52 Transactions. 



hand and turning your wrist at the same moment. All col- 

 lectors will know what I mean. There you have it, Sphinx 

 convolvuli. Look, what a living glory ; its eyes like stars 

 brought down for us to look into, and behold, we see nothing 

 but light." 



This very descriptive picture by Mr Douglas is not by 

 any means overdrawn, as everyone will admit who has ever 

 seen the perfect insect alive. I recollect the first specimen 

 of the convolvuli that I had ever seen was one that was 

 found at rest in the Castledykes garden by a little boy some 

 years ago. I kept it alive till the evening, for the purpose 

 of seeing its eyes by night, which I had heard so much about. 

 Stainton says that hawk moths are the comets of the insect 

 collector, which is no doubt true ; and probably many an old 

 entomologist looks back to the time when he took his first 

 Sphinx convolvuli, the death's-head, Acherontia atropos, 

 the Humming Bird-moth, Macroglossa stellatarum, or the 

 Elephant Hawk-moth, Chaerocampa elpenor, as an event in 

 their time worth remembering. Such an event as the cap- 

 ture of all these does not often fall to the lot of one collector. 

 That large class of insects which the butterflies and the 

 moths belong to are perhaps more commonly known than 

 any other order of insects. This may be partly accoxmted 

 for by the dazzling beauty of many of the species, more 

 especially the diurnal order of Lepidoptera, which are more 

 or less familiar to all. It is quite impossible for any one to 

 take a walk on a fine summer day without seeing several 

 species of butterflies gambolling about from flower to flower 

 — light-winged and graceful in every movement, arrayed in 

 matchless beauty. Even the very commonest of our com- 

 mon butterflies have each a special beauty of its own 

 which no other order of insect possesses. The combination 

 and harmony of colours are exceedingly fine. Manj species 

 of the Coleopterous insects are clothed in much brighter 

 colours, but they want the soft depth and the fine har- 

 monious tone which the butterflies so eminently possess. 

 To begin to particularise the beauty of the butterflies, one 



