104 PARA. Chap. III. 



many bordered or spangled with metallic lines and 

 spots of a silvery or golden lustre. Some have wings 

 transparent as glass ; one of these clear wings is 

 especially beautiful, namely, the Hetaira Esmeralda ; 

 it has one spot only of opaque colouring on its wings, 

 which is of a violet and rose hue ; this is the only 

 part visible when the insect is flying low over dead 

 leaves in the gloomy shades where alone it is 

 found, and it then looks like a wandering petal of a 

 flower. 



Moths also are of great variety at Para ; but most ol 

 them are diurnal in their time of flight and keep com- 

 pany with the butterflies. I never succeeded in finding 

 many moths at night. In situations such as gardens and 

 wood sides, where so many are to be seen in England, 

 scarcely a single individual is to be found. I attri- 

 bute this scarcity of nocturnal moths to the multitude 

 of night-flying insectivorous animals, chiefly bats and 

 goat-suckers, which perpetually haunt the places 

 where they would be found. On the open commons 

 a moth is seen flying about in broad daylight which 

 is scarcely distinguishable from the common English 

 Plusia Gamma. Several times I foand the Erebus 

 strix expanded over the trunks of trees, to the bark of 

 which it is assimilated in colour. This is one of the 

 largest moths known, some specimens measuring nearly 

 a foot in expanse. Along the narrow paths in the 

 forests, an immense number of clear-winged moths are 

 found in the day-time ; mostly coloured like wasps, bees, 

 ichneumon flies, and other HymenojDterous insects. 

 Some species of the same family have opaque wings, and 



