6 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 
others she pourtrays, with mystic hand, what seem like hieroglyphic sym- 
bols, or inscribes them with the characters and letters of various languages, 
often very correctly formed; and what is more extraordinary, she has 
registered in others figures which correspond with several dates of the 
Christian era.? 
Nor has nature been lavish only in the apparel and ornament of these 
privileged tribes ; in other respects she has been equally unsparing of her 
favours. To some she has given fins like those of fish, or a beak resem- 
bling that of birds®; to others horns, nearly the counterparts of those of 
various quadrupeds. The bull+, the stag®, the rhinoceros®, and even the 
hitherto vainly sought for unicorn’, have in this respect many representatives 
amongst insects. One is armed with tusks not unlike those of the elephant® ; 
another is bristled with spines, as the porcupine and hedgehog with quills® ; 
a third is an armadillo in miniature; the disproportioned hind legs of the 
kangaroo gives a most grotesque appearance to a fourth’® ; and the threaten~ 
ing head of the snake is found in a fifth." It would, however, be endless 
to produce all the instances which occur of such imitations ; and I shall 
only remark that, generally speaking, these arms and instruments in 
structure and finishing far exceed those which they resemble. 
But further, insects not only mimic, in a manner infinitely various 
everything in nature, they may also with very little violence be regarded 
as symbolical of beings out of and above nature. The butterfly, adorned 
with every beauty and every grace, borne by radiant wings through the 
fields of ether, and extracting nectar from every flower, gives us some idea 
of the blessed inhabitants of happier worlds, of angels, and of the 
spirits of the just arrived at their state of perfection. Again, other insects 
seem emblematical of a different class of unearthly beings; when we be- 
hold some tremendous for the numerous horns and spines projecting in 
horrid array from their head or shoulders ;— others for their threatening 
jaws of fearful length, and armed with cruel fangs: when we survey the 
dismal hue and demoniac air that distinguish others, the dens of darkness 
in which they live, the impurity of their food, their predatory habits and 
cruelty, the nets which they spread, and the pits which they sink to entrap 
the unwary, we can scarcely help regarding them as aptly symbolising evil 
demons, the enemies of man, or of impure spirits, for their vices and 
crimes driven from the regions of light into darkness and punishment.’* 
1 Acrocinus longimanus F., Vanessa C. album, Acronycta Wy, Plusia y. 
2 On the underside of the primary wings near the margin in Argynnis Aglaia, 
Lathonia, Selene, &c, 
5 Empis, Asilus. 
4 Onthophagus Taurus Curtis, Brit. Ent. t. 52. 
5 Lucanus Cervus. 
6 Oryctes, 
7 Dynastes Hercules. 
8 Andrena spinigera. Melitta, ** c. K. and especially Dicronocephalus Hard- 
Ce Cyphonocephalus smaragdulus Westw., Are. Ent. Pl). 83. fig. 2. 
© Hispa, ‘ 
10 Scarabeus macropus, Francillon. Now ascertained, by the discovery of numer- 
ous specimens by the French collectors, to be the male of a species of the genus 
Chrysina K. Mr. W.S.MacLeay informs us that he gave the manuscript name of 
Eusceles to the group to which it belongs. 
11 Raphidia ophiopsis. 
12 This idea seems to have been present to the mind of Linné and Fabricius, 
when they gave to insects such names as Beelzebub, Belial, Titan, Tuphon, Nimrod, 
Geryon, and the like. 
