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THE EMPEROR OF THE WOODS, OR PURPLE 
HIGHFLIER. 
Papilio Iris. —Britain. 
PLATE XXI. 
Papilio Iris, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 476.—Harris’s Aurelian, 
p. 5. pl. 3.—Shaw’s Nat. Miscel. pl. 862. 
Tue antenne are club-shaped; the wings are 
indented, purple above, changing to brown in dif- 
ferent lights; they are darker round the edges, the 
depth of tone being nearly black ; the upper wings 
have seven distinct white spots, the largest of which 
is triangular, which joins to a sesquialterous white 
band, crossing them in a diagonal direction ; in the 
centre of the lower half is an annulet of bright orange, 
with an internal ring of black and white in the 
centre; the head and body are dark raw umber 
brown ; the eyes orange ; the whole under surface 
of the insect is black, brown, and white. 
The Papilio Iris is esteemed among the most 
beautiful, and placed with the rare of the British 
Lepidoptera. The cursory reader may not perceive 
that superiority, particularly as many of the minute 
insects infinitely excel it in real beauty and richness 
of colouring ; but the scientific will be ever ready 
to give it the first place as a British Butterfly. 
