only in Brazil; but its precise geographic range, in that vast empire, has
not been correctly ascertained. We had the pleasure of capturing several
specimens in Lat. 8, 24, S. in the vicinity of Pernambuco, where great
numbers appear during the early weeks of May, and again in June.
On refering to our journals, we find the following note. "_Papilio
Leilus._--Great numbers of this insect were flying during the whole of the
morning, past _Aqua Fria_ (Pernambuco), in a direction from north to south:
not one deviated from this course, notwithstanding the flowers which were
growing around: they flew against the wind, which blew rather strong, and
near the ground, but mounted over every tree or other high object which lay
in their course; yet their flight was so rapid, that I could not capture a
single specimen. They went singly, and near fifty or sixty must have passed
the spot opposite the window, before mid-day: they continued to pass for
three or four days in this manner. 12th June, 1817." Now it is clear that
these insects could not have come from so far north as Surinam, where only
the other species is found; and they certainly do not migrate to the more
southern latitude of Rio de Janeiro. As we have never seen this species in
the London Cabinets, we have deposited a specimen in the British Museum,
that our entomologists may become acquainted with the structure of the
feet.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: MALACOCIRCUS _Striatus._
_Striped Babbler._]
MALACOCIRCUS striatus.
_Striated Babbler._
----
Family Merulidæ. Sub-fam. Crateropodinæ. Sw. _North. Zool. 2, p 156._ Genus
Malacocircus.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Bill rasorial, i. e. short, high at the base, conspicuously arched from
the front, where the feathers are divided; tip obsoletely notched. Tarsi
thick, moderate; the scales entire. Wings and tail rounded.
SUB-GENERA. Megalurus. Pomatorhinus. _Horsf._ Malacocircus. Leptonyx. _Sw._
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Entirely light brown: wings and tail darker, the quills marked by
transverse dark lines: bill and feet yellow: margin of the quills
changeable greyish white._
Gracula striata. _Mus. Paris._
----
The Babblers, or long legged Thrushes, (forming the sub-family
_Crateropodinæ_, Sw.) are almost exclusively confined to the warmer
latitudes of the old world; extending to the north as far as Egypt, and to
the south over the greatest part of Australia. Like all birds which belong
to the natatorial type, the majority of the species live in the vicinity of
water. Their voice, like that of _Donacobius_, Sw. is particularly
discordant, and many of them appear to be gregarious. The present species
we received from Ceylon, but without any notice of its habits: another
specimen is in the Paris Museum, under the manuscript name of _Gracula
striata_, from the circumstance of the scapular quills, and also the tail
feathers, being marked with transverse lines of a darker brown, varying in
intensity according to the rays of light.
We have not yet sufficiently worked out this intricate and little known
group: the very existence of which was first announced in North. Zool. 2,
p. 156. According to our present views, the genera yet characterized appear
to be _Crateropus_, _Malacocircus_, _Pellornium_, and _Timalia_. To
_Crateropus_, we at present refer the sub-genera _Grallina_, Vieil,
_Cinclosoma_, H. & V. and _Aipunemia_, Sw.; while those of _Malacocircus_
are probably _Megalurus_, H. _Pomatorhinus_, H. and _Leptonyx_, Sw. Under
the genus _Timalia_, we place _Psophodes_ and _Dasyornis_, H. & V.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: MITREOLA.
_1. monodonta. 2. terebellum. 3. Mitra acuminata._]
MITREOLA monodonta,
_The Volute Mitres._
----
Family Volutidæ. Sub-family Mitranæ. Genus Mitreola. _Sw._
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Shell fusiform, smooth; the middle plaits of the pillar largest apex of the
spire generally papillary.
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Shell ovate, acute, smooth; spire slightly striated, the tip papillary;
outer lip within, gibbous._
Mitra monodonta. _Lam. Syst. 7, p. 324._
----
We feel much obliged to Mr. G. B. Sowerby for calling our attention to the
remarkable construction of this Volute Mitre, of which we had not then seen
a specimen. We view it as supplying that link of connection between the
_Volutinæ_ and the _Mitranæ_, the Volute and the Mitre shells, which we had
long been in search of. Of the genus, however, we know as yet but of two
species, represented on the plate somewhat larger than their natural size.
We have also added a figure of our _Mitra acuminata_, to shew how
beautifully _Mitreola_ is represented by the fourth type of the genus
_Mitra_, as now restricted, to which type (represented by _M. Zebra_),
_acuminata_ also belongs: both, as prototypes of the _Strombidæ_, have the
outer lip gibbous near the top; but the plaits of the pillar are totally
different, while the spire of one is acute, and of the other papillary. _M.
monodonta_ is a Grignon fossil: some specimens are so well preserved, that
the colours may be traced in the appearance of zebra-like stripes: thus
strongly corroborating our views on its true analogies.
----
MITRA terebellum.
_Shell fusiform, turrited, smooth, base striated; channel sub-entire._
Mitra terebellum. _Lam. Sys. 7, 325. Ency. Meth. pl. 392, a, b, c, d?_
----
Of this Grignon fossil, we have but one specimen: it agrees with Lamarck's
description, but not with the figure he quotes; and it may possibly be a
distinct species between his _M. plicatella_ and _terebellum_. The plaits
are like those of _M. monodonta_; but the tip of the spire is acute, and
slightly plaited.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: LEILUS _Occidentalis_. _Sw._]
LEILUS Occidentalis,
_West India Emerald-Butterfly._
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Posterior wings with a flame-coloured, irregularly indented, marginal
band; tails black, with emerald green spots._
Papilio Sloaneus. Cramer. _pl. 85. e. f. vol. 1. p. 134._
Papilio Leilus. var. _Fab. Ent. Syst. 3. 1. 22._
----
Specimens of this rare and splendid species, sent to our museum from the
island of Jamaica, enable us to complete the illustration of the only three
American species of this type hitherto discovered. It is in all probability
the same as that figured by Cramer; particularly as his specimens came from
the same locality. Even a superficial comparison of this figure with those
on our two last plates, will shew the error of Fabricius and others, in
classing them all under the same name. We have represented the species in
that attitude which is assumed by _L. Braziliensis_, when at rest; the
wings of which species are sometimes _less_ but never _more_ expanded: the
fruit, upon which the insect is reposing, is the common West India
_Banana_, shewing its natural size.
In drawing the attention of Entomologists to the anatomical details of this
typical example of the genus _Leilus_, it will be readily perceived that
the obscurity which has involved its natural affinities, has entirely
arisen from ignorance of its structure. At a time when minute and obscure
Coleoptera are submitted to the most delicate dissection, under powerful
magnifiers, the LEPIDOPTERA, not only the most striking and splendid of all
insects, _but the pre-eminent type of the_ ANNULOSA, have been
comparatively neglected. We cannot otherwise account for this, but by
remembering that the influence of fashion is universal, and that she is
always followed by the majority. This exclusive devotion however, to one
order, is highly detrimental to the study of the natural system; or with so
many profound Entomologists who have gone before us, it would not have been
left for us to make known the fact, that the sub-family _Papilionæ_,
represents the sub-family _Harpalinæ_, (Harpalidæ, _Auct._) And that this
analogy is not only demonstrable by the peculiar construction of their
_tibiæ_, but by the parallel relations and by the circular affinities of
the COLEOPTERA and the LEPIDOPTERA.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: LEILUS _Orientalis_. _Sw._]
LEILUS Orientalis.
_Oriental Emerald Butterfly._
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Posterior wings six tailed; anal angle with a large flame-coloured
space, varied with black spots; tails unequal, whiteish._
Papilio Rhipheus. _Cramer, Vol. 2, page 193, pl. 385, fig. A. B._
----
That the natural affinities of this superb and highly interesting group of
insects should be no longer a matter of doubt, we are induced to deviate,
for the first time, from our usual practice. On this and the next plate we
have copied two figures of insects which we have never seen, for the
purpose of bringing them immediately before the eye of the entomologist,
and of clearing up some remarkable facts concerning them.
The first of these is taken from Cramer, who calls it _Pap. Rhipheus_, from
an unaccountable idea that it was the same species as one figured by Drury,
under that name. He imagines that this latter figure was made from a
mutilated specimen, in which the tails had been broken off, and that _his_,
consequently, represented the insect in its perfect state. Every succeeding
writer, so far as we can discover, has taken up this idea, without the
precaution of investigating its correctness. Now it follows that if the two
species were the same, the posterior wings of _Cramer's_, would be spotted
like those of _Drury's_, yet they are essentially different: a piece of
paper, put over to hide the tails in our present figure, which may then be
compared with the next, will at once explain our meaning: but setting this
aside, Cramer expressly asserts that his insect has the Antennæ "_sans
boutons_", and "_comme filiformes_", and very justly compares it with our
_Leilus Surinamensis_, "_mas plus encore_," with _Pap. Orontes_, L.
(_Orontes Noctuïdes_, Sw.) the immediate type to which it leads.
How totally inapplicable this account is to Drury's insect, will be
presently shewn. Cramer has most correctly given the immediate affinities
of this insect. We have no space to state our reasons for considering it,
at present, as a true _Leilus_; although with six tails, instead of _two_.
It may _possibly_, however, be the fifth, or natatorial type, which in our
synopsis of the genus at Pl. 125, we have not ventured to indicate. We have
never seen, or even heard of a specimen in modern cabinets; that figured by
Cramer, was found at Chandernagor, in Bengal, and was in the rich
collection of M. Gigot d'Orcy.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: RHIPHEUS _Dasycephalus. Sw._]
RHIPHEUS dasycephalus.
_Round-winged Emerald Butterfly_
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Wings black, varied with numerous irregular lines of emerald green;
posterior with the internal and anal angle, deep blood-red, shining with
gold and spotted with black.
Papilio Rhipheus. Drury. Ins. 2, p. 40, pl. 23, 1. 2.
----
If the imagination was taxed to invent, or to concentrate into one figure
all that was splendid, lovely, or rare in the insect world, Nature would
far exceed the poor invention of man by the production of this incomparably
splendid creature; its rarity also is so great, that but one specimen has
ever been seen: this was brought from China, and in 1773, belonged to a
Captain May, of Hammersmith: with whom it was seen by Drury, and drawn by
Harris. It is not however, on this account only that we have been induced
to copy this figure, but because its illustration will clear up one of the
most intricate and perplexing questions, that has hitherto impeded the
natural arrangement of the Linnæn _Papiliones_, and even of the whole order
of Lepidoptera.
The error of Cramer, regarding _Rhipheus_ has already been rectified. It
will now be demonstrated that not only are the two insects distinct as
_species_, but that they actually belong to different _genera_. Cramer's
being a _Urania_ of Fabricius and Latrielle, while Drury's is a _Papilio_
of the same authors. This is proved by the figures; and confirmed by the
following words of Drury, "_The antennæ are black, and knobbed at their
extremities_," in other words, clavate; while the palpi, as expressed in
the figure, are so small as not to project beyond the head, where they lie
hid in the frontal hairs: this also being a typical distinction of the
Latrellian _Papiliones_. The figures in Drury's work were all drawn and
engraved by Moses Harris, well known as one of the most accurate artists
that ever lived: as a remarkable proof of this, we find that he has not
failed to delineate that peculiar nuration of the anterior wings, which
belongs only to the types of _Leilus_. A closer affinity therefore between
_Papilio_ and _Leilus_ cannot possibly be imagined: while its remarkably
hairy front, points out its analogy, as an aberrant type in its own genus,
to _Chlorisses_, among insects, and _Dasycephala_ among birds. So true it
is that the natural system "illuminates with a flood of light" every
supposed anomaly, and reconciles facts apparently the most inexplicable.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: LYCÆNA _Dispar_.]
LYCÆNA dispar.
_The Large British Copper._
----
Family Erycinidæ. Sub-family Theclinæ. Sw. Genus Polyommatus.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Wings (typically) obtuse, rounded; anterior having the external margin
shorter than the posterior: posterior wings entire or nearly so:
destitute both of filiform caudal appendages, and of metallic anal spots.
_Nob._
SUB-GENERIC CHARACTER.
_Posterior wings obsoletely dentated, particularly at the anal angle:
club of the antennæ short, spatulate; palpi hairy, the last joint
lengthened, acute, naked, obliquely vertical._ _Type._ L. Phlæas.
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Wings coppery: the male with two discoid black dots on the anterior, and
one on the posterior wings: club of the antennæ elongated and fusiform._
(_Aberrant._)
Papilio Hippothoë. Lewen's Pap. pl. 40.
Pap. dispar. Haworth. Lep. Brit. p. 40. Stevens. Brit. Ent. 1. p. 82. Pl.
3
----
As considerable misconception appears to exist regarding the type of the
tenuirostral or vermiform family of the Diurnal Lepidoptera, we shall
endeavour to illustrate this subject. Our concluding number is accordingly
devoted to the genus _Polyommatus_ of Latrielle, and its subordinate types
or sub-genera. These compose, what we have elsewhere defined, a natural and
perfect group; (_North. Zool. 2, 288_) inasmuch as it has been tested by
the analogies, and conformed by the representations, which it bears to
innumerable others, both in the Annulose and vertebrated circles. According
to this analysis, both _Lycæna_ and _Polyommatus_, strictly so termed,
instead of being types either of families or sub-families, are of one and
the same genus: which genus, moreover, is but the portion of the aberrant
group of the _Theclinæ_. The typical forms of the genus _Erycina_,
exclusively confined to Tropical America, constitute, in fact, the
pre-eminent perfection of the family in question.
As _Lycæna_ represents the _Nymphalidæ_, or sub-typical family of the
Diurnal Butterflys, so is it the sub-typical form of the genus
_Polyommatus_. Its geographic range is wide, being extended to the
temperate latitudes of both hemispheres. The largest British species is
that now figured, from the identical specimens mentioned by Lewin.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: POLYOMMATUS _Cassius_.]
POLYOMMATUS Cassius.
_Brazilian Blue._
----
Family Erycinidæ. Sub-family Theclinæ. Genus Polyommatus (The typical
sub-genus.)
SUB-GENERIC CHARACTER.
Wings entire, obtuse; the posterior rounded, particularly at the anal
angle. Palpi covered and fringed with long hair; the last joint distinct
and nearly naked. Antennæ with a lengthened, fusiform, spatulate club.
Colour blue, beneath ocellated.
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Male: wings sub-diaphanous, blue, immaculate; whitish near the anal
angle. Female: the disk of all white, with black spots and borders. In
both sexes, beneath white, with blackish dots: those on the anterior
wings transverse and confluent._
Pap. Cassius. (the female) _Cramer, pl. 23, fig. C. D._
----
We have elsewhere pointed out, as one of the peculiar distinctions of forms
and groups pre-eminently typical, that their geographic distribution is
invariably wide, and generally universal; and that this is one of the
reasons why certain forms are found both in Europe, America, India, and
Australia. This was said of Birds, and the remark is even more applicable
when we look to insects. We accordingly find, that the typical species of
the genus now under consideration, not only spread themselves over all
Europe and Africa, but extend to the Indian islands on one side, and over
the whole of America on the other, without offering more than a sectional
variation of character. It is uncertain, however, whether any species occur
in Australia; for the European type seems to be represented there by the
sub-genus _Erina_. The genus, _collectively_, is a rasorial type,
representing the family _Satyridæ_ among the _Papiliones_,--_Parnassius_
among the _Papilionidæ_,--and the _Paconidæ_ among Birds.
Pol. Cassius is one of the most common species of Brazil, where we found it
frequenting similar situations, and possessing the same habits, as the
ordinary Blues of England. The analysis bestowed upon this group, convinces
us that _Pithecops, H._ is but a section of this sub-genus. The upper
figure represents the male, the lower the female: both are enlarged. The
connecting species between _Polyommatus_ and _Lycæna_ are _Helle_, Hub.
_Lametia_, and _Boeticus_.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: ERINA _pulchella_.]
ERINA pulchella.
_Buff-spotted Blue._
----
Family, Ericinidæ. Sub-fam., Theclinæ. _Sw._ Genus, Polyommatus. _Lat._
Sub-genus, Erina. _Sw._
SUB-GENERIC CHARACTER.
Wings obtuse, very entire: palpi covered only with compact scales, the
last joint lengthened, slender, and very naked. Club of the antennæ
short, broad, and spatulate. Colour, dark blue, spotted beneath.
_Typical._ Hesp. Erinus. _Fab._ _Aberrant._ Lycæna ignita. _Leach._
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Wings above brown, glossed with blue; anterior with a discoid fulvous
spot; beneath white: posterior pair with three black dots in the middle._
Mus. Brit. Nost.
----
The passage from _Polyommatus_ to the type now before us, is distinctly
marked by the section (for under that rank we may still retain it), named
_Pithecops_; the palpi of these latter being both hairy, like the typical
_Polyommatus_, and squamose, as in _Erina_: the posterior wings of both are
also much of the same shape. By these blended characters Nature gently
glides into the form now under consideration, which is the satyrian or
_rasorial_ type of the genus; representing the _Satyridæ_, the
_Hipparchianæ_, &c. and which supplies the place of _Polyommatus_, strictly
so termed, on the Australian continent. We have already before us six
species from that country; five of which are typical, but the sixth, the
_L. ignita_ of our friend Dr. Leach (_Zool. Miss. I. pl. 60_), demands
particular attention. We have elsewhere shewn that all aberrant forms unite
into a circle of their own. Now as _Erina_, _Lucia_, and _Naïs_, are the
aberrant forms of the genus _Polyommatus_, so there should be species
either in the first or the last,--that is, in _Erina_ or _Naïs_, which
would exemplify this theory in the present instance. We accordingly find it
demonstrated by _Erina ignita_; for that insect, although essentially
belonging to this type, in the characters of the _palpi_ and _antennæ_,
nevertheless assumes one of the great distinctions of _Naïs_.---_The wings
of the two sexes being different_: the posterior pair in the female are
dentated, while those of the male are completely entire; so that the first
might pass for a _Naïs_, and the second for an _Erina_; both sexes further
shew the union of these two types, by having the under surface of their
wings ornamented, as in _Naïs_, with silvery spots. Our figures, by the
scale, are somewhat enlarged. We have sent a specimen of _E. pulchella_ to
the British Museum for general reference.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: LUCIA _limbaria_.]
LUCIA limbaria.
_Brown-winged Blue._
----
Sub-fam. Theclinæ. Genus Polyommatus. _Lat._ Sub-genus Lucia. _Sw._
SUB-GENERIC CHARACTER.
Wings horizontally lengthened, entire: palpi very slender, ciliate with
long hairs, the last joint very minute, scarcely distinguishable. Antennæ
with a lengthened club, either cylindrical or compressed. Colours
obscure, moth-like.
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Wings above brown, disk of the anterior fulvous, with two brown spots
above, and three beneath, encircled with white: posterior beneath varied
with grey and white, with a central band of square brown spots._
Hesp. Lucanus? _Fab. Ent. Syst. 3, 1, p. 322. Donovan's Ind. Ins. pl. 43,
f. 4?_
Mus. Nost.
----
This, which appears the most aberrant type of the genus, immediately
reminds the student of a dark coloured _Erycina_ or a _Phalæna_, both of
which families, as being the Heliconian or Erycinian type of _Polyommatus_,
it truly represents. It is at once known from _Erina_, by its very peculiar
palpi, and by its more lengthened wings. The antennæ of three species now
before us, present a remarkable difference. In two of these, the club is
compressed and spatulate, like that of _Erina_; but in the third, here
figured, it has the cylindrical form belonging to _Naïs_. Which of these
forms is typical, must at present, be undecided; but there cannot be a
stranger link of connection between _Lucia_ and _Naïs_, than the fact of
this species borrowing, as it were, the cylindrical club of the latter.
Without such a link, in short, the series would be imperfect.
As we cannot satisfactorily determine whether the types here figured of
_Lucia_ and _Erina_ are described in books, we have been compelled to
regard them as unnamed. This, and the two other species we possess, are all
from Australia. On bringing the genus _Polyommatus_ to analogical tests,
the only demonstration of a natural group, we find the sub-genera
representing the families of the Diurnal Lepidoptera, in the following
manner:--1. TYPICAL, Polyommatus, _Papilionidæ_.--2. SUB-TYPICAL, Lycæna,
_Nymphalidæ_.--3. ABERRANT, Naïs-_Hesperidæ_, Lucia-_Erycidinæ_, and
Erina-_Satyridæ_.
* * * * * *
[Illustration: NAÏS _splendens_.]
NAÏS splendens.
_Blue-shouldered Copper_.
----
Sub-fam. Theclinæ. Genus Polyommatus. Sub-genus Naïs. _Sw._
SUB-GENERIC CHARACTER.
Wings sub-angulated; posterior dentated, particularly at the anal angle.
Copper coloured above, with silvery spots beneath. Antennæ cylindrical,
thickening from the base: the tip truncate.
----
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
_Wings above coppery, with black dots, their basal half-shining blue;
beneath fulvous; the posterior varied with ferruginous, and marked by
silvery spots._
Pap. Naïs. _Cramer, pl. 57, fig. D. E._
----
In every natural group of the diurnal Lepidoptera which we have analysed,
(and the number is somewhat considerable,) there is always one in which the
posterior wings are more than usually tailed; and this seems to be such a
prevalent form throughout the Vertebrata and the Annulosa, that we believe
it is universal: in other words, that it is one of the PRIMARY TYPES of
Nature. We have consequently termed it the _natatorial_, since it
represents that order of birds, as the Swallow-tailed _Papiliones_ typify
the Swallows. That we should find this form in a group where the chief
character is the roundness and the integrity of the wings, is certainly
astonishing; but it shews that the laws of Nature are as simple, as they
are universal. The absolute union of this sub-genus with _Lycæna_, with
which we commenced the circle, is palpable to the meanest capacity. All the
species we possess, are from Africa and India. As they represent the
_Argynninæ_, we accordingly find them ornamented with silver spots. The
species now figured, are probably male and female, and were received from
Africa.