54 
INTRODUCTION. 
lias been bestowed on insects of a less conspicuous 
and attractive kind. 
The diurnal Lepidoptera are very numerous in 
species, although but a limited number inhabit this 
country. Between 2000 and 3000 have been de- 
scribed, and it is probable that no inconsiderable 
number yet remain undiscovered. About 75 diffe- 
rent species are recorded as indigenous to Britain. A 
great proportion of the largest and most highly or- 
namented kinds are natives of the new world, espe- 
cially of Brazil ; but they abound in all tropica) 
countries, and some of these exotics present the 
most sumptuous examples of insect beauty. “ I 
should undertake an endless task,” say Messrs Kir- 
by and Spence, or one or other of these authors, 
“ did I attempt to specify all the modes of marking, 
clouding, and spotting, that variegate a wing, and all 
the shades of colour that paint it, among the lepi- 
dopterous tribes ; I shall therefore confine myself 
to a few of the principal, especially those that dis- 
tinguish particular tribes and families. Of whole 
coloured wings, I know none that dazzle the eye of 
the beholder so much as the upper surface of those 
of Morpho Menelaus and Telemachus. Linne just- 
ly observes, that there is scarcely any thing in na- 
ture that, for brightness and splendour, can be paral- 
leled with this colour: it is a kind of rich ultra- 
marine, that vies with the deepest and purest azure 
of the sky ; and, what must cause a striking con- 
trast in flight, the prone surface of the wings is as 
