purple
flush over and around the white spots, which is exquisitely beautiful.
In general this glow is found only in the male, but in the lovely
_Epiphile chrysitis_ it is common to the female.

In _Colias Electra_ a warm purple glow plays over the surface in a
strong light, which is the more singularly beautiful, because the
permanent colour which is thus suffused is a rich golden orange. There
is, however, a species (_C. Lesbia_) of which only a single specimen is
known, and that is in fragments, in the Banksian Collection, which is in
this respect vastly superior to the former. In all these cases, the
playing gleam is more or less empurpled; in _Paphia Portia_, however, it
may be called crimson.

But still more exquisitely beautiful than any of these is the fine
opalescence that irradiates some butterflies in the changing beam. There
is a white butterfly from Senegal (_Anthocharis Ione_) allied to our
common garden whites, marked at the tips of the wings with a spot of
violet, surrounded by black. In a certain aspect, there plays over this
spot a violet opalescence of exceeding richness. And to mention no more,
(for, indeed, we know not that we could mention anything to surpass
this,) the carnation spots on the black wings of _Papilio Anchises_, _P.
AEneas_, _P. Tullus_, &c., are at intervals flushed with a violet
opalescence, so brilliant, that we know no other object to compare with
it.

In contemplating such objects, we cannot help concurring in the
sentiments expressed by the pious Ray:--"Quaeri fortasse a nonnullis
potest, quis Papilionum usus sit? Respondeo, Ad ornatum universi, et ut
hominibus spectaculo sint: ad rura illustranda velut tot bracteae
inservientes. Quis enim eximiam earum pulchritudinem et varietatem
contemplans mira voluptate non afficiatur? Quis tot colorum et schematum
elegantias naturae ipsius ingenio excogitatas et artifici penicillo
depictas curiosis oculis intuens, divinae artis vestigia eis impressa non
agnoscat et miretur?" And I may add, since such exquisite traces of
loveliness remain in a world which Satan has spoiled and sin defiled,
what must have been its glory when He who made it could take complacency
in beholding it, and in the minutest details could pronounce it "very
good!"

The Rev. James Smith of Monquhitter thus alludes to the exquisite beauty
of some South American butterflies. One or two of the species I have
already alluded to, but even these can yield additional the