by William Swainson

“ This is one of the smallest of Butterflies, and from the extreme delicacy of its form seems to sanction with truth the poetic idea of living "but for a day." It is found in Brazil, inhabiting only the deepest forests, as if fearful its little life would be endangered by the scorching rays of a tropical sun: in these sombre shades it is seen to fly slowly and feebly near those spots where a ray of the sun has partially entered the thick canopy of foliage above, which is frequently fifty or sixty feet from the ground. ”

“ The truth is, that many groups, which in our first process of combination, we are obliged to distinguish, or perhaps name, will, in the second, be united to others. So that it appears highly probable that the number of genera, in ornithology, ultimately retained, will be fewer perhaps than at present. We are, in short, but in the infancy of this knowledge, and our genera, for the most part, must be looked upon as temporary landmarks, to denote the ground gone over, and to be fixed or removed as our views become more extended, by a wider analysis of qualities and relations. ”

“ Like the resplendent jewels of the earth, the Humming Birds are the living gems of the air. United to the most delicate form, these fairies of creation have the dazzling effulgence of every tint that sparkles from the ruby, the topaz, the sapphire, and the emerald, lavished on their plumage; they seem created but for our admiration, to sport in the ardent beams of a tropical sun, and to feast on the nectar of the sweetest blossoms; and, like sparks of many coloured fire, they shoot from flower to flower, exulting in their little life of brightness and pleasure. ”

“ The Butterflys composing this remarkable genus are perhaps the most splendid insects in creation. No art can effectually represent the changeable and resplendent green which relieves the velvet black of the wings, and which varies with every change of light. ”

“ In answer to several correspondents who have requested to know what book we can recommend, as giving a general and popular introduction to the natural arrangement of animals, we are obliged to confess that amid countless volumes of anecdotes, compilations, and methods, no such work has ever been undertaken. With the intention of supplying this deficiency, we have devoted the greatest portion of the last five years to an Encyclopedia of Zoology; wherein the science will be placed under a new and striking light; no less instructive to the general reader, than interesting to the learned. ”

“ The splendid discovery of the circular system of Nature, has given a totally new aspect to this science; but has nevertheless been attended with an evil, no where more apparent than in Ornithology; where synthesis has completely set aside analysis, and where the rugged and laborious path of patient investigation, has been deserted for the flowery walks of Speculation and Hypothesis. ”

“ I was put in possession of this rare and unknown bird, by the dispersion of the most magnificent assemblage of natural productions that ever marked the zeal of an individual, or ornamented the capital of this kingdom. Mr. Bullock's Museum is now scattered; yet the objects it comprised were deemed worthy of enriching the public repositories of every nation in Europe; who sent their learned men to purchase with avidity, and share in the spoils of a Museum, the dispersion of which will be long regretted by the learned, the inquiring, and "the many." ”

“ Clinging to the smooth stems by their strong feet and acute claws, they were incessantly uttering discord with the most provoking perseverance: all the time moving their body from one side to the other, spreading out their tail, and straining their throats, in the most grotesque way imaginable. ”

“ Nature has so admirably disguised this insect in the external form of that tribe of butterflys which she intends it to represent, that it was only upon looking to its anatomical construction, that we discovered it was a type of the true Papilionæ, and not of the Erycinæ. The construction of the anterior feet, of the head and palpi, and of the antennæ, all which are here represented, magnified, places this fact beyond doubt, and leaves us nothing to desire but a knowledge of its caterpillar and chrysalis, and of the direction of the wings when the species is at rest. ”

“ Geology, a subject hardly thought of in this country a few years ago, is now found to be a science of the first importance; with this, however, Conchology is so intimately connected, that without a certain knowledge of it, the geologist is frequently unable to prosecute inquiries of the most interesting nature; and there is little doubt but that Botany has been raised to the rank it now so justly holds, solely because its natural system has been more generally studied and advocated in this country, than that of any other branch of Natural History. ”

“ The analagous resemblances between the species and groups of one region, and those by which they are represented in another, are among the most curious and remarkable facts in Natural History: whether we look to them as proofs of a Divine plan, vast in its extent, and wonderful in its details, or as exemplifying that system of symbolical relationship by which every part of the animated world is mutually connected. Both appear intended for one great purpose, the partial initiation of man into earthly mysteries, that he may have greater faith in those which regard his eternal welfare. ”

“ Nature has so completely disguised this Butterfly in the form and colours of a genuine Papilio, as to have deceived the first entomologist now in Europe, and his most skilful and accurate coadjutator. ”

“ The Jays, although allied to the Crows, have many peculiar characteristics. While the latter roam about and seek their food in all situations, the Jays confine themselves to thick woods, feeding upon fruits, insects, and eggs, and seldom perch upon the ground. In unison with that symbolical system which pervades all nature, we find a perfect representation of this group in the Bush-Shrikes of the new world.
America seems to possess three Jays, closely resembling each other, but each (if they have been described correctly) having some peculiar distinction. ”

“ 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: this was brought from China, and in 1773, belonged to a Captain May, of Hammersmith: with whom it was seen by Drury, and drawn by Harris. ”

“ Among the most remarkable of those laws which belong to the natural system, is that which assigns to every great division of our globe its peculiar races of animals: and these in numerous instances, are so marked, that a naturalist would no more expect to find such genera inhabiting a different continent, than a Physiologist would hope to discover a race of Hottentots among the Highlands of Scotland. ”

“ The species in short, in every stage, exemplifies the truth of that fundamental law of nature which we have elsewhere so fully illustrated, viz. "that every natural group, contains representations of all others in the same class," following each other precisely in the same series: thus establishing a truth which has long been suspected, but not before demonstrated, that the laws of variation are precisely the same in every group throughout the animal kingdom. ”

“ There is to be found, in Tropical America, a singular race of flycatching birds, whose plumage is black and white. Their haunts are only in the vicinity of water: they pursue their prey upon the ground, running with great celerity, and are constantly in motion. They have, in short, all the manners and habits of the Stone Chats, and when we published the definition of this genus, we were led to believe it belonged to the Saxicolinæ. ”

“ Each genus or sub-genus will be named after that species which is its peculiar type; and the new specific name of this species will imply one of its supposed natural analogies. Thus the sub-genus Protesilaus, derives its name from the typical species, while the specific name, now proposed of Leilus, points out the analogy of the group to Urania Fab. The sub-genus we now define, as being in our estimation, pre-eminently typical, retains the name of the genus. It seems also a geographic group, since all the species yet discovered belong to the old world. ”

“ The bright red at the end of the abdomen (improperly called by Fabricius the tail) is most conspicuous in the female, which is also larger and having the wings more obtuse, of which the upper and under surfaces are both alike.
The insects of this family fly with amazing rapidity (as is shown by the thickness of their thorax, and the sharpness in the make of their wings) , generally frequenting openings of thick woods and alighting on leaves where the sun strikes: I seldom saw them on flowers. Their wings when at rest are half expanded in a horizontal direction. ”

“ Nearly all the species are natives of the Indian Ocean.
The circular system of Nature has been so fully demonstrated, that it must now be received as the first great truth in Natural History. As, therefore, there can be but one natural system, it necessarily follows that all combinations of groups, whether large or small, which do not pretend to exhibit such a disposition, must be more or less artificial classifications. ”

“ The Cowries are without exception the most beautiful of all shells, whether the richness and harmony of their colours, or the exquisite polish of their exterior, is considered; but (like many other things of more consequence) their beauty is depreciated by their frequency. The indefatigable Lamarck has described sixty-six species, only one of which inhabits the European seas. Adanson has furnished a minute account of the structure of the animal, and Bruguiere has given long and interesting details of its economy. ”

“ But we regret not the delay, since it is obvious that the illustration of such an apparently anomalous form as this, is infinitely more useful to science than the specification, in a few lines, of a hundred new species, or even of as many new genera, unaccompanied by analytical or comparative results. The time, in fact, is now gone by, when such crude additions to ornithological nomenclature, possess any claim to permanent interest, or carry with them any authority: they encumber rather than advance science, by keeping up the already overwhelming stock of undigested materials. ”

“ But in several small species allied to O. conoidalis, another modification of form has evidently commenced: the spire is regularly acute; the upper plaits disappear; and those which remain, are only at the thickened base of the pillar: the aperture, no longer narrow, becomes wide at the base, where the pillar takes an oblique direction inward: we are thus led to the form of O. hiatula, E. M. pl. 368, f. 5, where the characters of Ancillaria become apparent in the effuseness of the mouth, the double belt at the base, and the imperfect groove on the outer side of the pillar. ”

“ Hawk-moths, or Sphinxes, at the rising and setting of the sun; and Moths during the night. The insects of Europe, indeed, offer but few exceptions to these characters; but the habits of certain exotic tribes, in each of these families, partake both of one and the other in a remarkable manner. Thus, among the butterflies, there is a genus in South America (hitherto unnoticed) , which fly only during the dusk of evening: a number of the Linnæan Hawk-moths prefer the meridian heat of the sun; and there are not wanting several moths which are only seen during the same period of the day. ”

“ Le Vaillant mentions having found a young bird of the Criard Cuckoo, in the pigmy nest of this little species, which had already grown to the size of a thrush: it not only filled the nest, but actually enlarged and destroyed its original shape. Yet still did the foster parents, by a most extraordinary instinct, go on feeding this overgrown parasite, although it was even then more than double the size of themselves. Our figure is of the natural size of the male; the female is without the black collar. ”

“ The great disadvantage of this is very obvious, and it has induced me to attempt something like a natural distribution of those insects, which, with every care to avoid an unnatural separation of kindred groups, I am fully aware, in some cases, is very artificial, and it is only offered until a greater knowledge of the larvæ, &c. will enable us to fix on more substantial characters than those I have adopted. This, however, will be a work of time; and until then, I think some guide to the ready knowledge of the species, however objectionable, is better than none. ”

“ We have represented the species in that attitude which is assumed by L. Braziliensis, when at rest; the wings of which species are sometimes less but never more expanded: the fruit, upon which the insect is reposing, is the common West India Banana, shewing its natural size.
In drawing the attention of Entomologists to the anatomical details of this typical example of the genus Leilus, it will be readily perceived that the obscurity which has involved its natural affinities, has entirely arisen from ignorance of its structure. ”

“ The great Linnæus, at the time he formed that system which laid the foundation of systematic nomenclature, had not the materials for gathering and combining those natural genera which the immense discoveries made since his death have given us a knowledge of. ”

“ The construction of the bill in all these birds will be found precisely the same, though more or less developed in each division, and even in the species; it thus becomes impossible to draw the line of demarcation without refining too much on generic distinctions. Their bills, although so broad, are by no means stout; thus enabling them to prey with greater readiness on the Lepidoptera and other large winged insects with soft bodies; while the long stiff bristles at the base of the bill seem intended to confine the resistance their prey would otherwise make by their wings. ”

“ We feel happy, that in recording this new and beautiful bird, an early opportunity is given us of commemorating our deep sense of the kindness we received from a young naturalist of France, whose writings have already acquired celebrity, and who promises to inherit the great and commanding talents of his illustrious father. ”

“ They are an obvious and very natural family, though the species are as yet but little understood, and not one half of them described. I have observed a singular peculiarity in a great many of these insects, which is, that when they are at rest in the sun, the lower wings are constantly in a quick vibrating motion up and down, as if the insect was rubbing them together, more particularly where the two lobes (or obtuse tails) of the under wings meet, though what purpose this is intended to accomplish remains unknown. ”

“ Of this extensive genus Lamarck has written a valuable account in the Annals of the French Museum, where he has rightly pointed out the mistake of Gmelin in placing as varieties of this species, one or two other very distinct shells: the colour of the bands is not always certain, for I have seen specimens in which they were of a dark brown; but the very thick spire, and slender form of the body whirl, with the distant, regular, and greatly elevated striæ, render it a species not easily mistaken, though in general form it comes very near to C. nussatella, and two or three others ”

“ The habits of the Swallow tribe are known to every one. Like the Flycatchers, they feed upon insects captured on the wing; but these insects are of so small a size, that they are swallowed during the flight of the bird. This at once accounts for Swallows not being provided with those stiff bristles, for confining the struggles of their prey, which are so essential to the Flycatchers. These latter birds frequently feed upon insects much too large to be swallowed at the moment of capture ”

“ As regards Zoology, there is a great show of patronage. Zoological gardens, and new societies have sprang up: cheap publications, on popular natural history, appear daily; and professors have been installed at the two London Universities. Yet what has resulted? We have lecturers expounding systems they do not comprehend, [3] and we have professors maintaining that a walk into the fields will make "a very good naturalist." [4] Meantime nearly every periodical work on pure science has languished or died away. ”