REMINISCENCES OF THE RHINE; 



ORNITHOLOGICAL AND ENTOMOLOGICAL. 

 [Continued from page 168.] 



Respecting insects, I must repeat my inability to give any thing like a de- 

 tailed account, proportionate to the number coming under my casual or permanent 

 observation. My nippers, as I have already said, were disposed of to a friend on 

 leaving England, and the absence of good collections in my own neighbourhood, 

 or books with plates of insects not indigenous in this country, precluded my noting 

 down with accuracy, the names of many which I either saw or captured. With 

 this explanation, by way of preface, proceed we to enumerate some few of those 

 which can be ascertained, not of every day occurrence in Great Britain. 



Swallow-tailed Butterfly (Papilio machaonj. Though rare in England, 

 being chiefly confined to the fen counties of the eastern coast, it is by no means 

 so on the Continent, and I was rather surprized to meet with but one specimen, 

 namely at St. Goar on the Rhine. Borne on a smart breeze, the beautiful insect 

 had crossed the river and passed me with the rapidity of lightning ; but, pursuing 

 its course by the eye, I observed an extensive patch of dark mud, bloating under 

 the rays of a hot sun, which I rightly conceived might prove too strong a tempta- 

 tion for the airy traveller, whose habits are little in accordance with its cleanly 

 and courtly drapery, preferring to revel on the decomposing putrefaction of a 

 moist dunghill, to sucking the nectar of roses, of which it seems so much better 

 qualified by its dress and elegance of demeanour to partake. Though rapid on 

 the wing, when once settled, and in the full enjoyment of its beverage of filth, it 

 may be approached without much difficulty. I was right in my conclusion ; on 

 the mass of black mud it had tarried, to sip the essence of a large drain which 

 emptied itself on the shore ; it became my prisoner, and is now in my cabinet. 



Black-veined White Butterfly (Pieris cratcegij. Donovan calls this one of 

 the rarest species of the white tribe of butterflies found in Britain, but like many 

 other insects, I believe its scarcity to be periodical, plentiful in one season, and 

 then totally disappearing, for possibly several years to come. Though plain, and 

 with few attractions to the ignorant observer, its transparent wings, and peculiar 

 fashion of flight, are sure to draw the attention of a Naturalist to an insect, which 

 assumes so foreign an address. My specimen was taken at Baden. 



Pale-clouded Yellow Butterfly ( Colias hyalej. This is another pretty in- 

 sect, rarely found with us, but common enough in various parts of the Continent. 

 I have found it in nearly all localities ; very abundant in the warm emerald meadows 

 in the vallies of the Pyrenees, and by no means rare in those at Baden, where its 

 gaudy golden plumage is sure to attract notice. 



