Lepidoptera - 



-INSECTS.- 



-Rhopalocera. 



255 



liim the finest combinations in that difficult branch of 

 art colouring."* 



From the same book another anecdote may be given, 

 which shows Stothard's love of butterflies in an ento- 

 mologist's aspect. When painting the great staircase 

 at Burleigh for the Marquis of E.'ieter, among the visi- 

 ' tors " was a certain dignitary of the church, wlio often 

 joined Stothard on his summer evening rambles. On 

 one occasion he happened to go out with his nippers 

 and his net to catch butterflies and insects, when his 

 clerical friend thought it became him to read him, very 

 gravely, a lecture on the cruel and unchristian-like 

 practice to which he was addicted. This reproof was 

 received with meekness ; when going on a little furllier 

 they came to a piece of water. The fish were making 

 bubbles and rings in it by darting up to the surface to 



catch the flies. "Bless me 1" exclaimed the divine, 

 " how plenty the fish are here ; I wish I had my rod 

 with me." Are you an angler, Mr. Stothard?" " No," 

 replied Stothard, " I have some doubts about angling, 

 whether it may not be a cruel and unchristian-like 

 practice, when we think of the worm, the hook, and 

 the fish."* 



The profusion of species of Butterflies on the Ama- 

 zon about Ega and Santarem, where Mr. H. W. Bates 

 has collected for many years, is surprising. Some of 

 these Butterflies, such as the green Celcenis Dido and 

 the tailed Thecla Marsyas, are in profusion, while 

 others are seldom met with to excite the attention or 

 reward the diligence of the collector, who watches 

 newly-opening flowers to catch such rarities as may 

 settle on them. 



LEPIDOPTERA DI U RN A— RHOP ALOC E R A 



(Bxttierjlics or Day-Jiying Lepidoptera). 



The first great section of the Lepidoptera contains 

 the Butterflies, which are known to everybody by 

 head-mark. Naturalists know them by many charac- 

 ters, the chief of which is that the antennae gradually 

 thicken into a club at the end, whence they have derived 

 one of their names — Rhopalocera.f 



The following lines, written by Wordsworth in 1801, 

 and placed in the edition of 1841 among the poems 

 referring to the period of childhood, express much that 

 every child has felt, though k took a great poet, but a 

 eimple-minded man, to write them : — 



" Stay near me — do not take thy flight — 

 A little longer stay in sight. 

 Much converse do I find in thee, 

 Historian of my infancy. 

 Float near me, do not yet depart, 

 Dead times revive in thee ; 

 Thou bring'st, gay creature as thou art, 

 A solemn image to my heart- 

 My father's family. . . . 



Oh I pleasant, pleasant were the days— 

 The time when in our childish plays 

 My sister Emmeline and I 

 Together chafed the butterfly ; 

 A very hunter did I rush 

 Upon the prey. With leaps and springs 

 I followed on from brake to bush ; 

 But she, God love her, feared to brush 

 The dust from off its wings." 



Family— PAPILIONID^. 



In the family Papilionidce,\ of which the Swallow- 

 tail butterfly {Papilio Machaon) is a characteristic 

 indigenous species, the wings are ample, and the dis- 

 coidal cells are always closed ; the median nervule has 

 apparently four branches, and the anterior tibiae have a 

 stout spur about the middle, two characters which are 



* Life of Thomas Stothard, R. A., with personal reminiscences 

 by Mrs. Bray, pp. 31, 3'2. 



I Po'TaXov, a club ; and «t««f. a hom. 



t The characters and much information about the various 

 families of Diurnal Lepidoptera are derived from Doubleday, 

 Uewitson, and Westwood's Genera of Diurnal Lepidoptera. 



found in no other family. The larva is furnished with 

 two retractile tentacula on the prothoracic segment, 

 which the creature has the power of extending when 

 irritated, evidently for the purpose of defence, as at 

 that time they emit an aromatic but generally dis- 

 agreeable odour. The chrysalis is braced, with the 

 head bifid, square, or rounded, but never pointed. 



The finest and largest of the group have been placed 

 in a genus named Ornithoptera, the species of wliich 

 are found chiefly in the eastern Asiatic islands. The 

 larva and pupa of the genus were first made known by 

 the venerable Dr. Horsfield, who resided so long in 

 Java, and did so much to investigate the natural his- 

 tory of that fine island. The pupa has the peculiarity 

 of not being surrotmded bj' a transverse band, but is 

 supported by a silken thread on each side, which is 

 attached to a small lateral tubercle. 



In this genus comes the noble Priamiis butterfly, 

 the male of which has the front wings of a rich velvet 

 black, with splendid satin green markings, the green 

 varying in different lights ; the hind wings are green, 

 with orange and black markings. The females of tliis, 

 and indeed of most of the species, are brown, with 

 dull white or yellowish markings. It is a native of 

 Ambo3'na. 



P. Poseidon is a closely allied species, which was 

 found on the voyage of H.M.S. Fly by Messrs. Jukes 

 and John Macgillivray. It flew very high amongst 

 the groups of cocoa-nut trees on Darnley Island be- 

 tween New Guinea and Australia. The specimens 

 they obtained are now in the British Museum. They 

 were procured from the natives, who catch them and 

 secure them by one end of a long thread, while they 

 fasten the other end of the thread to their hair, allow- 

 ing tlie butterflies to flutter round their heads. Mr. Gray 

 lias very lately described, under the name of Crasus, a 

 very fine Butterfly, in which, among other characters, 

 the green of the Priamiis is replaced by a fine yellow, 

 which in certain lights is shot with tinges of green. 

 • Life of Thomas Stothard, Ac, p. 38. 



