THE EDINBURGH 



JOUENAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



AND OF 



THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



N°. 4. 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1835. 



ZOOLOGY. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE BUTTERFLIES. 



The Papilionaceous or Butterfly tribe of insects yields to no other in the .-Vnimal King- 

 dom in point of beauty. Many of the species wea- a garb of .the most gorgeous co- 

 lours, exliibiting the tints of the rainbow in all the varied and dazzling brightness of 

 iridescent splendour; and the wonderful changes through which they pass are no less 

 calculated to excite oar admiration and even astonishment. 



The whole of this tribe undergo four changes in passing from the egg to the per- 

 fect insect or butterfly. These metamorphoses seem to have been known to the an- 

 cient Greeks, and most probably suggested to them their principles of metempsychosis. 

 Nothing could appear to them more confirmatory of the doctrine than that an inert 

 aureha should be again transformed into a living body. The only method which they 

 had for explaining this phenomenon was, that it had been tenanted by the soul of some 

 wretch, whose misdeeds on earth had merited such a pilTimage. 



Butterflies are strictly oviparous animals, and the female, by an unerring foresight, 

 uniformly deposits her eggs in the place where food is to be found for the future cater- 

 pillar after its exclusion from the egg. 



The eggs are usually enveloped in an adhesive cement, by which they are attached 

 to the spot where they are deposited. This wise provision is designed to prevent the 

 eggs from being removed to a situation where the proper food of the species might not 

 be found, and where the caterpillar would consequently die of hunf^er. 



The eggs of butterflies are of many different shapes, and hardly two species pro- 

 duce them alike. The foUowing cut, figure 1, represents one of the eggs of the small 

 tortoise-shell butterfly (Taneisa Urtics) ; these arc of a cylindrical form, with eight 

 prominent ribs; while the eggs of the large tortoise-shell butterfly (Vanessa Poly- 

 chloris) are shaped like a flask, and quite smooth, as in figure 2. 



When the eggs have remained their proper time, the caterpillar, or larva, bursts 

 from its confinement. At first it is exceedingly small, but increases daily, until it 

 reaches its full size, as seen in figure 3, which represents the caterpillar of the Pur- 

 ple Emperor Butterfly (Aptera Iris). 



The great proportional bulk at which many caterpillars arrive, in comparison to 

 their original size when they emerge from the shell, is surprising. The larva of the 

 Goat Moth (Cossus ligidperdaj, on attaining its full magnitude, is seventy-two thou- 

 sand times heavier than when it first bursts into life ; and the maggot of the Blue 

 Fly is, in twenty-four hours, one hundred and fifty-five times heavier than at its birth. 

 Many caterpillars consume more than twice their own bulk of food every twenty-four 

 hours. The cause assigned for this is, that their stomachs have not the power of dis- 

 solving vegetable matter, but merely the faculty of extracting their juices. MTien 

 the larva has attained its full size, it soon afterwards ceases to eat, becomes exces- 

 sively restless, and searches for a place fitted to its nature, to which it may retire, 

 for the purpose of being transformed from one state of existence to another, and 

 of assuming its pupa condition. Some spin for themselves a covering of silky fila- 

 ments, while others simply attach themselves to the under side of a leaf or branch, 

 as represented in figure 4, which is the pupa of the Purple Emperor. After remain- 

 ing for some months in this state, the concealed animal bursts its casement, and 

 emerges as the perfect Butterfly ; in which condition it exists only for a very hmitcd 

 period; and, after having provided for the continuance of its race, speedily dies. 



The transformation of insects, however, consists rather in a series of developments 

 than in any absolute metamorphosis, being only a transition of changes in organs 

 which Ue concealed from human view. The caterpillar is compoxmd in its nature, 

 with the germs of the perfect insect hidden in a succession of cases. The first is the 

 covering of the pupa, which is concealed within three or four mantles, the one over 

 the other: these will, in succession, em-obe the larva; and as it enlarges the parts 



become visible, and are alternately thrown off, until the perfect insect bursts from its 

 confinement. 



It is certainly wonderful that the simple caterpillar, when it first emerges from the 

 Pggj ^ot thicker than a thread of silk, should contain its own covering threefold, and, 

 in some instances, even eightfold, with the mask of a pupa and a butterfly, folded in 

 the most astonishing manner over each other ; and besides these, should possess differ- 

 ent respiratory and digestive organs, a nervous system, and muscles of motion peculiar 

 to every successive stage of its existence. And, what is truly wonderful, the stomach 

 in its caterpillar state is fitted for the reception of vegetable food, while in the perfect 

 condition of the butterfly, it is incapable of digesting ordinary vegetables, and is only 

 fitted for containing honey, which the animal sips from flowers by means of a proboscis. 



The whole of tlie figures given in the plate are of the natural size. 



Fig. 1. Royal Butterfly f^nt/ymion Begalis), and, 2. Do. Female, inhabit Brazil 



3, 4. Azure Blue (Polyommatus Arglolus^) and, 5. Do. Female, inhabit Bri- 

 tain. — 6. Mazarine Blue (Acis)y inhabits Britain 7. Silver Streak (Arqytmis 



Paphia), inhabits Britain. — 8. Nicippe (Pieris Nicippe), and, 9. Do., inhabits tlio 

 United States. — 10. Imperial Trojan (Papilio PriamusJ, one of the most beau- 

 tiful of butterflies, inhabits Amboyna 11. Merry (Aconthia LubcntinaJ, and, 12. 



Do. Female, inhabit Java. — 13. Painted Lady (Ci/nthia CarduiJ, inhabits Bri- 

 tain. — 14, Amphinome (Amphinomc)^ inhabits Surinam, and, 15. Do. 16. Elm 



{Vanessa Pobjchloris), inhabits Britain.^17. Oriental Emperor (Nymphalis Ri~ 

 pheus), inhabits China. 



Instinct in Dogs. — A singular instance of that power, commonly called instinct, 

 possessed so reuiarkably by pigeons, and exhibited by dogs, lately occurred. The ce- 

 lebrated greyhound. Black-eyed Susan, was brought to Edinburgh from Glasgow in 

 the boot of a coach, on the night of "Wednesday the 13th May 1835. On the following 

 Sunday evening she made her escape, and in forty-eight hours reached her kennel, 

 eight miles beyond Glasgow, being fifty-two miles in all. The road between Glaso-ow 

 and Edinburgh she had never travelled on foot, and from the time taken she cannot 

 have come direct ; but, by what route or process this animal made her point good, it 

 is in vain to conjecture. 



Another instance, of a similar nature, is recorded in Brown's Biographical Skt-tchcs 

 and Anecdotes of Dogs. In the year 1816 a female greyhound was sent from the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh by a carrier, via Dumfries, to the neighbourhood of 

 Castle Douglas, in the stcwartry of Kirkcudbright. She brought up a litter of pups 

 there, and, in the following year, was returned by the same route to Edinburgh, from 

 whence she went, by way of Douglas and IMuirkirk, to the neighbourhood of Cum- 

 nock in Ayrshire. After remaining there five or sis months, she found her way across 

 the country to the house near Castle Douglas where she had brought up the pups. 

 The fact of her crossing, and not pursuing her journey by the route she had been 

 taken to Cumnock, was ascertained by shepherds, who saw her, accompanied by a 

 pointer dog. The latter left her almost immediately, and found his way home again. 

 This female greyhound was bred in East Lothian, and had never been previously either 

 in A}Tshire or Dumfries-shire. 



The Elephant's Love of Sweetmeats.- — The elephant has a natural partiality 

 for sugar, which he finds abimdant means to gratify in the plantations of sugar cane. 

 A cxirious instance is recorded of his liking for sweetmeats, and of a method adopted 

 in his savage state to gratify this propensity. It chanced that a Cooley, laden with jag- 

 gery, which is a coarse preparation of sugar, was surprised in a narrow pass in the 

 kingdom of Candy by a wild elephant. The poor fellow, intent upon saving his life, 

 threw down the burthen, which the elephant devoured, and being well pleased with 

 the repast, determined not to allow any person egress or ingress who did not provide 

 him with a similar banquet. The pass formed one of the principal thoroughfares to 

 the capital, and the elephant, taking up a formidable position at the entrance, obliged 

 every passenger to pay tribute. It soon became generally knovrn that a donation of 

 jaggery would ensure a safe conduct through the guarded portal, and no one pre- 

 sumed to attempt the passage without the expected offering. 



Sagacity of Two Mules. — About two miles from the town of Ballymahon, in 

 the county of Longford, Ireland, resides a gentleman, who has in his possession two 

 mules of the Spanish breed. They will regularly go to a pump placed in the yard, 

 and while one applies his mouth to the spout, the other works the handle by alter- 

 nately raising and depressing his shoulder. When one has satisfied his thirst, he ex- 

 changes with his companion, and returns the service he has received. 



The Electrical Eel. — (Gymnotus electricns.) — This rare fish was caught some 

 time ago near Gravelines. The pilot of the vessel received a severe shock on taking 

 it from the nets, and all the crew, on touching it, experienced a like sensation, which, 

 however, weakened at every touch, and diminished gradually, till the animal expired. 



