502 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



however, carefully and ably described by Dr. Horsfield, seems to be sufficient to 

 separate the two genera of Ornithoptera and Papilio, though by many entomologists 

 they have of late been united. Of the former genus, as at present restricted, there 

 are sixteen species, exclusive "of many varietal forms, which have received distinct 

 names. They are mostly in color grand combinations of green and black, orange and 

 black, purple and black, and bright yellow and black, and measure on the average 

 about seven inches in the expanse of the wings. 0. croesus has the wings the richest 

 golden orange instead of green, and when in flight is said to be almost dazzling to the eye. 

 Fine specimens are extremely rare, and command very high prices for the cabinet. It is 

 a native of the island of Batchian; and Mr. Wallace's account of its capture is so 

 entertaining that it may well be copied at length : " During my first walk into the 

 forest at Batchian, I had seen sitting on a leaf, out of reach, an immense butterfly 

 of a dark color, marked with white and yellow spots. I saw at once that it was a 

 female of a new species of Ornithoptera, or ' bird-winged ' butterfly, the pride of the 

 Eastern tropics." Mr. Wallace was subsequently fortunate enough to secure a 

 female, "and the day afterwards a fine male. I found it to be as I had expected, - 

 a perfectly new and most magnificent species, and one of the most gorgeously colored 

 butterflies in the world. . . . The beauty and brilliancy of this insect are indescribable, 

 and none but a naturalist can understand the intense excitement I experienced when 

 I at length captured it. On taking it out of my net and opening its glorious wings, 

 my heart began to beat violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more 

 like fainting than I have done when in apprehension of immediate death. I had a 

 headache the rest of the day, so great was the excitement produced by what will 

 appear to most people a very inadequate cause. 



Fragile as are the wings of the beings we have been considering, it will perhaps 

 surprise many who have not investigated the subject, to learn that butterflies exist in 

 a fossil state, and that the delicate creatures which now give such animation to our 

 woods and fields sported their short life of activity and freshness away back in the 

 tertiary period. 



HENRY EDWARDS. 



