REARING EXOTIC INSECTS. 273 



our long winters; and from this state their de- 

 velopment would not take place till the warmth 

 of summer was sufficient. Taking advantage of 

 this knowledge, we may, hy means of imported 

 eggs or pupae, he gratified by the sight of tro- 

 pical Butterflies flitting from flower to flower, a 

 splendid novelty to our gardens, exhibiting colour- 

 ing far more gorgeous than anything in the vege- 

 table empire, and endowed moreover with the ad- 

 ditional charm of motion." 



At that time I received letters from many 

 persons, iu answer to my suggestion ; among 

 others, from one of our most enthusiastic natu- 

 ralists, the Rev. W. T. Bree, of Allesley ; and from 

 the spirit in which the idea seemed to be taken 

 up, especially with reference to rearing some of 

 the more splendid tropical species in hot-houses, 

 I expected, ere this, to have seen some of our 

 most celebrated receptacles of exotic plants glitter- 

 ing with the far more brilliant colours of Brazilian 

 or Australasian Butterflies. I calculated upon wit- 

 nessing, within a few succeeding seasons, the 

 noble Papilio Triamus, with its wings of golden 

 metallic green, relieved with velvet black, flitting 

 leisurely from flower to flower, or jostling in its 

 flight with the gayer movements of some Brazilian 



T 



