distinguished rarity; it was very rare in the time of Kircher and
Bonanni, and it has continued scarce even to the present period. At the
sale of the Leverian collection, the example of which the delineation is
now before us, produced the sum of five guineas and a half: since that
time other specimens of the same species have occurred occasionally to
observation, but which have still maintained an equal price in
proportion to their excellence or perfection. The Leverian shell was a
most select example, and has not been surpassed in point of beauty by
any of the specimens we have since seen. At the dissolution of that
inestimable museum, which happened in the year 1806, this admirable
shell passed into the possession of the worthy secretary of the Linnæan
Society, A. Mc. Leay, Esq. and it still constitutes a part of the fine
Conchological collection of that very eminent naturalist.
The late Dr. Solander, as it appears from his manuscripts preserved in
the library of the late worthy President of the Royal Society, Sir
Joseph Banks, Bart. had designated this kind of Voluta by the name of
Nobilis; it is a fine shell and not unworthy of that distinguished
appellation. It is however certain, that it is no other than a variety
of Voluta Scapha of the Linnæan school[4], and as the changing and
transposition of names that are sufficiently explicit and well
understood can only tend to create confusion instead of aiding the
pursuits of science, we can have no hesitation in retaining it under its
former designation. As a variety, we admit this shell to be distinct and
well defined, and to be so far prominent as to merit a definitive
appellation; and it is under this persuasion the term Nobilis, assigned
but by Dr. Solander, is subjoined to the specific name Voluta Scapha.
This very rare kind of Voluta Scapha is from China, the variety more
coarse in its general appearance that constitutes the type of this
species, is a native of the Cape of Good Hope.
Among the older definitions by which this shell was known among the
early writers, we may mention that of the learned Kircher, whose museum
of curiosities, extant in the beginning of the last century, contained a
shell of this kind, which Bonanni thus describes:—“_Conchylium ea parte
latius qua in turbinem desinit sine aculeis, et tuberculis, foramen non
rotundum, ut in Purpura et Buccina, sed longum._” Musaei Kircheriani.
classis iii. 10. 450. et Bonan. 113.
It may not be amiss to observe, in conclusion, that amidst all the
improvements which modern naturalists have made in the science of
Conchology, Voluta Scapha still remains a Volute among the most approved
writers of the present day, while most of those species considered by
Linnæus as appertaining to the same genus are removed to other
newly-constituted genera.
The character of the true Volute, as it is at present laid down,
consists in the shell being of an oval form, more or less ventricose, or
swollen, the summit obtuse and ending in a kind of papilla, or teat, the
base of the shell cut off or somewhat truncated: without canal, and the
pillar charged with plaits or folds, of which the inferior ones are the
largest and longest. The precise contrary of this is observable in the
new genus MITRA, of which _Voluta Episcopalis_ is considered as the
type. In this last mentioned shell, the body instead of being ventricose
is subfusiform, the spire pointed at the summit, and the lower plaits
upon the pillar smaller instead of larger. The contrast between these
two tribes will, it is conceived, sufficiently illustrate the
characteristic peculiarities of the genus Volute, as it is at present
constituted.
-----
Footnote 4:
This shell, though sufficiently intelligible among the figures of
Kircher’s shells, engraved and published by Bonanni, and also in the
works of Lister and some others, escaped the notice of Linnæus. So
late as the tenth edition of Systema Natura it does not appear. Gmelin
describes this shell with much accuracy in his edition of the last
mentioned work, under the specific name of Scapha.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_5_
_London. Published as the Act directs, by E.
Donovan & Mess.^{rs} Simpkin & Marshall, May 1.^{st} 1822._
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORNITHOLOGY.
PLATE V.
TROCHILUS PELLA,
TOPAZ HUMMING-BIRD.
PICÆ.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Bill subulate or awl-shaped; filiform, tubular at the tip and longer
than the head; upper mandible forming a sheath for the lower. Tongue
filiform, the two threads coalescing, and tubular feet formed for
walking; tail composed of ten feathers, in general.
* Bill incurvate.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Red; middle tail feathers very long; body red; head brown; throat golden
green; rump green.
TROCHILUS PELLA: ruber rectricibus intermediis longissimis, capite
fusca, gula aurata uropygioque viridi.—_Linn. Syst. 1. p. 189.
2._ _Gmel. t. 1. p. 1. 485. 2._
TROCHILUS PELLA: curvirostris ruber, rectricibus intermediis
longissimis, corpore rubro, capite fusco, gula aurata
uropygioque viridi. _Lath. Orn. 1. p. 302. 2._
Polytmus Surinamensis longicaudus ruber.—_Briss. 3. p. 690. 15._
Falcinellus gutture viridi.—_Klein, Av. p. 108. 15._
Le Colibri topaze.—_Buff. 6. p. 46._—_Pl. Ent. 599._
TOPAZ HUMMING-BIRD.—_Lath Syn. 2. p. 746. 2._
* * * * *
There is not, throughout the very ample range of the creation which the
feathered tribes present to our consideration, a race of beings more
deservedly admired for their beauty than the Humming-Birds. Natives of
the warmer climates of the globe: of countries where the fervour of a
tropic sun calls forth the spontaneous productions of the earth bedecked
in gaiety unexampled in other regions of the earth, these little beings
seem to participate in all its genial influence. With forms the most
pleasing for symmetry and elegance they combine a brilliancy of colours
the most splendid; their golden hues, their sapphirine tints, the lustre
of the emerald, the ruby, garnet, amethyst, and topaz, with which their
plumage is adorned, is not surpassed in brightness by the valued gems
whose hues they borrow, and whose splendours emulate; as though, in this
much-favoured race we beheld the richest gems of earth inspired with
life, and endowed with powers of activity and will. The flowers whose
nectareous juices afford them sustenance, are moreover the liveliest and
most luxuriant among those that adorn the surface of the teeming
earth:—in a word, the Humming-Birds, poised and fluttering upon the
wing, or flitting from flower to flower, in search of food beneath the
fervid illumination of a cloudless tropic sun, present a spectacle of
the works of nature upon a scale of miniature the most pleasing and most
brilliant.
Owing to the slender structure of the bill, the Humming-Birds have some
difficulty in obtaining their support; the luxuriant fruits of the
tropic world afford them no repast: their bills are much too feeble to
penetrate their rind to derive subsistence from their fluids. It is the
rich juices of the flowers and not the fruits that afford them food; the
fluids which they find secreted in the nectaria of flowers, the nectaria
of those plants in particular which have the flowers long and tubular,
and in which those repositories of mellifluous fluid lie in the bottom
of the corolla are the favourite objects of their resort. About the
flowers of this kind the Humming-Birds are seen hovering like bees, and
like those industrious creatures extracting at the same time those
juices of the flowers by means of their elongated tongue. The
construction of the tongue in this tribe of birds is singular and
deserving of explicit mention; it consists of two tubular filiform
threads, which coalesce throughout their whole length, excepting at the
tips, where they are divided, or bifid; this organ, which is remarkable
for its extreme length, it inserts deeply down into the corolla of the
flowers, and is thus enabled to obtain the nectar nearly in the same
manner as the insects of the sphinx genus. The Humming-Birds, when on
the wing, are observed to emit a humming noise, like that of the bee,
and it is apparently from this circumstance that this class of the
feathered race have derived the appellation of Humming-Birds.
As the different species of the Humming-Bird, though uniformly small,
vary much in magnitude, from the bigness indeed of the wren and others
of our smaller warblers to a size more diminutive than several of the
larger kinds of the bee tribe, the nests of these birds, as may be
conceived, are found to vary materially according to the size of the
species to which they appertain. These little local habitations of the
infant brood are all comparatively small, are usually of a roundish
form, lined with the softest downy leaves, and each in general contains
two little eggs, scarcely exceeding the size of peas, and of a pure
white colour without any spots.
The slenderness of the bill and weakness of the legs in this tribe of
birds sufficiently demonstrate that they are inadequate to any contests
with other kinds of the feathered race; they are nevertheless observed
among themselves to be rather of a pugnaceous disposition. Their usual
contests are for their mates or for the possession of some favourite
flower, and are observed to take place while on the wing. Their mode of
attack is by striking with violence against each other, for they never
attempt to assault each other with their bill and their feet are much
too small and feeble for conflict.
The species of Humming-Bird now before us is one of the larger kinds,
its length being about six inches from the tip of the bill to the
extremity of the tail, exclusive of the two elongated feathers which
extend beyond the true tail about two inches; the bill is long, slender,
and slightly incurvated, and of a whitish colour with the tip black. The
most characteristic peculiarity is the large space of topazine or golden
green immediately beneath the chin, and which expands over the whole
surface of the throat. The head is blackish purple, and the same colour
descending along the sides of the neck passes in a kind of crescent
round the breast, thus constituting an abrupt separation between the
vivid green space of the chin and throat, and the vivid lustre of the
abdomen, which is a fine crimson or ruby colour from the breast nearly
to the vent, where it becomes interspersed with a few white feathers;
the feathers of the thigh are white also. The back and wing coverts are
brown with tints and shades of greenish, and glosses of a golden yellow.
The greater quill feathers are fuscous, the tail coverts are fine green;
the tail orange, except the two remarkable elongated candal feathers,
which are black. The legs pale.
Notwithstanding the very decisive character which this species of
Humming-Bird displays, and which considered individually can leave us
little reason to distrust its identity as a species, we are not to
overlook the very near approximation of this kind with some others that
are described as specifically different, such as the Sapphire
Humming-Bird, and that distinguished by the appellation of the Sapphire
and Emerald Humming-Bird. The near approach of these and some others to
the species now before us appears to be sufficiently obvious to induce a
persuasion that in a less mature state one kind may sometimes have been
mistaken for another, and this becomes the more probable when we
recollect that the Humming-Birds in general, like many of the larger
tribes of the feathered race, do not arrive at their full perfection of
plumage till the second and more commonly till the third year.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_6_
_London. Published as the Act directs by E.
Donovan & Mess.^{rs} Simpkin & Marshall, May 1, 1822._
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENTOMOLOGY.
PLATE VI.
FIGURE I, I.
PAPILIO MARCELLINA.
MARCELLINA’S BUTTERFLY.
ORDER
LEPIDOPTERA.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Antennæ thicker towards the tip and generally terminating in a knob:
wings erect when at rest. Fly by day.
* DANAI CAND.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Wings entire, rounded, yellow, each of them beneath with a geminous or
double silver spot.
PAPILIO MARCELLINA: alis integris rotundatis flavis: singalis subtus
puncto gemino argenteo.—_Fabr. Spec. Ins. 2. 49. n. 214._—_Ent.
Syst. t. 3. p. 1. 209. 654._—_Cram. 14. t. 165._
* * * * *
Papilio Marcellina is a butterfly of peculiar simplicity and beauty in
its general effect. The upper surface is of a fine yellow with a
singular subocellate spot or stigma of a reddish brown in the centre of
the anterior wings, and a series of double spots of the same colour,
disposed towards the exterior margin both of the anterior and the
posterior pair. The lower surface, as we perceive from the Butterfly at
rest, with the wings erect in the upper part of the plate, is rather
more of an orange or fulvous hue, and instead of having the disk
immaculate like the upper surface, except the stigma in the anterior
wings, are sprinkled with reddish brown. The centre of the wings, as
well the posterior as the anterior pair, are marked with two silver
spots, and which, from their near approximation, may be denominated,
according to the language of Fabricius, a geminous or double spot of
silver.
This elegant insect is figured from a specimen in the collection of the
celebrated Dr. Hunter, the individual example described and referred to
by Fabricius in his _Species Insectorum_ and _Entomologia Systematica_
as expressed among the synonyms above recited.
The Papilio Marcellina has appeared already in the costly work of
Cramer, upon the Papiliones tribe, we are nevertheless induced to
present a figure of the species to our readers, in order to point out
the very close affinity that prevails between this insect and another
much more frequent species named Papilio Sennæ. This latter mentioned
Butterfly is figured by Sloane, Merian, and Seba; Papilio Marcellina by
Cramer only. These insects resemble each other, but are nevertheless
distinct; the specific character of Papilio Sennæ consists chiefly,
according to Linnæus, in having the double spot in the centre of each
wing of a ferruginous colour, while in Papilio Marcellina that
characteristic mark has the exact appearance of two approximating spots
of molten silver. The tips of the wings in Papilio Sennæ are sometimes
spotted as in Marcellina and are sometimes destitute of spots.
Both these analogous species are natives of Surinam; Sloane describes
Papilio Sennæ, in his Natural History of Jamaica, as an inhabitant of
that island.
FIGURE II.
PAPILIO AGAVE.
AGAVE BUTTERFLY.
ORDER
LEPIDOPTERA.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Antennæ thicker towards the tip, and generally terminating in a knob;
wings erect when at rest. Fly by day.
* DANAI CAND.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Wings entire rounded yellow; anterior pair at the tip black above,
beneath sanguineous brown.
PAPILIO AGAVE: alis integerrimis rotundatis flavis: anticis apice supra
nigris, subtus brunneis.—_Fabr. Ent. Syst. t. 3. p. 1. 193. n.
599._
* * * * *
This very scarce and pretty species of the Papilio tribe is an
inhabitant of Cayenne, and may possibly occur also in other parts of
South America. It was unknown to Fabricius when he published the work
entitled _Species Insectorum_; he afterwards observed a species of it in
the cabinet of Von Rohr, and inserted a description of it between the
two species P. Hecabe and P. Cardamines in his subsequent production
_Entomologia Systematica_.
The upper surface of this Butterfly is entirely yellow, without any
marks, excepting only the apex of the anterior wings, which are black in
that portion of the tip which appears red on the lower surface, or as
Fabricius terms it, somewhat erroneously brown.
This fly, so uniformly simple in the aspect of its superior surface,
appears to peculiar advantage when in a resting position as it is
depicted in the lower part of the plate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_7_
_London. Published as the Act Directs, by E.
Donovan, Simpkin & Marshall. June 1, 1822._
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORNITHOLOGY.
PLATE VII.
EMBERIZA CIRIS
PAINTED BUNTING.
ORDER
PASSERES.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Bill conic: mandibles receding from each other from the base downwards,
the lower with the sides narrowed in; a hard knob within the upper
mandible.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Head blue, abdomen fulvous, back green, feathers green brown.
EMBERIZA CIRIS: capite cæruleo, abdomine fulvo, dorso-viridi, pennis
viridi-fuscis _Act. Stockh. 1750 p. 278 t. 7. f. 1._—_Linn.
Syst. Nat. 1. 179._—_Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 885._
Friagilla Tricolor, _Catesby Car. 1. p. 44. t. 44_. _Klein. Av. p. 97.
7._
Chloris ludoviciana, Papa, _Briss. 3. p. 200. 58. t. 8. f. 3_.
Fringilla Mariposa, _Scop. Ann. 1. No. 222_.
Le Pepe _Buff. 4. p. 176. t. 9_.—_Pl. Enl. 139. f. 1._
China Bulfinch, _Albin. 3. t. 68_.
PAINTED BUNTING, _Lath. Gen. Syn. 3. p. 206. 54_.—_Supp. p. 159. Ind.
Orn. T. 1. p. 416. 61._
* * * * *
The varieties of the very beautiful species now before us are rather
numerous, as may be imagined from its moulting twice in a year, and not
arriving, as it is pretty generally believed, at its full state of
plumage till nearly the third year. These are the progressive changes of
the male bird, and it may be also added, that the female undergoes
several mutations of the same kind, as well as the male bird.
When its plumage has attained its full perfection, there are few birds
of more striking beauty than the male of this species. Its size is
scarcely inferior to that of our common Hedge Sparrow, the length
between five and six inches. The head and neck of a fine blue purple,
with a circle of red round the eyes. The whole of the underside,
including the chin, throat, breast, and abdomen, is a fulvous, or rather
a vivid scarlet; the back green, below which is a space of yellow, and
the rump scarlet, like the abdomen. The wings are greenish, being shaded
with brown, and having the edges of the feathers of a delicate green:
the greater wing coverts in our specimen are of a pale rose colour, and
which in the general conformation of the plumage constitutes a roseate
band across the wings. The tail, like the wings, are brownish, having
the edges of each feather green; the bill and legs dark.
In some of the varieties of this bird, occasioned as before observed,
through the moulting of the feathers, the blue purple of the head and
neck is more generally extended along the back, and sometimes appears in
patches upon other parts of the plumage. Sometimes, also, the dark spots
that appear upon the scarlet space of the chin, throat, breast, and
abdomen, are more diffused, and in other states of moulting the abdomen
becomes yellow or yellowish. The abdomen has also, in some instances,
been known to change white, leaving only a rounded spot of red upon the
breast.
Catesby describes this species as a native of Carolina. It is an
inhabitant of all the warmer parts of America, extending from Mexico and
Peru, as far as Canada, in the milder seasons of the year. It is rather
a hardy bird, insomuch, that some attempts have been made by the Dutch
to naturalize the species in Europe, like the Canary; but not, however,
with the same success, although they may be kept alive for some time
after being brought into the less genial climates of the Continent of
Europe.
The celebrated Marmaduke Tunstall, Esq. a most indefatigable Naturalist,
who lived towards the latter part of the preceding century, has stated,
that two pair of these birds made their nests and laid eggs in the
orange trees of a Menagery at Holderness, in Yorkshire, but observes at
the same time, the eggs were unproductive. Mr. Tunstall, as a Collector,
was the great rival of Sir Ashton Lever, and of authority
unquestionable, and this circumstance tends to shew that it might be yet
possible to rear these very beautiful birds in this country. Some
authors have presumed upon the authority of Albin, that this species
extends to China. There can be very little doubt that the figure in the
third volume of Albin’s plate, denominated the China Bulfinch, is
intended for this bird. Albin assures us that he saw the bird he figured
in the possession of a curious gentlemen, who told him he had received
it from China.
In the warmer parts of America, which these birds, as before observed,
inhabit, they occur sometimes in vast flocks; it does not appear that
they are of a shy or timid disposition, yet it is said they are seldom
seen near habitable places, and never in any considerable numbers
together.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
_8_
_London. Published as the Act Directs, by E.
Donovan, June 1, 1822._
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONCHOLOGY.
PLATE VIII.
BUCCINUM HARPA
var TESTUDO
TORTOISESHELL HARP BUCCINUM.
UNIVALVE.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Shell spiral, gibbous: aperture ovate, (generally) terminating in a
short canal, leaning to the right, with a retuse beak or projection:
pillar lip expanded.
* _Detrita_, pillar lip apparently worn flat.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
AND
SYNONYMS.
Shell with equal longitudinal and distinct mucronate ribs: pillar lip
smooth.
BUCCINUM HARPA: testa costis æquilibus longitudinalibus distinctis
mucronatis, columella lævigata. _Linn. Syst. Nat. 10. p. 7. 38.
n. 400._—_Mus. Lud. Ulr. 609. n. 261._
BUCCINUM HARPA: testa varicibus[5] æqualibus longitudinalibus distinctis
mucronatis: columella lævigata. _Gmel. Linn. Syst. Nat. T. 1. p.
6. 3482. n. 47._
BUCCINUM TESTUDO. _Soland. MSS._
HARPA. _Rumpf. Must. 32. f. K. L. M._
HARPA NOBILIS _Argenv. Conch. t. 17. f. D._
* * * * *
This superb shell, admitted to be the finest example of its kind, at
present known, once constituted part of the Conchological Collection of
Sir Ashton Lever; and continued to be a distinguished ornament of that
Museum after it passed into the hands of Mr. Parkinson. At the
dissolution of that Museum, which took place in the month of May, June,
and the beginning of July, in the year 1806, the specimen became the
property of a very celebrated amateur, the late Mr. Jennings: he
purchased it at the sale for the sum of seven pounds.[6] Mr. Jennings is
since dead, and his collection being, like the former, dispersed by
public sale: we are no longer certain in whose possession this very
beautiful rarity now remains.
Besides that this shell excels in magnitude every other known example of
its kind, the formation of the shell itself is extremely fine, its
perfection exquisite, the colouring of the richest and most decided
hues, and the marks and lines throughout, which so eminently
characterize the shell, definitely distinct; we shall dwell no further
on the peculiar beauty of this shell, from a persuasion that the drawing
will be found so explicit and so satisfactory, as to render a minute
description needless: it was taken with peculiar care, by permission of
its proprietor, while it remained in the Leverian Museum, and will not,
we are convinced, be found defective in point of accuracy, upon the most
attentive comparison with the original, should that ever be produced in
competition with it.