REMINISCENCES OF THE RHINE; 
ORNITHOLOGICAL AND ENTOMOLOGICAL. 
[Continued from page 168 .] 
Respecting insects, I must repeat my inability to give any tiling like a de¬ 
tailed account, proportionate to the number coming under my casual or permanent 
observation. My nippers, as I have already said, were disposed of to a friend on 
leaving England, and the absence of good collections in my own neighbourhood, 
or books with plates of insects not indigenous in this country, precluded my noting 
down with accuracy, the names of many which I either saw or captured. With 
this explanation, by way of preface, proceed we to enumerate some few of those 
which can be ascertained, not of every day occurrence in Great Britain. 
Swallow-tailed Butterfly (Papilio machaon). Though rare in England, 
being chiefly confined to the fen counties of the eastern coast, it is by no means 
so on the Continent, and I was rather surprized to meet with but one specimen, 
namely at St. Goar on the Rhine. Borne on a smart breeze, the beautiful insect 
had crossed the river and passed me with the rapidity of lightning; but, pursuing 
its course by the eye, I observed an extensive patch of dark mud, bloating under 
the rays of a hot sun, which I rightly conceived might prove too strong a tempta¬ 
tion for the airy traveller, whose habits are little in accordance with its cleanly 
and courtly drapery, preferring to revel on the decomposing putrefaction of a 
moist dunghill, to sucking the nectar of roses, of which it seems so much better 
qualified by its dress and elegance of demeanour to partake. Though rapid on 
the wing, when once settled, and in the full enjoyment of its beverage of filth, it 
may be approached without much difficulty. I was right in my conclusion ; on 
the mass of black mud it had tarried, to sip the essence of a large drain which 
emptied itself on the shore ; it became my prisoner, and is now in my cabinet. 
Black-veined White Butterfly (Pieris cratcegi). Donovan calls this one of 
the rarest species of the white tribe of butterflies found in Britain, but like many 
other insects, I believe its scarcity to be periodical, plentiful in one season, and 
then totally disappearing, for possibly several years to come. Though plain, and 
with few attractions to the ignorant observer, its transparent wings, and peculiar 
fashion of flight, are sure to draw the attention of a Naturalist to an insect, which 
assumes so foreign an address. My specimen was taken at Baden. 
Pale-clouded Yellow Butterfly (Colias hyale). This is another pretty in¬ 
sect, rarely found with us, but common enough in various parts of the Continent. 
I have found it in nearly all localities; very abundant in the warm emerald meadows 
in the vallies of the Pyrenees, and by no means rare in those at Baden, where its 
gaudy golden plumage Is sure to attract notice. 
