52 INTRODUCTION. 



they are doubtless deserving of this preference* 

 Their wings are augmented to a size that seems 

 quite disproportioned to that of the body, as if na- 

 ture had wished to enlarge the surface on which she 

 was to employ her pencil, that it might admit of 

 more varied and profuse decoration. Even the un- 

 der face of the wings, contrary to what is observed 

 in other flying animals, is usually as much adorned 

 as the surface, and often in an entirely different man- 

 ner. Each wing, therefore, presents what may be 

 called two different pictures. No kind of ornament 

 found among other insects is omitted in this favoured 

 tribe; and so many new modes of embellishment are 

 f3mployed, that Nature seems to have made them the 

 > jects of her peculiar care, and designed them, as 

 has been remarked by the learned and pious Ray, 

 for the adornment of the universe, and to form de- 

 lightful objects for the contemplation of man, bear- 

 ing conspicuous marks of the hand of a Divine Art- 

 ist. * 



The habits of these insects are well fitted to con- 

 firm the preference we assign to their beauty. Un- 

 like many others of this class, which delight to riot 

 among substances most offensive to our senses, or 



* Usus Papilionum> ad ornatum universi, et ut homi- 

 nibus spectaculo sint ; ad rura illustranda velut tot brac- 

 teae inservientes. Quis enim eximiam earum pulchritudi- 

 nem et varietatem contemplans mira voluptate non afficia- 

 tur ? Quis tot colorum et schematum elegantias naturae 

 sius d ivinae artis vestigia eis impressa non agnoscat etmi- 

 retur? RAII, Hist. Insect. 109. 



