246 ART A XERXES BUTTERFLY. 



drawing by Mr Jones of Chelsea. It was long 

 much valued by the English collectors, some of 

 whom, we are informed by Donovan, were in the 

 habit of placing a drawing of the insect in an ob- 

 scure corner of their drawers, that their cabinet 

 might obtain credit for possessing an object of such 

 rarity! Others undertook a journey to Edinburgh, 

 chiefly with the view of procuring specimens. It 

 occurs in such plenty on Arthur's Seat, that all the 

 English cabinets, and the principal foreign ones, are 

 now abundantly supplied from that locality. It has 

 likewise been taken among the Pentland Hills, at 

 Flisk in Fifeshire, near Queensferry, and in the vi- 

 cinity of Jardine Hall, Dumfriesshire. It appears in 

 July. The examination of an extensive series of 

 specimens of the two preceding insects, will pro- 

 bably lead most people to the belief, that the marks 

 which have caused them to be regarded as specifi- 

 cally different, are far from being stable or satisfac- 

 tory. The appearance of the caterpillars, both of 

 which are unknown, will afford the most likely 

 means of determining the point. 



