Zoological Illustrations Volume Ii Part 9

P. murinus. _Gmelin._ 1. 327. _no._ 80. _Lath. Ind. Orn._ 1. p. 101.

Grey-breasted Parrakeet. _Lath. Syn._ vol. 1. 247. _Gen. Zool._ vol.

viii. p. 456.

Those of our readers who visited Leamington during the last season, may have observed this noisy little creature uttering its discordant cries at the door of a small house near the pump-room. I borrowed it for a day from the good woman to whom it belonged, and thus made the drawing and description with the bird before me.

Dr. Latham observes on this species, that excepting where the grey colour pervades, "the rest of the body is olive green, excepting the quills, which are deep green;"--this may be the female. He adds a quotation from Pernetty, who describes a bird from Monte Video, something near this; but which, from having a very long tail, a flesh-coloured bill, &c. may probably be distinct.

The live bird could not be conveniently measured, but it is rather larger than the red-shouldered Parrakeet, (figured at pl. 62.) The skin round the eye white, and the irides hazel; the whole upper part of the plumage is a beautiful gra.s.s green, changing according to the light into different shades; the top of the head, the quill feathers, and end of the tail, greenish blue, in some lights appearing quite blue; the sides of the head, ears, and throat, as far as the breast, bluish grey; all the remaining under plumage yellowish green, with a shade of orange in the middle of the body and vent; bill and legs dark grey; this latter colour is so unusual in this tribe, that I at first thought it indicated an imperfect plumage, but I have now seen it at two different seasons of the year without any variation whatever. It is probably a South American species.

Pl. 90

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PTEROGLOSSUS inscriptus,

_Lettered Aracari._

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 44.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_P. fusco-viridis, capite gulaque nigris (feminae castaneis;) uropygio rubro; abdomine flavo; rostri fulvi culmine, basi et apice nigris; marginibus dentatis, lineis nigris inscriptis._

Obscure green; head and throat black, (in the female chesnut;) rump crimson; body yellow; bill fulvous, the top, base, and tip, black; the margins dentated, and marked with black lines resembling characters.

I was put in possession of this rare and unknown bird, by the dispersion of the most magnificent a.s.semblage of natural productions that ever marked the zeal of an individual, or ornamented the capital of this kingdom. Mr.

Bullock's Museum is now scattered; yet the objects it comprised were deemed worthy of enriching the public repositories of every nation in Europe; who sent their learned men to purchase with avidity, and share in the spoils of a Museum, the dispersion of which will be long regretted by the learned, the inquiring, and "the many."

Total length, twelve inches and a half; bill, from the angle of the mouth to the tip, two inches three tenths long, and eight tenths across the base; the colour (which appears little changed from that in the live state) is deep straw, or buff yellow; the top of the upper mandible and tips of both are black; parallel with the marginal base of the upper, is a black line, which is very broad on that of the lower; the edges of both are serrated, and marked by short black lines, somewhat resembling oriental characters; at the base of the bill there is an elevated rim of deeper yellow; the ears, chin, and throat are deep chesnut, margined in front with a narrow line of black, (which parts in the male are entirely black;) the crown of the head and neck above also black, changing to a dark bluish green on the wings, back, and tail; the rump crimson, and the greater quills blackish; from the breast to the vent straw-coloured yellow, with a greenish cast; the thighs and flanks olive; tail wedged, near five inches long; the orbits appear to have been black, and the feet green.

Mr. Bullock informed me he had the two s.e.xes of this bird sent him from the interior of Guyana.

Pl. 91

[Ill.u.s.tration]

LICINIA Amphione.

GENERIC CHARACTER.--See Pl. 15.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

_L. alis integris, supra nigris; anticarum basi maculo aurantiaco, triradiato, medio fascia flava, apice maculo flavo ornatis; posticis striga aurantiaca, margine ferrugineo; antennarum clavis albis_.

Wings entire, above black; anterior with a three rayed orange spot at the base, and a central bend and terminal spot of yellow; posterior with an orange stripe and brownish margin; club of the antennae white.

Papilio Amphione. _Cramer_, _pl._ 232. _f._ EF.

Pieris Amphione. _G.o.dart in Ency. Meth._ vol. 9. p. 165. (Female.)

This is the only species among those I have united under the genus _Licinia_, which has any shade of red mixed in the colouring, all the others being variegated only with white, yellow, and black. It is a native of Brazil, and according to G.o.dart of Guyana and the Antilles: though not common, it is sometimes frequent in local situations, preferring the borders of deep forests, and flying very slowly. I had the means of fully ascertaining the two s.e.xes, of which the two upper figures are of the male, and the lower one the female. There can be no doubt the latter is the _Pieris Amphione_, so admirably described by M. G.o.dart, who, however, makes no mention of the black marginal spots on the under side of the posterior wings, represented in Cramer's figure, which may therefore be a variety.

More difficulty, however, exists in ascertaining if the male is distinct from _P. Laia_, of G.o.dart: the figures of Cramer, in general, are so inaccurate, as always to excite a doubt in cases of nice discrimination; G.o.dart's description, nevertheless, perfectly agrees with Cramer's figure: if it was, therefore, drawn up from the insect itself, there can be little doubt that _Laia_ is distinct from _Amphione_; if, on the other hand, M.

G.o.dart made his description only from Cramer's figure, the question remains in its original uncertainty.

The club of the antennae is white, tipt with pale brown. The under side of the female very closely resembles the upper, excepting that the black stripe on the lower wings is broken; and there are irregular blotches of white at the tips of both wings, but no marginal spots, as represented by Cramer.

It will be found that _Licinia_ is the connecting genus between those of _Danais_ and _Pieris_, of Latreille, and that the transition between the last of these and _Colias_ is strongly marked by that of Terias, (_Zool.

Ill. pl._ 22).

What with the inaccuracy of figures, and the almost universal neglect with which the most eminent entomologists have pa.s.sed over this beautiful order, the natural arrangement and affinities of the _Lepidoptera_ still remain in the greatest obscurity; and it is recommended to those who may object to the additional generic distinctions I have made, to examine, in the first instance, the relative validity they bear in essential character to the innumerable genera that are continually created in the _Coleoptera_, _Hymenoptera_, and _Diptera_.

Pl. 92

[Ill.u.s.tration]

PAPILIO,

_b.u.t.terfly_

GENERIC CHARACTER.

_Antennae graciles, clavis elongatis, obtusis, sub-arcuatis, rar compressis. Palpi brevissimi, reflexi, remoti, linguae basin vix obtegentes, articulo ultimo obtuso, minimo. Pedes antici longi, articulo secundo infra gibbo._