MISCELLANEOUS FACTS. 173 



however, that moths, like many other nocturnal 

 animals, are endowed with this curious power, to 

 enable them to see their way clearly at a time 

 when the vision of diurnal creatures is of little or 

 no avail." * 



Variety of the Peacock Butterfly. 



In the first edition of this work we gave the 

 above figure of the Peacock Butterfly, and described 

 its ordinary form, omitting to point out the peculiar- 

 ities of its conformation. 



This specimen was captured near Oxford in 

 1828, and is a curiously shaped variety. The supe- 

 rior wings are about a fourth larger than the inferior 

 ones, in proportion to those of the ordinary speci- 

 mens ; the whole insect being much more triangular 

 m its general form, and the indentations on the 

 margins of both upper and under wings considerably 



* Field Naturalises Magazine, vol. i. p. 550. 



