THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 123 



the sun soon enveloped the place in a steaming heat, the 

 thermometer registering 98 in the shade. Next morning two 

 strange butterflies were reported to me in the garden ; they were 

 soon in the killing-bottle, and they were the first I had seen of the 

 beautiful male, for previously none had been about. But shortly 

 after, when I paid a visit to the Lantana bushes by the roadside, 

 I was met with a sight I shall never forget. I shall simply say 18 

 males were captured within the first half-hour. There were few 

 if any of the females about at the time, but I noticed that the 

 males were in couples — -wherever there was a green and black 

 insect dodging among the flowers there was sure to be another in 

 close attendance. They were beautiful and perfect specimens in 

 the morning, but before the day was over all. showed frayed wings to 

 a more or less extent, for the contact with the plants and flowers 

 soon destroys their delicate beauty. The female, however, as is 

 the case with many other species, is more strongly built and 

 better fitted in every way for the longer life before it. 



The Lantana bushes were not the rendezvous for the Ornith- 

 opteras alone, for in fine weather countless numbers of other 

 butterflies disported themselves among the flowers. I am not 

 an enthusiast in butterflies, but when I found all these insects 

 so common and so easily obtained, I very soon produced a 

 suitable net for taking them, a piece of Lawyer Cane furnishing 

 an excellent rim. As before mentioned, the genus Papilio 

 were the most numerous. Seven species were noted. The 

 commonest is P. sarpedon, with its blue-marked and black- 

 bordered wings ; then P. lycaon is marked similarly to the pre- 

 ceding species, but the colouring instead of being blue is yellowish. 

 These two species have but the rudiments of the tails so well 

 defined in the others. P. macleayanus is a very quick and 

 energetic butterfly. Its prevailing colour is green, with a broad 

 black edge to the wings, furnished with a row of whitish spots. 

 P. anactus is black and white, with some reddish colouring on the 

 hind wing. A butterfly much prized in collections is P. leosthenes, 

 but it is somewhat rare ; the ground colour is creamish, while 

 narrow black stripes run up and down each wing, the posterior 

 pair of which terminates in a long-pointed and very delicate tail. 

 Another species rare in the district is P. capaneus, a large black 

 insect, relieved by a narrow yellowish band on the upper wings 

 and a broader patch on the lower, bordered on the outside with 

 bluish and red markings ; the male is somewhat smaller than the 

 female. 



The exotic butterfly, Danais erippus, is a very common object 

 out in the fields, where in company with its smaller congener, D. 

 petilia, it is seen flying about among the grass and small plants, 

 and occasionally the rarer species, D. kamata, with the pretty 

 blue-spotted wings, comes along. The family Hesperidse, or 



