SA T U R N IA AT LAS.
P la te 42.
F a m il y . B om b y c id .e .
G e n u s . S a t u r n ia , S ch ra n c k . ( P h a l a n a A tta c u s , L in n .)
Cii. S p . s . alis antic is fa lcatis, luteo variis, m a cu la fene stra ta anticis sesquiá lte ra . E x p an s,
a la r. 8 unc.
S. w ith th e an te rio r wings fa lc a te ; yellow brown, varied with p a le r m a rk in g s , each
wing w ith a tria n g u la r ta lc -lik e sp o t in th e middle, th e an te rio r h aving also a
sma lle r o n e n e a r tlie tips. E x p a n s e o f th e wings 8 inches.
S y n . P h a ls en a A tta cu s Atlas, Zinra. 5 y s i. iVai, 2 . p . 808. P e tiv . G a z . t. 8. f . 1. F a b .
E n t . S y s t. I I I . l . p . 4 0 7 . Cram. In s . 381. C. 3 8 2 . A.
The nocturnal Lepidoptera are remarkable for the neatness and simplicity o f their
colours. Their elegancies consist in the infinite variety and delicacy o f intermingled
tints : the contrast o f spots, specklings, and lineations, which constitute the minutiae o f
insect beauty. Some species are to be excepted in this remark ; the larger kinds are
often gaudy, and the smallest exhibit a display o f the richest colours, fancifully disposed,
and most elegantly diversified.
The European species are numerous, and pretty well ascertained ; those o f remote
countries remained, at the period o f the publication o f the first edition o f this work, and
still remain in great obscurity. The species inhabiting China are almost unknown ;* for
Fabricius 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 o f interest or variety, it may stimulate others to collect new species whenever
an opportunity occurs. The moths, not only o f China, but o f every country except
Europe, have received but little attention. In Europe, the number o f this tribe exceeds
that o f any o th e r : on the contrary, the extra European species are comparatively the
most inconsiderable o f our acquisitions. The Papiliones, or butterflies, are a showy and
liv e ly race; they sport in the open fields by day, and attract the traveller’s curiosity;
hence our cabinets abound with them. But the moths, infinitely more numerous, and
not less pleasing, are seldom s e e n ; in the gloominess o f their dispositions, they seek the
’ F a b . E n t . S y s t . These a re chiefly described from insects in th e collection o f “ Monson L o n d in i," o f
which no figures a re ex ta n t, a n d th e collection unknown.
I