OF COLOUR. 173 



yellow, green, blue, and violet : if these colours be ranged 

 round a circle, it will occur at once to persons acquainted 

 with optics, that this location of colours is in accordance 

 with nature. 



RED. 

 VIOLET. ORANGE. 



WHITE. 



BLUE. YELLOW. 



GREEN. 



In tracing these colours round the circle it will be evi- 

 dent that there is no gap : neither of the six could be 

 omitted, or its place occupied by another : it will also be 

 noticed that red, yellow and blue are of greater integrity 

 than orange, green, and violet, which are indebted for their 

 characters to the colour on either side of them : further it 

 will at once be admitted that white is equally related to 

 all ; it partakes of the characters of all, and is composed 

 of all, besides having a perfection and superiority peculiar 

 to itself. 



The following list of the principal variations of these 

 colours, as developed on the surface of insects, will be 

 found useful in reading technical descriptions. 



Blacks : piceous or picem, the colour of pitch : atrous 

 or ater, the colour of liquid ink ; it is also occasionally 

 written aterrimus : nigrous or niger, the colour of lamp 

 black : fuliginous or fuliginosus, the colour of soot : black- 

 ish or nigricans is an impure black : smoky or fumeus, as 

 if tinged with smoke. 



Browns : fuscous or fuscus, the colour of the otter : 

 bay or badius and chestnut or castaneus are nearly iden- 

 tical ; they both imply a colour like that of seasoned ma- 

 hogany, or a bay horse, or a horse-chestnut : testaceous, 

 testaceus or lateritius, are synonymous, but used with 



