The P. Machaon is an insect of great beauty, and may be considered as the only British species of Papilio belonging to the tribe of Equites. It is commonly known among the English collectors by the title of the swallow-tailed butterfly, and is of a beautiful yellow, with black spots or patches along the upper edge of the superior wings : all the wings are bordered with a deep edging of black, decorated with a double row of crescent shaped spots, of which the upper row is blue, and the lower yellow : the under wings are tailed, and are marked at the inner angle or tip with a round red spot bordered with blue and black. The caterpillar of this species feeds princi pally on fennel, and other umbelliferous plants, and is sometimes found on rue. It is of a green colour, encircled with numerous black bands, spotted with red, and is furnished on the top of the head with a pair of short tentacula of a red colour, which it occasionally pro trudes from that part. In the mouth of July it changes into a yellowish-grey an gular chrysalis, affixed to some convenient part of the plant, or other neighbouring substance, and from this chrysalis in the month of August proceeds the complete insect.
P. Turnus : wings tailed, both surfaces alike, yellow, with a black margin and abbreviated bands ; angle of the tail ful vous. It is very common in the United States, and is figured by Cramer under the name of Alcidamas ; bears considera ble resemblance to the preceding spe cies, but besides other differences it is larger.
Of the division called Heliconii, the beautiful insect, the P. Apollo, is an ex ample. It is a native of many parts of Eu rope, and iS of a white colour, with a semi transparency towards the tips of the wings, which are decorated with velvet black spots, and on each of the lower wings are two most beautiful ocellated spots, consisting of a carmine-coloured circle, with a white centre and black ex terior border. The caterpillar is black, with small red spots, and a pair of short retractile tentacula in front : it feeds on orpine, and some other succulent plants, and changes into a brown chrysalis, co vered with a kind of glaucous or violet coloured powder.
Of the division entitled Banal Can didi, P. Palzeno is a familiar example. The wings entire, yellow with a black tip, fulvous margin, and red fringe on the edge ; lower ones with a silvery dot beneath. The antennae are red. Ex tremely common in every part of North America, and in many countries of Europe. The larva is a little hairy, green, with yellow lines and black dots.
P. Nicippe : wings entire fulvous, tint with brown ; upper pair with a short black transverse line near the middle of each : lower ones beneath speckled with reddish. Inhabits North Ameri
ca, and is about the size of the pre ceding.
Among the Nymphales Gemmati, few can exceed in elegance the P. Antiopa, a species that appears in the United States earlier in the season than any other butterfly ; it is not unusually seen before the snow has disappeared from the ground ; Mr. Wilson alludes to this insect when he says " When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing." The wings are angular indented black brown with a whitish border, behind which is a row of blue spots ; it differs somewhat from the European speci mens, and may perhaps be a distinct spe cies.
P. Atalanta : wings indented black ; upper-pair with a red band and white spots ; lower-ones bordered with red behind, in which are black spots. The larva are often found on the hop-vines, on thistles, &c. Inhabits North America and Europe.
Of the last division, termed Plebeii, may be adduced as an example a small English butterfly, called P. Malvx, of a blackish or brown colour, with numerous whitish and semi-transparent spots. To this latter division also belongs a very beautiful exotic species, a native of India, and of a most exquisite lucid blue colour, edged with black, and further ornament ed by having each of the lower wings tipped with two narrow, black, tail-shap ed processes. It is the P. Marsyas of Lin nxus.
The larva of butterflies are known by the name of caterpillars, and are extreme ly various in their forms and colours ; some being smooth, others beset with spines; some are observed to protrude from their front, when disturbed, a pair of short tentacula, nearly analogous to those of a snail. A caterpillar, when grown to its full size, retires to a conve nient spot, and securing itself properly by a small quantity of silken filaments, either suspends itself by the tail, hanging with its head downwards, or else in an upright position, with the body fastened round the middle by a proper number of filaments. It then casts off the caterpil lar skin, and commences chrysalis, in which state it continues till the enclosed butterfly is ready for birth, which, ing itself from the skin of the chrysalis, remains till its wings, which are at first very short, weak, and covered with moisture, are fully extended this hap pens in the space of a few minutes, when the animal suddenly quits the state of in activity to which it had long been con fined, and becomes at pleasure an inha bitant of the air.