some have changeable hues, like shot silk; and several are as transparent as glass, as the Hetaira esnieralda, whose clear wings have but one spot of opaque colour, of a violet and rose hue (see Fig. 29).

The expanse of wing is not uncommonly six to eight inches in the Ornithoptera, or Bird-wings, so-called; the largest, the most magnificent, the most perfect of butterflies, the wonder of the Eastern tropics. To the family Morphid^e appertain the largest and most splendid of the South American kinds. Their wings, often seven inches across, are usually of a brilliant metallic blue, and as the insect flies, the lustrous surface flashes in the sunlight, so that it is visible a quarter of a mile off. Slowly and majestically, the noble creatures sail through the forest glades, only flapping their wings at considerable intervals, or float at a good height, rarely descending nearer the ground than twenty feet, rendering them an almost unattainable prize in a forest country; in the mountainous districts of New Granada and Ecuador they are captured with long nets, the collectors being sometimes let down by ropes over the edges of the pre-cipices. A notion of the immense variety of butterfly life in the equatorial zone may be gained from the fact, that no fewer than seven hundred species actually exist within an hour's walk of Para in Brazil; while in Britain there are only sixty-six, and in the whole of Europe three hundred and ninety species.

Favourite Resorts.

Oddly enou^^h, in the tropics, damp open places, especially river- banks and margins of pools, during the hottest part of the day, are favourite resorts of these children of the sun. Thirsty by nature, they congregate in absolutely countless numbers on the wet sand or gravel, to suck up the moisture. Often it is impossible to walk

Fig. 32. Cherilra jaffra, brown with while tails, far without dis-from Burmah. turbinof flocks of ever}' variety of size and colour thus refreshing themselves, and at our approach they flutter up into the air from before our feet. In Nicaragua, groups may be observed of fine Swallow-tails (Papilio), greedily imbibing the water, and quivering their wings as they drink, and pretty blue Hair- streaks (Theclee), which,

Fig. 32. Cherilra jaffra, brown witli while tails, from Burmah.

SYMBOLS OF PSYCHE. J79

when they aUght, have the strange habit of rubbing their wings together, keeping the curious tail-like appendages continually moving up and down. At many spots in tropical America sulphur- yellow and orange-coloured kinds (Callidryas) are very common, gathering in dense masses, their wings all held in the upright position, looking like bouquets on the ground, and when roused dissolving, as it were, into fountains of tlowers; in association with white, or with brown and red butterflies, they represent, in the most deceptive manner, choice beds of Mowers on the moist sand.

With few exceptions, these gaily tinted assemblies

Fig. -Diflcreiit feniak-s of the Malayan FapiHo iiiciiinon.

which indulge in this sunshiny life are males, their spouses, which are more soberly dressed, and far less numerous, remaining hid within the forest shades, where every afternoon, as the sun goes down, the gaudy dandies join them. Butterflies are occasionally migratory as well as

i8o TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS.

gregarious, and the hordes seem always to travel in one direction, to south-south-east, a fact throwing no light, rather the reverse, on these very unintelligible circumstances.

Twilight Fliers.

While some butterflies, usually of a dark colour, avoid the sun, by haunting the gloomiest recesses of the forest, others are crepuscular, issuing forth just after sunset, and flitting about in the dusk. Found both in the East India Isles and in America, these are true twilight fliers, appearing never to wander at night in the moon-licrht, or to enter lighted rooms as the Nia;ht-Moths, although, like the latter, they repose all day. So much for the universal influence of the warmth of the sun on the fliiiht of butterflies!

A Quarrelsome Disposition.

Perhaps, also, we take too much for granted the mild, peaceable disposition, the defencelessness, the irrational character of the butterfly. A company will drive away and pursue for a short distance a large member of their kind which comes nigh their favourite restino-- or feeding-places, assuring themselves that the intruder has

SYMBOLS OF PSYCHE. i8i

really departed ere returning to their interrupted business. Doubtless they object to the addition of a guest at their feast whose appetite in comparison with theirs would be enormous. " Every one for himself" seems to be Nature's law: " finding 's keeping; " and " union is strength."

Pecitliarities of Highest Interest.

Closely allied to the Ornithoptera, or Bird-wings, is a group smaller in size, but equally brilliant in colour, the Papilios, one of the handsomest exotic species of which, the Malayan Papilio meinnou,W.t]\ black and blue wings, five inches in expanse, and with the hind pair rounded and gracefully scalloped, presents a peculiarity ot highest remarkable variety in the form of theinterest—the females. They may be divided into two groups—those which resemble the males in shape, though varying much, as butterflies often do, in colour. The second group is most extraordinary, and would never be supposed to be the same insect, since they differ entirely in colour and in the outline of the wings, the hind wings being elaborated into spoon-shaped tails, no trace of which is ever observed in the males, or in the ordinary form of the females. In shape and colouring these odd females, when flying, closely resemble another butterfly belonging to a different section of the same genus, Papilio coon—

l82 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS.

case of the wonderful phenomenon of mimicry. From some cause, the butterflies imitated seem exempt from the attacks of birds, and /.. by imitating them the female of Papilio viemnon also eludes persecution. It is, indeed, curious that both these distinct forms of female, the tailed and the tailless, are produced from the eggs of either form (see

l^^ig- 33). Of precisely the same nature as mimicry are those adaptations in which the insect is coloured and marked so as to represent the soil,

Fig. 34 -A Leaf-Butterfly (A'allima iiinc/iis), in or some vegetative flight and in repose. object, the simulated appearance serving to conceal the creature from the prying eyes of enemies. The under sides of many butterflies, in all parts of the world, exhibit a deceptive

Fig. 34 -A Leaf-Butterfly (A'allima iiinc/iis), in flight and in repose.

resemblance to dead leaves; but the best example, perhaps the most perfect case of protective resemblance known, is to be found in the Indian butterfly Kallivia inackis, and its Malayan ally, Kalliina paralckta, both showy and conspicuous insects on the wing, but which no sooner alight than, as if by magic, they become invisible. Amid dried or dead leaves, on trees and bushes, it is their habit to rest, and in this position, with the wings tightly pressed together, they form a direct and finished representation of a leaf in some stage of decay. Colour, form, and habits all combine to produce this complete and marvellous disguise, and the protection it affords is shown by the abundance of individuals that possess it (see Fig. 34).

CHAPTER IX.

DAY-FLYING MOTHS.

Fig. 35.— Urania Braziliensis, migratory, from Brazil.

Lepidopiera Heterocera and Rhopaloce^'a.

A POPULAR division of the Lepidoptera, or Scale-wings, in England, is into Butterflies and Moths, the former being termed Diurni, the latter Nocturni. In most continental languages one principal word serves for the two great Lepidopterous groups. Thus, papillon in French, may stand for either a butterfly or a moth; and they are distinguished respectively 2iS papillons de jour ^LTid papillons de nttit. But since, in fact, many of the species of the nocturnal Lepidoptera are day-fliers, and, vice versa, not all the

Fig. 35. — Urania Braziliensis, migratory, from Brazil.

diurnal Lepidoptera tiy by day, the habits of these insects do not seem to prove a good basis for separation, and in order to avoid the misconceptions produced by the terms " diurna " and " nocturna," Boisduval, a French entomologist, proposed to substitute Rhopalocera (club-horns) for the butterflies, and Heterocera (different-horns) for the moths.

At first glance few distinctions appear more happy classifications more natural. It was nothan this—few sooner announced than it was recognized as a most convenient arrangement, and quickly came into general use. It is founded on the structure of the antennae, often called feelers or horns, two long jointed organs situated in front of the head, between the eyes, which in this order are always conspicuous. A marked thickening towards the end almost universally charac-terizes the antennae of the Rhopalocera. Such being the case, it is undoubtedly a character of primary importance. But a certain family of moths (Sphingidse), by their antennae thickening towards the end, though terminating suddenly in a point, bring the two groups into near relationship, and lessen their value; while the most interesting Castniidae and Uraniidae (of which more anon) so intimately connect them that these families have sorely perplexed systematists as to whether their rightful position was with the one group or with the other.

To be brief, our better knowledge than heretofore of the Lepidoptera gives rise to new views of the antennal structure, and makes plain the absence of any such an the clubbed orabsolute difference. On this alone—on non-clubbed terminations, according to Boisduval, or on features which other entomologists deem more worthy of consideration — two primary divisions cannot be established. In the same way, the stout spine or spring on the hind wings of moths is unsatisfactory as a classificatory basis. This spine is furnished on the under wings, at the costal base, and being received in a sort of socket beneath the superior pair, maintains them in a horizontal or somewhat deflexed position in repose, and is remarkably characteristic of the Heterocera. But all moths by no means possess it, while a butterfly is known armed with this apparatus. In a word, though we may speak of Rhopalocerous and of Heterocerous characters, there is no one character which infallibly severs the two divisions, another instance of the fact that the naturalist has continually to face, the necessarily arbitrary nature of classification. The more intimate our knowledge of animal forms, past and present, becomes, the more our demarcations give way between all classificatory divisions, even from variety to kingdom. As we arrive at a true conception of the relations of animals, we realize the closer approach of

the different groups, until we perceive an almost continuous chain. An observation of Kirby and Spence on this point: "It appears to be the opinion of most modern physiologists that the series of affinities in nature is a concatenation or continuous series; and that though an hiatus is here and there observable, this has been caused either by the annihilation of some original group or species... or that the objects required to fill it up are still in existence but have not yet been discovered." Later-day naturalists find in these intermediate grada-tions, or transition states, such as I have indicated, and others, their stronQ^est arsiJfument for the Darwinian doctrine of community of descent.

The Abnormal Collection of Pretty Insects Castnildee.

Let us glance at the curious and abnormal collection of pretty insects, Castniidse, which, in some respects, com-bines the characters of both Lepidopterous divisions, but in modern opinion has most affinities with the moths (see

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