S. Molossus and S. Bucephalus are very common in China. The first seems a local species, the latter is said to be found in other parts of the East Indies. Olivier has given three varieties of Scarabaeus Molossus. The specimen figured in the annexed plate is the var. c. of that author.

The larvae of the larger kinds of coleopterous insects, abounding in unctuous moisture, are not less esteemed as food among some modern nations, than they were by the epicures of antiquity. In Jamaica, and other islands in the West Indies, the Macokko ^a larva is an article of luxurious food; and in China most insects in that state are appropriated to the same purpose. Thus also the Romans introduced the larvae of the Lucani ^b and Cerambyes ^c in their voluptuous repasts; previously feeding them on farinaceous substances to give consistence to the animal juices.

The learned author of the last account we have of China, says, "Under the roots of the canes is found a large white grub, which being fried in oil is eaten as a dainty by the Chinese." Perhaps this is the larva of Scarabaeus Molossus, which, like many other of the Scarabaei, ^d may live sedentary in the ground, and subsist on the roots of plants: the general description and abundance of this insect in China favours such opinion. The same author observes, in another part of his work, that "the aurelias of the silk worm which is cultivated in China, after the silk is wound off, furnish an article for the table." This also is a very ancient custom among the Asiatics, and even Europeans, before the sixteenth century, if we may credit Aldrovandus: ^e it is certain the worms, if not the aurelias, were administered in medicine in early ages, ^f

Scarabaeus Sacer is a native of China; it is also found in other parts of the East Indies, in Egypt, Bar­bary, the Cape of Good Hope, and other countries of Africa, and throughout the south of Europe.

A few remains of ancient monuments, and some fragments of historic information, preserved from an early period of the world, afford certain and interesting details of this inconsiderable creature. Those remains evince indeed but the first dawning of natural and moral philosophy on the human mind, but, connected with the history of the insect before us, are too important to be passed over in silence.

The Scarabaeus was held in profound veneration by the people of Egypt. ^g They regarded it as a visible deity; but a more refined system of religious worship prevailed in their temples among the priests and sages. ^h They deemed it only the symbol of their god, and, ascribing both sexes to the Scarab, it became a striking emblem of a self-created and supreme first cause. ⁱ

This insect was more especially the symbol of their god Neith, ^k whose attribute was power supreme in governing the works of creation, and whose glory was increased, rather than diminished, by the presence of a superior being, Phtha, the creator. The theological definition of the two powers being independent, yet centering in one spirit, is implied by the figurative union of two sexes in the Scarab. In the latter sense it signified therefore but one omnipotent power. The Scarab, typifying Neith, was carved or painted on a [Page]ring, and worn by the soldiers, as a token of homage to that power who disposed of the fate of battles; lAuthors quote a doubtful passage in Herapollo Hieroglyph. lib. 1. to support this opinion. That such rings were worn by the ancient Egyptians is beyond conjecture, many remains of them, and some very perfect, have been found in the subterranean caverns and sepulchres in the Plain of Mummies near Saccara and Giza. Those which we have examined, are remarkable for the convexity, or full relievo of the figure sculptured on them, in some it is of the natural size of the insect, but generally smaller; the stone, cornelian, without a rim, and turning on a swivel ring of gold. and sculptured on astronomical tables, or on columns, ^m it expressed the divine wisdom which regulates the uni­verse and enlightens man.

This, and the next species, are described by Fabricius, in the two new genera, Cetonia and Melolontha. They are Scarabaei of the Linnaean system. Cetonia Chinensis is a fine and very rare insect.

This specimen nearly corresponds with one of the Melolontha viridis figured by Olivier, which came from the Cape of Good Hope: our insect is undoubtedly from China.

The male of this species is furnished with a long recurved horn on the head; the female has only a small rising on that part. It is found in Europe as well as China.

The annexed figures exhibit the two sexes of Scarabaeus Seniculus. In some specimens the spots are very indistinct and reddish, in others the wing-cases have faint red striae. The female has the rudiments of horns on the thorax.

The figure of this rare species is taken from a specimen in the collection of Mr. Drury, of London, on assurance that it was received from China. Another, in the cabinet of Sir J. Banks, Bart. described by Fabricius, is noted from America.

The horns on the head of this insect have a very uncommon appearance, and which authors have compared to a pair of ears. The specific name Midas has been aptly given from this circumstance.

This species has been confounded with S. Molossus. Both insects are given on the same plate, that the difference may be precisely observed.

This insect seems nearly allied to Curculio mucoreus, an Indian species, described by Linnaeus, but not figured by any author: the lateral stripe of black; and the denticulations on the posterior thighs of our insect clearly removes it, however, from the Linnaean species. Among the Curculiones described since by Fabricius, we have not discovered any with which our species can be confounded; and deeming it a non­descript, we name it specifically Chinesis; a name, perhaps, too local, but expressive of the native place of our specimen; and not applied by Fabricius, in his last work, to any insect of the same genus, though that author has exhausted almost every applicable name, in the descriptions of more than four hundred of its species.

The only specimen of this curious insect we have seen, is in the possession of Mr. Drury of London, from whose extensive collection we have been liberally permitted to copy, and describe, such Insects as we con­sidered worthy of noticing in this work.

All the specimens of this Curculio that have come under our inspection, are natives of China. Fabricius says it is from the Cape of Good Hope ^b.

Uncommonly scarce. Fabricius refers for this insect to the collection of Cramer. We have only seen the specimen from which our figure is taken.

This can be no other than Curculio verrucosus, though our specimen came from China, and that noticed by Fabricius from the Cape of Good Hope. The three elevated striae of warts on each of the wing cases, and the intermediate double row of impressed points, are decisive in our opinion of this species.—We have another that is mottled with clay colour, which is probably found in Africa.

A small, but superb species, being totally covered with minute scales of an oblong form, and resplen­dent green colour, interspersed with changeable sparks of gold and crimson, in various reflections of light. This scaly covering is not unlike that of Curculio argentatus found in England; but of a brilliance scarcely inferior to the gem-like spangles on the Curculio imperialis of Brazil.—Curculio squamosus is represented in its natural size, in the annexed plate; and, in justice to an insect of such uncommon beauty, an ad­ditional plate is given, to exhibit its appearance in the opaque microscope.—It is extremely common in China.

Like Curculia squamosus this insect is entirely black, when divested of its scaly covering. It has been supposed a variety of C. squamosus, but Fabricius considers them as two species, and we are of the same opinion.

Neither this nor the two preceding species have been figured in any work. We have given a figure of the under side of this insect, to illustrate the specific character given by Fabricius.

Among some Chinese drawings of the late Mr. Bradshaw, we observed one on which the metamorphosis of this Cerambyx seemed to be delineated. The larva was partly concealed in the hollow of a piece of decayed wood; it was of a whitish colour, with the head and tail black, as described by Fabricius.

This species, we find, is not uncommon in China. It is the largest of its genus that we are acquainted with from that country.

Cerambyx reticulator is a very rare species; we have never seen more than two specimens of it. It is altogether a beautiful insect; but the singular structure of the antennae deserves particular notice: it is entirely brown except the first articulation, which is black; the second has a large verticillated tuft of black hair at the summit; at the base of this articulation it has another tuft, but smaller; and a similar tuft, but still smaller, is situated on the third and fourth articulations.

The Buprestides form an extensive, and most brilliant tribe of coleopterous insects. Brasil and New Holland produce some gigantic species, but none more beautiful than those of India. We need adduce no other proof of this, than Buprestis chrysis, sternicorus, attenuata, ocellata, and vittata. These wrought into various devices, and trinkets, decorate the dresses ^x of the natives in many parts of India. The Buprestis vittata in particular, is much admired among them. It is, we believe, entirely peculiar to China, where it is found in vast abundance, and distributed from thence at a low price among the other Indians. The Chinese, who always profit by the curiosity of Europeans, collect vast quantities of this Buprestis, and other gay insects, in the interior of the country, and traffic with them.

A considerable error seems to have arisen concerning this species, and the true Buprestis ignita of Lin­naeus. All authors, except Fabricius and Olivier, have considered the Buprestis vittata, and ignita, the same. Fabricius, in his Species Insectorum, refers to Mus. Dom. Banks only, for the Buprestis vittata; and to the 14th figure, plate 6, in Sulzer's work, for a figure of Buprestis ignita. In the Entomologia Systematica we however find the same reference to the figure of Sulzer, for B. vittata ^y; and, to increase the perplexity, precisely the same reference under that of B. ignita ^z also.

[Page]The Buprestis ignita of Linnaeus, we imagined, was unknown in the cabinets of the curious in this country, till we discovered an insect nearly corresponding in character with it, in the collection of Mr. Drury, and which we presume is the B. ignita, or at least a variety of it. It has not the brilliance of colours that so eminently distinguishes B. vittata, but in form and size it agrees with it. The only figure of that species is given by Olivier, from a specimen formerly in the cabinet of Gigot d'Orcy, of Paris. We have exa­mined the specimen in the cabinet of Sir J. Banks, referred to by Fabricius as B. vittata, and find the figure in Sulzer is of that species, as well as the specimen we have represented.

Fabricius has given as a part of the specific distinction of these insects, that B. ignita has three spines at the end of each wing case, or elytron, and B. vittata no more than two. This may form a sufficient cha­racteristic in those species; but we must remark, that it is not so in Buprestis ocellata. We have two speci­mens that have two spines at the end of each elytron, and another with three, as Fabricius has described it. We also find several insects nearly allied to B. vittata, the stripe of gold on each side excepted; one of these has six teeth, another four teeth, and a third only two.

The Buprestides are supposed, for the most part, to undergo their transformations in the water, or marshy ground.

Canna Indica.—Indian flowering Reed.

This plant is common in China, and is found also in most other parts of Asia, Africa, and America. In our climate it requires to be placed in the stove, where it produces an abundant succession of flowers throughout the summer. It bears a berry which is perfecty hard and round, of a black colour, and highly polished. It is called Indian Shot.

The Buprestis ocellata is a native of China, and is very rare: specimens of it have been found in parcels of the common sort. Olivier says it is from Chandernagore in the East Indies. Mr. Drury has an extra­ordinary variety of this insect from China, in which the two spots unite at the future so as to form only one large spot on the back when the wing cases are closed.

These spots on the wing cases are strikingly characteristic of this species; at least we have not ob­served them in any other of the Buprestis genus. They are usually situated in the centre of each elytron; are somewhat pellucid, and in fine specimens are cream colour, surrounded with a crimson circle. These spots are sometimes brown; probably they become so after the insect dies.

[Page]Our figures represent this insect with expanded wings; one of those is designed to exhibit the beautiful appearance of the under surface, particularly the effulgent abdomen and purple colour of the interior part of the shells: this is seen hovering over the flower of the Canna Indica: the other represents the upper surface.

This insect may be referred to the Linnaean genus Tenebrio. It is described by Fabricius in the Species Insectorum, in the new genus Alurnus; in the Entomologia Systematica of the same author, it is removed to another new genus, Sagra, and its former specific name, femoratus, necessarily altered to femorata. As the characters of these Fabrician genera are taken from the palpi, maxilla, and labium, we prefer the more obvious characters of the Linnaean genus.

The figures quoted by Fabricius differ, in some respects, from the Chinese, specimens. Sulzer repre­sents it of a green colour, without a tinge of red purple, or copper colour, so predominant in every spe­cimen we have seen. Our insects are of two kinds: one is of a glowing purple, resplendent as metal, and changeable to green or yellow; the other is purple also, but not quite so vivid, being tinged with green.

This insect is very common in China, and some other parts of the East Indies. The small specimen is [Page]rare, but is, probably, only a variety of the other sort. According to Olivier, the Meloe cichorei is used by the Chinese in their medical preparations instead of the Cantharis vesicatorius of the Europeans, and is supposed to be more efficacious in certain cases. The same author quotes a passage in Dioscoride Med. Lib. 2. to prove that it is also the Cantharides of the ancients ⁱ

Two figures of the Mantis, very much resembling our species, is given in the work of Stoll on Cicadae &c. one kind he calls La Mante ètroitement cornue, the other La Mante Chinoise ètroites cornue. The first is from the coast of Coromandel and Tranquebar, the other, as its name implies, is a Chinese insect. We cannot discover any material difference between these figures and our specimen, and are inclined to consider them altogether as one species.

Few of the Cicadae and Locustae described by Fabricius, in his Species Insectorum, have any reference to figures, because a very small number of them had been figured till Stoll published his work on those genera. Stoll has occasion to mention with regret, that Fabricius has scarcely noticed any of his plates. It is a considerable disadvantage to the works of that author, as well as to the naturalist that comults them, that no scientific names, or definitions, are given to the figures of many rare insects included amongst them.

The Mantis Oculata of Fabricius is an African insect, and was described from the collection of the Right Hon. Sir J. Banks, Bart. we have compared our Chinese specimen with it, and find it is precisely the same species.

This Mantis is described by Fabricius only. Stoll has given the figure of an insect not unlike it in his publication; and we have seen a specimen similar to it, which was found by Professor Pallas near the Caspian sea. It is allied to Mantis Gongyloides, a native of Africa and Asia, but bears a closer affinity to Mantis Pauperata ^a from Java, Molucca, and perhaps other islands in the Indian sea.

Fabricius enumerates fifty-one species of this genus in his last system; a considerable portion of these are from Asia: had he included the lately discovered kinds in America and New Holland, his genus would have been far more comprehensive. Few naturalists have had the opportunity of observing the manners of these creatures in distant countries; nor can we always rely on the information those few have given. Of the European species we can speak with more precision, because some indefatigable naturalists have at­tended minutely to them; Roesel in particular has treated at considerable length on the manners of the Mantis Religiosa of Linnaeus.

Descriptions can only convey an imperfect idea of the extraordinary appearance of many creatures in­cluded in the Mantis and Locusta genera. Among them are found species that bear a similitude to the usual forms of other insects; but, from these we almost imperceptibly descend to others, bearing as strong a simi­litude to the vegetable part of creation; seeming as if Nature designed them to unite the appearance of a vegetable with the vital functions of an animal, to preserve them from the ravages of voracious creatures, or to connect that chain of progressive and universal being, which

Many of these creatures assume so exactly the appearance of the leaves of different trees, that they fur­nish [Page]the entomologist with unerring specific distinctions; thus we have L. citrifolia, laurifolia, myrtifolia, oleifolia, graminifolia, and others, equally expressive of their resemblance in form, and colours, to the leaves of those respective plants. Travellers in countries that produce these creatures, have been struck with the phaenomenon, as it must appear, of animated vegetable substances; for the manners of the Mantis, in addition to its structure, are very likely to impose on the senses of the uninformed. They often remain on the trees for hours without motion, then suddenly spring into the air, and, when they settle, again appear lifeless. These are only stratagems to deceive the more cautious insects which it feeds upon; but some travellers who have observed it, have declared they saw the leaves of those trees become living crea­tures, and take flight.

M. Merian informs us of a similar opinion among the Indians, who believed these insects grow like leaves on the trees, and when they were mature, loosened themselves and crawled, or flew; away. From the credulous, and unscientific, marvellous reports of such extraordinary creatures may be expected; but, to these we must add the authority of a naturalist, whose works are a valuable addition to our present knowledge of the history of nature: these are the works of Piso ^b.

"Those little animals," says that author, "change into a green and tender plant, which is of two hands breadth. The feet are fixed into the ground first; from these, when necessary humidity is attracted, roots grow out, and strike into the ground; thus they change by degrees, and in a short time become a perfect plant. Sometimes only the lower part takes the nature and form of a plant, while the upper part remains as before, living and moveable: after some time the animal is gradually converted into a plant. In this Nature seems to operate in a circle, by a continual retrograde motion."

Has the father of inventive romance outdone this account of Piso in his well-known extravagant poetical effusions ^c? It may be imagined he has not; but before we dismiss his account with a hasty [Page]censure, let us attend to the opinion of a few authors, nearly contemporary with himself: we find these collected in the criticisms of Roesel on that passage.

From these it appears that the works of Piso were much admired when first published, but we rely less implicitly on the information it contains, than his readers in the last century. Roesel treats his account with more than merited severity; not because he could contradict the relation of Piso, but, because he had never observed the same circumstance attend the Wandering Leaf, or Mantis Oratoria, in Europe ^d. This reasoning is neither so conclusive, or liberal, as we should expect from Roesel; and more especially as he afterwards describes even the first symptom of the transformation as related by Piso. When he speaks of the death of the European species his words are, "As their dissolution approaches, their green eyes become brown, and they unavoidably lose their sight: they remain a long while on the same spot, till at last they fall quite exhausted and powerless, as if asleep." What is this but substantiating part of the evi­dence of Piso, which he has laboured before to discredit? As to the change after they remained long on the ground, such as sending forth fibres, roots, and stems, from the body of the insect, it is only astonishing such a well-informed naturalist should have deemed it matter of surprise. Could he be ignorant of the many instances that occur, of animal substances producing plants ^e? or was lie not informed that the pupa which commonly sends forth a bee, a wasp, or cicada; has sometimes become the nidus of a plant, thrown up stems from the fore part of the head, and changed in every respect into a vegetable, though still re­taining the shell and exterior appearance of the parent insect at the root ^f? We own at first sight with Roesel that the account of Piso seems " an inattentive and confounded observation," but that an insect may strike root into the earth, and, from the co-operation of heat, and moisture, congenial to vegetation, produce a plant of the cryptogamia kind, cannot be disputed. We have seen species of clavaria both of the undivided and branched kinds, four times larger than the insect from which they sprang; and can we then deny that the insect mentioned by Piso might not produce a plant of a proportionate magnitude? In short, are we so well acquainted with the productions of Brasil as to contradict any of his assertions, concerning this transformation? Piso does not say of what kind this vegetable was; it must surely be of the fungi [Page]kind: reasoning then from analogy, it might be an unknown species of clavaria with numerous and spreading branches; and, finally, the colour of his plant, on which authors lay much stress, might be green, though a colour not so predominant in that tribe of vegetables as some others.

The largest and most interesting of the Indian species of Mantis is found in the isle of Amboyna. Stoll contradicts the account of Renard ^g, who says these creatures are sometimes thirteen inches in length; but we have a specimen almost of that size. It is related by Renard, and others, that the larger kinds of Mantes go in vast troops, cross hills, rivers, and other obstacles that oppose their march, when they are in quest of food. If they subsisted entirely on vegetables, a troop of these voracious creatures would desolate the land in their excursions; but they prefer insects, and clear the earth of myriads that infest it: if these become scarce from their ravages, they fight and devour one another. When they attack the plants, they do great mischief. It is said of some Locusts and Mantes that the plants they bite wither, and appear as if scorched with fire: we have not heard of this pestilential property in any of the larger species of Mantes.

Of the smaller kinds, the Mantis Oratoria is the most widely diffused, being found in Africa and Asia as well as in all the warmer parts of Europe. These creatures are esteemed sacred by the vulgar in many countries, from their devout or supplicating posture. The Africans worship them; and their trivial names in many European languages imply a superstitious respect for them ^h.

England produces no species of this tribe. The entomologists in this country must consequently rely on the accounts of those, who have observed them in other parts of the world. We shall select a few remarks from Roesel's extensive description of Mantis Oratoria and Gongyloides, because, if we may pre­sume from the analogy they bear in form to Mantis Flabellicornis, the history of one will clearly elucidate that of the other.

Roesel says, some of the Mantes are local in Germany; they are found chiefly in the vintages at Moedting in Moravia, where they are called Weinhandel ⁱ. The males die in October, the females soon after ^k. The young brood are preserved in the egg state, in a kind of oblong bag, of a thick spongy substance; this bag is imbricated on the outside; it is fastened lengthwise to the branch of some plant ^l. As the eggs ripen they are protruded through the thick substance of the bag, and the larva, which are about half an inch in length, burst from them. Roesel, wishing to observe the gradual progress of these creatures, to the winged state, placed the bag containing the eggs in a large glass, which he closed, to prevent their escape. From the time they were first hatched they exhibited marks of a savage disposition. He put different sorts of plants into the glass, but they refused them, to prey on one another: this determined him to supply them with other insects to eat: he put ants into the glass to them, but they then betrayed as much cow­ardice, [Page]as they had barbarity before; for the instant the Mantes saw the ants they tried to escape in every direction. By this Roesel found the ants were the greatest persecutors of the Mantes. He next gave them some of the common musca (house flies), which they seized with eagerness in their fore claws, and tore in pieces: but, though these creatures seemed very fond of the flies, they continued to destroy one another through savage wantonness. Despairing at last, from their daily decrease, of rearing any to the winged state, he separated them into small parcels in different glasses; but, here, as before, the strongest of each community destroyed the rest.

Another time, he received several pair of Mantes in the winged state; profiting by his former obser­vation, he put each pair [a male and female] into a separate glass, but they still shewed signs of an eternal enmity towards one another, which neither sex nor age could soften; for the instant they were in sight of each other, they threw up their heads, brandished their fore legs, and waited the attack: they did not remain long in this posture, for the boldest throwing open its wings, with the velocity of lightning, rushed at the other, and often tore it in pieces with the crockets and spines of the fore claws. Roesel compares the attack of these creatures to that of two hussars; for they dexterously guard and cut with the edge of the fore claws, as those soldiers do with their sabres, and sometimes at a stroke, one cleaves the other through, or severs its head from the thorax. After this the conqueror devours his vanquished antagonist.

We learn from Roesel also, the manner in which this creature takes its prey, in which respect we find it agrees with what is related of the extra European species. The patience of this Mantis is remarkable, and the posture to which superstition has attributed devotion, is no other, than the means it uses to catch it. When it has fixed its eyes on an insect, it very rarely loses sight of it, though it may cost some hours to take. If it sees the insect a little beyond its reach, over its head, it slowly erects its long thorax, by means of the moveable membranes that connect it to the body at the base; then, resting on the four posterior legs, it gradually raises the anterior pair also; if this brings it near enough to the insect, it throws open the last joint, or crocket part, and snaps it between the spines, that are set in rows on the second joint. If it is unsuccessful, it does not retract its arms, but holds them stretched out, and waits again till the insect is within its reach, when it springs up and seizes it. This is the uncommon posture before alluded to. Should the insect go far from the spot, it flies, or crawls after it, slowly on the ground like a cat, and when the insect stops, erects itself as before. They have a small black pupil or sight which moves in all directions within the parts we usually term the eyes, so that it can see its prey in any direction without having occasion to disturb it, by turning its head.

The most prevalent colour of this tribe of insects is fine green, but many of these fade or become brown after the insect dies: some are finely decorated with a variety of vivid hues; the most beautiful of these, that we have seen, are from the Moluccas.

This species is found in Africa, Asia, and the south of Europe. Its varieties are numerous; and in size and colour depends on the climate they breed in. Sulzer represents it with red wings: in the Chinese specimens these are tinged with green.

Gryllus vittatus has not been figured by any author. A single specimen of it has been recently brought from China, and is in the possession of Mr. Francillon.

This differs in no respect from the European species of the same name, except in size and colour. The Mole Cricket of this country, for example, being twice as large, and more of a mouse colour. Mr. Abbot has sent us a variety similar to the Chinese sort, but of a darker colour, from North America.

Inhabits China and every other part of India.

Fabricius erroneously describes this as a native of America. It is not figured elsewhere.

Described by Fabricius; but not figured. It is abundant in China.

The Gryllus morbillosus appears in the early addition of the Systema Naturae, and the works of Roesel, as an Indian species: Mr. Drury assures us he has received it several times from China. Another sort is [Page]also found at the Cape of Good Hope, which is rather larger and deeper in colour than the Chinese variety.

When this insect is at rest, the wings are folded, and much of its beauty is concealed: but when these are expanded, its appearance is altogether magnificent. It has nothing of the shining and metallic splen­dour of the Coleopterae, for its colours are translucent, and assume their richest hues when they pass before the light. The elytra are purple, variegated with yellow: the wings of a glowing crimson, spotted with black. The abdomen is surrounded with alternate zones of black and yellow, and the legs are throughout of an elegant scarlet, inferior only in brightness to the coral red of the head and thorax. Upon the whole, this species is embellished with such a profusion of various and beautiful colours, that it may be considered as a most splendid example of the Hemipterous order of insects. It is represented on the Iris Chinensis in a flying position.

This is not supposed to be a numerous species in China; on the contrary, it is probably uncommon. Several others of the locust are abundant in that country, and in seasons favourable to their increase, do incredible mischief ^k. Both the Gryllus tartaricus, and Gryllus migratorius, inhabit Tartary on the northern confines of China, from whence, at certain periods, they descend like an impetuous torrent over the neighbouring countries in quest of food, strip the earth of verdure, and scarcely leave the vestige of vegetation behind them. The Gryllus migratorius, whose myriads are said to darken the face of heaven in their flights, sometimes direct their course westward; cross rivers, sea, and an immense extent of country, till they reach Europe; and though many are lost in these bold migrations, the survivors are in sufficient numbers to commit vast depredations. This species has been known to visit England ^l, but not in any abundance. In Little Tartary, and the European provinces of Turkey: in Italy, and in Ger­many ^m, they do great mischief in these migrations. The Gryllus flavicornis and nasutus, are two other abundant species in China, and no doubt there are many other common kinds in that country we are at present unacquainted with. The locust is only detrimental when in immense numbers, for in China, as in other eastern countries, they are considered as an article of food, and regularly exposed for sale in the public markets ⁿ.

The phenomena resulting from the properties and effects of light, having engaged the attention of the earliest philosophers, we must conclude, that phosphorical appearances, and those especially of animated bodies, could not fail to attract their particular notice. Indeed it is evident, from the writings of the ac­curate observers of nature in remote ages, that they were acquainted with certain insects that have the property of shining in the night. These were known only by general terms, expressive of that property; yet it is probable that some of the Linnaean lampyrides, which are abundant in the south of Europe, as well as in Asia, and some parts of Africa, were the first of the illuminated insects known to them ^a. Some of the males which are furnished with wings, and are illuminated like the semales, were striking objects of natural history, and could scarcely have escaped their notice. The Greeks included all shining insects under the name lampyris; and the Latins called them cicindela, noctiluca, luciola. lucernata, &c. Whether any of the Fulgorae, were known to the ancients is uncertain: probably they were not, the most remarkable species being peculiar to the warmest parts of America. Asia, once the feat of learning, does indeed pro­duce a few species; but we have no account of these in ancient natural history.

[Page]The Fulgorae seem to have been entirely unknown in Europe till the latter end of the last century; when two writers published descriptions and figures of Fulgora Lanternaria. Madame Merian, of Holland, in her splendid work on the Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam, and Dr. Grew, of London, in his Rarities of Gresham College.

Reaumur ^b is the next author who described the Fulgora Lanternaria, and after him Roesel, in his "Amusing History (or recreation) of Insects ^c." This brings us to the period in which Fulgora Candelaria, our Chinese species, was first known in Europe: a circumstance of much importance to naturalists at that time, because the first mentioned species was a solitary example of its singular genus. The transactions of the Stockholm academy includes the earliest figure and description of this extraordinary insect; from these Linnaeus described it in his Systema Naturae; but his arrangement has undergone many alterations since that time. At first he included it among the Coleopterous insects; then he called them Lanternariae; and again, they were classed with the Cicadae;. These have been since corrected, and a new genus formed of insects with elongated trunks on their foreheads exclusively, under the name Fulgora, a name that has been adopted by later authors, and finally by Fabricius.

Roesel has given three figures and a description of the Fulgora Candelaria; from his account we learn that it was known in England before he was acquainted with it. On its peculiar qualities, he observes he must be entirely silent, because he had been unable to derive any information concerning it; his description is notwithstanding extremely prolix, and occupies four quarto pages; as he notices every trifling particular of the spots, colours, &c. of the insect. We have selected the most interesting passage, because it clearly marks the progressive advancement of the knowledge of natural history in Europe, so late as the middle of the present century.

"According to my promise," says Roesel ^d, "I now produce the second sort of Lantern-carrier, which I never saw before; and of which I have never read in any work on insects. The scarcer however it may be, the more I am indebted to Mr. Beurer, apothecary of this place ^e, &c. for the permission he has granted me to draw and enrich my collection with it. Mr. Collinson has sent it to him from London, under the name Lanternaria Chinensis, for which reason I have called it the Asiatic or Chinese Lantern-carrier." Roesel being a respectable entomological writer of his time, we must infer that Fulgora Candelaria was extremely scarce in Europe when his plate and descriptions were published. The commercial concerns of Europeans with the Chinese having greatly increased since that period, has facilitated many inquiries con­cerning the natural productions of China; and a mongst a variety of other insects that are now usually brought from that country, specimens of Fulgora Candelaria are not uncommon. In China few insects are found in greater abundance.

[Page]The authors who have figured or described the Chinese Fulgora, since Roesel, are De Geer ^f, Seba ^g, Sulzer ^h, and our countryman Edwards ⁱ. De Geer gives a very concise description, and no figure; and Seba merely observes, in his description of Fulgora Candelaria, "La Chine produit une autre espéce du même genre mais beaucoup plus petite et toute differente." Edwards has given a figure of it in one of the plates in his work of Birds. His description is certainly uninteresting ^k.

Having noticed the several authors who have treated on this insect, we come to consider the peculiar properties of its fingular genus; and among these we find the most astonishing that insects can possess, that of emanating light: not merely a momentary shining appearance, as is produced by many viscous substances, but a clear and constant resemblance to the element, fire; and capable of diffusing light to sur-rounding objects, though totally destitute of every principle that can do mischief. To the unphilosophical mind it appears at first impossible, and it cannot fail to astonish the best informed. Indeed, some readers might be inclined to doubt the veracity of travellers in foreign countries, who have seen a vegetable ^l or an animal produce light, if our own country could not supply us with abundant analogous proofs of such phaenomenae. The presence of this animated phosphorus, if we may so express it, is observed on several insects that are natives of England: it is needless to enumerate them, because the most striking example must be recollected by every rural inhabitant, or admirer of poetical simplicity.

The account which Madame Merian gave of the effect of the light produced by the Fulgora Lanterna­ria ^m was greatly discredited, though Dr. Grew had related some surprising particulars of a specimen of it [Page]from Peru ⁿ. Her account has, however, been generally believed, since the missionaries ^o in countries which produce those insects have confirmed her account. It is admitted, that the Chinese Fulgora has an illuminated appearance in the night. "The foreheads of many Fulgorae (especially those found in China) emit a lively shining light in the night time, which, according to some authors, is sufficient to read by."— Yeats ^p.

The light of the Fulgorae is generally imagined to issue from the trunk, or elongated projection of the forehead; but Roesel offers a conjecture on the light of the Fulgora Lanternaria, which, on further inves­tigation, may enable naturalists to determine whether the light is entirely produced by an innate property of the trunk, or receives additional splendour from some external cause. He notices a white farinaceous substance on several parts of the wings and body, as well as the trunk, which, he observes, looks like the decayed wood which shines at night. We mention this conjecture of Roesel, though the same occurred to us before we perused his observations. We have invariably found a similar white powder on other insects of this genus, but usually upon the trunk only. The remarks of Roesel were necessarily very limited, two species of the Fulgorae only being then known. We possess twelve distinct species, and have made dissections and observations on several others; from all which we are inclined to imagine, that the white powder has a phosphoric appearance in the living insect, and increases the light, when the end of the trunk is illu­minated.

One of the Fulgorae of considerable magnitude, from the interior of India, enabled us to make many observations, The trunk is of the same form as that of the Fulgora Candelaria. The colour is a dark but beautiful purple: the apex scarlet, of a perfectly pellucid appearance, and still retains a reddish glare. The spots of while, sprinkled on the purple colour of the trunk, exhibit also a slight appear­ance of phosphoric matter. On the trunk of the Fulgora Candelaria these white spots are very conspi­cuous.

Though the generic name Fulgora seems to imply some effulgent property in the insects that compose the genus, it is uncertain whether all possess that property. They are indeed furnished with a trunk, but it is smaller in proportion, in several species, than in F. Lanternaria, Candelaria, Flammea, Phospho­rea, [Page]and some others. It has not been determined whether any of the European Fulgorae shine in the night time. The genus is very limited, including the discoveries of modern naturalists. Fabricius de­scribes only twenty-five species; of these, seven are European, and eighteen extra-European. Two species are found in England.

Chrysanthemum Indicum.—Indian Chrysanthemum.

This is a very lately introduced species in England. It is mentioned by Sir G. Staunton among the plants collected in the provinces of Shan-tung and Kiang-nan. Thunberg describes it as a native of Japan in the Flora Japonica. A variety of it is figured in the Hortus Malabaricus; and in the Herbarium Amboinense is another. We observe a great dissimilarity between the figures of this plant in different works. That figured in the Herb. Amb. has very small flowers, scarcely broader than our large daisy ^q: the leaves in clus­ters, some very large, and others small. In the Hort. Malab. the flowers are twice the size of the former, and the leaves are placed much asunder. The flowers of our specimen are considerably larger than either of these; yet not of the magnitude represented in the plate of Mr. Curtiss Botanical Magazine.

This Chrysanthemum is not peculiar to China, though it has been long cultivated in that country. It grows spontaneously in some parts of Japan; and from the name it bears in the Arabic, Persic, and other languages, is probably known in most parts of Asia.

Fabricius refers to the cabinet of Mr. Drury of London for a specimen of this rare insect. The authors who have given figures of it are De Geer, a French entomologist, and Stoll, in a work lately published on the continent, including Cimices and Cicadae. The Cicada sanguinolenta of Linnaeus being common in Europe, the similarity of names might create confusion, were we not to notice it. Our species is a Cicada of Stoll, as well as of De Geer, which latter author we have followed in the specific name. Fabricius having separated the Linnaean Cicadae; into several genera, this species will be found in his Entomologiae Systematica under the name Tettigonia sanguinolenta.

Though the observations that Sir G. Staunton has made on the natural production of China, in his late publication, were necessarily very general, the science of insects appears to have engaged his particular attention; and on that account we must lament, that untoward events, precluded him from observing more minutely, the peculiarities of some kinds, and the economical purposes of others.

In the general histories of unknown countries, (and we can scarcely consider China in any other view) the entomologist musf expect to find his favourite science neglected, or treated in a manner more likely to excite curiosity than reward enquiry. The work of this learned writer is an exception to our remark; though a few inaccuracies occur in it. We peruse the following account of an unknown species of Cicada with particular regret, because, it withholds information interesting to the naturalist, and, from its air of novelty, is likely to promote an erroneous opinion concerning that singular tribe of insects.

"The low and sometimes marshy country, through which the river ^a passes, is favourable to the pro­duction of insects; and many of them were troublesome, some principally by their sting; and others by their constant stunning noise. The music emitted by a species of Cicada was not of the vocal kind; but produced by the motion of two flaps or lamellae which cover the abdomen or belly of the insect. It is the signal of invitation from the male of that species to allure the female, which latter is quite unprovided with these organs of courtship ^b."

Again, when deseribing a town higher up the river, that author says, "The shops of Hai-tien, in addi­tion to necessaries, abounded in toys and trifles, calculated to amuse the rich and idle of both sexes, even to cages containing insects, such as the noisy Cicada, and a large species of the Gryllus ^c."

The reader may imagine from the first account, that the music of every other species of Cicada is of the vocal kind, or that it is peculiar to this Chinese insect to be furnished with lamellae that cause a sound. The latter account confirms such conjecture, by alluding in a specific manner to the noisy Cicada, as to an insect described in a former part of the work. We must remark, that not only the males of the species mentioned by that author, are furnished with those lamellae, but the whole of that section of the Linnaean Cicadae which Fabricius has called Tettiogonia ^d. The males of the species included in the other sections of that genus are certainly furnished with them also; though some of them are too minute to be observed without a glass. These lamellae vary in size in different species; but the accounts we have of them from travellers in foreign countries, and naturalists both ancient and modern, prove they all emit a certain sound to allure the female. As we are unable to ascertain the Chinese species Sir George mentions, neither figure or description accompanying his account of it, we must therefore, speak generally of the whole genus, and then confine our remarks to those species we are acquainted with from China. Among these are C. spendidula, sanguinea, and atrata. The latter, we believe, is the largest species of the Chinese Ci­cadae known in Europe.

Some species of this tribe were known to the ancients. With them it was the emblem of happiness and eternal youth ^e; and if we examine the legends of pagan mythology, we find they were deemed a race of creatures beloved by gods ^f. and men. The Athenians wore golden Cicadae; in their hair, to denote their national antiquity; or that like those creatures they were the first born of the earth; and the poets feigned that it partook of the perfection of their deities ^g. Anacreon depictures in glowing colours the uninterrupted felicity of this creature: his ode to the Cicada is appropriate to our enquiry ^h.

Mr. Drury received this insect from China. It is a species of ambiguous character, but appears to us undescribed. It is not noticed among the Tettigoniae; of Fabricius, in his last systematic arrangement of insects.

One of the most beautiful species of the Indian Cicadae. The wing cases are black, elegantly reticu­lated, and spotted with bright blue. At the extremity of the abdomen it has a tuft of long and very deli­cate hairs, intermixed with others that are rather convoluted and of a coarser texture. The whole of this insect, but particularly between the abdomen and wings, is sometimes profusely covered with a fine powder of a snowy whiteness, similar to that observed on the Cicada limbata in the imperfect state; hence we may conclude it is also one of those insects, which furnish the white wax ^d so highly esteemed in China.

The insect added under this Fabrician character, is the same that author described from the cabinet of Mr. Drury, and to which he exclusively refers. We believe the specimen is unique, at least we have not seen it in any other collection; and it has not been figured in any preceding publication. In the Linnaean arrangement it must be placed in the Cicada genus.

An undescribed species; allied both to the Cercopis cruentata and Cercopis versicolor of Fabricius, but clearly distinct from either; the thorax of the former being black; and the elytra of the latter marked at the base with two white spots: the abdomen black. The thorax of our species is black: it has no white spots on the elytra; and the abdomen is of a sanguincous red colour.

We are unable to discover this species among the descriptions of Fabricius, and conclude it must be a new insect. The situation of the black spots on the thorax, and especially that on the front of the head, constitute the decisive criterion of this species.

This singular insect, and the plant on which it is represented, have an equal claim to attention, both as objects of natural curiosity, and importance in domestic economy. The Larva is an elegant and beautiful creature, and China is indebted to its labours for the fine white wax so much esteemed in the East Indies. The plant is not less interesting, as it produces the vegetable tallow, in general use throughout the Chinese empire.

The novelty of those productions could not fail attracting the notice of those learned Europeans who were first permitted to reside in China, and whose object was to promote sciences and arts, as well as the christian knowledge. Both the Wax-insect, and Tallow-tree, are spoken of in their writings, as extraor­dinary and peculiar advantages to the country. Du Halde, especially in his splendid work L'HISTOIRE DE [Page]LA CHINE, treats largely on these productions, in the sections Cire blanche d'Insectes ^f & l'arbre qui porte le suif. His relations are, perhaps, too prolix, but they are evidently the result of attentive observation, and serve to illustrate the Natural History, and economical purposes, of the subjects we are noticing: they are briefly these. The white wax of China is called Tchang pe la; it is not the same as the white wax of bees, but is the produce of a sort of insect that feeds on a tree called Tong tçin: these insects form a kind of white grease which attaches to the branches of the tree, hardens, and becomes wax. It is scraped from the branches of the trees in autumn, melted on the fire, strained; then poured into cold water, where it coagulates and forms itself into cakes. This wax is very white and glossy; it is mixed with oil and made into candles, and is much superior to the wax of bees for that purpose.

[Page] Chi tchin, a Chinese writer, says, it was not till the dynasty of Yuen that the wax made by these insects began to be known; the custom then became very general to employ it both in medicine and making candles. Its medicinal virtues are highly extolled by the Chinese physicians, and particularly by Tchi hen. It is said to be a drug absolutely necessary to surgeons, that it makes the flesh close, stops bleeding, appeases pain, unites the nerves, rejoints the bones, and taken in pills, kills the worms that occasion consumptions. It is found in most of the south-east provinces of China; but the best is brought from Sc tchuen and Yunnan, and from the territories of Hen tcheou, and Yung tcheou.

These insects are white when young, and it is then they make their wax. When old, they are of a blackish chesnut colour, and form little pelotons on the branches of trees. These pelotons, at first, are about the size of a grain of millet; towards the beginning of the spring they increase in bulk and spread; they are attached to the branches like grapes, and at first sight, the trees that bear them, appear loaded with fruit. About the beginning of May, they gather them, and having enveloped them in the leaves of Yo (a species of broad-leaved grass), they are suspended to the trees. At the end of June, and in July, the pelotons open, and the insects come forth, crawl about the leaves, and form their wax.

Sir G. Staunton, in his learned work, has also described the Wax insect; he found it at Turon Bay, in Cochin China, and has caused it to be represented in a vignette plate, with the following description. "Among other objects of natural curiosity, accident led to the observation of some swarms of uncommon [Page]insects busily employed upon small branches of a shrub, then neither in fruit or flower, but in its general habit bearing somewhat the appearance of a privet. These insects, each not much exceeding the size of the domestic fly, were of a curious structure, having pectinated appendages rising in a curve, bending to­wards the head, not unlike the form of the tail feathers of the common fowl, but in the opposite direction. Every part of the insect was, in colour, of a perfect white, or at least completely covered with a white powder. The particular stem frequented by those insects, was entirely whitened by a substance or powder of that colour, strewed upon it by them. The substance or powder was supposed to form the white wax of the East. This substance is asserted, on the spot, to have the property, by a particular manipulation, of giving in certain proportions, with vegetable oil, such solidity to the composition as to render the whole equally capable of being moulded into candles. The fact is ascertained, indeed, in some degree, by the simple experiment of dissolving one part of this wax in three parts of olive oil made hot. The whole, when cold, will coagulate into a mass, approaching to the firmness of bees wax."

From the accurate description and figures of the latter author, it is evident, the creature that produces the white wax of China, is an imperfect insect, or, technically speaking, the pupa of an insect, which, in its mature state, is furnished with wings. This is clearly the fact, for the rudiments of wings are visible in the figures alluded to ^g. The metamorphose of insects are so various, and their appearance so changed in passing from one state to another, that the identity of any species in the larva or pupa can only be proved by actual observation; neither do the larva or pupa possess those characteristic differences by which naturalists determine one species from another; and this consideration deters us from deciding on the precise species, to which the pupa before us should be referred.

STOHL, a Dutch author, has been more fortunate; he has ascertained this identical creature to be the pupa of Cicada Limbata, and in his work on Cimices and Cicades, gives a figure of it under the title of De Waldraagster (Nymphe) or La Cigale Porte Laine, fig. 144, together with the winged insect at fig. 145; and it is on this authority Cicada Limbata is introduced in the annexed plate.

We are strongly inclined to credit the accuracy of Stohl in this instance; there is much similarity be­tween the pupa and the cicada, and some striking characteristics are common to both. They agree in the structure of the antennae, and proboscis, or sucking trunk; the abdomen of the winged insect is also loaded with a fine white powder, and is furnished at the extremity with a tuft of down and hairs, similar to that so eminently conspicuous in the pupa state. We have, however, observed the white powder, and tuft on the abdomen of Cicada lanata, and have reason to imagine it also forms a white wax, similar to that of the present species.

[Page]The Cicada limbata is of a light green colour, with a red margin; that which Stohl has figured is of a pale brown, with a black margin. These are the species and variety Fabricius describes, for the specimens he refers to, in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks, agree precisely with our insects. Fabricius notes the habitat Africa. Stohl received the green specimen from the Island of Ceylon; the pale sort from Africa. The larva we have represented is from China; and the Cicada was brought from the East Indies, by the late Mr. Ellis.

Croton Sebiferum—Poplar-leaved Croton, or Tallow-tree.

The Tallow-tree is not the natural food of the Wax insect, but as they mutually illustrate the same in­quiry, they are represented in the same plate; and it is further presumed, that a short account of this use­ful plant, will be deemed a proper sequel to the history of the insect.

Du Halde, when describing the Tallow-tree, says, "Il est de la hauteur d'une grande cerifier. Le fruit est renfermée dans un écorce qu'on appelle Yen Kiou, et qui s'ouvre par le milieu quand il est mûr, comme celle de la châtaigne. Il consiste en des grains blancs de la grosseur d'un noisette, dont la chair a les qualitez du suif; aussi en fait-on des chandelles, après l'avoir fait fondre, en y mêlant souvent un pen d'huile ordinaire, et trempant les chandelles dans la cire qui vient fur l'arbre dont je vais parler: il s'en forme autour du suif une espéce de croûte qui l'empêche de couler ^h. Page 18. Vol. I.

Sir G. Staunton speaks nearly to the same effect: "From the fruit of the Croton sebiferum, of Lin­naeus, the Chinese obtain a kind of vegetable fat, with which they make a great proportion of their candles. This fruit, in its external appearance, bears some resemblance to the berries of the ivy. As soon as it is ripe, the capsule opens and divides into two, or, more frequently, three divisions, and falling off, discovers as many kernels, each attached by a separate foot-stalk, and covered with a fleshy substance of a snowy whiteness, contrasting beautifully with the leaves of the tree, which, at this season, are of a tint between a purple and a scarlet. The fat, or fleshy substance, is separated from the kernels by crushing and boiling them in water. The candles made of this fat are firmer than those of tallow, as well as free [Page]from all offensive odour. They are not, however, equal to those of wax or spermaceti." This author further adds, "The wax for candles, is generally the produce of insects, feeding chiefly on the privet, as is mentioned in the chapter of Cochin China. It is naturally white, and so pure as to produce no smoke; but is collected in such small quantities, as to be scarce and dear. Cheap candles are also made of tal­low, and even of grease of too little consistence to be used, without the contrivance of being coated with the firmer substance of the tallow-tree or of wax." Vide Chapter on Sou-choo foo.

The tallow-tree is now cultivated in the West Indies, where it thrives well, and produces fruit, and by proper attention may hereafter become useful.

[Page]In the infant state of music, men, seem to have preferred the natural sounds of some animals, to those of their uncouth instruments. We cannot otherwise account for the extravagant praise, bestowed on the noise of this little creature. It is true, authors agree that the sounds of some kinds are exceeding loud and harmonious, and in the early ages of the world these might have a powerful influence on the human mind. It is related that the ancient Locri, a people of Greece, were so charmed with the song of the Cicada, that they erected a statue to its honour ⁱ.

The ancients had attentively observed the manners of its life, though they indulged in many poetical fictions concerning it; and particularly, when they affirmed that it subsisted on dew. They have told us that it lives among trees ^k, which circumstance discountenances the opinion of those moderns, who imagine the grashoppers ^l were the Cicadae of the ancients.

Neither were they ignorant that the males only were furnished with those instruments which externally appear to produce its sound, or the purpose for which that sound was emitted ^m; though it was reserved for more accurate naturalists to discover the complex organs by which it was caused and modulated. Aldrovandus, near two centuries ago, described the lamellae, which he compares to the fruit of some herbs, called by modern botanists Thlaspi ⁿ.

Among later naturalists who have noticed the Cicadae of foreign countries are Merian ^o, Margravius ^p, &c. Merian says, its tune resembles the sound of a lyre, which is heard at a distance; and that the Dutch in the [Page]plantations of Surinam (where they are very plenty) call it the Lyre-playr ^q. Margravius, in his natural history of Brasil, compares it to the sound of a vibrating wire: he says the tune begins with Gir, guir, and continues with Sis, sis, sis. One species is called Kakkerlak ^r in the Indies, perhaps because the sound emitted by it may be likened to the pronunciation of that word. Mr. Abbot, an accurate observer and collector of natural history in North America, has discovered four new species of Cicada, one of them nearly equal in size to our Cicada Atrata. This, he says, was found in great abundance one season, in some swampy grounds near Susquehanna river, and was remarkable on account of their loud noise, which at a little distance resembled the ringing of horse-bells. ^s

Some naturalists have supposed that the sound of the Cicada, is caused by the flapping of the lamellae against the abdomen; and others, that it is only a noise occasioned by the rustling of the segments of the body in the contractile motion of that part. Beckman ^t imagines it is caused by beating the body and legs against the wings: he has endeavoured to explain the meaning of ancient authors, and deduce its etymology from that circumstance. ^u

Reaumur and Roesel have dissected several of the Cicadae, and discovered that the lamellae cannot have that free motion necessary to cause such a sound; but that it is produced by some internal organs of the insect, and only issues through the opening, concealed under the lamellae, as through the mouth of a mu­sical instrument ^x.

The suppositions of these authors seem well founded; we have examined many species that were un­known to them, and find the spine before mentioned, so placed in many insects, as to prevent the motion [Page]of the lamellae. We have a specimen from America, which, in addition to the usual organs of sound, have two large hollow protuberances or drums; one on each side of the abdomen; and must, we imagine, produce a louder sound than any yet discovered: a species very similar to this is also brought from New Holland.

The proboscis of those insects is a hard or horny tube, in which a very acute; slender sucking-pipe is con­cealed. The horny tube is not unlike a gimlet in form, and is used by those creatures to bore through the bark of trees, to extract the juices, on which it feeds. Linnaeus has named the species of one division in his System, Mannifera, because they had been observed to fly among ash trees, bore many holes in them, and when the manna had oozed out, return and carry it off.

With this proboscis they bore holes in the small twigs of the extreme branches of trees, and deposit their eggs in them, sometimes to the amount of six or seven hundred. As each cell contains no more than from twelve to twenty eggs, it does great damage to the trees they frequent. Stohl says, "the common one ^y, which is sound at Surinam in the coffee plantations, greatly injures those trees; the females deposit­ing their eggs in the young shoots, and in holes they bore with their sheath. They live on the juices of the trees."

[Page]M. Merian gives a figure and account of the metamorphose of a cicada found in Surinam. She has mistaken the winged insect to be only the pupa of the Fulgora Lanternaria, which is too absurd to deserve contradiction; in other respects her account is interesting, and particularly that part which relates to the pupa state, or chafer, as it is termed. "The pomegranate tree," says Merian, "so well known in all other countries, grows also in the fields of Surinam. On them I have found a species of chafer, which is naturally very lazy, and consequently very easy to be caught. It carries underneath the head a long trunk, with which it easily penetrates the flowers, in order to extract the honey from them. On the 20th of May, when they were laying quite quiet, the skin of the back burst open, and green flies, with transparent wings, issued from them. These flies are found in abundance in Surinam, and have such a rapid flight, that it took me many hours to catch one."

The pupa we received from China with our Cicada atrata, very much resembles that figured by Merian. It has the long sucking trunk or proboscis; but the most formidable of its weapons seem to be the fore feet, which are thick, strong, and armed with spines or teeth; with these it may do more injury to the plants, by tearing off the tender shoots, than by wounding the trunk to extract the moisture.

We have represented the upper and under side of a male of this interesting species, Cicada atrata, not only to illustrate our preceding remarks, but because we believe no figure has been given of it by any author, unless De Zwarte Chineesche cicade ^z of Stohl is intended for this insect. The Fabrician description has no synonyms.

The general appearance of both sexes of Cicada atrata is very similar, except that the female is fur­nished with a sheath, and the male with lamellae. The sheath of the female is partly concealed within a valve at the extremity of the abdomen, and is only protruded when the creature lays her eggs. In the figure of the under surface of a male insect, exhibited in the annexed plate, the lamellae are distinguished by two stars: the single star denotes the situation of the spine, mentioned by Roesel and Reaumur.

Laurus Camphora.—Camphor-tree.

The tree which produces the useful drug camphor is very abundant in Japan and China. Sir G. Staunton says it is the only species of the laurel genus growing in China, where it is a large and valuable timber, and is never cut up for the sake of the drug; but that substance is obtained by decocting the small branches, twigs, and leaves, and subliming the camphor in luted earthen vessels. A purer sort is brought from the island of Borneo and Japan, which is supposed to be a natural exudation from the tree when the bark is wounded. Sir G. Staunton says the Camphor-tree is felled in those countries for the sole purpose of finding the drug in substance among the splinters.

M. Merian has given a plate and description of this species in her work on the Insects of Surinaim. We learn from that account, that in the larva and pupa state it lives in the water; that it is a voracious creature, and feeds not only on the weaker kinds of aquatic insects, but on some animals much larger than itself. The pupat ^t is represented on the back of a large frog in the water, and is designed to pourtray the manner in which it fastens on those creatures, holds them between its strong curved fore feet ^u, and extracts the juices of their bodies, through its singularly constructed beak. M. Merian says the winged insect came out of one of these creatures on the twelfth of May 1701.

Every writer on this insect since M. Merian, appears indebted to her, for their account of these sew particulars; for though all the European species of the same genus undergo precisely the same changes in their aquatic dwellings, among decayed vegetables, &c. at the bottom of the water, and quit it only in the [Page]winged state ^v, we are indebted to her for the time of the appearance of this exotic species in that state, as well as for a correct figure of its pupa.

Authors vary in their accounts of its native country. Linnaeus, following Merian, makes it Surinam; Margravius, Brasil; and Fabricius, America generally. We observe a slight difference between our Chinese specimen and the figures in preceding works referred to by Fabricius; but in giving it as the Nepa Grandis of that author, we have no hesitation, having compared it with those species referred to by Fabricius in the collection of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart.

Insects in general discover an extraordinary degree of care, and ingenuity, in depositing their eggs in the most secure situations, or places where the infant brood, when hatched, may be provided with proper sustenance. Those of the aquatic kind usually lay them in recesses in the mud or sand, or under loose stones that lie at the bottom of the water: others, with as much care, and more ingenuity, hollow out the interior substance of the large stalks of water plants, and deposit their eggs in them; or, rising out of the water, lay them in the extreme branches of those plants, to secure them from other aquatic depredators. The Nepa rustica displays even more sagacity, or attachment for its eggs, than those creatures; for it never leaves them. Till they are hatched, it bears them on its back, in a cluster of an oval shape; these eggs are of an oblong form, and are fastened by the narrowest end to a thin film, or plate of cement, that causes them to adhere to the polished surface of the wing cases; when these eggs, about an hundred in number, are hatched, it casts off the exuviae of the cluster, and differs no longer in general appearance from the male of the same species.

Our figures represent the situation of the eggs on the back, and the insect also after they are cast off. It is not commonly received with the eggs upon it. Found on the coast of Coromandel, as well as China.

This curious insect is among the number of those lately brought from China. A figure of the upper surface is represented on a leaf of the Camellia Sesanqua, one of the vignette plates of Sir G. Staunton's History of the late Embassy to that country; a coloured figure and a short account of it may therefore prove acceptable to the readers of his volumes.

Professor Thunberg of Upsal discovered this insect in his travels in Japan, and described it among his new species under the name Cimex Ocellatus. Stoll, in a work recently publised on Cimices, has also given a figure of it: he has likewise represented another sort, which he considers as the female (letter A); it has no black points in the yellow spots of the thorax and scutellum: he mentions the Isle of Formosa as the native country of his specimens.

Fabricius has rejected the specific name Ocellatus, which was given by Thunberg, and has called it Dispar: he has added a very minute account of its characteristic marks, &c.

We have represented the insect in a flying position, to display the singular wings, that are concealed under the scutellum when it is at rest. The other figure, distinguished also by a star, exhibits the under side of the insect, which for variety and beauty of colours is not less interesting than the upper surface.

This beautiful insect is not peculiar to China; it is found on the coasts of Bengal and Coromandel, and in the Isle of Java. It seems a very common creature in those parts of the world; for we rarely receive a parcel of the insects of those countries, and from China in particular, that does not include many of them. There are several varieties of this species; some incline very much to green, and vary in the form of their spots, &c. We have a charming miniature variety of it from Africa aequin. about one third of the size of the Chinese specimens, and of a very deep blue colour. The marks both on the upper and under side pre­cisely resemble those in the annexed figures.

This elegant insect has been figured by Stoll and Sulzer. The four following are not, we believe, in any other work.

From the collection of Mr. Francillon, who received it from China. Fabricius describes it in his new genus Lygaeus as a native of Brazil.

This species is allied to Cimex bellicosus, a native of Africa. Fabricius notes Lygaeus Phasianus from Africa also: our specimens were brought from China by the late Mr. Ellis, surgeon.

Fabricius describes this insect from the cabinet of Schlanbusch. It is very common in China.

This very singular creature is a Cimex of Linnaeus. It is a rare species, and has only been described by Fabricius, who places it in the new genus Reduvius ^a

The simile proposed by Linnaeus for the arrangement of Butterflies, is gleaned from ancient and fabulous history. The species are divided into sections of Trojan and Greek princes, heroes, deities, nymphs, and plebeians: this allegorical system, which is well conducted, seems liable to less objection, than the cha­racters assigned to each section: for many species placed among the Equites, and a more considerable num­ber with the Plebeii, are inconsistent with the essential criterion Linnaeus has given. This arrangement has undergone some material alterations in the Entomologia Systematica of Fabricius; alterations, perhaps justified, by the comprehensive view, its author has taken of this pleasing branch of Entomology. The Equites, with many additions, and a few exceptions, are the same as those in the two Linnaean sections: Papilio Priamus, is however, removed from the head of the Equites Trojani, and the precedence given to Papilio Paris.

Papilio Paris is an insect of considerable beauty. The general colour on the upper surface obscure brown, nearly approaching black, but finely contrasted with brilliant green atoms, that are profusely sprinkled over it. The posterior wings are adorned with a large blue spot, which derives additional lustre from the dusky colour surrounding it. Another species, very similar to Papilio Paris, but without this spot, is also found in China. It is the supposed female of our species. Fabricius names it Bianor, after Cramer, pl. 103. fig. 6.

The beauty of the preceding species claims our notice: Papilio Crino, our admiration. Its form is graceful, its colours splendid; and in addition to those attractions, it is extremely rare. We have found an unique specimen of this species in the collection of Mr. Drury, and on that authority we include it as a native of China. It has not been figured by any author. Fabricius describes the same insect under the specific name Crino, erroneously giving its habitat, Africa.

Renealmia exaltata.

Flowered in the summer of the present year, both in the stove of G. Hibberts, Esq. and at Messrs. Grimwoods and Wyke's, Kensington. It is a majestic plant, near seven feet in height, and bears a fine pendent group of flowers at the summit.

This is one of the largest Chinese Papiliones we are acquainted with. The upper and under surfaces so nearly agree, that we have considered a figure of the first unnecessary. It is represented with Papilio Coon on the

Plumbago Rosea. Rose coloured Lead-Wort.

Uncommonly scarce, and not hitherto figured. Fabricius has given it as a new species, Peranthus, and refers to a specimen in the collection of the Right Hon. Sir J. Banks, Bart. That insect came from Cochin China. We have seen another, which came from Canton: it is represented on a small twig of Arundo Bambos. Bamboo or Cane.

This well known plant is mentioned by Sir G. Staunton among the most useful productions of China.

We have reason to conclude that this superb Butterfly has never been figured by any preceding author. Fabricius described it in his Entomologiae Systematica from one of the original drawings, in the collection of Mr. Jones, and refers exclusively to that figure, in a synonym to his description. Mr. Jones having oblig­ingly assisted us with his collection of drawings, and given us permission to copy any of them, we cannot withhold enriching our volume with a figure of Papilio Laomedon.

The specimen, from which the drawing was made, was in the collection of Mr. Latham.

This beautiful species is selected from the drawings of Mr. Jones; because we presume that a figure of it has never been published before.

Papilio Epius and Papilio Demoleus are so similar in their marks and colours, that most authors have confounded one species with the other. Papilio Epius is chiesly distinguished by the red spot in the interior margin of the lower wings, having no blue eye-shaped mark above it.

The singular delicacy and beauty of this Papilio is not the only claim it has to the particular attention of Entomologists: it is clearly an undescribed species; and perhaps the only specimen of it yet brought to Europe, is that from which our figure is copied. It was taken near Pekin, by a gentleman in the suite of Earl Macartney, in the late embassy to China; and is at this time in the possession of Mr. Francillon of London, who has kindly permitted us to make drawings and descriptions of this, and every other insect in his magnificent collection that could enhance the value of this publication.

Papilio Telamon bears a distant resemblance to P. Protesilaus, but a much stronger to P. Ajax: pur­suing then the metaphorical method of arranging the butterflies in the Linnaean manner, we have given it the name of the father of Ajax, who was one of the distinguished Grecian Princes at the siege of Troy.

Papilio Agamemnon is found in several parts of Asia. The under side is beautifully adorned with a number of bright green spots of various sizes. The general colour is pale pink, diversified with shades of chesnut brown. The upper side is much plainer; the general colour is black, except on the spots, which are green, and precisely agree in shape with those on the under side.

Most naturalists are undetermined whether Papilio Menelaus and the supposed variety, Papilio Rhetenor, should not be considered distinct species. The colour of the upper side is nearly the same in both insects; but the under sides are very different. The Linnaean description of the male, P. Menelaus, agrees with Papilio Rhetenor, and probably he considered them the two sexes of one insect. Fabricius would certainly have made a new species of it, if he had not been of the same opinion. We have both insects before us, and should most assuredly make a new species of P. Rhetenor, as Cramer and Sulzer have done, if the authority of the last work of Fabricius were not opposed to us.

Papilio Menelaus is a native of South America. Sulzer's specimen of Papilio Rhetenor came from China. Foreign Entomologists, for this and other reasons, have considered them distinct species. The curious in insects, says Cramer, call this butterfly Le Satiré bleu oblong, to distinguish it from P. Menclaus, or Le Satiné bleu vulgaire.—Cramer has also given a third and much smaller kind of these blue butterflies, Pap. Adonis, which Fabricius also considers a variety of Menclaus.

Whatever effect the artist can produce by a combination of the most brilliant colours employed in painting, he must shrink from comparison of it with this splendid creature. It is impossible to find in any part of the animal creation colours more beautiful or changeable. Pale blue is the principal colour, but new tints meet the eye in every direction, varying from a silvery green to the deepest purple; and the whole surface glittering with the resplendence of highly polished metal.

[Page] Thea Laxa.—Bohea, or broad-leaved Tea.

Sir G. Staunton says the bohea tea is supplied in China from the province of Fochen: the green tea from Kiang-nan. The leaves of these teas vary in some degree in form according to the age of the plant; those of the bohea are the broadest; Thea stricta has much longer leaves, they are lanceolated, and more deeply serrated than those of the bohea. Many authors have considered them varieties of the same species. —Flowers in England in August and September.

Found throughout Asia: in China is very common.

Papilio Vesta is the only insect of the Heliconii division of Butterflies, described by Fabricius as peculiar to China, in his Ent. Syst. It is a rare species, and has not been figured in any work, unless the Papilio Terpsichore of Cramer prove the same species. The Papilio Vesta of that author is a very different insect, being the P. Erato of Fabricius.

Not so rare as the preceding species; but by no means common. The upper surface is uniformly black, except the radiated white marks, similar, to those seen on the under surface of the anterior wings; and the white central spot. It exhibits no trace of the red, and seareely a tinge of the yellow colour so conspicu­ous on the under surface.

We have two sorts of this species; one with the marginal row of red spots on the posterior wings, dis­posed in a deep border of black; the other has the red spots on a whitish ground. They are certainly the two sexes of Papilio Hyparete. Found near Canton in China.

Sophora Japonica.—Shining-leav'd Sophora.

An elegant and valuable timber tree. Sir G. Staunton speaks of it as very frequent in China. It is noticed in the lists of plants collected in the journey between Pekin and Zhe-hol in Tartary, and in the provinces of Shan-tung and Kiang-nan, and also in the province of Pe-che-lee.

This is a rare species, and has not been figured by any author.

Roesel has given a figure of this beautiful butterfly in the fourth volume of the Insecten Bellustigung, and calls it die indianische Goldborte; Linnaeus also notes it as an Indian species. Our specimen was received from China by the late Mr. Keate: it is represented with the preceding species on the Melastoma Chinensis, A plant recently introduced into this country.

Papilio Glaucippe is an elegant insect: very common in China, and it is said, in some adjacent parts of Asia also. The Papilio Callirrhoe of Linnaeus is considered as the female of this species: few authors deem it more than a variety (β).

Fabricius, as well as Linnaeus, considers this as an American insect: Mr. Drury received his specimens from China, and that represented in the annexed plate was also brought from the same country by the late Mr. Ellis.

Limodorum Tankervilliae, An elegant and much admired production of China: it was introduced in 1788, and named in compli­ment to the Earl of Tankerville.

A specimen of this extremely rare Butterfly is contained in the collection of Dr. Hunter; a fragment in the British Museum; and one in fine preservation in the collection of Mr. Francillon. Except these, and the specimens from which the figures in the annexed plate are copied, we have never seen it in any cabinet whatever.

It has been figured only by two authors, Clerk in his Icons insectorum rariorum, and Cramer in his Pa­pillons exotique. The figures of Clerk and Cramer do not strictly agree: we observe those of the first much lighter coloured, and the white space on the upper wings considerably larger than in any of the figures in Cramer's plates ^r.

Fabricius says it is a native of the East Indies. One specimen figured by Cramer was brought from the isle of Amboyna. It seems therefore, not peculiar, like some insects, to China.

Papilio Antiochus is very rare in European cabinets of insects. The specimen figured by Drury came from the Brazils, and Cramer's from Surinam. Fabricius describes it as a native of China. The insect figured in the collection of drawings of Mr. Jones of Chelsea, was a native of China, as well as the speci­men in our collection.

This curious butterfly was found in the province of Pe-tche-lee, in China, by the gentleman who dis­covered the elegant Papilio, Telamon, near Pekin; and has otherwise, by his attention to entomology, added some interesting species to our catalogue of Chinese insects. P. Jacintha is represented with P. An­tiochus. on a leaf of the

Urtica Nivea. White Nettle ^c.

A specimen of this very rare Papilio, was taken in one of the small islands on the eastern coast of China, and is in the possession of Mr. Francillon. Sir J. Banks, Bart. has a specimen of it from another part of the East Indies.

This pretty insect is very common about Canton, in China.

This seems to have been confounded with the preceding species both by Linnaeus and Fabricius. Lin­naeus first describes it as the female, and afterwards as a variety of it; but it certainly is a very distinct species.

This uncommonly rare Chinese butterfly has certainly never been figured in any preceding work. It will also be probably new to the collectors of exotic insects, in this country at least. Fabricius described it only from the accurate drawings of Mr. Jones, as appears by the reference added to the description in his Entomologia Systematica.

Camellia Japonica.—Japan Rose.

A native of Japan and China. It bears blossoms from January to May. This is a lofty and magnificent plant, rising to the height of several feet: there is a variety of it with double flowers, perfectly white; and another in which the flowers are variegated with white and red.

It is the rarity, and not the beauty of this butterfly, which has induced us to add it to our selection. We apprehend it is far from common in China, being very seldom sent to Europe among the insects of that country.

The varieties of Papilio Orythia are numerous, and seem to differ according to climate of the countries of which they are natives. It is common in North America, Jamaica, India, &c. The variety from North America is almost wholly brown, and those from Jamaica have less blue in the disk of the lower wings, than those from China.

Papilio Clelia of Cramer, which is found on the coast of Guinea, has been supposed a variety of Papilio Orythia. Fabricius, in the Entomologia Systematica, has made it a distinct species. It greatly resembles P. Orythia, but has no more blue colour on the posterior wings than is concentrated in a large spot near the base.

The angulated form of the wings of this butterfly gives it a remarkable appearance. The eyes on the wings somewhat resemble those of the Peacock butterfly, to which, in some other respects, it bears no distant similitude. It is common in China; Fabricius gives its habitat Asia.

We are indebted for this rarity to T. Marsham, Esq. It is described by Fabricius from an original drawing ^d, and has not been figured by any author.

This is also a scarce species. Our specimen is from the collection of the late Duchess Dowager of Portland, who procured it from China. Another specimen in the cabinet of Sir J. Banks, Bart. is from Siam.

Hemerocallis Japonica.

Brought from China by Mr. Slater, and flowered in July 1798 in the green-house of G. Hibberts, Esq. Clapham.

The number of Chinese species of this genus, already described, is very limited: our present insect is the largest of them; but, as this is inferior in size to several kinds found in Europe, we conceive there must remain many larger species of the genus unknown to collectors of foreign insects, and yet very com­mon in China. In the latter part of Sir G. Staunton's work, that author mentions the larva of a Sphinx Moth which furnish an article for the table of the Chinese. We regret that the indefinite expression can­not not assist us to determine the species, and scarcely the genus, of the insect alluded to ^e.

The specimen figured in the annexed plate, is in the collection of Mr. Francillon, who received it from China. A small variety of the same species is found in North America, and figured by Cramer. Sphinx Batus and Sphinx Gnoma are nearly allied to this insect, particularly the former; both are found in dif­ferent parts of the East Indies.

We suspect this beautiful creature is scarce in China; at least it is very rarely found among the insect brought from that country. It is figured on the plate with the Rosa semperflorens—Ever-blowing China Rose.

A plant lately introduced from China, but thrives well in this climate, and bears a beautiful deep red flower, throughout most part of the summer season.

The Sphinges with transparent wings may be separated from the others with much propriety: Fabri­cius includes them in his new genus Sesia; but that genus is not formed exclusively of such insects, his essential characters being taken from the structure of the palpi, tongue, and antennae. The Sphinx fuci­formis found in England somewhat resembles this Chinese species.

It is altogether perplexing, and mysterious to us, that Fabricius, throughout all his works, and even in his last enlarged and corrected systematic arrangement, has given a Papilio Thallo in the Heliconii division of that genus, when it is clear no such Papilio has existence. Linnaeus has, undoubtedly, so named an in­sect figured in a plate of Edwards's birds, tab. 226, with a reference to that work; yet it is certain the insect there figured is not a butterfly, but a lepidopterous Insect, to which antennae of dubious structure have been added, to perfect its appearance ^f. No later author has figured the same species; and specimens of it being extremely scarce, it is probable Fabricius has been unable to detect the error. In admitting this, however, we must necessarily notice the synonyms of Sphinx pectinicornis, where he also quotes the same figure in the works of Edwards. Thus we find, throughout all the editions of the Fabrician System, a Papilio Thallo and Sphinx pectinicornis formed of the solitary figure of one insect. Cramer has finally increased the ambiguity of its genera, by making an insect of close affinity, perhaps the same species, a Phalaena. Vide P. Tiberina.

[Page]With specimens of both the insects figured by Edwards and Cramer before us, we cannot hesitate to consider them Sphinges of the Adscitae ^g family, and of the Zygaena of Fabricius. In removing our insect to the sphinx genus, we have retained the specific name Thallo, as more likely to denote the species than any newly adopted name. The insect figured by Cramer does not precisely agree with Edwards's figure. In the first, the disk of the posterior wings are yellowish, with a deep border of black: in the other, the yellow occupies only a space near the base, and forms a semi-lunar mark near the anterior margin of those wings. We suspect, with Cramer, that they are but the two sexes of one species. Cramer says both his specimens came from China, from whence our insects were also received.

This and the following species are undoubted nondescripts: both specimens are in the collection of Mr. Francillon, who received them from China.

An ornamental evergreen, much esteemed by the Chinese, and very frequently represented in their land­scapes. Sir G. Staunton remarks in the account of the journey from Pekin to Canton, that great quanti­ties of this plant grew to a prodigious height in the valley in which stands the city of Yen-choo-foo.

The Phalaenae are a tribe of insects remarkable for the neatness and simplicity of their colours. Their elegancies consist in the infinite variety, and delicacy of intermingled tints: the contrast of spots, speck­lings, and lineations, which constitute the minutiae of insect beauty. Some species are to be excepted in this remark; the larger kinds are often gaudy, and the smallest exhibit a display of the richest colours, fancifully disposed, and most elegantly diversified.

The European species are numerous, and pretty well ascertained: those of remote countries remain in great obscurity. The species inhabiting China are almost unknown ^o; for the latest systematic writer describes not more than twenty species in all the cabinets in Europe. From this scanty number a few are selected to illustrate the genus, and if these appear deficient in point of interest or variety, it may stimu­late others to collect new species, whenever an opportunity occurs. The Phalaena tribe, not only of China, but every country, except of Europe, are a desideratum of entomology. In Europe the number of this tribe exceeds that of any other: on the contrary, the extra European species are comparatively the most inconsiderable of our acquisitions. The Papiliones, or Butterflies, are a showy and lively race: they sport in the open fields in day, and attract the traveller's curiosity; hence our cabinets abound with them. But the moth, infinitely more numerous, and not less pleasing, is seldom seen; in the gloominess of its dispo­sitions, [Page]it seeks the obscurity of the forest in the day, and only ventures on the wing when the sun is down. In Europe we visit its nocturnal haunts without difficulty or dread; but in hotter climates these are often­times impenetrable, or the lurking places of ferocious animals; and few will expose themselves to their attacks, to increase the catalogue of exotic Phalaenae ^p.

Phalaena Atlas is the first species we have to notice. It is the largest of the moth tribe ^q, and is, in­deed, gigantic creature. The species is common, but not peculiar to China, being found in other parts of Asia, and in America. The influence of climate is easily traced in the varicties from different countries; that from Surinam is the largest, and of the deepest colours. The Chinese kind is the next in size; the colours incline to orange, and the anterior wings are more falcated or hooked at the ends. We have two other Asiatic varieties still smaller, with the wings extremely falcated.

The larva of Phalaena Atlas is figured by M. Merian, in the Insecta Surinamensia, plate 52: it is about four inches in length, green, with a yellow stripe disposed longitudinally. Upon each segment are four distinct round tubercles of a coral-like orange colour, which are surrounded with very delicate hairs. The pupa is large, and is inclosed in a web of an ochre colour. The silk of this web is of a strong texture, and it has been imagined, if woven, would be superior in durability to that of the common silk worm. Seba has also represented the larva at fig. 1. plate 57. vol. 4. Thesaurus Naturae. It is nearly six inches in length, and bulky in proportion; the Phalaena is also larger than that figured by Merian, which is a [Page]small specimen of the Surinam kind. According to Merian, there are three broods of this insect in a year; they are very common, and feed on the orange trees. Linnaeus says, they adhere so tenaciously to the leaves, that they can scarcely be taken off ^r.

The common silk worm, or Phalaena Mori, is of this family, and merits observation as a native of China. The art of weaving its threads into silk is of the earliest date. The discovery is attributed to the Seres, a people of the East Indies, supposed the Chinese ^s. In the days of Solomon, we are told, a woman named Pamphilia, of the Island of Co, was skilled in the art of making cloth, of the silk brought from the country of the Seres. The most ancient of the Chinese writers ascribe the invention to one of the women of the emperor Hoang ti, named Si ling, and in honour Yuen fei ^t. When Rome degenerated into voluptuousness, Persia, its dependency, furnished this article of luxury; but it is supposed they were in­debted to the Chinese for it, and being supplied only in small quantities, it was consequently dear. In Rome it was so scarce, as to be worn only by persons of the first distinction.

The Chinese historians affirm, that the discovery was considered at first of such importance, that all the women in the palace of the emperor were engaged in rearing the insect, and weaving its silk. In after times, the silk of China was a principal article of commerce, but latterly its value has been materially lessened, by the culture and fabrication of silk in other countries. As the Chinese know little of the use of linen, the silk is a staple article of their own consumption. The jesuit missionaries mention several sorts of it, in use among the Chinese; some admired for beauty, and others for durability. It is gene­rally supposed these are not merely the effect of different manufacture, but are the produce of dis­tinct insects ^u. Sir. G. Staunton speaks of the culture of silk worms in China, but only of the common sort. It will gratify curiosity, if not prove advantageous, should future obververs ascertain what kind of [Page]insect the Chinese appropriate to making silk, and whether P. Atlas is of the number, as has been conjectured.

This, and the following species, are scarce. Mr. Drury informs us, he never procured but a single specimen of Phalaena lectrix, in the course of thirty years collecting insects.

This is the largest of the Chinese Noctuae; some very similar species, but without the orange eye, and of a smaller size, are peculiar to China.

Not described in any preceding work.

This insect is described by Fabricius, and in conformity with his new system, is termed Acshna cla­vata ^c. We reject his generic definition, because it clearly belongs to the Linnaean Libellulae. Libellula clavata must be placed with the European L. grandis and forcipata.—It is scarce, and has never been figured before.

Another species of Libellulae, peculiar to India, and found in China, greatly resembles this insect: it is probably a variety of it.

These delicate insects appear to be male and female; they are almost a miniature resemblance of the two sexes of Libellula depressa, found in Europe; one having the abdomen yellow, and the other blue.

The only two specimens of this species we are acquainted with, were in the collection of the late Duchess of Portland; one of those is now in the possession of Mr. Francillon.

Very common in China.

This insect has been figured, but not described before, We apprehend Fabricius considered it a variety of some other species, not having noticed it.

This remarkable creature is peculiar to some parts of the Chinese empire. It is not the largest of the genus, known; yet it is of sufficient magnitude to excite terror and disgust. To an European, who has seen only the indigenous spiders of his own country, a species five or six inches in length, and nearly the same in breadth, must appear a frightful creature: Aranea Maculata sometimes exceeds that size; but it has not the forbidding aspect of most insects of the same genus. The legs are unusually long, and the body slender. In its general appearance, it resembles some kinds of the Phalangiae that are known in Eng­land by the vulgar name Harvest men, being generally seen about that time of the year.

It has been observed, that nature oftentimes adorns the most deformed and loathsome of her creatures in the richest display of colours; and this is especially noticed in many sorts of snakes, toads, lizards, —c. Spiders seem also of this description: to a form the most hideous we frequently find united a brilliance of colours, and elegance of marking, that is scarcely excelled by any of the butterfly tribe,—the most beautiful of all lepidopterous insects. Our present subject is a striking proof of the latter part of this observation. The three figures in our plate of Aranca Maculata exhibit a front and a profile view of the insect, together with the front of the head at the third figure. The head is furnished with two very strong black mandi­bles, each terminated in an extremely acute point. The fore part of the thorax, which is wholly of a fine silky appearance, and the colour of silver, bending over the mandibles in the form of an arch, or circular head-piece, give it the resemblance of a black head with a crown of silver on the brow. This appearance is heightened in no small degree by three rugged prominences, one in the centre, and another on each side, on the upper part; and by the minute black eyes, which, like those of most spiders, sparkle with the lustre [Page]of small gems. These eyes are eight in number, four are placed immediately in the front of the silver-coloured circular front piece, and on each side are two more at equal distances, but rather in oblique positions.

The body is really beautiful, the chief colour is deep brown, strongly tinged with bright purple; a broad stripe of orange colour passes down the abdomen from the thorax to the apex: the whole is elegantly marked with a variety of cream-coloured lines and spots intersecting each other. Very little hair is found on any part of this spider except on the thorax, which being rubbed off, discovers a hard testaceous black substance beneath.

Fabricius is the only author who has described this insect: it has never been figured in any work what­ever, as appears by the latest works of Fabricius, and our own observation. It is not always the most decisive method to determine the species from a concise description; but this is sometimes unavoidable, and in the present instance the description given by Fabricius accords in every respect with our specimen. The only insect with which it could possibly be confounded is Aranea Pilipes, which also has never been figured; it differs however from Aranea Maculata in the very hairy clothing of the legs, and it has also two silver stripes down the back: a striking specific distinction to separate it from our insect. It is also a native of the East Indies, but not of China, that we are informed.

In the Entomologia Systematica of Fabricius we find a species of Cancri described, that seems to agree with our specimen. The specific character assigned by that author is however less satisfactory than the general description he has added. The two red spots are very characteristic.

Fabricius met with this creature in the cabinet of Spengler, and notes its habitat China. It is worthy of remark, that this is the only species of the Cancer genus, Fabricius mentions as a native of that country.

The Linnaean Cancri are numerous, and include many species not less singular in appearance than the extraordinary creature before us. Indeed, some species are so extremely different from the rest, both in structure and manners of life, that we cannot hesitate in concluding the Linnaean character of the genus defective and indefinite. This may be observed in several of the species Linnaeus himself described, and throughout a more extensive number of those discovered since the time of that author. It is evident Linnaeus could never reconcile the subdivisions of the two principal families; the Brachyuri and Macrouri; or crabs with short and long tails; and later naturalists have ventured, with propriety, to alter this part of his arrangement. The Pagarus, Hippa, Scyllaris, Astacus, Squilla, and Gammarus, are so many new genera, formed of the Linnaean tribes of Cancri in the last System of Fabricius. The genus, to which Fabricius retains the name Cancer, is distinguished from the rest, by having four short filiform antennae; with the extreme articulation bifid, as we observe in the preceding species. This author follows Degeer in describing the Cancer Mantis, and alters the generic name to Squilla: he observes, that this genus is entirely distinct from the Cancri, and we are of the same opinion, but adhere to the Linnaean genera, be­cause the species, Mantis, was described by Linnaeus, and it may be improper therefore to remove it, to a new genus, in any partial survey of his system. The Cancer Mantis is not peculiar to China.

Travellers agree that the temperate parts of Asia would be a terrestrial paradise, were it not for the multitude of troublesome insects and reptiles with which they are infested. In a well cultivated country, like China, many of these creatures can sscarcely find shelter; but such as harbour in the walls or furniture of human dwellings are as abundant in that, as any other country that lies within or near the tropics. Amongst the latter, none produce more terrible effects than the Centipede, whose poison is as venomous as that of the scorpion, which also is a native of China.

Sir G. Staunton mentions a remarkable circumstance that occurred during the late embassy to China. The ambassador and his suite were accommodated in a temple near the suburbs of Tong-choo-foo. "In some of the apartments the priests had suffered scorpions and scolopendras to harbour through neglect. These noisome creatures were known only by description to some of the gentlemen in the embassy, who had not visited the southern parts of Europe: the sight of such, for the first time, excited a degree of hor­ror in their minds; and it seemed to them to be a sufficient objection to the country, that it produced these animals." Sir George however adds, that no accident happened in that instance.—The species of Scolopendra he alludes to, is probably Morsitans, which is common in many parts of the world, but is par­ticularly sound of a frightful size, and in vast abundance, in the two Indies.

[Page]Many authors have described this creature. In the voluminous works of Seba we find several speci­mens of it from different countries, differing materially in size, and some trifling particulars, but all pos­sessing the distinguishing characters of Scolopendra Morsitans. The largest of these exceed our figure in magnitude, being near fourteen inches in length: this he calls Millepeda major ex nova Hispania. His figure of Millepeda Africanae is about the size of our Chinese specimen. He has also a third and fourth figure, Millepeda Orientalis and Millepeda Celonica, mas: the latter is the same length as our figure, but the body is very narrow. Millepeda Orientalis is also the same length, but the body is very broad. Some of these insects are not four inches in length.

Authors agree that they vary exceedingly in size ^s and colour. De Geer describes them to be some­times deep reddish brown; at others the colour of yellow ochre. The figure in Catesby's Natural History of Carolina is light brown; we have specimens of a livid yellow, and have seen others strongly tinged with red.

The last pair of legs are considerably larger than the others, and are armed with small black spines. The legs terminate in very sharp hooks or nails of a shining black colour. All the other legs are also fur­nished with a smaller nail of the same shape and colour.

M. Gronovius says that all its feet are very venemous; but the most formidable of its weapons are the two sharp, hooked instruments that are placed under the mouth, and with which it destroys its prey.

Lewenhoeck having examined thes instruments with a microscope, he found a small opening at the extremity of each, and a channel from them into the body of the creature. Through this channel he sup­posed poses the Scolopendra emits the poisonous fluid into the wound it makes with the hooked instrument. That author further remarks, that he has seen a liquor on that part of living scolopendras. A figure of these instruments on the under side of the head, is represented in one of the dissections in our plate.

The same author, wishing to ascertain the influence of the poison of Scolopendra morsitans, placed a large fly within its reach. The Scolopendra at first took it between a pair of its middle feet, then passed it from one pair of feet to the next, till the fly was brought under the sharp pointed instrument or crotchets at the head, which it plunged into the fly, and it died instantly. Notwithstanding this experi­ment, De Geer, Catesby, and other authors, assert, that its bite seldom proves fatal to larger animals; but all agree that its poison is as dangerous as that of the scorpion.

This Scolopendra has eight eyes: they are very small; four are placed on each side of the head near the antennae. In the dissections a figure is given to exhibit the manner in which the four eyes are placed on one side.