PAPILIO, in natural history, butterfly, a genus of insects of the order Lepidop tera antenna growing thicker towards the tip, and generally ending in a knob; wings when fitting erect, the backs meet ing together over the abdomen ; they fly in the The number of species under this genus (not less than 1200) renders it necessary to divide the whole into sections, which are instituted from the habit or general appearance, and, in some degree, from the distribution of the colour on the wings. We shall give the arrangement according to Linnwus, which in this instance exhibits an attempt to combine, in some degree, natural and civil history, by attaching the memory of some illustrious ancient name to an insect of a particular cast. By this plan there are five divisions, viz.
1. Equites : upper wings longer from the posterior angle to the tip than to the base ; antenna frequently filiform. The Equites are, Trojans, having red spots or patched on each side their breasts ; or Greeks, without red marks on the breast, of gayer colours, in general, than the former, and often having an eye-shaped spot at the inner corner of the lower wings.
2. Heliconii : wings narrow, entire, often naked, or semi-transparent ; the upper ones oblong, the lower ones very short. In some of the Heliconii the under wings are slightly indented.
3. _Muni, from the sons and daughters of Danaus. These are divided into D. candidi and D. festivi ; the wings of the former are white, of the latter they are variegated.
4. Anymphales : wings denticulate. Of these there are the gemmati and the phalerati ; the one having eye-shaped spots either on all the wings, or on the upper or lower pair only; the others have no spots on their wings, but, in general, a great variety of colours.
5. Plebeii : small ; the larva often con tracted. These are divided into the rurales, wings with obscure spots ; and the urbicolze, wings mostly with transpa rent spots.
Among the Equites Troes, the P. Pria mus should take the lead, not only from the dignity of the name, but from the exquisite appearance of the animal itself, which Linnaus considered as the most beautiful of the whole papi lionaceous tribe. This admirable species measures more ' than six inches from wing's end to wing's end : the upper wings are velvet.black, with a broad
band of the most beautiful grass-green, and of a satiny lustre, drawn from the shoulder to the tip, and another on the lower part of the wing, following the shape of that part, and of a somewhat un dulating appearance as it approaches the tip : the lower wings are of the same green colour, edged with velvet-black, and marked by four spots of that colour ; while at the upper part of each, or at the part where the upper wings lap over, is a squarish orange-coloured spot : the tho rax is black, with sprinklings of lucid green in the middle, and the abdomen is of a bright yellow or gold colour. On the under side of the animal the distribution of colours is somewhat different, the green being disposed in central patches on the upper wings, and the lower being marked by more numerous black as well as orange spots. The red or bloody spots on each side of the thorax are not always to be seen on this, the Trojan mo narch. The P. Priamus is a very rare in sect, and is a native of the island of Am boyna.
P. Philenor: wings tailed black, mar gin of the upper ones varied with white and black ; lower ones glossed with green, seven fulvous spots beneath, each surrounded by a black line and marked with a small white lateral dot. Body black ; breast and abdomen spotted with white. Not uncommon in the United States.
Among the Equites Achivi, the P. Me nelaus may be considered as one of the most beautiful of the butterfly tribe. Its size is large, measuring when expanded about six inches ; and its co lour is the most brilliant silver-blue that imagination can conceive, changing, ac cording to the variation of the light, into a deeper blue, and in some lights to a greenish cast : on the under side it is en tirely brown, with numerous deeper and lighter undulations, and three large ocel lated spots on each wing. It is a native of South America, and proceeds from a large yellow caterpillar, beset with nu merous, upright, sharp, black spines. It changes into an angular chrysalis, of a brown colour, and distinguished by hav ing the proboscis projecting in a semi circular manner over the breast ; from this chrysalis, in about fourteen days, pro ceeds the complete insect.