54 INTRODUCTION. 



has been bestowed on insects of a less conspicuous 

 and attractive kind. 



The diurnal Lepidoptera are very numerous in 

 species, although but a limited number inhabit this 

 country. Between 2000 and 3000 have been de- 

 scribed, and it is probable that no inconsiderable 

 number yet remain undiscovered. About 75 diffe- 

 rent species are recorded as indigenous to Britain. A 

 great proportion of the largest and most highly or- 

 namented kinds are natives of the new world, espe- 

 cially of Brazil ; but they abound in all tropical 

 countries, and some of these exotics present the 

 most sumptuous examples of insect beauty. " I 

 should undertake an endless task," say Messrs Kir- 

 by and Spence, or one or other of these authors, 

 " did I attempt to specify all the modes of marking, 

 clouding, and spotting, that variegate a wing, and all 

 the shades of colour that paint it, among the lepi- 

 dopterous tribes ; I shall therefore confine myself 

 to a few of the principal, especially those that dis- 

 tinguish particular tribes and families. Of whole 

 coloured wings, I know none that dazzle the eye of 

 the beholder so much as the upper surface of those 

 of Morpho Menelaus and Telemachus. Linne just- 

 ly observes, that there is scarcely any thing in na- 

 ture that, for brightness and splendour, can be paral- 

 leled with this colour : it is a kind of rich ultra- 

 marine, that vies with the deepest and purest azure 

 of the sky ; and, what must cause a striking con- 

 trast in flight, the prone surface of the wings is as 



