76 



Fabricius has said in error, and adds that his specimens were taken in Scot- 

 land, by his very dear friend Dr. F. Skrimshire. 



In the XVI. Vol. of the "Natural History of British Insects/' published 

 in 1813, Donovan writes "To the great astonishment of our English collec- 

 tors of Natural History in the vicinity of the Metropolis, Papilio Artaxerxes, 

 an insect hitherto esteemed of the highest possible rarity, has been lately 

 found in no very inconsiderable plenty in Britain ; for this interesting dis- 

 covery we are indebted to the fortunate researches of our young and very 

 worthy friend, W. E. Leach, Esq., who met with it common on Arthur's 

 Seat, near Edinburgh, and also on the Pentland Hills. A discovery so in- 

 teresting in the annals of Entomology, because Papilio Artaxerxes, was not 

 merely esteemed rare in this country ; on the Continent it appears to be 

 totally unknown : there entomologists, till the time of Fabricius, have not 

 mentioned it, nor had Fabricius himself once seen an example of the species ; 

 he derived his information solely from a drawing by the hand of W. Jones, 

 of Chelsea. The extreme accuracy of that delineation, it must indeed be 

 allowed, would render it unnecessary for Fabricius to consult the insect from 

 which it was pourtrayed, but the circumstance is mentioned in order to prove 

 the rarity of the species as an European insect ; and we cannot, it is pre- 

 sumed, afford a more decisive testimony of its interest in this respect than in 

 stating Fabricius, its original describer, had never seen it. Papilio Artaxer- 

 xes is by no means striking in appearance ; it becomes important from the 

 general estimation of its scarcity, and its claim to consideration in this view 

 is indubitable. In the best of the English cabinets, with the exception of 

 that of our sincere friend, A. M'Leay, Esq., we have often lamented to observe 

 a deception intended to supply the deficiency of this species ; namely, a little 

 painting of the insect, carefully consigned on a pin, to the most obscure cor- 

 ner of the drawer, and which has oftentimes, we suspect, been mistaken for 

 the original : this we apprehend, should not be reprehended in terms of 

 unusual severity yet we cannot think the custom wholly blameless. We 

 have alluded to the cabinet of Mr. M'Leay, and it will therefore be right to 

 add in explanation that his valuable and extensive collection contained a very 

 fine specimen of Papilio Artaxerxes, that had been taken in Scotland prev- 

 iously to the discovery made by Mr. Leach." 



Curtis, in his " British Entomology/' writes, " Mr. Dale and myself took 

 specimens amongst grass in stony and barren places at the base of Arthur's 

 Seat, the end of June and in August, 1825." 



Stephens in his "Illustrations," 1828, writes concerning Artaxerxes, "A 

 very local species, and hitherto supposed to be peculiar to Scotland, but it has 

 lately been taken in the North pf England." And in the following vol., 



