While, therefore, we acknowledge Lamarck’s preeminent excellence in the ordinary subjects of natural history, we cannot fail to lament that his attention was so often engrossed by fanciful speculations; speculations of which, all things considered, it is no undue depreciation to affirm that they are at once absurd and impious--alike opposed to reason and religion; and the regret which must be felt in making such an assertion in regard to so celebrated a man, is not a little enhanced by the accompanying reflection, that, with Lamarck and others of his school, the latter imputation would be regarded as infinitely less discreditable than the former. INTRODUCTION. But O! what terms expressive may relate The change, the splendour of their new-formed state! Their texture, nor composed of filmy skin, Of cumbrous flesh without, or bone within, But something than corporeal more refined, And agile as their blithe informing mind. In every eye ten thousand brilliants blaze, And living pearls the vast horizon gaze; Gemmed o’er their heads the mines of India gleam, And heaven’s own wardrobe has arrayed their frame: Each spangled back bright sprinkled specks adorn, Each plume imbibes the rosy tinctured morn, Spread on each wing the florid seasons glow, Shaded and verged with the celestial bow. Where colours blend an ever varying dye, And wanton in their gay exchanges vie. BROOKE. Having already discussed the general history of butterflies at considerable length, in a volume devoted to the illustration of the kinds found in Britain, it is not our intention to resume the subject in this place, further than to make a few remarks on certain peculiarities presented by many foreign species, a selection from which forms the subject of the present volume. The remarkable superiority in size and beauty of most tropical productions over those of temperate regions, is scarcely more strikingly exemplified in any department of nature than in this. The most richly ornamented of our native species, and we possess many of great beauty, appear insignificant when contrasted with those of Brazil and Eastern Asia. Various as are the modifications of form which they present in this country, we find nothing to prepare us for the peculiar outline and aspect which many kinds assume in the warmer regions of the earth. Here we seldom find any having the hinder wings prolonged into a tail, but among foreign species this is a common appendage, sometimes long and linear, at other times broad and spatulate; and occasionally there are not fewer than three or four on each of the hinder wings. Along with this variety of outline, they exhibit almost every possible shade of colour, from the most brilliant to the most obscure, combined and blended in the most elegant and harmonious designs, rendering this tribe of creatures one of the most ornamental to be found in nature.