



LEPIDOPTERA, 
PHALHANA ATLAS. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Antenne fetaceous. Wings, in general deflexed when at reft. Fly by night. 
Bom byx. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER, 
Wings much falcated or hooked. Colour, yellow brown, varied. A tran{parent {pot in the middle of 
each wing; with a fmaller one next that on the anterior pair. 
PHAL@NA ATLAS: alis patentibis falcatis luteo variis: macula feneftrata anticis fefquialtera, 
Lin. Syft. Nat. T. 2. 808. 1. 
Fab. Ent. Syft. T. 3. p..1. 407. 1. 


The Phaleenz are a tribe of infects remarkable for the neatnefs and fimplicity of their colours, Their 
elegancies confift in the infinite variety, and delicacy of intermingled tints: the contraft of {pots, fpeck- 
lings, and lineations, which conftitute the minutiz of infeét beauty. Some {pecies are to be excepted in 
this remark; the larger kinds are often gaudy, and the fmallett exhibit a difplay of the richeft colours, 
fancifully difpofed, and moft elegantly diverfified. 
The European fpecies are numerous, and pretty well afcertained: thofe of remote countries remain in 
great obfcurity. The fpecies inhabiting China are almoft unknown°; for the lateft fyftematic writer 
defcribes not more than twenty fpecies in all the cabinets in Europe. From this {canty number a few are 
{elected to illuftrate the genus, and if thefe appear deficient in point of intereft-or variety, it may ftimu- 
late others to colle&t new {pecies, whenever an opportunity occurs. The Phalzna tribe, not only of China, 
but every country, except of Europe, are a defideratum of entomology. In Europe the number of this 
tribe exceeds that of any other: on the contrary, the extra-European fpecies are comparatively the 
moft inconfiderable of our acquifitions. The Papiliones, or Butterflies, are a fhowy and lively race: they 
{port in the open fields in day, and attra& the traveller’s curiofity; hence our cabinets abound with them. 
But the moth, infinitely more numerous, and not lefs pleafing, is feldom feen; in the gloominefs of its difpo- 
° Fab. Ent. Syft. Thefe are chiefly defcribed from infeéts in the collection of Mon/on Londini, of which no figures are 
extant, and the colleétion unknown. 
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