Systema Glossatarum, and he refers to the species
abovementioned asone of its typical forms. Although
its characters are sufficiently distinctive, it was long
confounded with other groups to which it has little
relation. It belongs to that section of the diurnal
lepidoptera in which the caterpillars are short and
depressed, having some resemblance to an oniscus,
whence they are called onisciform. The palpi are
rather long and slender, and the terminal joint is
nearly naked or free from scales. In Helicopis the
antennas terminate in a slightly curved club : the
anterior legs are much shorter than the others and
clothed with hairs ; hinder margin of the anterior
wings convex and entire, the corresponding margin
of the posterior with six linear tails, the central one
much longer than the rest ; discoidal cell of the
posterior wings open behind ; claws very minute.

* Owing to the resemblance which this species bears to
//. Cupidu, the latter name has been inadvertently attached to
the figure on the adjoining Plate.

184

IIELICOPIS GNIDUS.

Caterpillar thickly clothed with soft hairs, the chry-
salis suspended by the tail, and having a hand round
the middle.

The best known and most common species of this
genus is II. Cupido , which is rather smaller than
H. Gnidus. The former is commonly named the
Golden-spot, and the latter the Silver-spot Butterfly.
The wings of H. Gnidus, in the male, are white on
both sides, with a slight tinge of yellow at the base,
and the outer margin black. At the hinder extre-
mity of the secondary wings there is a row T of narrow
white marks, which is double at the anal angle ;
tails black on both sides, the two longest ones tipped
with white. The upper wings beneath have a white
line dividing the black border behind the middle ;
and the under pair are ornamented with twenty-one
silvery spots, three of which at either extremity arc
elongated and placed on a white ground, while the
rest are insulated and on a ferruginous ground ; all
of them edged with black. The female is larger
than the sex just described, and differs in having a
larger fulvous space at the base of the wings, and in
having it bounded externally on the under side of
the upper pair by a wide black patch ; the greater
part of the surface of the hinder wings is black, and
the posterior row of white crescents is simple : body
white, the thorax yellow; antennas black, ringed
with white.

The caterpillar is white, and clothed with long
hairs of the same colour ; the head yellow, sur-
mounted by a tuft of red hairs. It feeds on the

IIELICOPIS GNIDUS.

185 ,

leaves of the passion-flower, and changes into a
brown chrysalis, which has a tuft of red hairs at the
head and tail.

This species, as well as H. Cupido, is a native
of Surinam.

ERYCINA OCTAVIUS.

PLATE XXIV. Fig. 3.

Pap. Octavius, Fair. Mant. — Pap. Faunus, Fultr. Species . — -
Pap. Choriueus, Cramer, PI. 59, fig. A.

As the above genus at present stands, it contains
many insects which have but little affinity to each
other, as may be seen by comparing the present
figure with that on the following plate, both of which
have been usually assigned a place in it. If we have
not altered this arrangement, it is not because we
do not regard it as improper, but from a reluctance
to introduce many partial changes, in a place where
it would be irrelevant to enter at length on the
general subject of classification. The relation which
groups bear to each other can be satisfactorily shown
only by treating of the whole ; and insulated changes
are the less desirable at present, as a general arrange-
ment of the whole class will speedily be laid before
the public by an individual who has long directed

J86

ERTCINA OCTAVIUS.

liis attention to the subject. The above-named
species belongs to a group in rvhich the upper wings
are triangular, and the inferior very much elongated,
truncated towards the anal angle, and exteriorly
drawn out into a long narrow tail. With the excep-
tion of the dark bands and occasional crimson spots,
the whole wings are transparent. E. octavius ex-
pands about an inch and a half. The upper wings
are transparent, the whole of the outer margin, and
a band running obliquely across the middle, black.
Under wings transparent anteriorly, the remainder,
including the tail, black ; the anal angle with a
large crimson patch. The tail is very narrow, and
somewhat whitish on the outer edge and at the
tip. The under side resembles the upper, except
that the red spots are each marked with two white
points.

Found in Surinam.

1 2. Erycuui Mrhlaeus.
3. Loxurajilddcs.

18:2 from Brazil. 3 Africa.

PLATE 25.

lizarssc

187

ERYCINA MELIBA2U&

PLATE XXY. Figs. 1 and 2.

Pap. El A. Melibaeus, Fair. — Ihrbsi. Pap. PI. 59, fig. 4, 5

Pap. Pyretus, Cramer, PI. 144, fig. A, B.

This beautiful insect belongs to that decision of
Erycina which has opaque wings, and a short
obtuse tail to the hinder pair. It is about two
inches in extent of wing. The surface is uniform
dark brown, with a bright red oblique band run-
ning across the middle of both wings, and a large
crescent of the same colour near the origin of the
tail. On the inner side of the upper wings there is
the appearance of another oblique red band, but it
is obsolete except at the hinder margin. The un-
der side forms a striking contrast with the surface,
the ground colour being black, with two brilliant
blue bands, the outer one very broad, the interior
somewhat macular, and terminating behind in a
red point. Body brown above and black beneath.

Like most of the species constituting the genus
Erycina, it is a native of the new world, occurring
in greatest plenty in Surinam and Brazil.

188

LOXURA ALCIDES.

PLATE XXV. Fig. 3.

Pap. P. R. Alcides, Fair. Maul. — Hesperia, R. Alcides, Fabr.

Si/sl. — Pap. Alcides, Cramer, PI. 96, fig. D, E. — Myrina

Alcides, Gadurt.

Loxura includes a few species formerly referred to
Myrina , and, like tire latter, is distinguished from
the allied genera by the extraordinary length of the
palpi which rise conspicuously above the head, and
are, in fact, nearly half the length of the antenna;.
The wings are entire on the edges, and the hinder
pair are prolonged each into a single tail, placed
obliquely. The antenna; increase gradually towards
the apex into a lengthened club, and all the ambu-
latory legs are of the same form in both sexes. The
species represented is a native of Guinea. The ex-
tent of the wings is about an inch and three-quar-
ters. On the upper side the wings are dark brown,
sprinkled very thickly towards the base with shin-
ing violet-blue atoms, making the whole inner half
of the wings appear of that colour, and the outer
margin of the posterior pair behind the middle, as
well as the lengthened tail, are of the same hue.
Towards the extremity of the upper wings there is
a transverse band of a rusty-red colour, but it is very
indistinctly defined. Beneath, the colour is tan-

tOXURA ALGID ES.

189

brown as far as the middle of the wings, where
there is a narrow yellow line running across the
whole surface in the posterior, but abbreviated in
the anterior, and placed rather beyond the middle,
the space beyond this band covered with a kind of
greyish dust. Body brown, the thorax clothed with
hairs of the same colour as the base of the wings, an-
tennae blackish, annulated with white on the under
side.

This is an African insect, and seems to he con-
fined to the coast of Guinea. Pap. Corax of
Cramer (PI. 379, fig. D, E) seems to be a variety
of the female. The individual figured by Boisduval
(Spec. Gen. PI. 22) appears to differ considerably
from Cramer's figures, as well as Fabricius' and Go-
dart’s description: it is represented as having a
distinct ocellus at the base of the tail.

190

POLYOMMATUS MARSYAS.

PLATE XXVI. Figs. 1 and 2, Male.

Pap. Marsyas, Linn. Fabr. Herlst. Pap. PI. 296, fig. 1,2}
Cramer, PI. 332, fig. A, B. — Polyoiumatus Marsyas, Godart.

N ot withstanding tlie numerous groups which have
been recently withdrawn from this genus, it stiil
includes a great variety of modifications of form
which would amply justify further subdivision. Even
the few examples which have been selected for illus-
tration might afford the types of more than one
group ; but, for the reasons already mentioned, we
prefer presenting them according to Latreille’s ar-
rangement. Most of these insects are beneath the
middle size, they are usually adorned with very
beautiful colours on the surface, and ornamented
with ocelliform spots beneath, a circumstance which
has suggested the name. They are distinguished
from the immediately preceding genera by having
the palpi of ordinary length, or rather short, and
all the legs complete, or adapted for walking, in
both sexes. The group to which the first species
represented belongs, has the costa of the upper wings
more or less arched, particularly towards the base,
and the hinder margin of the same wings is very
slightly concave, especially in the male. The hinder

PLATE 26.

1 Z Polz/onunatus Marsi/as.

3.4 . E/hiiftnio/i.

I & 2 from S. America. 3 gc 4. Surinam.

POLYOMMATUS MARSYAS.

191

wings have two linear narrow tails towards the anal
angle. P. Marsyas is a native of Brazil, Guiana,
and some other countries of South America. It is
greenish-blue on the upper side, changing with the
direction of the incident light into violet, the costa
and apical angle of the upper wings widely black.
Beneath the colour is lilac, glossy, with seven or
eight small black spots, surrounded by a white circle,
scattered over the disk of each wing ; the anal angle
bluish-green, with two short white transverse streaks
and two pretty large black spots ; tails black with
the extremity white, the outer one about half the
length of the other. Body blue above and whitish
beneath. The antenna;, as in most of the Polyom-
mati, are black with pale rings.

192

POLYOMMATUS ENDYMION.

PLATE XXVI. Figs. 3, 4, Fem.

Pup. P. R. Endymion, Fair. Herbst. Fap. PI. 598, fig. I, 2.

Pap. regalis, Cramer, PI. 72. fig. E, F. (Fem).

The outline of this richly ornamented insect per-
fectly corresponds to that of the preceding species,
except that the hinder margin of the upper wings is
scarcely concave. The whole disk is very brilliant
blue with a tinge of green, surrounded by a black
border, which is wide and sinuated on its inner edge
in the female, and narrow in the other sex. The
anal angle of each of the hinder yvings hears a large
blood-red mark, and the tails are black tipped with
white. On the under side the green hue predomi-
nates, and the whole is thickly powdered as it were
with gold dust, giving it a very rich appearance.
Near the middle both wings are traversed by a dis-
tinct black line, angular posteriorly, and bordered
externally by pale blue : behind this, on the under
wings, there is a broad deep red or ferruginous hand,
paler towards its hinder edge and sprinkled with
blue atoms : the outer margin of all the wings is
darker than the interior. Expansion of the wings
about two inches.

‘

PLATE 27.

1. 2. Polyonuruitus Venus', i

3.4. Achaeus. j Surinam.

193

POLYOMMATUS VENUS.

PLATE XXVII. Figs. 1, 2.

Pap. P. R. Venus, Fair. Mantissa . — Hesperia R. Venus,

Fabr. Systema. — Pap.* Venus, Herbst. Pap. PI. 294, fig. 1, 2.

Pap. Imperialis, Cramer , PI. 76, fig. E, F.

This beautiful little insect is not unlike the pre-
ceding both in its form and colours. It belongs to
a section of Polyommatus, in which the upper wings
of the male are marked with an orbicular spot, of a
cottony appearance, and frequently a good deal im-
pressed. The expansion of the wings does not
exceed an inch and a half. The colour of the surface
is brilliant blue, the costa and outer margin of the
wings black, and the disk of each marked with two
ferruginous points in the male. Beneath, the colour
is likewise green, richly glossed with golden yellow,
the anterior portion of the under wings transversely
streaked with narrow black marks. The tails are
wholly black.

All the examples hitherto brought to Europe seem
to be from Surinam.

194

POLYOMMATUS AG II /E US.

PLATE XXVII. Figs. 3, 4.

Hisperia R. AcIieeus, Fair Pap. Achseus, Cramer, PI. 352,

fig. G, H Herbst. Pap. FI. 297, figs. 3, 4.

Nearly the same size as P. Venus , and also a
native of Surinam. Upper side dark brown, the
superior ■wings with two oval yellow spots on the
disk of each, and two transverse curved streaks of
the same colour on the inferior, the anal angle with
a ferruginous spot. Under side yellow, with numer-
ous ferruginous patches, each of which is ornament-
ed with several small spots of golden-yellow, the
outer border with a continuous ferruginous band
bearing a series of golden-yellow elongated spots.
Body brown above and yellowish beneath.

195

Genus THALIURA.

The genus to which we have assigned the above
name has been hitherto blended with the Urania.
It is doubtless very closely connected with these
insects ; but the differences both in the appearance
of the perfect insects and the respective caterpillars,
render it expedient that they should be separated.
The character by which it and Urania are widely
separated from all others, is the form of the antenna?,
which are filiform nearly to the middle, where they
thicken a little, and from that gradually narrow to a
point. The palpi are lengthened and slender, hav-
ing the second joint greatly compressed, the terminal
one more slender, neai'ly cylindrical, and naked.
There is no closed discoidal cell in any of the wings,
and almost all the nervurcs diverge from the base.
Not many different kinds are known, and, with
one exception, they are natives of America and the
West Indian Islands. Their splendid tints of
golden green arranged in transverse bars, render
them perhaps the most chastely beautiful insects
that exist, and has caused them to be named Eme-
rald Butterflies in this country. Sometimes also
they are called Pages. They fly so high in the air
and with so much velocity, that it is nearly impos-
sible, Madam Merian informs us, to catch them,

130

THALIURA.

and the only way therefore to obtain good specimens,
is to feed the caterpillar. “ Great numbers of this
insect,” says Mr. Swainson, speaking of a species
almost the exact counterpart of U. Leilus, ‘ l were
flying during the whole of the morning, past Aqua
Fria (Pernambuco) in a direction from north to
south : not one deviated from this course, notwith-
standing the flowers which were growing around :
they flew against the wind, which blew rather strong,
and near the ground, but mounted over every tree
or other high object which lay in their course ;*yet
their flight was so rapid, that I could not capture
a single specimen. They went singly, and near
fifty or sixty must have passed the spot opposite the
window before mid-day : they continued to pass for
three or four days in this manner. 12th June

1817*.”

The present genus differs from Urania in the per-
fect insect having three distinct tails at the hinder
extremity of the posterior -wings ; neither are these
wings so much elongated as in the group just named.
The differences between them in their early states
will be seen bv comparing the following descriptions.

Zoological Illustrations, 126.

*

■

PLATE 28.

T/ialuira Rhiph eus.
Madagascar.

/ ' • - 1

1

197

THALIURA RHIPI-IEUS.

PLATE XXVIII.

Pup. E. A. Rliipheus, Fair. — Pap. Rhipheus, Cramer, PI. 385,
fig. A, B — Boisduval, Nouvel. Annul, du Museum, d’Uis.
Nat. p. 260, PI. 8, fig. I, 2.

This magnificent species is usually about tbe size of
Papilio Machaon , but sometimes it is a good deal
larger. The surface is a deep velvet-black ; the up-
per wings with numerous transverse lines and stripes
of beautiful golden-green, and a broad band of the
same colour near the middle deeply cleft anteriorly :
this band is likewise continued across the under
wings in the direction of the anal angle, but a large
space on the latter is brilliant coppery-red with a
violet reflection, and marked with four or five black
spots ; besides this there is another green band near
the external margin, the outer edge as well as the
tails firinged with hairs : the tails are three in number,
that most remote from the anal angle longer than
the others. On the under side of the superior
wings the green bands are dilated so as to occupy
greater part of the surface ; the same side of the in-
ferior pair is gilded green at the base and extremity ;
the whole anal region bright flame colour inclining
to purple, with a changeable lustre, prolonged to

198

THALIURA RHIPIIEUS.

the anterior margin and forming a central band, the
whole surface marked with orbicular black spots,
which become larger posteriorly. Body black, ful-
vous beneath : antenna.' wholly black.

The female is about one-third larger than the
male, the anal mark larger and of a golden colour
with little mixture of purple.

“ This species,” says M. Boisduval, who first
completed the natural history of this insect by de-
scribing its various states and metamorphoses,
“ which may be considered as the most beautiful
lepidopteron known, inhabits Madagascar. It has
been once taken in Bourbon, whither the caterpillar
had probably been transported accidentally. Ac-
cording to Cramer it is likewise found on the coast
of Coromandel.

“ The caterpillar lives on the Mangi/era Indica.
On first issuing from the egg, it is nearly smooth
and of a greenish tint ; after the first moult it as-
sumes a black colour, becomes covered with spines,
and protrudes at pleasure two rose-coloured retrac-
tile horns, placed on the first segment. Having
attained its full size it is rather slender, dilated
laterally towards the middle, and is about two or
three inches long. On each side there is a festoon
composed of many irregular bands of white, green,
and yellow points : the horns, which were of a
delicate rose-colour, become carmine-red; the first
pair of membraneous legs becomes very short, almost
rudimentary, and are of no use in walking; when
in motion, therefore, it curves the centre of its body

THALIDRA RHIPHEUS.

199

upwards into a loop like the caterpillars of Geometra
and Catocala. Before undergoing its metamorpho-
ses, it attaches itself by the tail and a band round
the middle, like the caterpillars of Papilio, Colias,
Pieris, &c., or rather like those of Geometra pen-
dularia and Gyraria.

“ The chrysalis is elongated and pointed, scarcely
angular, of a green colour with a transverse gilded
band ; the extremity, which is of a deeper green, is
sprinkled with a great number of golden points.

“ The perfect insect comes out in about three
weeks. Exposed to the sun, it developes itself
completely in two or three hours, while individuals
bom in the shade take nearly a day to develbpe
themselves, and are usually less brilliant.”

200

Genus URANIA.

As already mentioned, Urania is distinguished from
all other groups, except Thaliura, by the shape
of the antenna;, and an obvious character for sepa-
rating it from that is the presence of only a single
tail. The palpi are short and project a little beyond
the head, the terminal joint being nearly naked.
The tibiae of the anterior legs are furnished with
spines in the middle ; and the claws are minute.
"When at rest the anterior wings are kept in a hori-
zontal position, or hut slightly turned upwards ;
one peculiarity among many others in which they
resemble the nocturnal lepidoptera. We are in-
debted to Mr. Macleay for an account of the meta-
morphoses of a species which he has named U.
Femandince, hut which is probably synonymous
with some previously known. The caterpillar feeds
on a kind of Omphalea which grows abundantly on
the sea-coast of Jamaica. It never appears during
the heat of the day, hut reposes in a torpid state
within a thin transparent weh on the under side of
the leaves, in order to avoid the rays of the sun.
Its only time of feeding is dinring the night. In
its appearance and habits it shows more affinity to
the larva; of the Bombycidae than to the diurnal
Lepidoptera. When about to change to a chrysalis

tlUANIA.

201

it spins an oval cocoon of yellow silk, the meshes
of which are so lax as to allow the inmate to
be easily seen. The pupa is not at all angular.
“ The perfect butterfly,” he adds, “ is perfectly
diurnal, and very swift in its flight. It is not found
in the interior of the island, but it may be seen in
plenty as far as two or even three leagues from the
coast, sporting in the sun, and sucking the flowers of
Oestrum diurnum , Ehretia tiiiifolia, and other odori-
ferous trees of small stature. In hot weather and
about mid-day it flies particularly high, and may
be even observed surmounting the tops of the highest
members of the forest. In the afternoon I have
often seen it sport about some capriciously chosen
spot, such as a particular branch of Mango, where it
would always return to alight on almost the same leaf,
in a manner that has sometimes reminded me of a
well known habit of the Musicapce. Thus does our
insect spend whole hours until sunset, when the bats
usually terminate its diversion and its life. On the
approach of winter it may be seen at times alighting
on hedges, when specimens are more easily cap-
tured. The flight, however, of U. Fernandinae is
always strong, and it starts like the Fringillidce.
When it alights on a leaf, all the four wings are
expanded horizontally ; and rarely, if ever, take a
vertical position, like those -of the species of the
Linmean genus Papilio, when at rest

Trans, of Zool. Society of London, i. p. 187.

202

URANIA SLOANUS.

PLATE XXIX. Fig. 1.

Godart. — Pap. Sloanus, Cramer , PI. 85, fig. E, F. — Pap. Lci-

lius, Var. Fair Lcilius Oecidentalis, Su-ainson , IUus.

PI. 129.

Expands about two inches and a half or three inches ;
surface deep black ; the upper wings each with six
or seven transverse lines of golden green, and near
the middle a band of that colour bifid (sometimes
trifid) anteriorly. Under wings with a central band
of bright coppery red, irregularly indented, the
abdominal margin more or less gilded green ; the
tail black with a few emerald green spots. Design
on the under side corresponding to that on the sur-
face, the green paler. Body black above, with a
dorsal line of golden green, and another on each
side ; brownish beneath.

This handsome species bears the name of the
celebrated Sir Hans Sloane, the early historian of
Jamaica, who figured it in his work (PI. 239, fig.
11, 12). It is accounted a rare insect, and, we be-
lieve, has hitherto been found only in the West
Indian Islands.

PLATE Ji).

1 Urania Sloanus. 2. Urant/tLeiZiis.
W. Indies. -Surinam.

'

203

URANIA LETLUS.

PLATE XXIX. Fig. 2.

Pap. Leilus, Linn. Fabr. Cramer , PI. 85, fig. C, D ; Merian's
Surinam. Ins. PI. 29. — Urania Leilus, Fabr. Syst. Gloss . —
Leilus SurinaraensiB, Swainson. Zool. Ulus. PI. 125. — Le
Page de Cayenne, Daubeiiton, PI. enlum. 71, fig. 1.

Larger than the preceding, frequently expanding
four inches. Ground colour deep velvet hlack on
both sides, the pictorial design on the upper wings
nearly as in U. Sloanus, there being eight or nine
slender transverse lines, slightly curved, of beautiful
green, with a silky lustre, and the usual band near
the middle sometimes divided into three or four
ramifications as it approaches the costa. A band of
light sericeous green likewise runs across the infe-
rior wings, deeply indented on both sides, and often
quite interrupted by transverse patches of the ground
colour ; the tail nearly white ; the fringe pure white.
Body thick and robust, especially in the females ;
black, rayed with emerald green.

This lovely insect appears to he pretty abundant
in Surinam, as great numbers have been transmitted
to this country.

Although the butterfly seems to occur so fre-
quently, we are not aware that the caterpillar has

204

URANIA LEILCS.

been noticed by any competent observer since the
time of Madam Merian, at least no notice of it has
been published since. It was long suspected that
her figure of it was unworthy of credit, but from
what has been recently observed in relation to the
larva: of kindred species (particularly that of T.
Rhipheus ), it now appears probable that her infor-
mation was correct. Anomalies similar to those
which characterise the perfect insects, likewise at-
tend them in their previous state. They are covered
with spines, as is the case among many of the Nym-
phalidw, and they are provided with a retractile
tentaculum as in Papilio. In the present instance
the spines are remarkable for their length and rigi-
dity, particularly those on the anterior and posterior
segments.

PLATE 30 .

lizevssc.

205

RHIPHEUS DASYCEPHALUS.
PLATE XXX.

*

Urania Rhipheus, Var. Cramer , Godart Rhipheus Dasyce-

phalus, Swainson , Zool. Illus. PI. 131.

We hare copied the accompanying figures from
Drury’s work on exotic insects, in order that they
may be compared with those represented on Plate
XXVIII. It will at once he perceived that they
present numerous points of agreement, as well as
very obvious differences, and when every considera-
tion is taken into account, it is not easy to say
whether they ought to be regarded as distinct spe-
cies, or merely varieties of the same. Drury states
that his insect was brought from China, and when
the drawing was taken, it was in the possession of
Captain May of Hammersmith ; in all probability,
however, it is now lost. The antennas are described
as black and knobbed at their extremities, and the
hinder wings are without tails.

On the supposition that Drury’s figures accurately
represent the insect as it appeared when alive, the
only connexion which it has with Urania arises
from the similar distribution of colours and neura-
tion of the wings ; in other respects it would be

206

RHIPHEUS DASYCEPHALUS.

classed with the Papiliones. But this anomaly is
certainly a remarkable one, that it should combine
clavate antennfe, with an arrangement of the alary
nervures exactly corresponding to an insect with
which in other respects it is so nearly identical.
There being no other example of such a peculiarity,
and the insect figured by Drury never having been
found since, we are naturally led to suspect that he
has been, in some way o? other, under error. We
have no doubt, however, that his figures afford a
faithful representation of the specimen from which
they were taken, as the drawings W'ere made by
Moses Harris, whose accuracy in such matters is well
known. But there seems good reason to believe
that the specimen in question has been originally
defective, and that improper means have been taken
to supply its deficiencies. By supposing that the
head of a genuine papilio had been attached, in
order to supply the want of that part in the speci-
men, and give it the appearance of being complete
(a practice which has often been followed by ama-
teur collectors), we get rid of the greatest objection
to its being considered identical with Rhipheus.
The want of the tails is easily accounted for, these
appendages being so brittle when dry, that they are
seldom preserved except in specimens which have
received the utmost care. In other instances Drury
has erroneously represented species as destitute of
tails ; we recollect in particular Salyrut P/iiloctetcs.
We mention these circumstances as affording means
by which it is possible to account for the peculiari-

RniPHEUS DASYCEPHALUS.

207

ties presented by Drury’s figure ; but it is likely
that different opinions will be held on the subject.
The following are Mr. Swainson’s observations : —
“ If the imagination was taxed to invent, or to con-
centrate into one figure all that was splendid,
lovely, or rare in the insect world, Nature would
far exceed the poor invention of man by the pro-
duction of this incomparably splendid creature ; its
rarity also is so great, that but one specimen has
ever been seen. It is not, however, on this account
only that we have been induced to copy this figure,
hut because its illustration will clear up one of the
most intricate and perplexing questions that has
hitherto impeded the natural arrangement of the
Linnsean Papilwnes, and even of the whole order of
the Lepidoptera.

“ The error of Cramer regarding Rhipheus has
already been rectified. It will now he demonstrated
that not only are the two insects distinct as species ,
hut that they actually belong to different genera;
Cramer’s being a Urania of Fabricius and Latreille,
while Drury’s is a Papilio of the same authors.
This is proved by the figures, and confirmed by the
following words of Drary : — ‘ The antenna are
black, and knobbed at their extremities,’ in other
words, clavate ; while the palpi, as expressed in the
figure, are so small as not to project beyond the
head, where they lie hid among the frontal hairs ;
this also being a typical distinction of the Latreil-
lian Papiliones. The figures in Druiy’s work were
all drawn and engraved by Moses Harris, well known

208 RHIPHEUS I) AS YC CPI! ALUS.

as one of the most accurate artists that ever lived ;
as a remarkable proof of this, we find that he has
not failed to delineate that peculiar ncuration of the
anterior wings which belongs only to the types of
Leilus. A closer affinity therefore between Papilio
and Leilus cannot possibly be imagined ; while its
remarkable hairy front points out its analogy, as an
aberrant type in its own genus, to Chlorisses among
insects, and Dast/cephala among birds. So true it
is that the natural system ‘ illuminates with a flood
of light’ every supposed anomaly, and reconciles
facts apparently the most inexplicable

* Zoological Illustrations, 2d series, 131.

FINIS.