Read Ebook: Zoological Illustrations Volume 3 or Original Figures and Descriptions of New Rare or Interesting Animals by Swainson William

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 490 lines and 45094 words, and 10 pages

Pl. 121

CINNYRIS Javanica,

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 95.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Above glossy metallic purple; beneath olive yellow; scapulars, rump, and lateral stripe from the bill to the breast, shining violet; throat chesnut; tail black.

The figure is the size of life; the outline of the bill will illustrate the generic characters, of which one of the most important is the nostrils. Nothing can exceed the richness and variety of tints with which this splendid little creature is ornamented; particularly on the head, which is glossed alternately with lilac, sea-green, and violet, and appears as if covered with some metallic substance; the blue on the wings, back, and edges of the tail is very deep, shining, and glossed with purple; all the wing-feathers are edged with olive, and some of the lesser quills with chesnut.

Pl. 122

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 30.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Shell elongated, with crowded bands of black, green, and yellow; basal volution broader than high; aperture rounded; outer lip entire; base deeply notched.

Both these and the two next varieties are in Mr. Dubois' cabinet. Their locality is unknown; but my young friend, Mr. Frederick Parkes, has recently sent me shells of the common variety, found by himself near Kingston, Jamaica.

Pl. 123

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 30.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 122.

Pl. 124

LICINIA Crisia.

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 15.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

The extraordinary difference existing between the sexes of exotic Lepidoptera, and particularly among the Butterflies, is a subject which hitherto has received but little attention; nor am I aware of any entomological writer who has described those characters which absolutely distinguish the sexes: characters which, I am persuaded, will hereafter be found of the first importance in a natural arrangement of these insects. But in the prosecution of this desirable object, the naturalist, as far as regards foreign Lepidoptera, will have to encounter serious obstacles; many individuals must be examined of each species, and some of these dissected. It falls to the lot of few to pursue their inquiries in the native regions of these insects. Collections in this country are very few, and some of these are not always open to the scientific labourer; neither can specimens be sacrificed for dissection, where there are not more than two or three individuals of a species.

This is in general a very rare insect; observed for the first time by Dr. Langsdorff and myself early in June , in a wood adjoining the Organ Mountains at Rio de Janeiro. From its local abundance, we were able to ascertain the sexes. The two upper figures are of the female, and the lower of the male insect.

Pl. 125

PAPILIO Nerius.

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 92.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

P. Wings black, with spots and a common band of green; posterior wings dentated, obsoletely tailed, beneath with a silvery marginal band, divided by the nerves.

I have figured this insect, principally because it will fully illustrate the first section in the arrangement of this beautiful family proposed at plate 92. The two divisions there adopted, after the manner of Linnaeus, I am fully aware, are purely artificial; but the facility this distribution will give to the student, in searching after a particular species, is so obvious, that it need hardly be pointed out.

I have only had the opportunity of examining the individual from which the figure was taken. It is a male, having the anal valves rather lengthened and obtuse, with a small hook between them, which projects from the last segment of the abdomen. This circumstance proves the error of Cramer, in having mistaken the sexes of this species, both of which he seems to have figured. That which I apprehend is the female I have not myself seen. The blue-green on the upper surface of the wings is very resplendent and changeable, and the palpi and thorax beneath are covered with numerous whitish spots.

On the under side of the inferior wings, near their base, is a paler band, rayed with the nerves, and in some lights shining with a pale silvery reflection.

Mr. Smeathman sent this species from Sierra Leone, in Africa, to Mr. Drury. The locality, therefore, of India, given by Linnaeus and Fabricius, must be incorrect.

Pl. 126

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 65.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Shell fulvous or brown, with 2 interrupted white bands; spire short, elevated, conic, spotted, volutions concave with subgranulated striae; base granulated, white.

Var. Shell yellowish, with obscure whitish bands; the base rufous.

Inhabits the Asiatic Ocean.

Pl. 127

CONUS Maldivus,

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 65.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Shell smooth, posterior end slender, ferruginous, with angular white spots, and white bands dotted with brown; base black; spire short, tip acute, the whorls smooth and flat.

Pl. 128

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 65.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 127.

No shells require a greater accuracy of delineation than the Cones, particularly in expressing the peculiarity in the form and sculpture of their spires. I am well persuaded that a great number of the mistakes committed by authors have originated in the wretched figures contained in Favanne's work, and in the early volumes of Martini. Those of Favanne are generally so loose and inaccurate, that I do not wish, by quoting, to make them any authority; and most of the Cones figured by Martini are equally bad.

Pl. 129

MELLIPHAGA torquata,

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 43.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Fulvous olive, beneath white; head and ears black; nape with a white crescent, skin of the eyebrows red.

An elegant, though not a richly coloured bird; remarkable for the bright red of the skin above the eyes, and the milk-white collar at the back of the head. It is from New Holland, and, like others of its tribe, derives its nourishment chiefly from the nectar of flowers; as more particularly mentioned in my first observations on this genus at pl. 43.

The figure is of the natural size: excepting the crown and sides of the head , the whole upper plumage is olive yellow: the shoulders, quills, and tail brown; the two latter margined with olive, but the exterior quills with white: the throat, breast, and collar round the nape pure white; skin of the eyebrows red.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet