INTRODUCTORY LE'ITER. 9 



clare, upon beholding some insects, that they had robbed 

 the trees of their leaves to form for themselves artificial 

 wings, so exactly do they resemble them in their form, 

 substance, and vascular structure ; some representing 

 green leaves, and others those that are dry and withered*. 

 Nay, sometimes this mimicry is so exquisite, that you 

 would mistake the whole insect for a portion of the 

 branching spray of a tree^. No mean beauty in some 

 plants arises from the fluting and punctuation of their 

 stems and leaves, and a similar ornament conspicuously 

 distinguishes numerous insects, which also imitate with 

 multiform variety, as may particularly be seen in the 

 caterpillars of many species of the butterfly tribe [Pa- 

 pilionidce), the spines and prickles which are given as 

 a Noli ine tangei-e armour to several vegetable produc- 

 tions. 



In fishes the lucid scales of varied hue that cover and 

 defend them are universally admired, and esteemed their 

 peculiar ornament ; but place a butterfly's wing under a 

 microscope, that avenue to unseen glories in new worlds, 

 and you will discover that nature has endowed the most 

 numerous of the insect tribes with the same privilege, 

 multiplying in them the forms'^, and diversifying the 

 colouring of this kind of clothing beyond all parallel. 

 The rich and velvet tints of the plumage of birds are 

 not superior to what the curious observer may discover 

 in a \ax\Qty o^ Lepidopterci; and those many-coloured 

 eyes which deck so gloriously the peacock's tail are 

 imitated with success by one of our most common but- 



=* Various species of the genera Locusta and Alaufiti, F. 

 * Many species of Phaama. 

 ' De Geer, 1. 1. 3./. 1—34, &c. 



