ORDER X. LEPIDOPTERA.—BUTTERFLIES. MOTHS. 329 
brassice are the common whitish butterflies of our gardens and fields. 
P. nymphalis has the under side of the wings ornamented with silver or 
yellow spots on a buff ground. Among the most elegant of the family are 
P. Io, the Peacock; P. carduz, the Painted Lady; P. Atalanta, the Red 
Admiral; P. cris, the Purple Emperor; and P. C-album, the Common 
Butterfly. The chrysalis of this last bears an extraordinary resemblance to 
the human face. 
This genus constitutes the family Déurna of the authors. 
Another tribe of Lepidopterous insects reposes during the day and night, 
and becomes active in the twilight of morning and evening, whence these 
insects are called Crepuscularie. They compose the genus 
Spuinx.— The Sphinges have the antennx prismatic, and a distinct pro- 
boscis. They feed on leaves, and undergo their changes in the earth without 
weaving a web. They fly with great swiftness, hovering over flowers, with 
a humming sound like that of the humming-bird. The chrysalides have 
generally the langue-case exserted, like a nose. 
S. Atropos. —The Death’s-head Moth. This is one of the largest of 
the species, and is regarded with superstitious fear by the ignorant on 
account of the funereal emblem —a skull-like patch— it bears upon the 
back of the thorax, and the dismal cry it utters when disturbed. This noise 
is produced, it is supposed, by rubbing the palpi against each other. 
This curious moth is not very common; the only specimen I have been 
able to obtain was procured at Mattapoisett, Mass., by Mr. J. C. Forbes, 
to whom I am indebted for it. The front wings of this insect are of a 
Or. the 
The hind wines 
f=) 
blackish-brown, varied with brown and gray above and below. 
middle of the front wing there is a distinct white dot. 
have two black bands, the upper narrower than the lower one; the rest of 
the wing is a fine yellow. The abdomen has likewise from five to six yel- 
low, and as many black, bands, and a long, blackish, longitudinal one in 
the middle. 
The Death’s-head Moth is very fond of honey, and consequently often 
steals into bee-hives, to feast on the sweet stores which the bees have ac- 
quired by their industry and skill. The poor bees are no match for this 
powerful enemy, whose thick skin is invulnerable to their stings, and they 
soon flee in consternation before it. 
The members of another section of this order shun equally the glare of 
day and the milder glimmer of twilight, and prosecute their labors and pur- 
sue their enjoyments by night, on which account they are denominated Woc- 
turna. They constitute the genus 
PuaLaeNnA.—The Moths. These insects have the wings bridled, when 
at rest, by a bristle or bunch of hairs arising at the base of the outer edge 
