i 9 4 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS. 



The Brilliant Uraniidce. 



It has long been a problem with systematic writers 

 what is the true situation in nature of the highly 

 interesting group of insects Uraniidae. Linnaeus regarded 

 the more typical species as butterflies, placing them in his 

 great group called Papilio, containing the whole of the 

 day-flying Lepidoptera ; Fabricius, who divided the 

 Lepidoptera into genera, even placed the genus Urania 

 at the head of the order, followed by the other genera 

 of butterflies. It may be mentioned that Urania may 

 now be considered as the type of the family Uraniidae, 

 the genus Urania, in more recent times, having been 

 split up into smaller genera. All detail must be 

 omitted of the positions assigned to different members 

 of the group from time to time. The day-flying habits of 

 the insects, together with their airy forms and the extra- 

 ordinary brilliancy of their colours, naturally led to their 

 being at first classed among the Rhopalocera, or true 

 Butterflies, but later acquaintance with their trans- 

 formations proves them to belong to the Heterocerous 

 division of the order. 



Bosiduval describes one as " ce magnifique Lepi- 

 doptere, le plus beau de la creation." They are among 

 the most richly ornamented Lepidoptera of that very 

 brilliant order. It would be difficult for art to effectually 



