URANIA. 
73 
Their manner of flight is much more that of a Moth 
than of a Butterfly. I may observe that the hooked 
form of the tips of the antennas, which we see in 
cabinets, does not characterise the living insect ; 
they are curved only in the process of drying. 
As soon as the sun becomes hot, that is about 
eight or nine o’clock, they one by one retire ; and 
scarcely a single individual is to be seen until after 
the rain, which at that season falls every afternoon, 
when they crowd around the Pear-trees, as numerous 
as in the morning. These semi-daily visits are con- 
tinued for about a fortnight, while the Pear-trees 
continue in bloom; and then the insects gradually 
become scarce, and we see only an occasional straggler 
until the season returns. 
To this scarcity, however, I found one remarkable 
exception. On the 18th of June, being on the 
lonely mountain road near Basin (or Beeston) Spring 
soon after sunrise, I was surprised by the sight of this 
beautiful butterfly, very abundant, though few other 
insects were abroad. They were flying low, and rest- 
ing on the leaves of trees over the road, so as to be 
taken with ease. Nearly all were in the highest state 
of perfection, as if just emerged from the chrysalis. If 
this was the case, as I believe, these must have been 
the progeny of the brood which had been active in 
April ; and as the abdomens of the females were at 
that period quite globose with eggs just ready for 
exclusion, we may consider the period that elapses 
from the deposition of the egg to the evolution of 
the imago to be about two months. I regret that I 
have nothing to say respecting the transformations of 
E 
