MR.  W.  S.  MACLEAY  ON  THE  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  URANIA. 
185 
the  slightest  harm.  I  have  somewhere  indeed  read  that  its  cotyledons  preserve  a  portion 
of  the  emetic  and  purgative  power  of  the  nut  of  a  Jatropha  ;  but  all  I  can  say  is,  that  1 
never  heard  of  the  nuts  of  Omphalea  triandra  injuring  any  of  the  persons  whom  I  have 
seen  eat  them ;  and  my  mouth,  when  parched,  having  many  a  time  and  oft  derived  re- 
freshment from  a  due  discussion  of  its  produce,  I  shall  always  view  this  plant  and  the 
Cacti,  or  Prickly  Perns,  with  a  sort  of  gratitude,  as  being  among  the  few  hospitable 
vegetables  which  adorn  that  most  scorching  of  all  sublunary  regions, — a  sandy  sea 
coast  in  the  West  Indies. 
The  Omphalea  triandra^  is  a  tree  which  I  have  seen  as  high  as  fifteen  feet,  but  the 
trunk  is  in  that  case  very  thick  in  proportion  to  its  height.  This  trunk  is  excessively 
gnarled,  and  the  branches  are  also  rugged,  drooping  downwards,  and  supporting  on 
long  footstalks  large  thick  heart-shaped  leaves  of  a  leathery  texture,  and  which  have  a 
scabrous  surface  of  a  pale  green  colour,  and  are  not  in  the  least  degree  shining.  The 
young  leaves,  and  the  leaves  of  the  young  plants,  are  of  a  quite  different  form,  being, 
although  of  the  same  texture  and  colour  as  those  just  described,  deeply  incised,  with 
their  divisions  long  and  narrow,  particularly  the  middle  one,  and  all  more  or  less  den- 
tated  at  the  sides.  As  on  the  same  plant  we  see  the  two  kinds  of  leaves,  the  older  ones 
below  and  entire,  and  the  younger  above  and  incised,  it  would  appear  to  me  that  these 
incisions  gradually  fill  up,  and  so  form  the  mature  and  heart-shaped  leaf. 
Now  the  upper  side  of  the  entire  leaves  of  this  tree  may  often  be  observed  to  be  coated 
in  the  middle  by  a  transparent  web,  through  which  appears  a  caterpillar  torpidly  re- 
posing under  cover.  At  night,  however,  our  caterpillar,  no  longer  sluggish,  quits  the 
silky  shed  which  served  to  protect  it  from  the  powerful  rays  of  the  sun,  and  greedily 
strips  the  Omphalea  of  its  foliage,  so  that  I  have  often  seen  whole  trees  without  a  leaf. 
This  caterpillar  is  also  active  in  the  day-time  when  disturbed  from  under  its  web.  It 
can  then  run  about  as  quick  as  the  larva  of  any  Bomhycida,  and  shows  little  affinity  to 
the  caterpillars  of  other  diurnal  Lepidoptera,  which  usually  have  a  slow  motion. 
Having  carried  some  of  these  caterpillars  home,  I  supplied  them  for  some  days  with 
fresh  food,  when  they  spun  about  the  withered  or  dead  leaves  in  the  box  an  oval  cocoon 
of  a  loose  dirty  yellow  silk.  Within  this  cocoon,  the  meshes  of  which  were  so  few  and 
lax  as  to  allow  the  inmate  to  be  easily  seen,  it  changed  to  a  chrysalis,  which,  after 
about  three  weeks  repose  in  a  horizontal  position,  produced,  to  my  great  satisfaction,  a 
beautiful  specimen  of  Urania.    Since  that  time  I  have  bred  several. 
In  February,  and  the  ensuing  months  of  spring  and  summer,  that  is,  as  long  as  the 
Omphalea  continues  throwing  out  young  shoots,  the  eggs  of  Urania  may  be  found  glued 
to  the  tender  incised  leaves.    These  eggs  have  a  pearly  lustre,  and  are  of  a  pale  green 
'  In  Browne's  Jamaica  it  is  called  Omphalandria  in  the  text ;  and  a  figure  of  it  is  given,  Avhich  is  as  unlike 
to  the  Cuban  plant  as  anything  well  can  be.  May  not  this  Cuban  plant,  therefore,  be  a  different  species  ?  For 
my  own  part,  however,  I  doubt  it  exceedingly. 
