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tînguîshed is one that I have denominated the parrot 

 butterfly (papilio psittacus). This is very large and 

 wonderfully beautiful ; the top of the head is of a fine 

 vermilion, rriarked with yellow ; the back yellow, 

 with red, azure, and green spots ; the upper part of 

 the wings is grefen, spotted with yellow and blue, and 

 the lower of a pale red ; the belly is blue, speckled 

 w^ith brown and grey, and the antennae, which are 

 shaped like a club, are purple. There is another of 

 the same size (papilio leucothea) called by the chil- 

 dren palama. This butterfly is entirely of a silvery 

 white, except the antennae and legs, which are black. 



In the vicinity of the sea, between the rivers Rapel 

 and Metaquito, is a kind of caterpillar said to resem- 

 ble the silk worm, which forms upon the forest trees 

 small cocoons of a beautiful silk, not inferior to the 

 European. Nor can it be doubted, that a climate 

 so mild as that of Chili should be peculiarly favour- 

 able to the propagation of the silk worm, but as yet 

 no attention has been paid thereto, and all the silk 

 used in that country is imported from Europe. 



It would not readily be believed that the rosin, 

 which is collected in such quantities in the province 

 of Coquimbo, from a shrub called chilca, a spe- 

 cies of origanum, is not a real gurp, and, like others, 

 an exudation of the sap through the bark. But 

 Qne of my countrymen, the Abbé Panda, who has 

 examined with much attention the natural produc- 

 tions of that province, has lately discovered that this 

 supposed rosin is produced by a small smooth cater- 

 pillar, of a red colour, and abput half an inch in 



