represented, in the foreground, before a basket of tropical fruits, with her attendants placing in cabinets chip boxes filled with extended insects; while the room is swarming with a host of butterflies and caterpillars that would have frightened Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. In the distance is a Surinam landscape swarming with frogs, in which we behold two old gentlemen, in bag wigs and broad-tailed coats, assisting the maid-servant to capture flies.

Plate 1. contains, on the right side, three rude and useless figures of Blátta americàna Gmelin, Lin. 2042. At the bottom, the circular egg purse (theca) of a spider is mistaken for the inartificial egg cell (loculus) of the kakkerlac or cockroach, out of which a young one is represented as escaping. On the left are two useless figures of a second species, hardly mature. I have not observed that these creatures are particularly attached to the pine [Bromèlia Anànas L., Ananássa sativa Auct.], though in the forests I have captured many interesting species among the vaginating leaves of the Tillandsia or wild pines, where they had evidently retired for shelter and concealment only. The bag, said to contain the young, was the egg cell, which is retained in the vagina for some time by the females of this genus, till it is indurated by atmospheric influence. It is then glued against some chosen spot, and covered for concealment in the dirt or any substance that may be at hand. The young pine [Bromélia Ananas L.] in a state of inflorescence, with the crown and basilar offsets just developed, is not badly executed.

Plate 2. The four upper figures represent the Coccinella cácti Gmel. 1661., with the pupae; and the two following, the cocoon and larva of a small moth ?, said, without probability, to devour the Coccinella. The four lower ones illustrate the Papilio Dido Fabric. 177. Gmel. 2324. They appear rudely done, with the exception of the largest larva. The pine is shown in its ripe state, and cut out of its cluster of serrated leaves, and ready for the table. I may once for all observe, that, when a lepidopterous insect is reversed, that portion of the upper wing which is exhibited is incorrectly coloured, and does not correspond with the accompanying figure of the upper surface of the insect.

Plate 3. Three figures of a giant species of Sphinx, of the same group as S. carolina, executed with more than ordinary care. Not known to Fabricius. The exuviæ and pupa are improperly attached to a branch; for all these insects descend towards the earth, and take their pupal slumber in a ball of prepared dirt, or in a slight cocoon. The pilose head of the imago, and the free tongue-case (glossotheca) of the pupa,

more than usually convoluted, are worthy of notice. The plant is a species of Anòna not found with us, which produces an unpalatable fruit.

Plate 4. contains the larva, empty puparium, and imago of Papilio jatropha Fab. 301. Gmel. 2308. With the lizard I am not acquainted, but disbelieve the improbable story of its acquiring the length of 10 or 12 feet. The plant is the flowerless head of the Jatropha Mánihot, or cassada.

Plate 5. contains four tolerable figures of Sphinx Tétrio Fab. 32.-See also S. rústica Fab. 33. Gmel. 2385. The larva is said to have been destructive to the fields of cassada plants. In St. Vincent I have found noble specimens, just developed, resting on the leeward or sheltered sides of the gru-gru palm (Cocos fusifórmis ?). As they were all caught on the same tree, at distant intervals, it would appear probable that they had fed on its fronds, and had descended through the host of needles which beset the trunk, to seek a temporary rest, in the pupa state, at its foot. The gravid snake, with its eggs, is unknown to me. The unnoticed figure is the curious Membràcis foliàta Fab. 4. Cicàda Gmel. 2092. The root of the cassada is badly represented, with its tubers; from which, after the evaporation of its poisonous juice, the granular farine, and the flat cassava cakes of the West Indians, are prepared. By the act of boiling only, this juice is (in the Demerara settlement) converted into the rich and dark sauce called cassaripe. The native Indians form of dark clay their pots which bear the name of this sauce, serving to season the hunter's daily meal; and the colonist bas introduced the custom into his more luxurious dwelling. The plan is, to throw into the cassaripe pot, which is never cleaned or altogether emptied, the remains of meat and poultry, to add the sauce, and stir the compound preparation, which forms, as I can readily testify, a most delicious meal.

Plate 6. has two species of Satúrnia, with their curious. larvæ and cocoons (folliculi), both undetermined. The under one approaches a species sent me from the Orinoco trees, on the banks of the great river of that name, which assumed the imago in my study in St. Vincent. The plant comes near to Solànum tórvum, the round berries of which were boiled and eaten here, during the partial famine caused by the stony showers of the volcano of Morne Soufrière, in 1812.

Plate 7. seems one of the most valuable in the work, and represents the Papilio Achilles Fab. 2534. Gmel. 2245., with the larva and oddly shaped pupa. This noble creature, soaring in the tropic sun in all its splendour and strength, is worthy to bear the name of the Grecian hero. The plant

seems to be the Malpighia glabra L., common in our gardens; the cherries of which, called here chereese, or cerise, from their acidity, are used only when preserved. They are delicious when encrusted with a coat of white sugar, laid on in the sun, by the help of the white of eggs.

Plate 8. has the curiously armed larva, the pupa and rude figures of Papilio Amphínome Fab. 404. The plant is the Plumièria rùbra L., whose sweetly scented flowers often cover the whole tree before the restoration of its leaves. The tree with white flowers is totally distinct, and is a common ornament of our leeward and rocky coast.

Plate 9. contains Papilio Néstor Fab. 266. Gmel. 2245. The puparium is rudely done, and the larva seems rather to belong to some Sphinx or nocturnal moth, though it is said to have produced the butterfly before us. The plant is the pomegranate (Pùnica Granàtum L.), with the fruit burst open, and showing the pale sweet coat which protects the seeds; and has all the glassy splendour of gems, so difficult to represent

on paper.

Plate 10. Three rude figures of the larva, pupa, and imago of Hespèria (Papilio) Cupido Fabr. 1. Gmel. 2336.; a species remarkable for the spots of burnished silver, of the greatest brilliancy, on the inferior surface. The three lower figures illustrate a pale-coloured moth of the size of Cerùra vínula, not known to Fabricius. The cotton plant (Gossypium barbadénse L.?) is more than usually faithful.

Plate 11. The two figures of the sexes of Bombyx (Phalæ`na) erythrinæ Fabr. 13. Gmel. 2403., are neatly engraved, with the pupa and exuviæ. If one can depend on the drawings of the larvæ, and the accompanying statements, we have here an extraordinary instance of the change which takes place during the developement of the larva. I have myself, as well as other observers, witnessed the disappearance of spots, the alteration of colour, and the variations in the clothing of caterpillars; but have never noticed so great changes as are here described. The yellow larva, at its first moulting, exchanges its transverse bands for lateral spots; at the second, the six strong spines which defended the body are laid aside, and the general colouring of the animal undergoes a change. The plant is a most beautiful species of Erythrina, not cultivated by us.

Plate 12. We have the male, the larva, pupa, and cocoon of an undetermined species of Satúrnia, very nearly allied in many respects to a beautiful species which I have lately drawn in all its stages, for insertion in the costly zoological work of my correspondent, Mr. Wilson of Edinburgh, under

the name of A'ttacus Wilsònii. Indeed, I am not certain if it be not the very same. However, the coarse colouring and engraving will always render it impossible to determine this point. The flowers, with their strange subcoriaceous envelope, and the young fruit of the plantain (Mùsa paradisiaca L.), are tolerably well designed, though, even in a folio work, justice can hardly be done to these wonderful vegetable productions, which may well be thought worthy of paradise, and the names they bear [as paradisìaca, sapiéntum, ornata, supérba]. I have commenced a Pomona on atlas sheets, whose size will enable me to depict the larger products of our gardens. Nine sheets I have devoted to the bread fruit (Artocarpus incìsa L.) alone, and its varieties, and yet I have not done it so completely as I have wished. How, then, shall we expect, in small-sized works, figures which can give to the European any tolerable idea of the more splendid gifts of Flora?

Plate 13. contains the larva, pupa, and two figures of an undescribed Hesperia? The larva is a remarkable object: instead of being spiny, as represented, I should rather think the back must have been clothed with fallen flowers; the appearance of the filaments and anthers is very clear. I have in spirits a lepidopterous larva, the processes of whose back are tipped with the yellow anthers on which it fed; a covering adapted for concealment, and not more wonderful than the stercoraceous coat worn by the cannibal larvæ of several orders, and by some small land testaceous Mollúsca, and which protects them from birds, by giving them the appearance of the dung of bats. The plant is rudely done, and infamously coloured: the fruit should have been yellow. Can it be the hog plum (Spóndias Myrobálanus L.) of the Antilles? A useless plant.

Plate 14. The three central figures belong to a white and colourless unknown moth, sent me from Demerara. The three exterior ones represent an undetermined Sphinx, very nearly approaching S. carolina, but, without doubt, distinct, especially as far as regards the larva. A common and neglected, but delicious, West Indian fruit, the Anòna muricata L., or soursop, is very correctly drawn.

Plate 15. has three figures of the larva, cocoon, and imago of a black nocturnal moth, which does not seem to have occurred to other writers. The larva is remarkable for its quadrate bulky outline, and the hairy blunt processes of the extremities, and the slime said to accompany it. Our fair author is not the first entomologist who has been disappointed in the expectation of something splendid after the metamor

phosis of insects. Larvæ of forbidding aspect sometimes shine, in their hour of perfection, in all the glorious tints of gems, and gold, and silver, and gaudy flowers, while those of more lovely hues produce in the end a garb of sober colours. The plant is the water melon (Cucurbita Citrúllus L.). Though a cooling fruit, it becomes insipid here, and hardly merits the praises it has received in the warmer regions of the old world.

Plate 16. The central figures are useless, and, I think, confused. The white larva is of wonderful structure, and equals in interest any of those so beautifully depicted in the plates lately published by the indefatigable Dr. Horsfield. It is more probable that it produced the white cocoon and colourless moth so shamefully engraved. The banded larva has the aspect of those of many Papiliònes, and, with the pupa on the stalk, I should suppose, belongs to the butterfly here neatly drawn, which is the Papilio anacárdii Fabr. 567. It is the P. Piera Gmel. 2257., and the P. anacárdii, 2258.! of this careless compiler. The upper part of the plate is a very fair representation of the leaves, flowers, and young fruit of the cashew (Anacardium occidentale); but the lower part of the engraving exhibits an unpardonable instance of the author's carelessness, and of the readiness with which she listened to the stories of those who sent her subjects for her pencil. The ripe fruit is reversed, and, by means of an imaginary peduncle, placed under the leaves, where it never grows. The yellow variety is most valued when sweet, and is often used to communicate a pleasant flavour to punch. They are seldom eaten except when preserved, from the vile indelible stains. they communicate to our linen. The truly reniform external nuts, when deprived of their very caustic oil by hot coals, afford one of the most delicious of all kernels, which will keep for a long time. Bottles are sometimes tied under the young fruit, which is allowed to grow within till it is large and ripe, when it is preserved in spirits as a curiosity, and serves to exercise the ingenuity of children, who cannot account for the method of its introduction.

Plate 17. The larva, pupa, and two figures of Papilio Anchises Gmel. 2230. The pretty larva is remarkable for those retractile cervical scent organs called by Kirby osmateria, which are found in some of its congeners, as Papilio Polýdamas Drury. The small figures are rude attempts to represent some of the Cóccidæ. The plant is the lime (Citrus Lima) with its delicate odoriferous blossoms, abounding in our islands. The young lime forms one of the finest green preserves when emptied, and the fine acid of the ripe ones