The English name has been given to this Moth by some collectors, on account of its being found a local species, and most frequent in Richmond park.

The Larva of this Insect has a very singular appearance, to which the hook on the back greatly contributes when it is nearly full fed and going into the pupa state. It feeds on the Jasmine and Lilac, and does not thrive well on any other plants. It is in the Caterpillar state in April, changes to chrysalis in May: the Fly comes forth in June.

Linnaeus seems to have found much difficulty in determining the genus of this insect; once placing it amongst the Attelabi of his system, and thence removing it to the Meloe tribe. Geoffroy has an­other generical name, notoxus, and this Fabricius has adopted in his last work.

[Page 6]This is certainly a most singular Insect, and altogether unlike any other we know of in England. We cannot say whether it feeds on any particular food, or what are its peculiarities, for we have only seen one specimen besides that from which the annexed drawing is taken; and the only information we receive from the authors above quoted is, that it is a native of Europe; and is found on umbelli­ferous plants. It was taken in May.

Fig. 1. the natural size. Fig. 2. magnified.

The Caterpillar of this Moth is found in August, on the leaves of the Oak, Willow, Lime, &c. The Moth comes forth late in May, or early in June.

Papilio Arion is a very scarce Insect in this country; and it does not appear to be much more common in any other part of Europe. The authors quoted above have given figures or descriptions of it, but are entirely ignorant of its larva, or pupa; and Fabricius, who has selected the observations of all the preceding authors who have de­scribed it, says only, Habitat in Europae Pratis.

[Page 12]Mr. Lemon, a collector of eminence some years since, met with it in England. We have a specimen which was taken by him, as appears from a note with it. Roesel's figure is of a finer blue than any we have seen; but we have no doubt of its being a most bril­liant Insect in a recent state.

This is a local species: it is very abundant in some marshy parts of Lancashire; but we have not learnt that it has been taken in any other part of the kingdom. Many of the curious in London are particularly indebted to Mr. Phillips, of Manchester, for enriching their cabinets with Papilio Hero; for, though it is a plain Insect, it is esteemed for its rarity, few Entomologists having travelled into that part of the country to collect Insects.

The beautiful Caterpillar of this Moth is found on Sword Grass in August. Though its trivial name implies that it is peculiar to [Page 20] this plant, several others are mentioned by authors as proper food for it, amongst these are the Bell flower ^*, Orach ^†, and common Pea. The Moth appears in May: frequents marshy places.

This Insect was formerly held in great esteem amongst the English collectors, on account of its rarity; and has been purchased for their cabinets at a considerable price ^*. The late Mr. Bentley, who [Page 22] had been more than twenty years endeavouring to make his cabinet the most complete in England, never met with it.

About three years since, they were taken in great plenty near London, both at Battersea and Highgate; and have been met with in other places since that time. Like the Ephemerae, and other gause-wing Insects, it delights in moist places, particularly among the reeds. The larva is unknown, but we suppose that it lives in that state in the water; and which most likely it does not leave till it becomes a winged creature. The larva of some species of this genus feed on the smaller kinds of Insects.

The wings are the most pleasing objects for the microscope that can be imagined: the reticulations and feathered edges are so trans­parent, that they may be examined with the deepest magnifiers, which is an advantage few objects of such a size possess. The magnified figure is given, with the natural size in the annexed plate.

Fabricius has erroneously quoted the seventh and eighth figure of the fifth plate of Schaeffer's Icones, which is certainly no other than the common kind, Hemorobius perla, and which is so often found in gardens with a fine golden eye. The figure quoted in Sulzer and Roesel agree with our specimen.

This Insect has been confounded with Phalaena lubricipeda by Linnaeus; he makes it the variety β after De Geer. In this he has been followed by many other authors; and though Roesel, by giving the larva and pupa of each, in two distinct plates, evidently thought them different species, his observations had no weight with other Naturalists; even Fabricius, in his Species Insectorum, gives them [Page 24] under one specific name. In his last work, Entomologia Systematica, he has divided them, leaving the P. lubricipeda under its former name, and giving the specific name Menthrastri to the white sort, as had been done in Wien. Verz. 54. 2. Fabricius mentions it as a native of Germany, but from the figure of Roesel no doubt can be entertained of its being precisely the same as our English species.

The Caterpillars of both sorts are very general feeders; they will eat, oak, fruit trees, and wild plants of almost every kind. They are common in the summer, change to chrysalis about August, and appear in the winged state in May and June; but, there is more than one brood of them in the course of the year, so that the time of their appearance is uncertain. The Caterpillars change their skins often; and change their colours at the same time. Those of Phalaena Menthrastri when small are a very light transparent brown: then brown with dark stripes. It is not black till it is in the last skin; and then, in many, the colour inclines to brown.

The Sphinx Celerio stands pre-eminent in the list of the Insects of this country, whether we consider its rarity, or uncommon beauty. Indeed, amongst the Insects of this tribe that are brought from remote countries, even from Asia, which boasts the most splendid species, the varieties of Sphinx Celerio are often the most beautiful; it must however be owned, that, in countries where the [Page 26] climate, and luxuriance of the soil contribute to enrich the juices of the plants on which the Insects are nourished, they are larger and their colours more vivid than any of the same kind produced in the northern countries of Europe.

Several years since, Mr. Francillon, of Norfolk-street in the Strand, had a living specimen of this Insect brought to him: it was taken in Bunhill-fields burying-ground. It is still preserved in his cabinet.

We have heard of other specimens being taken in this country; but the only instance we can quote with confidence is, that Mr. Latham, formerly of Dartford, and well known for his scientific researches in natural history, has a specimen which was taken at Eltham, in Kent. Few collections of consequence are without this Insect, but they are in general natives of Germany.

Roesel has given a figure of this Sphinx, with its larva and pupa; and, as we could never reasonably expect to meet with it in these states in England, correct copies of his figures are given in Plate 191. The works of Roesel are not in the hands of many; and, we are convinced that Plate will be acceptable to most of our readers.

Sphinx Celerio is found on the vine.

The singular pyramidal protuberance on the posterior part of the Caterpillar has furnished an excellent specific name for the perfect Insect. It is found on the Oak, Sallow, and Blackthorn in May; [Page 32] changes to the pupa state the first week in June; the Moth comes forth in July. The Caterpillar spins a fine white silken web between two or three leaves in the manner represented in the plate at Fig. 1. Fig. 2. the chrysalis, which the web envelopes. Phalaena pyramidea is not a common species in this country.

This beautiful Insect is rarely taken in England: we sometimes receive it from Germany, where it is more common; a variety of it is also a native of North America.

[Page 34]The natural size is shewn at Fig. 1. In some specimens blue is the predominant colour, in others a fine bronze or golden hue; the sexes are distinguished by the colours in many instances.

This is clearly an undescribed Insect. It bears the strongest affinity to the Sphinx Tipuliformis of Linnaeus; but as the zone or belt of red colour is an unerring distinction of our Insect, it cannot belong to that species. Fabricius having separated the Linnaean sphinges into three new genera, Sphinx, Sesia, and Zygaena, this Insect must be included under the genus Sesia of his system; two of the species he has described under that head, S. culiciformis and t [...]nthrediniformis bear some resemblance to our Sphinx Zonata, but are certainly distinct species.

Sphinx Zonata is rare in England; the natural size is shewn at Fig. 1. of the annexed plate. The fine purple appearance of the body disappears in specimens that have been kept long in a cabinet.

The Sirex genus, as it stands in the Entomologia Systematica of Fabribius, includes only twenty-six species; these are chiefly Euro­pean Insects; but very few are natives of this country. The Sirex Gigas is found in the north of Europe; it has been taken in England, but very rarely: Yeats and Berkenhout mention it as a British species, and we have been informed that it is sometimes taken in Scotland. It is likely to be met with in Pine forests, as the female seems to prefer that wood to deposit her eggs in. As no English Entomologist has attempted to describe the peculiar habits of this tribe of Insects, and especially of Sirex Gigas, the following particulars may be satisfactory to our readers.

The extensive forests of Germany furnished the accurate Roesel with many opportunities of finding and observing the metamorphosis of Insects that are rarely to be found in other parts of Europe; and this enabled him to favour the world with a particular description and series of figures of all the changes of Sirex Gigas, in the Bom­byliorum et Vesparum of his Insecten Belustigung. His figure of the female Insect agrees with that we have given; the male is consi­derably smaller, and has no sting ^*. The sting of the female consists of three parts, a sheath which divides into two parts or valves, and a fine instrument somewhat resembling a needle; it is with this in­strument it wounds its enemies, and the sting is said to cause an excruciating pain. The microscope discovers this part to be beset with a number of very minute teeth, like the edge of a saw: with this sting the creature can pierce the wood of sound trees; for we suspect, it does not always deposit its eggs in such as are decayed, but rather in such as will supply the larva with nourishment when it is hatched. The eggs are laid in clusters of two or three hundred together; they are of a pale yellow colour, about the thirtieth part of an inch in length, and shaped like a weaver's shuttle. The larva lives in the body of the tree, enlarging its habitation as it increases in size, for it never leaves the tree till it becomes a winged creature. [Page 41] The larva when full grown is about an inch and a quarter in length, and as thick as a goose quill. It is a heavy sluggish creature, almost cylindrical, the head very small, and the whole of an uniform pellucid yellowish colour. It has a small spine at the end of the body like those by which the larva of some spinges are distinguished: this spine is also a striking character in the perfect Sirex. In the pupa the form of the winged creature is more visible than in the larva state; it is of a browner colour than the larva, and the rudiment of the sting and legs are very visible.

In the early editions of the Systema Naturae of Linnaeus, the sirices are arranged with the ichneumons in one genus; but later observations induced Linnaeus to make two genera of them in his last works. Geoffroy and Schaeffer have added some particulars to the Linnaean generic character; these principally relate to the num­ber of joints in the tarsi.

This singular creature not only changes its skin several times; but, as it advances in age the segments of which the body is composed increase in number: the Insect when full grown has nine such seg­ments. Linnaeus mentions it as a native of America: in many [Page 44] parts of Europe it is not uncommon: in England it is found under loose stones in damp places, and runs swiftly.

Fabricius has made a false quotation under this species to the Fundamenta Entomologica of Schaeffer; as errors will occur in the most accurrate works, we should not deem it necessary to notice this circumstance, if he had not continued the same mistake from his Species Insectorum published in 1781 to his last work Ento­mologia Systematica, emenda et aucta, &c. published in 1793.— his reference is Schaeff. Elem. tab. 3. fig. 1.—On examining that part of Schaeffer's works, we find the figure he quotes is a spider! Scolopendra forficata is given in the 46th plate of Vol. I. of that author's Icones Insectorum circa Rastisbonam indigenorum, &c. as quoted amongst the synonyms above.

The Scolopendra forficata is, we believe, the largest of the genus found in this country. In many parts of the world, some kinds are found of a frightful size and aspect; the Scolopendra Morsitans of the East-Indies, is about five inches in length, and as thick as a goose quill. Sir G. Staunton, in his Historical Account of the Embassy to China, mentions the Scolopendras and scorpions of that country: we have one species of the former from China that ex­ceeds in magnitude every one of the genus we have seen from other parts of the world, and is perhaps the largest known; it is near one foot in length, and is about one inch and an half round the girth of the body; the colour is of a fine shining chestnut brown, the legs inclining to yellow. The most singular Insect of this kind in England is the Scolopendra electrica, which sometimes omits a spark or flash of light in the dark.

Fig. I. represents the underside of the head and antennae, mag­nified

In colours and markings the Comma Butterfly seems at first sight allied to Papilio Urticae (Tortoiseshell Butterfly), but the elegant scal­lops of the margins of the wings sufficiently distinguishes it [Page 46] from every other British species: indeed wings indentated in this remarkable manner are rarely seen in any Insects, those from foreign countries not excepted. Papilio Gaureum, a native of Asia according to Fabricius, and figured amongst the Insects found in North Ame­rica, by Abbot, approaches nearer to it than any distinct species we are acquainted with. The larva is known by a broad white space on the back that extends from the posterior extremity to the eighth joint of the body: it has one peculiarity that must not be omit­ted; when it is suspended by the tail from a small twig or leaf, the head is bent upwards, and the whole creature perfectly resembles hook.

There is more than one brood of this species in a year: the But­terflies are generally found in June, the second brood late in August. The Caterpillars are sometimes found in February, but oftener in July; they remain about a fortnight in chrysalis.

In a former description we have noticed the locality of one species of the Butterfly tribe (Pap. Hero) in this country; of the Pap. Daplidice we have also to observe, that it is only found in the envi­rons of Bath. We have been informed that it is found in some [Page 48] part of Scotland, but our information does not fully authorize us to give it as a native of that part of the British empire. If it is any where common, it is in Germany and in Hungary. It is found in Africa, and we have also a variety of it from North Ame­rica. Fabricius does not mention it as a native of England; and it is so scarce with us that few English cabinets have a specimen of it. The trivial appellation Bath-White Butterfly has been given to it by some English Entomologists. The small number of foreign authors who have figured this species sufficiently notes its scarcity in Europe, and we are not acquainted with the works of any English author that has a figure of it.

The Panorpa communis is very common in fields in the summer. Its metamorphosis is entirely unknown.

The tail of the male is armed with a weapon, somewhat resem­bling the sting of a scorpion. The tail of the female has an appen­dage, but very different in its structure. Those parts of both sexes are represented in our plate, of the natural size, and magnified.

Simple as this little creature may appear to the general reader, the Entomologists of this country esteem it a rarity; for it was not imagined that England produced any species of its singular genus till lately.

[Page 56]Mr. Yeats, in his Institutions of Entomology, mentions two spe­cies of it that have been caught in this country; one by Mr. Hudson, author of the Flora Anglica, the other by Mr. Grey. It is to be lamented, that he does not inform us precisely what were the species. We learn that Fulgora Europaea was the Insect taken by Mr. Hudson; the other seems undetermined.

The Fulgora Europaea very much resembles some of the Cicadae in form and size, and have, therefore, been probably overlooked by English collectors of Insects. Fabricius describes it as a native of France and Germany; but it is very scarce in cabinets of foreign Insects also. Perhaps it is not common in any country.

This species does not exhibit any prominent features of its sin­gular genus; it has only a small conic hollow projection, or lantern, on the fore-part of the head, instead of the large projection that charac­terise most of the exotic Fulgorae. It is not unlikely, however, that it may possess, though in a small degree, the astonishing property of diffusing a radiance of light, which particularly distinguish F. Lan­ternarid of South America, F. Candelaria of China, and several other species. The light of some of these Insects, according to the reports of Naturalists, and travellers in foreign countries, is suffi­ciently vivid and constant to answer many purposes. Some of the Catholic missionaries assert, that they could see distinctly to read and write by the light of one of them; and that several of them being fastened together, serve to light the Indians when they travel in the night.

The rostrum, or beak, through which the Fulgorae Europaea (like others of the same genus) sucks its nutriment, seems to form a part of the hollow projection in the front of the head; the tube lays close to the belly, between the six legs. To explain the singular structure of this tube or rostrum, we have given a front and a profile view of it as it appeared under the lens of a microscope.

[Page 57]Our specimen is altogether green, except the wings; the recticu­lations of which are also of the same colour; and as in Sulzer's figure, the clear parts of the wings were strongly tinged with green also.

We have not a more beautiful Insect in this country than the Peacock Butterfly. It is, indeed, too common to claim the parti­cular notice of Entomologists; but to those who admire most the splendid species of this beautiful tribe of creatures, it will probably prove acceptable. The underside is entirely of a shining dark co­lour, with innumerable waved streaks of black. The upperside is represented in the annexed plate.

The Caterpillars, which are black, beset with spines, and ele­gantly marked with rows of white spots, are frequently found feed­ing on the nettles, and other low herbage by the sides of ditches. They change to the chrysalis state the first week in July, and appear in the winged state twenty-one days after.

This singular creature is found of a vast magnitude in foreign countries. We possess one of that kind between four and five inches in length. In Europe, or at least in England, they are seldom con­siderably larger than the annexed figure.

It has two pair of feet to every segment of the body. These are very minute, but give a remarkable appearance to the Insect. It is found in damp places, generally under stones.

This rare Insect is distinguished from two very common species that are allied to it, by the broad border of black on the under wings, as its trivial name implies. In the larva state, it is one of that kind collectors denominate under-ground feeders: subsisting chiefly on the roots of grass, and never coming out of the ground till the evening, for which reason it is very rarely taken.

[Page 70]The Moth is very delicate in its appearance; the Caterpillar quite plain. Our specimen changed to crysalis early in May, and produced the moth in the middle of June.

Fabricius was not informed that it was a native of this country, as appears by his last work, in which he describes it only as a native of Germany.

We must consider this as a new British species of Cerambyx, neither Linnaeus nor Fabricius having given any description of it. It is described only in the manuscripts of T. Marsham, Esq. whose accurate definition of its characters we have adopted.

It appears to be a local species. The only two specimens that have occurred to our notice, having been taken in the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. Our specimen was found on the bark of the willow.

The Caterpillars of the little Egger Moth, feed on black and white thorn, willow, lime-tree, &c. The female deposits a large cluster of eggs in a tuft of hair collected from her body. When [Page 74] are hatched, the young begin to spin a strong white web, which they enlarge as their society increases; they remain together till they have devoured all the leaves of the plant on which they are hatched, or till they are arrived at full size to change into the chrysalis state.

These Caterpillars are not very uncommon in some parts of the country, especially in Kent. They are ready to change to chrysalis state late in June. The Moth is not produced till April following.

The trivial English name, Egger Moth, is given to this, and two or three other Moths, from the similitude of the case in which the chrysalis is inclosed to the shape of egg.

Papilio Machaon and Papilio Podalirius are the only two species of Swallow-tail Butterflies that have been found in England. Both are very scarce, but Papilio Machaon less so than Papilio Poda­lirius, of which a figure has been given in another part of this work.

Entomologists mention several parts of the country in which it has been taken, both in the larva and winged state. Harris says it feeds on wild fennel and carrots; that one he found remained in the chry­salis state from the 23d of September to May the 15th following, and another, that changed July the 15th, produced a butterfly the 10th of August. He adds, that the species was found in the mea­dows of Bristol and Westram.

From the number of foreign authors who have given figures of the Butterfly, we may imagine that it is very common on the Con­tinent. Those preserved in cabinets of English Insects are gene­rally brought from Germany, from whence also we sometimes receive preserved specimens of the Caterpillars.

The Mutillae seems less clearly defined than most of the Linnaean genera. That author described only a small number of the species, and was even doubtful whether several that were placed under that division of his system did not more properly belong to some other, especially to the ichneumons, among which several apterous insects are included.

[Page 78]The cause of this uncertainty may be partly attributed to our entire ignorance of their manner of life or transformations. Some of the Mutillae have wings, and others are without. Authors have con­sidered the apterous Insects as the females, and the winged kind as the males, which opinion is countenanced by numberless instances in almost every class of Insects. Others have however maintained that both males and females were winged, and that the apterous In­sects were neuters, presuming in support of such opinion, that the Mutillae lived in societies like the Wasps, Ants, and Bees.—From observations on a number of exotic species of this tribe, we have no doubt that the winged Insects are males, and the apterous kind females.

Yeats alludes to three species of Mutillae that have been found in England, but names only the Mutillae Europaea; and this is the only kind we have ever found. We have taken it on a sandy path­way, near the entrance of Coombe Wood, Surry.

When the late Duchess of Portland honoured the scientific as well as practical part of Entomology with her patronage, her Grace discovered, and reared from the caterpillars several species of Phalaena, of which collectors were ignorant before. Phalaena Praecox is among the number of those her Grace found in one of the Portland isles; and the specimen we have figured is one which formed part of her collection.

[Page 80]Fabricius says the larva feeds on the thistle. The rarity of this creature induced us to depart from our usual method, and copy the larva and pupa from the plate in the works of Roesel, apprehending it would be particularly interesting to English naturalists in general, as that author alone has represented it in those states; and no col­lector that we are informed has met with it within the last fifteen years.

As the Phalaenae are not remarkable for a variety of gay colours, like those of the Papilio genus, an exception to a general rule in the beautiful species before us, more strongly demands our notice. The male Phalaena Russula, which is known by the pectinated an­tennae, is of a fine golden yellow, with a rich, though narrow mar­ginal band of sanguineous red round the wings. The female is a pretty Insect, but is more inclined to brown throughout than the male.

[Page 82]This species has been supposed to feed on grass in the larva state, but as collectors have very rarely reared it from that state, it has been difficult to determine its proper food. Fabricius mentions lettuce and scabious or devil's-bit. The larva is hairy, and in many respects very much resembles that of the Garden Tiger Moth, from which we may perhaps infer that it is a general feeder.

We found the larva in May; shortly after it spun a web and passed into the pupa state, from which the moth was produced the 11th of June following.

The synonyms sufficiently denote the unsettled opinion of eminent naturalists in respect of the proper genus to which our Insect should be referred. We have followed the definition of Linnaeus, because [Page 84] it appears to us more characteristic of the creature, which should have a lengthened articulated tail, terminated in a sharp crooked sting, to warrant us in placing it among the Scorpions. In the system of Fabricius this forms no part of his generical character, but those who are accustomed to depend only on the writings of Linnaeus, would be perplexed to reconcile the apparent difference between the Phalangia of that author, and the Scorpio of Fabricius.

The general appearance of this creature, except the want of tail, is precisely that of a Scorpion in miniature.

Mr. Adams, in his Essay on the Microscope, has figured and de­scribed a new species of this genus; it is smaller, and differs in form from our present species: he calls it the Lobster Insect. We believe Phalangium Cancroides is the largest Insect of the genus found in England that resembles a Scorpion.

This Insect is sometimes found in the covers of old books, in rotten wood, and other damp and decayed substances. We once found it fastened on the body of the Musca Vomitoria, Common Flesh Fly, from which it could not be extricated without killing and tear­ing the fly into pieces.

Roesel has given a figure of it, and represented a parcel of its eggs. They are of an oblong form, colour greenish, and appear to be deposited in roundish clusters of about thirty or forty eggs in each.

The natural size of our Insect is represented at Fig 1.

The Caterpillar of this Insect is generally found under the bark of the willow and sallow, or on the rose. It is probable there are two broods of it in the year, being sometimes taken in the winged state early in the summer, but more commonly in the month of October; this is the more likely, as the English Aurelians first called it the Herald, from an idea that its appearance warned them of ap­proaching winter.

This Insect remains about twenty-eight days in the pupa state, the Caterpillar not being found till the beginning of September.