CAMBERWELL BEAUTY. 161 



There have been several instances of this insect 

 being found in different parts of the country in mild 

 seasons, as plentifully as the Peacock or Admirable 

 Butterflies ; in the summer of 1793, in particular, they 

 were in some places as numerous as the common 

 White Butterfly. 



But, as a proof that its appearance does not alto- 

 gether depend upon the temperature of the weather, 

 there have been many of our hottest seasons, which 

 are most favourable to the propagation of all kinds of 

 insects, in which not a single specimen of the Cam- 

 berwell Beauty was to be met with. 



It is from the uncertainty of the appearance of 

 this Papilio, that we have such varied accounts of its 

 scarcity and abundance. It must have been long 

 known to the British lepidopterist ; yet it received 

 the name of Grand Surprise from Harris, or some of 

 the Company of Aurelians, of whose society he was a 

 member. This name was evidently intended as a 

 significant expression of their admiration, not of the 

 beauty of the insect, but of the singular circumstance 

 of the species remaining so long in those very places 

 where the most diligent researches of preceding 

 collectors had been made in vain. Of their unwearied 

 industry they were well persuaded ; and were, there- 

 fore, unable to account for the appearance of a 

 numerous brood of large insects, which must have 

 remained concealed many years, or been lately 

 transported to those places. 



Harris, in his Aurelian, calls it the Camberwell 

 Beauty ; and, in his list of English Butterflies. 



