CHAP. xi. BUTTERFLIES AND LOCUSTS. 207 



smooth, and of a greenish-yellow, with minute black 

 dots all over, and with seven or eight bluish stripes 

 on the sides, having a horn above the tail, is likewise 

 very large, being, when full grown, about six inches 

 long. It feeds on the potato, the deadly-nightshade, 

 the jasmine, and the Lycium larbarum, and other 

 plants of as dissimilar a nature." 



In another article he mentioned the Herald Moth 

 (Scaliopteryx libatrix), a specimen of which was pre- 

 sented to him by Mrs. G. Bannerman. He describes 

 this beautiful insect as occurring in great profusion 

 in some of the southern parts of England, but as very 

 rare in the north. It is called the " Herald" moth, 

 because it is said to indicate the approach of winter. 



The Peacock Butterfly (Papilio To), was caught in 

 Duff House garden, close to Banff. Although common 

 in England, this butterfly is very rare in Scotland. 

 Morris makes no mention of its ever having been 

 seen in the north. A great flock of these butterflies 

 passed over a part of Switzerland in 1828, when they 

 were described as a swarm of locusts. This circum- 

 stance led Edward to insert some observations re- 

 garding that destructive insect, the Locusta, migratoria, 

 which passed over this country in the year 1846, the 

 ever-memorable potato-famine year. 



" Great numbers," he says, " were found in the 

 counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray. Several 

 were also got in the sea at Aberdeen, as well as near 

 Banff. Some of those found were very large, being 



