9g0 NATURAL HISTORY. 



mented with one or two fine light lines on the dark under surface of the 

 wings. It is in the tropics that these forms attain their greatest promi- 

 nence, and there their wings are among the most brilliant objects, some 

 shining like burnished gold, others of metallic blues or greens which no 

 artist's pencil can duplicate. 



Larger and still more beautiful are the swallow-tails and their allies. 

 Every one is familiar with the large yellow and black turnus butterfly, its 

 hind wings prolonged into a slender 'tail,' whence the name 'swallow- 

 tail.' Almost equally abundant is the asterias, a black species with yellow 

 spots, whose larva feeds upon parsnips, carraway, celery, etc. These, 

 however beautiful they may be, are far excelled by some of the tropical 

 forms. For instance, there is an African species, rich brown in color, 

 which spreads eight inches — an enormous butterfly. One specimen of 

 this is said to have been sold for one hundred and fifty pounds on account 



of its great rarity. 



Allied to the swallow-tails are the large bird-wing butterflies of the 

 tropics, the grandest of the whole butterfly group. Collectors grow crazy 

 over them, exhibiting an excitement in their presence which one cannot 

 understand unless he sees their magnificent colors and enormous size. 

 Listen to Mr. Wallace as he describes one of his experiences in the Malay 

 Archipelago : — 



" During my very first walk into the forest at Batchian I had seen, 

 sitting on a leaf out of reach, an immense butterfly of a dark color, marked 

 with white and yellow spots. I could not capture it, as it flew away high 

 up into the forest, but I at once saw that it was a female of a new species 

 of Ornithoptera, or < bird-winged butterfly,' the pride of the Eastern tropics. 

 I was very anxious to get it and to find the male, which in this genus is 

 always of extreme beauty. During the two succeeding months I only saw 

 it once again, and shortly afterward saw the male flying high in the air at 

 the mining village. I had begun to despair of ever getting a specimen, as 

 it seemed so rare and wild, till one day, about the beginning of January, 

 I found a beautiful shrub with large, white, leafy bracts and yellow flowers 

 . . . and saw one of these noble insects hovering over it; but it was too 

 quick for me, and flew away. The next day I went again to the same 

 shrub and succeeded in catching a female, and the day after a fine male. 

 I found it to be, as I had expected, a perfectly new and most magnificent 

 species, and one of the most gorgeously colored butterflies in the world. 

 Fine specimens of the male are more than seven inches across the wings, 

 which are velvety black and fiery orange, the latter color replacing the 

 green of the allied species. The beauty and brilliancy of this insect are 

 indescribable, and none but a naturalist can understand the intense excite- 



