Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2007 witli funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arGliive.org/details/bool<ofbutterflie03browuoft THE BOOK OF BUTTERFLIES, SPHINGES, AND MOTHS. EDINBURGH: SgUARK. PRINTKD BY M. AITKKN, 1. ST JAMHS'S ' . ^^ THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS^ ~— OF LITERATITiE, SCIENCE Sc THE ARTS THE BOOK OF BUTTERFLIES VOL. III. 1 ^^y'tfye kinnr tout Ijappv sialt, sraayers of tb.- fields; Scaiervile PRI^TTED FOR 'VraiT TAKER & C^ 1834. 'BOOK OF BUTTERFLIES, l| SPHINGES, AND MOTHS; ILLUSTRATED BY ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR ENGRAVINGS, COLOURED AFTER NATURE. CAPTAIN THOMAS 'bROWn/ KLLOW OF THE LINNiEAN SOCIETY, MEMBER OF THE WERNERIAN, KIRWANIAN, AND PHRENOLOGICAL SOCIETIES, AND PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY. IN THREE VOLUMES. 4 VOL. in: "V 3 LONDON: WHITTAKER & CO. ; AND WAUGH & INNES, EDINBURGH. 1834. — ———— CONTENTS. Page A Moral, . ... 9 MoDKRN Arrangement of Lepidopterous Insects, 11 Order Lepidoptera,—Linnaeus, . ib. • Tribe I. Diurna, . ib. Family I Papilionides, . 12 1. Hexapoda, . ib. 2. Perlata, . .13 3. Argus, . .20 Genus Papilio,—Latreille, . ib. Genus Vanessa,—Latreille, . 21 Genus Polyommatus,—Latreille, . ib. Family II. Hesperides, . • ib. Genus Hesperia,—Latreille, . 22 Tribe 11 Crepuscularia, . ib. Latreille, Family I. Hesperi-Sphinges,— . 23 Genus Castnia,—Latreille, . ib. Family II Sphingides,—Latreille, . ib. Genus Sphinx,—Latreille, . 24 —— —— Vi CONTENTS. Family III. Zyg^nides,—Latreille, Genus Zyg^na,—Fabricius, Tribe III. Nocturna, Family I Bombycites,—Latreille, Genus Bombyx,—Fabricius, Family II ^Noctuo-Bombycites, Genus Cossus,—Latreille, Family III.—Tineites, Latreille, Genus Tinea,—Latreille, Family IV—NocTUiELiTEs, Genus Noctua,—Fabricius, Family V Tortrices,^—Latreille, Genus Pyralis,—Latreille, Family VI PHALiSNiTEs,—Latreille, Genus Phaljena,—Latreille, Family VII Crambites,—Latreille, Genus Crambus, Latreille, Family VIII. Pteropborites,—LatreUle, Genus Pterophorus,—Latreille, The Paralecta Butterfly, The Idalia Butterfly, The Vidura Butterfly, The Thyria Buttei-fly, The Ebule Butterfly, The Atymnus Butterfly, The Hcckuba Butterfly, CONTENTS. vu The Diomedes Butterfly, The Sakuni Butterfly, The Sugriva Butterfly, The American Comma Buttei-fly, The Golden Copper Butterfly, The Ravindra Butterfly, The Agnor Butterfly, The Arjuna Butterfly, The Single Spot Butterfly, The White Admirable Buttei-fly, The Artaxerxes Butterfly, The Azure-Blue Butterfly, Drury's Sphinx, The Clear Winged Humming Sphinx, The Convolvulus Sphinx, The Lime Hawk Moth, The Clifden Nonpareil Moth, The Dartford Emerald Moth, The Proserpina Moth, The Broom Moth, The Brown Tail Moth, Common Silver-Line Moth, The Gray Scolloped Bar Moth, The Great Egger Moth, The Golden Yellow Moth, The Peppered Moth, The Micilia Moth, VIU CONTENTS. The Emperor Moth, The Puss Moth, The Pebble Prominent Moth, The Lincea Moth, • The Sprinkling Moth, * The Euphemia Moth, . The Medarda Moth, The Butterfly Moth, The Soldier Moth, The Meon Moth, The Lectrix Moth, The White Spotted Moth, The Brisk Moth, The Tusseh Silkworm Moth, The Anindy Silkworm Moth, Chinese Mode of Rearing Silkworms, Indian Method of Treatment, Diseases of Silkworms, On the Chemical Properties of Silk, Electrical Properties of Silk, Miscellaneous Facts, Migrations of Papilionaceous Insects, . Organs of Hearing, Method of Collecting Butterflies, Sphinges, and Moths, Of Setting Lepidoptera, . On Preserving Eggs of Lepidoptera, CONTENTS. ix Page Of Larvae or Caterpillars, . 201 Of Pupae, ... 202 The Insect Cabinet, . 203 Remarks on the Preservation of Lepidopterous Insects, 205 Method of Transporting Insects, . 208 Instruments used in Collecting, Setting, and Preservino Butterflies, Sphinges, and Moths, . 211 The Entomological Net, . jlj The Folding Net, . 212 The Hoop Net, .... 213 Maclean's Elastic Net, . 214 Entomological Forceps, . 215 Pocket Collecting Box, . 216 Collecting Phial, . ^ .217 Pocket Larvae Box, ib. Brass Pliars, 218 A Digger, ib. Setting Needle, • • . *>19 Pins, ib. Setting Boards, 220 Braces, ib. Store Boxes, ib. The Breeding Cage, ib. i A MORAL CAPTAIN BROWN'S BOOK OF BUTTERFLIES, CHARLES DOYNE SILLERY, ESQ. AUTHOR OF " VALLERY," &C. Minions of Nature ! —Creatures of the skies ! Ye bright-wing'd flutterers ! sunborn butterflies ! From flower to flower o'er nectar'd fields ye go. Peerless in beauty ! atoms of the bow ! Ye living gems ! ye fairy-formed things ! Floating in bliss, on gold-bespangled wings ' Oh ! how enraptured Avould this spirit be, Freely to soar through ambient heavens, as ye ! Where is the silken shroud ? the grov'ling worm ? Where now the veil which once enshrined each form Where the cold, lifeless chrysalis of clay ? In gold ! in glory ! in the blaze of day ! VOL. III. 11 —— 10 A MORAL. I pause and ponder here.—Like you, mankind ( frail insect ! Are born, ignorant and blind ; Man's mind—his heart, in dust and darkness furl'd, His bright soul's clouded by a "wintry world. But "when this dream of life hath passM away this spirit When pure bursts her bonds of clay ; Ah ! then what hope to trembling man is given The bless'd shall mingle with the blaze of heaven ! ; THE BOOK OF BUTTERFLIES. MODERN ARRANGEMENT OF LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS. According to the classification of the celebrated Latreille, the Papilionaceous, or Lepidopteroiis in- sects are comprehended in his Ninth Order, under the title of Lepidoptera. ORDER LEPIDOPTERA, Linnaeus. Lepidopterous insects have four membranaceous wings, covered with a farina, composed of small scales, and are provided with a trunk rolled up in a spiral form at the mouth. Tribe I.—DIURNA. Wings always free in repose, placed perpendicular to the plane of position, and destitute of a bridle or scaly bristle at the base of the lower wings the antennse in many of the species terminated — 12 MODERN ARRANGEMENT OF in a small club or button, more or less conical or triangular ; in others, slender and hooked at tip. The insects of this tribe fly and feed by day. The catcv- pillars have sixteen feet, and live on vegetables. The pupsp are generally naked, or destitute of a cocoon, fixed to substances by the posterior extremity of the body, and in many by a silky fillet, forming a kind of half ring at the upper part of the body. Family I. Papilionides. With four wings, elevated perpendicularly in a state of repose ; the antennae having a club-shaped termination, or almost filiform, without hooks at the tip, with the exception of one genus, in which they are setaceous and plumose in one of the sexes ; the legs are provided with one pair of spurs or spines. Subdivision I. Third joint .of the labial palpi very small and hardly perceptible, or very appai'ent, and furnished •with scales •, hooks at the end of the tarsi projecting ; caterpillar elongated, subcylindrical ; chrj-salis of an angular shape. Subdivision II. Six feet, formed for walking, or nearly similar in both sexes ; chrj'salis fixed by a silky band by its pos- terior extremity, or inclosed in a thick cocoon ; central areola of the lower wings posteriorly closed. 1. Hexapoda. A. Internal margin of the lower wings concave. The genera arc Papilio, Parnassius, and Thais. B. Internal margin of the lower wings arched, and pi-ojccting over the abdomen to form a canal. The genera are Col i as and Pieris. ; LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS. 13 I. The two anteiior feet shorter than the others, folded, not ambulatory, in both sexes, or in the males only ; chrysalis fixed by its posterior extremity, and suspended with the head downwards ; central areola of the lower wings open poste- riorly in many species. A. The central areola of the lower wings is always posteriorly closed ; the two anterior feet, although small and folded, very similar to the others ; the lower wings in general scarcely embracing the abdomen below ; labial palpi slightly elevated above the hood, much separated, slender, cylindrical. The genera are Danaus, Idea, Heuconius, and Acrea. B. Central areola of the lower wings open in many species two anterior feet often minute and concealed, or apparent and very hairy ; lower wings embracing the abdomen below labial palpi rising above the hood, slender and cylindrical, and not distant. a. Central areola of the lower wings open posteriorly. * The labial palpi are either separated through their whole length, or merely at their extremity, and abruptly terminated by a slender and a circular joint. 2. Perlata. The genera are Cethosia and Argynnis. •* The inferior palpi are contiguous through all their extent, and not terminated abruptly by a slender and acicular joint. -|- The antennae are terminated in a small club, in the form of a button, short, turbinated, or ovoid ; caterpillar thickly beset "with spines. Contains one genus, Vanessa. -|--j- Antennae terminated in an elongated club, or nearly fili- form ; caterpillar naked or sliglitly spinous, with the poste- rior extremity terminated in a bifid point. The genera arc Libythea, Biblis, Nymphalis, and Moiipno. — li MODERN ARRANGEMENT OF h. The central areola of the lower wings posteriorly closed. The genera are Pavonia, Brassolus, Euribius, and Satyrus. In the Dutch work, De Wonderen Gods, we have the following interesting information concerning the transformations of the Alderman Buttei-fly, Am- miralis Atalanta of Rennie, by J. C. Sepp of Am- sterdam : " Like all other butterflies, this species originates fi'om an egg, which, however, is very rarely met with, because it is very small and green ; almost indeed of the same colour as the stinging nettle, ( Urtica dioicttj) on which it is laid by the mother buttei-fly, and therefore easily overlooked. " Although I had found, for many years succes- sively, and in considerable numbers, the caterpillars and the butterflies of this species, I was long un- successful in procuring any of the eggs ; but at last I succeeded, having found one on the Cth of July, at the very moment the mother butterfly had laid it, and it hatched as well as any other of this class. I found others afterwards, which had perhaps been longer deposited, and they likewise hatched, and I reared butterflies from them ; so that now I know their whole manner of life, and their several trans- foiTnations, and am enabled to detail these to the reader from my own observation.