PAP 



PAP 



P. Nicippe : wings entire fulvous, tlpt 

 with brown ; upper pair with a short 

 black transverse line near the middle of 

 each : lower ones beneath speckled 

 with reddish. Inhabits North Ameri- 

 ca, and is about the size of the pre- 

 ceding 1 . 



Among the Nymphales Gemmati, few 

 can exceed in elegance the P. Antiopa, 

 a species that appears in the United 

 States earlier in the season than any 

 other butterfly ; it is not unusually seen 

 before the snow has disappeared from the 

 ground; Mr. Wilson alludes to this insect 

 Avhen he says 



" When first the lone butterfly flits on 

 the wing." 



The wings are angular indented black- 

 brown with a whitish border, behind 

 which is a row of blue spots ; it differs 

 somewhat from the European speci- 

 Ufiens, and may perhaps be a distinct spe- 

 cies. 



P. Atalanta : wings indented black ; 

 upper-pair with a red band and white 

 spots; lower-ones bordered with red 

 behind, in which are black spots. The 

 larvae are often found on the hop-vines, 

 on thistles, &c. Inhabits North America 

 and Europe. 



Of the last division, termed Plebeii, 

 may be adduced as an example a small 

 English butterfly, called P. Malvse, of a 

 blackish or brown colour, with numerous 

 whitish and semi-transparent spots. To 

 this latter division also belongs a very 

 beautiful exotic species, a native of India, 

 and of a most exquisite lucid blue colour, 

 edged with black, and further ornament- 

 ed by having each of the lower wings 

 tipped with two narrow, black, tail-shap- 

 ed processes. It is the P. Marsyas of Lin- 

 naeus. 



The larvae of butterflies are known by 

 the name of caterpillars, and are extreme- 

 ly various in their forms and colours; 

 some being smooth, others beset with 

 spines; some are observed to protrude 

 from their front, when disturbed, a pair 

 of short tentacula, nearly analogous to 

 those of a snail. A caterpillar, when 

 grown to its full size, retires to a conve- 

 nient spot, and securing itself properly 

 by a small quantity of silken filaments, 

 either suspends itself by the tail, hanging 

 with its head downwards, or else in an 

 upright position, with the body fastened 

 round the middle, by a proper number of 

 filaments. It then casts off the caterpil- 

 lar skin, and commences chrysalis, in 

 which state it continues till the enclosed 



butterfly is ready for birth, which, liberal 

 ing itself from the skin of the chrysalis, 

 remains till its wings, which are at first 

 very short, weak, and covered with 

 moisture, are fully extended : this hap- 

 pens in the space of a few minutes, when 

 the animal suddenly quits the state of in- 

 activity to which it had long been con- 

 fined, and becomes at pleasure an inha- 

 bitant of the air. 



PAPILIONACEI, in botany, a term 

 applied to certain flowers, from their 

 supposed resemblance to the figure of a 

 butterfly. The term is applied also to 

 the thirty-second order of Linnceus's 

 "Fragments of a Natural Method." They 

 are divided into two sections ; viz. those 

 that have the filaments on the stamina 

 distinct, and those with one set of united 

 filaments. These plants, otherwise call- 

 ed leguminous, from the seed-vessel, 

 which is that sort termed a legumen, are 

 very different both in size and duration ; 

 some of them being herbaceous, and 

 those either annual or perennial ; others, 

 woody vegetables of the shrub and tree 

 kind, a few of which rise to the height of 

 seventy feet, and upwards. The herba- 

 ceous plants of this order generally 

 climb ; for being weak, and as it were 

 helpless of themselves, indulgent nature 

 has either provided them with tendrils, 

 and even sharp-pointed hooks at their 

 extremities, to fasten upon the neigh- 

 bouring trees or rocks, or endued the 

 stalks with a faculty of twisting them- 

 selves for the purpose of support around 

 the bodies in their neighbourhood. The 

 pea, vetch, and kidney-bean, afford fa- 

 miliar examples of the appearances in 

 question. The shrubs and trees of this 

 natural family are mostly armed with 

 strong spines. The roots are very long, 

 and furnished with fibres : some genera 

 have fleshy tubercles, placed at proper 

 intervals along the fibres. The stems 

 are cylindric, as are likewise the young 

 brunches, which are placed alternately: 

 those which climb twist themselves from 

 right to left, in a direction opposite to the 

 apparent diurnal motion of the sun. The 

 bark of the large trees is extremely thick 

 and wrinkled, so as to resemble a net 

 with long meshes ; the wood is very hard 

 in the middle, and commonly coloured 

 or veined ; the alburnum is less hard, and 

 generally of a yellow colour. The buds 

 are hemispherical, without scales, and 

 proceed from the branches horizontally, 

 a little above the angle which they form 

 with the leaves. The leaves are alter- 

 nate, and of different forms, being either 



