8 



INTEODUCTOEY LETTEE. 



discover in a variety of Lepidoptera ; and those many-colonred 

 eyes whicli deck so gloriously the peacock's tail are imitated 

 with success by one of our most common butterflies.^ Feathers 

 are thought to be peculiar to birds ; but insects often imitate 

 them in their antennae^, wings and even sometimes in the 

 covering of their bodies.* — We admire with reason the coats 

 of quadrupeds, whether their skins be covered with pile, or 

 wool, or fur ; yet are not perhaps aware that a vast variety 

 of insects are clothed with all these kinds of hair, but infinitely 

 finer and more silky in texture, more brilliant and delicate in 

 colour, and more variously shaded than what any other 

 animals can pretend to. 



In variegation, insects certainly exceed every other class of 

 animated beings. Nature, in her sportive mood, when painting 

 them, sometimes imitates the clouds of heaven ; at others, the 

 meandring course of the rivers of the earth, or the undulations 

 of their waters : many are veined like beautiful marbles ; 

 others have the semblance of a robe of the finest net- work 

 thrown over them ; some she blazons with heraldic insignia, 

 giving them to bear in fields sable — azure — vert — gules — 

 argent and or, fesses — bars — bends — crosses — crescents — 

 stars, and even animals.^ On many, taking her rule and 

 compasses, she draws with precision mathematical figures; 

 points, lines, angles, triangles^, squares, and circles. On 

 others she pourtrays, with mystic hand, what seem like hiero- 

 glyphic symbols, 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 or- 

 nament of these privileged tribes ; in other resjoects she has 

 been equally unsparing of her favours. To some she has 



1 Vanessa lo. 



2 Culex, Chironomus, and other Tipulidce. 



3 Pterophorus. 



4 Hairs of many of the Apidcc. Mon. Ap. Ang. I. t. 10, * *d. 1. /, 1. h. 

 ^ Ptinus imperialis, L. 6 Trichius (^Archimedius K.) delta, F. 



7 Acrocimts longimanus, F. Vanessa C. album, Acronycta Plusia y. 



8 On the underside of the primary wings near the margin in Argynnis Aglaia, 

 Lathonia, Sdene, &c. 



