Part 5
We cannot for a moment hesitate to believe that in announcing to our readers the introduction of the Pink, or Roseate Imperial Sun Trochus: the significant appellation under which the present rarity has been for many years distinguished, we shall awaken the attention of every Conchologist and amateur of the science. The shell so named, formerly constituted an object, no less conspicuous than beautiful, among the Conchological productions treasured together in the once celebrated Leverian Museum. And, as we possessed, through the immediate favour of the proprietor of that Museum, John Parkinson, Esq. an unreserved access to every article in the Museum, for the purpose of delineating the figures, or taking the descriptions of whatever we conceived worthy of such observation, it will be naturally imagined the Pink, or Roseate Imperial Sun Trochus, would be esteemed of too much importance to escape our very particular attention. The dispersion of that once celebrated Repository of Natural History has long since removed, and probably for ever, this exquisite rarity from the eye of public curiosity; nor indeed is its present destination correctly known; a circumstance, it is presumed, that cannot fail to enhance the value of a drawing, which we have every reason for believing to be the only memorial of this kind the pencil of the Arts have consecrated to the commemoration of the shell: the only figure, we are assured, the proprietor ever permitted to be taken from it.—Having premised so far, it will not be deemed superfluous to add, that the outline of the specimen is precisely a fac-simile of the shell itself, having been traced round its contour while lying upon the paper, and being afterwards finished in colours upon the outlines so struck, with every attention an object so estimable was presumed to merit.
The history of this curious variety of the Imperial Sun Trochus is altogether interesting, and deserves explicit mention; it is one among the number of those rare shells which were discovered by that distinguished navigator, Captain Cook, in his voyage round the world. It was fished up in the Straits that divide the Island of New Zealand, now distinguished after him, by the appellation of Cook’s Straits. Upon the return of Captain Cook to England, he presented Sir Ashton Lever, among other articles of great curiosity, with this particular shell, the only one of its kind he had found. The Imperial Sun Trochus, of an olivaceous violet hue, the shell which constitutes the type of this species, though very scarce, occurred occasionally, but this Pink variety only in the solitary instance before adverted to: it was drawn up, adhering to the cable of the ship, from the depth, as it appeared, of sixty fathoms water.[7]
In the general computation of the value of the various articles in the Museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever, submitted to government, previous to the grant of the Lottery which transferred the possession of that Museum from its original founder to the hands of Mr. Parkinson, this shell was estimated at the value of _one hundred guineas_: and as this valuation was arbitrary, that sum was considered as the worth of the shell while it remained in the Museum. At the final dissolution of this Museum, which took place in the months of May, June, and July of the year 1806, this shell, like the rest, was submitted to the chance of taste or caprice: it was sold on the last day of the sale, for the sum of twenty three guineas, an amount considerably below its former valuation, but sufficient, nevertheless, to shew that its attractions were still great in the mind of the connoisseur.
The purchaser of this shell was at that time unknown, subsequently, however, the specimen appeared among the property sold at the residence of the Duke de Bourbon, immediately after the departure of that noblemen for France, in the beginning of the year 1815.[8] Dr. Leach has since that time informed us that he had given instructions for the purchase of this shell for the British Museum: the shell does not, however, appear in that collection, and the lamented illness of our ingenious friend, is likely, for the present, to preclude all further inquiry respecting its final destination.
It does not appear that this very curious variety of the Imperial Sun Trochus is known in any of the continental cabinets: the olivaceous kind, which as before observed, is to be regarded as the type of the species, though esteemed scarce, is to be found in every continental cabinet of importance. Indeed, the olive kind maintained a very high reputation and price for many years after the time of Captain Cook, who brought several of them to England; from whence those continental cabinets were, in the first instances, supplied. Since that time the same seas have been attentively explored by Admiral Bligh, in the ships of his Majesty under his command; and through his researches, this shell, which was once considered of such unusual rarity, has become rather more common. The Pink, or Roseate variety, the immediate object of our present illustration, has hitherto, however, escaped all research, and it still remains as it was esteemed originally, after a lapse of nearly fifty years, not merely scarce, but perfectly unique.
An ingenious French writer of the present day, Denys de Montfort, in describing the olivaceous kind, the type, as before remarked, of the present species, has paid an appropriate tribute of applause to the memory of its original discoverers. “It is,” says he, “to the Voyages of the celebrated Captain Cook, and to the researches of the indefatigable Naturalists who accompanied him, that we owe the knowledge of this fine and magnificent shell.” “This shell,” he adds, “appears to be exposed to such a swarm of aggressors, that his Mollusca (or animal) must lead a life of activity and war: his shelly covering is ploughed, or furrowed, and pierced by a host of enemies, and he must necessarily employ almost the whole of life in repressing their attacks, and in constantly repairing the breaches and perforations they occasion, by the exudation of the nacrous molecules, or fluid, with which nature has furnished him, in order to preserve the inner coating of his shelly habitation entire.” Such is really the appearance of this shell in general; we have seen it so completely despoiled of its exterior coating by these attacks, as to render it impossible to form any tolerable conception of the shell when perfect; even an approach towards perfection in its outer coating is very rare. The most complete of its kind in the collection of the late Admiral Bligh, and probably selected as the best he ever met with, was perfect in this respect than might be expected. By one of those rare chances which sometimes happen, the Roseate variety, which forms the subject of our present illustration, had entirely escaped every accident of this nature, insomuch, that its figure may be regarded as that of a very perfect shell.
The earliest figures of the common, or olivaceous kind, occurs in the work of Chemnitz, and among the plates of Martin. Gmelin quotes the former, and describes the shell under the name of Trochus Imperialis. It is truly a Trochus of the Linnæan classification, but not, it appears, of any later writer, excepting those of the Linnæan school. Sometimes it has been generically classed as a species of SOLARIUM, a name assigned by Lamarck to the Trochi possessing the character of the Linnæan _Trochus Perspectivus_, and which he renders into his own language as a generical epithet, by the name _Cadran_ (Sun dial). To accord exactly with the genus Solarium, as laid down by Lamarck himself, the general figure of the shell should be that of a depressed cone, having at the base an umblical opening, crenulated upon the inner edge of all the spires; as may be perceived in looking down the umbilical opening of Trochus perspectivus; and finally, the opening of the mouth should be almost quadrangular. This is the character of SOLARIUM, as proposed by Lamarck, and which does not agree exactly with the shell before us.[9] Denys de Montfort constitutes another genus of this shell, which he denominates IMPERATOR (_Conchyliologie Systematique T. 2. p. 199_) in the French, L’EMPEREUR. The olivaceous kind he calls Imperator aureolatus, l’Empereur couronné. The character of this new genus, Imperator, consists in the shell having a regular spire: in being imbricated, or covered with scales, like tiling upon the roof of a house: the carina of the whorls armed; the armament, for example, in the shell before us, consisting of a kind of frieze or curled foliage-like plates which succeed each other with great regularity: it has an umbilicus, which, in the present shell is large and deep; the mouth of the shell angular and entire; pillar lip spreading somewhat like a fan; and the exterior lip cut off. We have deemed it requisite to advert to these new genera, but as the shell itself is so clearly a Trochus, we have not thought it necessary to remove it from the place in the Linnæan System to which Gmelin had assigned.
Footnote 7:
This article is thus described in the last day’s sale, lot 81, “An elegant and unique pink variety of the imperial sun, drawn up with the anchor of a ship, from the depth of sixty fathoms, in Cook’s Straits, New Zealand.” Sold for £24 3s.
Footnote 8:
In Orchard-street, Portman-square, Thursday, April 13th, 1815. _Vide_ lot 84.
Footnote 9:
_Système des animaux sans vertèbres, p. 86._
ENTOMOLOGY.
PLATE XII.
PAPILIO EGÆA EGÆA’S BUTTERFLY.
ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Antennæ thicker towards the tip, and generally terminating in a knob: wings erect when at rest. Fly by day.
* NYMPH. GEMM.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER AND SYNONYMS.
Wings indented: above black, with a common white band: posterior pair with two ocellar spots beneath.
PAPILIO EGÆA: alis dentatis supra nigris: fascia communi alba, posticis subtus ocellis duobus. _Fabr. Syst. Ent. 496. 231._—_Spec. Ins. T. 2. 79. 351._—_Ent. Syst. T. 3. p. 1. 100. 309._
Parvus. Alæ omnes supra nigræ, basi cyaneo nitentes, in medio fascia communi anteriorum interrupta, alba. Maculæ duæ parvæ, albæ versus apicem alæ anterioris; subtus anticæ fuscæ maculis albis lunulaque media, ferruginea. Posticæ basi fasciis albis fuscisque alternis disco niveo, macula biloba, fusca, et in hac ocelli duo atri, iride ferruginea pupillaque magna, cyanea. Margo posticus flavescens. _Fabr. Ent. Syst. T. 3. p. 1. 309._
* * * * *
We have much pleasure in assuring our readers that the present figures of this very elegant and rare Papilio, are the first that have appeared in illustration of the species. This becomes the more incumbent to observe, because those figures afford an elucidation of some moment at least, to the writings of an Entomologist of acknowledged eminence, the late Professor Fabricius: he had described the species in his several works as above adverted to, under the name of Papilio Egæa, but these descriptions have remained before the learned world for nearly half a century without any pictorial illustration. The existence of such a species is therefore well known, but from description only, and this circumstance, it is presumed, will tend to confer more real interest upon the figures now produced, than if it had been entirely undescribed, because, heretofore, a deficiency has been in this respect perceived; and that deficiency is now supplied by the figures submitted to our readers in the annexed plate.
The first description of this species, as already intimated, to be found among authors, is that given by Fabricius in his _Systematica Entomologia_: subsequently it appeared in his work entitled _Species Insectorum_, and lastly in his _Entomologia Systematica_, as inserted among our synonyms. It is these authorities that have supplied Gmelin with the description of the species as we find introduced by him, into the last edition of the Linnæan Systema Naturæ.
The Fabrician description of this insect was taken in the first instance, _Syst. Ent._ from a specimen in the Hunterian collection: the same description occurs again in _Spec. Ins._ and lastly, in far more copious detail in _Ent. Syst._ This latter description given by Fabricius, though by some oversight of its author, not identified by any reference with the drawings of Mr. Jones, was certainly derived from that source of authority; a point we have been enabled to ascertain, both upon the kind information of our late worthy friend Mr. Jones himself, and also from the manuscripts in the hand-writing of Fabricius, which Mr. Jones was pleased to place in our hands, in order to assure us, there could be no uncertainty in this respect from any lapse of memory. Fabricius refers for his Papilio Egæa to the Hunterian cabinet. There was a specimen of this insect in that collection, but it may not be improper to observe that the specimen from which the drawing of this species, Papilio Egæa, by Mr. Jones, was taken, as it appeared from these MSS. was one preserved in the cabinet of Mr. Drury, the venerable author of a well known work on Exotic insects, published towards the close of the last century. We may also add, that this insect, with many others which Mr. Jones had figured, and Fabricius had described, from that extensive and valuable cabinet, devolved into our hands after the death of its proprietor, the whole collection having been dispersed by public sale in the month of May, 1805.
We have been thus minute in the production of authorities, in order to demonstrate that we have not ventured upon the hazard of conjecture to submit the present figures as those of the true Papilio Egæa of Fabricius; and, consequently, of all later writers who have relied upon his evidence. In stating this, it may not be amiss to add still further for the information, as well as the gratification of the Naturalist, not of this country alone, but of Europe generally; and indeed of every portion of the world to which the light of science may extend, that we are in possession of the like authorities for the whole series of those Papiliones which Fabricius has described from the drawings of Mr. Jones, and which, in most instances, are the only unequivocal authorities now remaining. Possessing this means, it shall become the great object of our care to rescue from obscurity and doubt that ample portion of the scientific writings of Fabricius, by similar illustrations of the more beautiful and rare species, of which no figures are extant, as often as we conceive the requisite variety of our a miscellany will permit[10] their introduction.
Papilio Egæa is a native of America; it is a species of that family which is distinguished by the name of _Nymphales Gemmati_, having eyes, or ocellated spots upon all the wings; it is represented in the annexed plate in a flying posture, as well as in its resting position.
Footnote 10:
We have lately understood that the editors of _Encyclopædie Methodique_, now publishing in Paris, intend giving figures of the Papiliones of the Equites family, which Fabricius has described. This endeavour to illustrate Fabricius is under the direction of Mons. Latreille, a Member of the National Institute, an Entomologist himself, of acknowledged talent, and one to whose great ability, as well as personal urbanity, we are happy to bear our testimony of praise. In the absence of more conclusive authority, the conjectures of Mons. Latreille would be, unquestionably, useful; but we shall, ourselves, tread the same path, and as we trust, may assist also, in no small degree to dispel the darkness which at present overshadows this fair portion of the science. As we are, ourselves, possessed of the authentic evidences, by means of which, the species of Fabricius can be immediately identified, we have no occasion to wander into the labyrinths of conjecture: we at once arrive at the certainty of truth. The annunciation of this design, on the part of the French editors, leads to a conclusion of the importance attached to this endeavour: it need be only stated on our part, that the illustrations we shall subjoin to such of the Fabrician species as may pass under our own observations, will be precisely taken from the individual objects which Fabricius has described.
ENTOMOLOGY.
PLATE XIII.
PAPILIO PYLADES PYLADES BUTTERFLY.
LEPIDOPTERA.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Antennæ thicker towards the tip, and generally terminating in a knob: wings erect when at rest. Fly by day.
* EQUITES ACHIVI.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER AND SYNONYMS.
Wings indented, snowy: border black with white dots: ocellar spot in the anal angle of the posterior wings rufous.
PAPILIO PYLADES: alis dentatis niveis: limbo atro albo punctato, ocello anguli ani rufo. _Fabr. Ent. Syst. T. 3. p. 1. 100. 34._
_Jon. pict. T. 1._
Alæ omnes supra atræ, albo punctatæ disco omni albo, immaculato. Angulus ani ocello rufo. Subtus pallide flavescentes, albo punctatæ discoque albo. Linea rubra a basi ad medium costæ. _Fabr. Ent. Syst. T. 3. p. 34._
* * * * *
The Entomologist of the present day must naturally remain under some uncertainty as to the identity of the Fabrician Papilio Pylades, since no figure whatever has hitherto appeared in elucidation of this rare Papilio; and in this instance, as in almost every other, whatever advantage we may be able to derive from the very accurate and elaborate descriptions of our author, it would be absurd to deny that a faithful delineation of the insect described, is not essentially requisite, in order to determine with perfect satisfaction, the precise species Fabricius had intended.
But, besides the want of a correct delineation, there is yet another circumstance, not, perhaps, at present known, which might have tended also to perpetuate this ambiguity, had it not been in our power to explain it: the intimation of which, it is presumed, will be considered useful by the scientific Entomologist. Previous to the time of Fabricius this elegant species had been unnoticed by any author. Fabricius describes it in his Entomologia Systematica, and refers for the specimen so described to the Cabinet of Mr. Francillon. That the insect, to which he adverts, was included in that celebrated cabinet, we are well assured from our own inspection, but it stood there unaccompanied by any indication of its being a specimen described by Fabricius, or even a Fabrician species. The truth is, that Professor Fabricius, upon this occasion, as in some others, took his description, not from the specimen itself, but from the drawings of Mr. Jones, of Chelsea, which had been copied from the specimen in the cabinet of Mr. Francillon, and it was to the drawing therefore of Mr. Jones, and not to the specimen of Mr. Francillon’s cabinet that Fabricius annexed the name of Pylades. Those drawings must for this reason be now considered as the only positive memorial of the identity of the Fabrician species, Papilio Pylades, that remains extant at this time. The figures, it may be added, which are submitted in the annexed plate, are faithful copies from the original drawings of Mr. Jones, so inscribed in the hand writing of Fabricius, a circumstance that must remove every shade of doubt as to the individual object to which Fabricius had assigned that appellation.
Papilio Pylades is a species of the Butterfly tribe, of moderate size, in comparison with the generality of those which appertain to the same family, the _Equites Achivi_ of Fabricius. The upper surface exhibits an appearance of much simplicity and elegance: the disk is white, and the broad black limb, or border, by which it is surrounded, is marked with a number of spots and semilunar marks of white disposed with much regularity. The disk of the lower surface is also white, but surrounded with a pale brown, or fulvous limb, and marked with white spots in the same manner as the broad black border on the upper surface. A few of the white spots on this fulvous border are surrounded by black lines and spaces. There is also a red band marked with black and blueish spots, that extends along the main or anterior rib of the upper wings, from the base, as far as the middle of the wing, and a spot of red at the base of the posterior pair.
ORNITHOLOGY.
PLATE XIV.
AMPELIS CAYANA PURPLE-THROATED CHATTERER.
PASSERES.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Bill straight, convex, slightly incurvate: mandibles notched: nostrils covered with bristles: tongue acute, cartilaginous, bifid: middle toe connected at the base to the outer one.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER AND SYNONYMS.
Cærulean blue: neck beneath violet: quill and tail feathers black, edged with blue.
AMPELIS CAYANA: nitida cærulea, collo subtus violaceo. _Linn. Syst. 1. p. 298. 6._—_Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 840._
AMPELIS CAYANA: nitida cærulea, collo subtus violaceo remigibus rectricibusque nigris cæruleo marginatis. _Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. 365. 3._
Cotinga Cayanensis. _Briss. 2. p. 344. 32. t. 34. f. 3._
Lanius Ococolin. _Klein. av. p. 54. 6._—_Seba. ii. p. 102. t. 96. f. 3._
Cotinga de Cayenne, Quereiva. _Buff. 4. p. 444._—_Pl. Enl. 624._
Purple-Throated Chatterer. _Lath. Syn. 3. p. 95. 3._
* * * * *
The Purple-Throated Chatterer is assuredly one of the most beautiful of the feathered race, at present known; the general colour of the plumage, a blue of most transcendant brightness, and highly changeable, varying from a fine cærulean, or azure, to a green of equal delicacy and beauty. There is an intermixture of black disposed in spots throughout; one half of each feather, from the base, being black, and only the tips blue, so that the plumage appears more or less spotted with black, as the feathers are ruffled or misplaced from their natural position. The region of the chin and throat is of a beautiful crimson purple, whence its name of Purple-Throated Chatterer. The greater wing coverts are black, varied and spotted with blue: the quills and tail black with blue margins: the bill black with the lower mandible rather paler: the legs black.
This brilliant species of the Ampelis tribe has been sometimes denominated the Ultramarine Thrush, and not unfrequently the Ultramarine Starling: its size resembles that of the Starling, and there is also a general similitude in its form and manners, but it is, nevertheless generically distinct.
Inhabits Cayenne, and probably some other parts of South America.