LETTEES FROM ALABAMA. 
145 
itself. It is particniarlj gamesome a few hours 
after sunrise ; taking its stand on some prominent 
leaf of a bush, it rushes out upon every butterfly 
that passes by'; then they perform such swift and 
tortuous evolutions that the eye is unable to follow 
them : this lasts only for a few seconds ; for having 
pursued the traveller three or four yards, the 
Polyommatus returns to the very same leaf to 
watch as before. All this, however, I believe is 
done in a spirit of play, and not with any warlike 
intent. This constancy of resort to one individual 
leaf or twig is very singular and unaccountable : 
sometimes on my approach to one so situated, it 
has bfeen alarmed and flown to a considerable dis- 
tance, but, taking a flight round, it returns to the 
place; and presently there is the little thing 
alighting on the very leaf again. The playful 
pugnacity just noticed seems almost peculiar to 
the Lyccenadce. With the exception of the Pearly 
Eye {Hipparchia Andromache ) , noticed in my last, 
which has the same habit, I do not recollect any 
instance in which I have seen it displayed by any 
of the other families of Butterflies. 
I have just seen a pretty but very destructive 
little insect, the Peach Hawk-moth {^geria 
exitiosa). It was in the woods ; and as it flitted 
in a hurried manner from shrub to shrub, and 
crawled swiftly to and fro over the leaves 
quivering its antennae, and flirting its violet wings, 
I was again struck with an observation that I have 
before made, — how very hymenopterous many of 
the jEgeriae are ! The similarity is not confined 
to shape, though this is striking in antennae, 
wings and body ; the most usual colours are 
black banded with yellow, with white, sometimes 
