1 88 Miscella nevus. 



opteryx. At present it is impossible to answer this question, 

 because the fossils that we possess are destitute of their integuments, 

 and it is very difficult to say a priori with what cutaneous structures 

 these creatures were covered. There is complete homology between 

 the scales or the spines of reptiles on the one hand, and the feathers 

 of birds on the other. The reptilian structures differ in no respect 

 from the wart-like stumps which appear in the embryo bird as the 

 first traces of plumage ; the feather of the bird is only a reptile's 

 scale further developed ; and the reptile's scale is only a feather 

 which has remained in the embryonic condition. There can conse- 

 quently be no doubt that the feathers of Arch&opteryx, which are so 

 perfectly developed, must have been preceded in other preexisting 

 reptiles by cutaneous structures representing in a persistent fashion 

 the different stages of the embryonic development of the feather. 

 We must therefore imagine the ancestors of the Archavpteryx as 

 lizard-like terrestrial reptiles, having feet with five, hooked, free 

 digits, showing no modification in their skeleton, but having the skin 

 furnished at different points with elongated warts, downy plumes, 

 and rudimentary feathers, not yet fitted for flight, but susceptible 

 of further development in the course of generations. — Bibliotheque 

 Universelle, Archives des Sciences, December 15, 1879, pp. 702-708. 



Note on the Genus Brahmaea of Walker. 

 By Arthur G. Butler, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



The first figure of a species in this genus is that by Petivir 

 (Gazoph. tab. 18. fig. 3), a perfectly recognizable illustration of a 

 species recorded as coming from the island of Chusan, and, as I 

 have noted (P. Z. S. 1866, p. 458), identical with B. lunulata and 

 undnlata of Bremer, a good figure of which is given in Menetries's 

 Catalogue of the Lepidoptera in the St.-Petersburg Museum (pt. iii. 

 pi. 15. fig. 5). 



The first description of an Oriental species is that of B. eerthia 

 given by Fabricius in the ' Entomologia Systematica,' iii. 1 , p. 412. 

 u. 16 (1797) ; and as this description does not seem to have been 

 looked at by living Lepidoptcrists, at any rate in recent years, it 

 will perhaps astonish them not a little if 1 quote it verbatim : — 



" Certhia. 16. B. alis patulis rotunda! is fuscis apice cinereo albo 

 fuscoque undatis. 



"Petiv. Gazoph. tab. 18. fig. 3. 



" Habitat in Chusan. Mus. Brit. 



" Magna. Corpus fuscum collari abdominisque lateribus cinereis. 

 Alae omnes concolores, basi fuscae, apice cinereae, albo fuscoque 

 undatae." 



Therefore there cannot be a question that the B. lunulata (and 

 unclulata) of Bremer is the typical B. certhia of Fabricius. The 

 B. certhia of Walker, figured by myself (P. Z. 8. 1866, p. 119, 

 fig. 1), may consequently be named B. conchifera, on account of the 

 beautifully shaded shell-like submarginal spots upon the wings. 



