INTRODUCTION. 
55 
dull and dark as the supine is brilliant, so that one 
ran conceive this animal to appeal - like a planet in 
full radiance, and under eclipse, as its wings open 
and shut in the blaze of a tropical sun. Another 
butterfly ( Papilio Ulysses ), by its radiating ceru- 
lean disk, surrounded on every side by a margin in- 
tensely black, gives the idea of light first emerging 
from primeval obscurity: it was probably this idea 
of light shining in darkness, that induced Linne to 
give it the name of the wisest of the Greeks in a 
dark and barbarous age. I know no insect upon 
which the sight rests with such untired pleasure as 
upon the lovely butterfly that bears the name of the 
unhappy Trojan king ( P. PriamusJ ; the contrast 
of the rich green and black of the velvet of its wings 
with each other, and with the orange of its abdomen, 
is beyond expression regal and magnificent.” * 
Although our British butterflies can in no way 
compete with the magnificent examples just referred 
to, we yet possess many of great beauty, whether 
as regards the brilliancy of their colour, or the har- 
monious manner in which these colours are distri- 
buted. The bluish-purple reflection that plays on 
the wings of the Emperor of the Woods, has a rich- 
ness and brilliancy of tint, which is not often sur- 
passed. The prevailing hue among the Lyccence, is 
fulgid copper colour, of a high degree of resplenden- 
cy ; and the Polyommati, which are so abundant in 
our pastures, are remarkable for exhibiting, in great 
variety of shade, the most delicate and beautiful tints 
* Introduction to Entomology, iii. p. 651. 
