URANIA. 73 



Their manner of flight is much more that of a j\Ioth 

 than of a Butterfly. I may observe that the hooked 

 form of the tips of the antennae, which we see in 

 cabinets, does not characterise the living insect; 

 they are curved only in the process of drying. 



As soon as the sun becomes hot, that is about 

 eight or nine o'clock, they one by one retire ; and 

 scarcely a single individual is to be seen until after 

 the rain, which at that season falls every afternoon, 

 when they crowd around the Pear-trees, as numerous 

 as in the morning. These semi-daily visits are con- 

 tinued for about a fortnight, while the Pear-trees 

 continue in bloom; and then the insects gradually 

 become scarce, and we see only an occasional straggler 

 until the season returns. 



To this scarcity, however, I found one remarkable 

 exception. On the 18th of June, being on the 

 lonely mountain road near Basin (or Beeston) Spring 

 soon after sunrise, I was surprised by the sight of this 

 beautiful butterfly, very abundant, though few other 

 insects were abroad. They were flying low, and rest- 

 ing on the leaves of trees over the road, so as to be 

 taken with ease. Nearly all were in the highest state 

 of perfection, as if just emerged from the chrysalis. If 

 this was the case, as I believe, these must have been 

 the progeny of the brood which had been active in 

 April ; and as the abdomens of the females were at 

 that period quite globose with eggs just ready for 

 exclusion, we may consider the period that elapses 

 from the deposition of the egg to the evolution of 

 the imago to be about two months. I regret that I 

 have nothing to say respecting the transformations of 



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