The interesting history of Urania and the vahiable illustrations 

 lately published in the Transactions of the Zoological Society, 

 from the able pen and pencil of Mr. W. S. MacLeay, induced 

 me to examine Ourapteryx, some species of which are said to 

 inhabit Surinam, and probably other countries where Urania 

 is found, which it considerably resembles in its contour, and 

 even the spots on the under wings seem to be borrowed from 

 the Papilionidae to adorn this elegant Moth. There is, how- 

 ever, no affinity between Urania and Ourapteryx, the former 

 being allied to the Hesperidse and the latter belonging to the 

 true Phalaenidae : it is evidently related to my Genus Macaria 

 (pi. 132.), and like many others of this family the posterior 

 tibiae are dilated and furnished with long hairs on the inside. 

 The larva is a true looper, and the manner in which the case, 

 formed of leaves to inclose the pupa, is suspended, like the 

 nests of some birds, is very remarkable. The chrysalis seems 

 to be furnished at the tail with an elongated bifid hook, at- 

 taching it most likely to the case, by which means the moth 

 is better enabled to extricate itself when it is hatched. Sepp's 

 beautiful figures of the larvae do not quite agree with those of 

 Hiibner, from whom ours is copied, as well as the plant, cocoon 

 and pupa (fig. P.), and this is represented by Sepp much more 

 like the chrysalis of a Papilio. 



The antennae are described by Linnaeus as pectinated, and 

 by Dr. Leach as somewhat ciliated, but they are merely 

 densely clothed beneath with short oblique hairs. 



O. Sambucaria is distributed over the whole of Europe, and 

 is by no means uncommon in most places in this country in 

 gardens and hedges, the beginning of July: at Swaffham 

 Prior in Cambridgeshire Dr. Jermyn observes it in abundance 

 in his Garden, and Mr. Simmons has frequently found it in 

 Huntingdonshire in White-thorn hedges in the evening, 

 generally after a shower of rain. 



The favourite food of the Caterpillar is the Common Elder 

 {Sambucus nigra), but it feeds also on the leaves of many other 

 plants, as the Jasmine, the Privet, the Sallow, and, I presume, 

 the Gooseberry, as Hiibner has represented the Caterpillars 

 feeding on that bush. 



