CHRYSIRIDIA. 49 



This Moth was first figured in 1725 by Sir Hans Sloane 

 in the second volume of his work on the Natural History of 

 Jamaica, but it was confounded by Linnaeus with C. leilus, and 

 was first recognised as distinct by Cramer. Gosse has pub- 

 lished an account of its habits, which differ considerably from 

 those of C. boisduvalii. It appears in April, and sometimes 

 in June, flying round the Avocado Pear (Persea gratissima) 

 from a little before sunrise till eight or nine o'clock, when 

 it retires during the heat of the day, reappearing again after 

 the usual rain which falls almost every afternoon at the season 

 when the Moths fly. They flutter about the blossoms of 

 the Persea, but rarely frequent other trees, except occasionally 

 the Mango. Sometimes they soar to a vast height, 500 feet 

 or upwards. As in the case of the Swallow-tailed Butterflies, 

 to which they present such a strong superficial resemblance, 

 they often lose the tails of their wings, even before the wings 

 themselves are otherwise worn or defaced. "When one 

 alights, unless it is to suck the blossom, it chooses a leaf 01 

 other surface that is nearly vertical, and instantly turns head- 

 downwards, and rests with the wings expanded in the plane of 

 the body ; the anterior pair, however, inclined backwards, so 

 as to form an angle with each other, and partly covering the 

 posterior. They chase each other about playfully ; half-a- 

 dozen or more sometimes joining in the gambols, when their 

 wings glitter in the sun like the plumage of the Humming- 

 birds. Their manner of flight is much more like that of a 

 Moth than a Butterfly." The eggs are yellowish- white, and 

 resemble those of C. boisduvalii. 



GENUS CHRYSIRIDIA. 



Chrysiridia, Hiibner, Verz. bek. Schmett. p. 289 (1822 ?). 

 Thaliura^ Duncan, in Jardine's Nat. Libr. Foreign Butterflies, 

 P- 195 ( l8 37) 



13 E 



