PLATE 30.Lizars sc.Rhipheus Dasycephalus.From China.
PLATE 30.
Lizars sc.
Rhipheus Dasycephalus.From China.
Urania Rhipheus,Var. Cramer, Godart.—Rhipheus Dasycephalus,Swainson, Zool. Illus.Pl. 131.
We have copied the accompanying figures from Drury’s work on exotic insects, in order that they may be compared with those represented on Plate XXVIII. It will at once be perceived that they present numerous points of agreement, as well as very obvious differences, and when every consideration is taken into account, it is not easy to say whether they ought to be regarded as distinct species, or merely varieties of the same. Drury states that his insect was brought from China, and when the drawing was taken, it was in the possession of Captain May of Hammersmith; in all probability, however, it is now lost. The antennæ are described as black and knobbed at their extremities, and the hinder wings are without tails.
On the supposition that Drury’s figures accurately represent the insect as it appeared when alive, the only connexion which it has with Urania arises from the similar distribution of colours and neuration of the wings; in other respects it would beclassed with thePapiliones. But this anomaly is certainly a remarkable one, that it should combine clavate antennæ, with an arrangement of the alary nervures exactly corresponding to an insect with which in other respects it is so nearly identical. There being no other example of such a peculiarity, and the insect figured by Drury never having been found since, we are naturally led to suspect that he has been, in some way or other, under error. We have no doubt, however, that his figures afford a faithful representation of thespecimenfrom which they were taken, as the drawings were made by Moses Harris, whose accuracy in such matters is well known. But there seems good reason to believe that the specimen in question has been originally defective, and that improper means have been taken to supply its deficiencies. By supposing that the head of a genuine papilio had been attached, in order to supply the want of that part in the specimen, and give it the appearance of being complete (a practice which has often been followed by amateur collectors), we get rid of the greatest objection to its being considered identical withRhipheus. The want of the tails is easily accounted for, these appendages being so brittle when dry, that they are seldom preserved except in specimens which have received the utmost care. In other instances Drury has erroneously represented species as destitute of tails; we recollect in particularSatyrus Philoctetes. We mention these circumstances as affording means by which it is possible to account for the peculiaritiespresented by Drury’s figure; but it is likely that different opinions will be held on the subject. The following are Mr. Swainson’s observations:—“If the imagination was taxed to invent, or to concentrate into one figure all that was splendid, lovely, or rare in the insect world, Nature would far exceed the poor invention of man by the production of this incomparably splendid creature; its rarity also is so great, that but one specimen has ever been seen. It is not, however, on this account only that we have been induced to copy this figure, but because its illustration will clear up one of the most intricate and perplexing questions that has hitherto impeded the natural arrangement of the LinnæanPapiliones, and even of the whole order of theLepidoptera.
“The error of Cramer regardingRhipheushas already been rectified. It will now be demonstrated that not only are the two insects distinct asspecies, but that they actually belong to differentgenera; Cramers being aUraniaof Fabricius and Latreille, while Drury’s is aPapilioof the same authors. This is proved by the figures, and confirmed by the following words of Drury :—‘The antennæ are black, and knobbed at their extremities,’ in other words, clavate; while the palpi, as expressed in the figure, are so small as not to project beyond the head, where they lie hid among the frontal hairs; this also being a typical distinction of the LatreillianPapiliones. The figures in Drury’s work were all drawn and engraved by Moses Harris, well knownas one of the most accurate artists that ever lived; as a remarkable proof of this, we find that he has not failed to delineate that peculiar neuration of the anterior wings which belongs only to the types ofLeilus. A closer affinity therefore betweenPapilioandLeiluscannot possibly be imagined; while its remarkable hairy front points out its analogy, as an aberrant type in its own genus, toChlorissesamong insects, andDasycephalaamong birds. So true it is that the natural system ‘illuminates with a flood of light’ every supposed anomaly, and reconciles facts apparently the most inexplicable39.”
FOOTNOTES:1See hiselogeon Lamarck, of which a translation will be found in the Thirty-ninth Number of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. To this memoir we have been chiefly indebted for the particulars of Lamarck’s life.2Memoir on the substance of fire, considered as a chemical agent in analysis.—Journal de Physique, Floreal, An.vii.3Memoir on the substance of sound.—Journal de Physique, 16 & 26 Brumaire, An.vii.4Animaux sans vertébres, vol. i. p. 188, 189.5Animaux sans Vertébres, vol. i. p. 197, 198.6Ib.p. 199.7Ann. du Museum d’Hist. Nat., tom. i. p. 234.8Lyell’s Principles of Geology, ii. p. 31.9Principles of Geology, ii. p. 8.10This subject will be found to be discussed at considerable length, and in a very satisfactory manner, in the second volume of Mr. Lyell’s Principles of Geology, p. 1-65.11Animaux sans Vertébres, i. p. 260.12Ibid.258,N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat.xvi. Art.Intelligence.13Kirby’s Bridge. Treat. Intro.p. xxxii.14N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xxii. Art.Nature, 377;Anim. sans Vert.i. p. 317.15Anim. sans Vert.i. p. 316.16Anim. sans Vert., vol. i. 322.17On the Influence of the Moon on the Earth’s Atmosphere;Journal de Physique, Prairial, an. vi. Most of Lamarck’s other essays on Meteorology will be found in the periodical just named.18The most recent and probably the best edition of theAnimaux sans Vertébres, is in eight volumes octavo, augmented with notes by M. M. Deshages and Milne Edwards.19Animaux sans Vertébres, i. 381.20Horæ Entomologicæ, p. 213.21Cuvier conceives that the basin of Paris contains a greater accumulation of fossil shells than any other place of equal extent. At Grignon, no fewer than six hundred different species have been collected in a space not exceeding a few square toises.22See Boisduval, Nouv. Ann. du Museum, vol. ii.23Benett’s Wanderings, &c. i. p. 265.24Bridg. Treat. ii. 350.25Horsfield’s Catal. of the Lepidopterous Insects of Java, Intro. p. 9.26This work extends to fourteen volumes (the last published in 1833), and three supplementary ones are in course of preparation.27Species général des Lépidoptères, p. 158.28Voyage de l’Astrolabe, Ent., pl. 4, fig. 1 and 2.29Species général des Lépidoptères, vol. i. p. 184.30Encyclop. Methodique, Art.Papillon, p. 67. No. 116.31Descrip. Catal. of Lepid. of Indian Company, pl. i. fig. 14.32Species général des Lepidoptères, i. p. 435.33Wilson’s Illust. of Zoology, fol. 27.34On the Plate the under figure should have been marked 1, the upper 2.35Supp. to Cramer, p. 10, 11.36Owing to the resemblance which this species bears toH. Cupido, the latter name has been inadvertently attached to the figure on the adjoining Plate.37Zoological Illustrations, 126.38Trans. of Zool. Society of London, i. p. 187.39Zoological Illustrations, 2d series, 131.
1See hiselogeon Lamarck, of which a translation will be found in the Thirty-ninth Number of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. To this memoir we have been chiefly indebted for the particulars of Lamarck’s life.
1See hiselogeon Lamarck, of which a translation will be found in the Thirty-ninth Number of the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal. To this memoir we have been chiefly indebted for the particulars of Lamarck’s life.
2Memoir on the substance of fire, considered as a chemical agent in analysis.—Journal de Physique, Floreal, An.vii.
2Memoir on the substance of fire, considered as a chemical agent in analysis.—Journal de Physique, Floreal, An.vii.
3Memoir on the substance of sound.—Journal de Physique, 16 & 26 Brumaire, An.vii.
3Memoir on the substance of sound.—Journal de Physique, 16 & 26 Brumaire, An.vii.
4Animaux sans vertébres, vol. i. p. 188, 189.
4Animaux sans vertébres, vol. i. p. 188, 189.
5Animaux sans Vertébres, vol. i. p. 197, 198.
5Animaux sans Vertébres, vol. i. p. 197, 198.
6Ib.p. 199.
6Ib.p. 199.
7Ann. du Museum d’Hist. Nat., tom. i. p. 234.
7Ann. du Museum d’Hist. Nat., tom. i. p. 234.
8Lyell’s Principles of Geology, ii. p. 31.
8Lyell’s Principles of Geology, ii. p. 31.
9Principles of Geology, ii. p. 8.
9Principles of Geology, ii. p. 8.
10This subject will be found to be discussed at considerable length, and in a very satisfactory manner, in the second volume of Mr. Lyell’s Principles of Geology, p. 1-65.
10This subject will be found to be discussed at considerable length, and in a very satisfactory manner, in the second volume of Mr. Lyell’s Principles of Geology, p. 1-65.
11Animaux sans Vertébres, i. p. 260.
11Animaux sans Vertébres, i. p. 260.
12Ibid.258,N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat.xvi. Art.Intelligence.
12Ibid.258,N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat.xvi. Art.Intelligence.
13Kirby’s Bridge. Treat. Intro.p. xxxii.
13Kirby’s Bridge. Treat. Intro.p. xxxii.
14N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xxii. Art.Nature, 377;Anim. sans Vert.i. p. 317.
14N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xxii. Art.Nature, 377;Anim. sans Vert.i. p. 317.
15Anim. sans Vert.i. p. 316.
15Anim. sans Vert.i. p. 316.
16Anim. sans Vert., vol. i. 322.
16Anim. sans Vert., vol. i. 322.
17On the Influence of the Moon on the Earth’s Atmosphere;Journal de Physique, Prairial, an. vi. Most of Lamarck’s other essays on Meteorology will be found in the periodical just named.
17On the Influence of the Moon on the Earth’s Atmosphere;Journal de Physique, Prairial, an. vi. Most of Lamarck’s other essays on Meteorology will be found in the periodical just named.
18The most recent and probably the best edition of theAnimaux sans Vertébres, is in eight volumes octavo, augmented with notes by M. M. Deshages and Milne Edwards.
18The most recent and probably the best edition of theAnimaux sans Vertébres, is in eight volumes octavo, augmented with notes by M. M. Deshages and Milne Edwards.
19Animaux sans Vertébres, i. 381.
19Animaux sans Vertébres, i. 381.
20Horæ Entomologicæ, p. 213.
20Horæ Entomologicæ, p. 213.
21Cuvier conceives that the basin of Paris contains a greater accumulation of fossil shells than any other place of equal extent. At Grignon, no fewer than six hundred different species have been collected in a space not exceeding a few square toises.
21Cuvier conceives that the basin of Paris contains a greater accumulation of fossil shells than any other place of equal extent. At Grignon, no fewer than six hundred different species have been collected in a space not exceeding a few square toises.
22See Boisduval, Nouv. Ann. du Museum, vol. ii.
22See Boisduval, Nouv. Ann. du Museum, vol. ii.
23Benett’s Wanderings, &c. i. p. 265.
23Benett’s Wanderings, &c. i. p. 265.
24Bridg. Treat. ii. 350.
24Bridg. Treat. ii. 350.
25Horsfield’s Catal. of the Lepidopterous Insects of Java, Intro. p. 9.
25Horsfield’s Catal. of the Lepidopterous Insects of Java, Intro. p. 9.
26This work extends to fourteen volumes (the last published in 1833), and three supplementary ones are in course of preparation.
26This work extends to fourteen volumes (the last published in 1833), and three supplementary ones are in course of preparation.
27Species général des Lépidoptères, p. 158.
27Species général des Lépidoptères, p. 158.
28Voyage de l’Astrolabe, Ent., pl. 4, fig. 1 and 2.
28Voyage de l’Astrolabe, Ent., pl. 4, fig. 1 and 2.
29Species général des Lépidoptères, vol. i. p. 184.
29Species général des Lépidoptères, vol. i. p. 184.
30Encyclop. Methodique, Art.Papillon, p. 67. No. 116.
30Encyclop. Methodique, Art.Papillon, p. 67. No. 116.
31Descrip. Catal. of Lepid. of Indian Company, pl. i. fig. 14.
31Descrip. Catal. of Lepid. of Indian Company, pl. i. fig. 14.
32Species général des Lepidoptères, i. p. 435.
32Species général des Lepidoptères, i. p. 435.
33Wilson’s Illust. of Zoology, fol. 27.
33Wilson’s Illust. of Zoology, fol. 27.
34On the Plate the under figure should have been marked 1, the upper 2.
34On the Plate the under figure should have been marked 1, the upper 2.
35Supp. to Cramer, p. 10, 11.
35Supp. to Cramer, p. 10, 11.
36Owing to the resemblance which this species bears toH. Cupido, the latter name has been inadvertently attached to the figure on the adjoining Plate.
36Owing to the resemblance which this species bears toH. Cupido, the latter name has been inadvertently attached to the figure on the adjoining Plate.
37Zoological Illustrations, 126.
37Zoological Illustrations, 126.
38Trans. of Zool. Society of London, i. p. 187.
38Trans. of Zool. Society of London, i. p. 187.
39Zoological Illustrations, 2d series, 131.
39Zoological Illustrations, 2d series, 131.
Transcriber’s Note:Obvious printer errors corrected silently.Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.
Obvious printer errors corrected silently.
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.