MARIA SIBILLA MERIAN. 43 



the glory of the noctuidrx, as it has been de- 

 servedly called. This caterpillar is black with a 

 green band on each segment, and is furnished with 

 a strong anal horn like those of the hawk-moths, 

 but it differs from these in having tufts of hair 

 springing from each side The figures of the moth 

 are much more carefully engraved than usual. 

 Plate xxni. represents Morpho Teucer with its 

 curious armed caterpillar placed on the ripe fruit of 

 the banana (Musa sapientum, Linn.) ; and the fol- 

 lowing plate is entirely devoted to the coleoptera, 

 containing figures of Cerambyx farinosus, Cerambyx 

 spinibarbis, and Prionus melanopus, with the larva 

 of the latter. The plant is the Mexican poppy 

 C Argemone Mexicana), drawn in a very character- 

 istic manner. 



The xxixth plate merits attention as a very 

 successful representation of one of the most beauti- 

 ful butterflies known, the Urania Leiliis of Fabr., 

 lately named Leilus Surinamensis, from being rather 

 hastily supposed to be confined to that country. A 

 singular larva is likewise figured, from which our 

 author affirms that the butterfly was produced. It 

 is thickly beset with sharp hairy spines of great 

 length, some of them half as long as the body, and 

 as rigid as iron wire. But a celebrated entomologist, 

 who has lately investigated the metamorphosis of 

 another species of Urania (U. Fernandince) has 

 given it as his opinion that Madam Merian's figure 

 and description of this larva are unworthy of credit. 



