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INTRODUCTION. 
The remarkable superiority in size and beauty of 
most tropical productions over those of temperate 
regions, is scarcely more strikingly exemplified in 
any department of nature than in this. The most 
richly ornamented of our native species, and we 
possess many of great beauty, appear insignificant 
when contrasted with those of Brazil and Eastern 
Asia. Various as are the modifications of form 
which they present in this country, we find nothing 
to prepare us for the peculiar outline and aspect 
which many kinds assume in the warmer regions of 
the earth. Here we seldom find any having the 
hinder wings prolonged into a tail, but among fo- 
reign species this is a common appendage, some- 
times long and linear, at other times broad and 
spatulate ; and occasionally there are not fewer than 
three or four on each of the hinder wings. Along 
with this variety of outline, they exhibit almost 
every possible shade of colour, from the most bril- 
liant to the most obscure, combined and blended in 
the most elegant and harmonious designs, rendering 
this tribe of creatures one of the most ornamental 
to be found in nature. 
Although such endless diversity of colouring is ob- 
servable in this class as a whole, it is, at the same time, 
worthy of remark, that most of the principal groups 
are characterized by the prevalence of particular 
hues, as well as considerable uniformity in their mode 
of distribution ; that is to say, certain modifications 
of structure are generally accompanied with a cer- 
tain pictorial design. Thus, the greater proportion 
