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diff --git a/33852.txt b/33852.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c5fc86 --- /dev/null +++ b/33852.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5631 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of British Butterflies, by W. S. Coleman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: British Butterflies + Figures and Descriptions of Every Native Species + +Author: W. S. Coleman + +Illustrator: Edmund Evans + +Release Date: October 11, 2010 [EBook #33852] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH BUTTERFLIES *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Keith Edkins and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +COLEMAN'S BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. + +A cheap Edition of this Work, in boards, with plain Illustrations is also +published, price 1s. + + * * * * * + + +BRITISH BUTTERFLIES + + * * * * * + +FIGURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF + +EVERY NATIVE SPECIES + +WITH AN ACCOUNT OF + +BUTTERFLY DEVELOPMENT, STRUCTURE, HABITS, LOCALITIES, + +MODE OF CAPTURE, AND PRESERVATION + +BY W. S. COLEMAN + +AUTHOR OF "OUR WOODLANDS, HEATHS, AND HEDGES" + +_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_ + +PRINTED IN COLOURS BY EDMUND EVANS + + + +LONDON + +GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS + +BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL + +GLASGOW, MANCHESTER, AND NEW YORK + + * * * * * + + +UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME, + +WITH COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS. + + * * * * * + + COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SEA-SHORE. + By the Rev. J. G. WOOD. + + COMMON OBJECTS OF THE COUNTRY. + By the Rev. J. G. WOOD. + + OUR WOODLANDS, HEATHS, and HEDGES. + By W. S. COLEMAN. + + BRITISH BIRDS, EGGS, AND NESTS. By + the Rev. J. C. ATKINSON. + + COMMON BRITISH MOTHS. By the Rev. + J. G. WOOD. + + COMMON BRITISH BEETLES. By the Rev. + J. G. WOOD. + + * * * * * + + +{v} + +PREFACE. + +A desire to extend the knowledge of, and by so doing to extend the love +for, those sunny creatures called Butterflies, has prompted the author to +undertake this little work, which, though making no pretence to a +technically scientific character, will, it is hoped, be found sufficiently +complete and accurate to supply all information needful to the young +entomologist as to the names, appearance, habits, localities, &c. of _all +our British Butterflies_, together with a general history of butterfly +life--the mode of capture, preservation, and arrangement in cabinets--the +apparatus required, &c. At the same time it is so inexpensive as to be +accessible to every schoolboy. + +The subject is one which has formed the delight and study of the author +from early boyhood, and butterfly-hunting still preserves its fascinations, +redoubling the pleasure of the country ramble in summer. {vi} + +Should this volume be the means of inciting some to seek this source of +healthful enjoyment, and to join in the peaceful study which may be so +easily pursued by all dwellers in the country, it will have succeeded in +its purpose. + +The whole of the illustrative portraits of the _butterflies_ have been +drawn from nature by the author, and with one exception from specimens in +his own collection. At least one figure of each species (of the natural +size) is given; but in very many instances, where the sexes differ +considerably from each other, both are figured, and the under sides are +also frequently added. + +The greater number of the _caterpillars_ and _chrysalides_, however, being +rarely met with, the figures on the first plate are nearly all borrowed +from the splendid and accurate works of Continental authors--chiefly from +Huebner and Duponchel. + +With great pleasure, the author here acknowledges his obligations, for many +biographical facts relating to butterflies, to those highly useful +periodicals, the _Zoologist_ and the _Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer_, +the former devoted to general natural history, the latter especially to +entomology, and whose pages register a {vii} mass of interesting and +original communications from correspondents who, living in wide-spread +localities, and possessing varied opportunities of observation, have +gradually brought together, under able editorship, a store of facts that +could never have come within the _personal_ experience of any one man, +however industrious and observant. + +The capture during the past year of a new and interesting butterfly for the +first time in this country, is recorded in this volume, in which the insect +is also figured and described. + +BAYSWATER, _April 1860_. + + * * * * * + + +{1} + +BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTION. + + WHAT IS A BUTTERFLY--BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS--BUTTERFLY LIFE--THE EGG + STAGE--SCULPTURED CRADLES--BUTTERFLY BOTANY--THE CATERPILLAR + STAGE--FEEDING UP--COAT CHANGING--FORMS OF CATERPILLARS--THE + CHRYSALIS--MEANING OF PUPA, CHRYSALIS, AND AURELIA--FORMS OF + CHRYSALIDES--DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSFORMATION--INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE. + +Occasionally a missive arrives from some benevolent friend, announcing the +capture of a "splendid butterfly," which, imprisoned under a tumbler, +awaits one's acceptance as an addition to the cabinet. However, on going to +claim the proffered prize, the expected "_butterfly_" turns out to be some +bright-coloured _moth_ (a Tiger moth being the favourite victim of the +misnomer), and one's entomological propriety suffers a shock; not so much +feeling the loss of the specimen, as concern for the benighted state of an +otherwise intelligent friend's mind with regard to insect nomenclature. {2} + +It is clearly therefore _not_ so superfluous as it might at first otherwise +seem, to commence the subject by defining even such a familiar object as a +_butterfly_, and more especially distinguishing it with certainty from a +_moth_, the only other creature with which it can well be confounded. + +The usual notion of a butterfly is of a gay fluttering thing, whose broad +painted wings are covered with a mealy stuff that comes off with handling. +This is all very well for a general idea, but the characters that form it +are common to some other insects besides butterflies. Moths and hawk-moths +have mealy wings, and are often gaily coloured too; whilst, on the other +hand, some butterflies are as dusky and plain as possible. Thus the +crimson-winged Tiger, and Cinnabar _moths_ get the name of _butterflies_, +and the Meadow brown _butterfly_ is as sure to be called a _moth_. So, as +neither colouring nor mealy wings furnish us with the required definition, +we must find some concise combination of characters that _will_ answer the +purpose. _Butterflies, then, are insects with mealy wings, and whose horns +(called "antennae") have a clubbed or thickened tip, giving them more or +less resemblance to a drum-stick._ So the difference in the shape of the +_antennae_ is the _chief_ outward mark of distinction between butterflies +and moths, the latter having _antennae_ of various shapes, threadlike or +featherlike, but _never clubbed at the tip_. + +Having thus settled how a butterfly is to be recognized at sight, let us +see what butterfly _life_ is: how the creature lives, and has lived, in the +stages preceding its present airy form. + +[Illustration: I.] + +{3} + +In like manner with other insects, all butterflies commence their existence +enclosed in minute _eggs_; and these eggs, as if shadowing forth the beauty +yet undeveloped whose germ they contain, are themselves such curiously +beautiful objects, that they must not be passed over without admiring +notice. It seems, indeed, as if nature determined that the ornamental +character of the butterfly should commence with its earliest stage; form, +and not colour, being employed in its decoration, sculpture being here made +the forerunner of painting. + +Some of these forms are roughly shown on Plate II. (figs. 1-7), but highly +magnified; for as these eggs are really very tiny structures, such as would +fall easily through a pin-hole, the aid of a microscope is of course +necessary to render visible the delicate sculpture that adorns their +surface. The egg (fig. 1, Plate II.) of the common Garden white butterfly +(_Pieris Brassicae_) is among the most graceful and interesting of these +forms, and also the most easily obtained. It reminds us of some antique +vessel, ribbed and fluted with consummate elegance and regularity. + +Others--such as those of the Large Heath butterfly (fig. 3), and the Queen +of Spain Fritillary (fig. 2), simulate curious wicker-work baskets. The +Peacock butterfly has an egg like a polygonal jar (fig. 4), while that of +its near ally, the large Tortoise-shell (fig. 5), is simply pear-shaped, +with the surface unsculptured and smooth {4} (fig. 5). The eggs of the +Meadow Brown (fig. 6), and the Wood Argus (fig. 7), are globular--the +former with lines on its surface like the meridian lines on a geographical +globe, and a pretty scalloping at the top that gives a flower-like +appearance to that portion; the latter has the whole surface honey-combed +with a network of hexagonal cells. Such are a few of the devices that +ornament the earliest cradle of the butterfly; but probably those of every +species would well repay their examination to any one who possesses a +microscope. + +Prompted by a most remarkable instinct, and one that could not have +originated in any experience of personal advantage, the female butterfly, +when seeking a depository for her eggs, selects with unerring certainty the +very plant which, of all others, is best fitted for the support of her +offspring, who, when hatched, find themselves surrounded with an abundant +store of their proper food. + +Many a young botanist would be puzzled at first sight to tell a sloe-bush +from a buckthorn-bush. Not so, however, with our Brimstone butterfly: +passing by all the juicy hedge-plants, which look quite as suitable, one +would think, she, with botanical acumen, fixes upon the buckthorn; either +the common one, or, if that is not at hand, upon another species of +rhamnus--the berry-bearing alder--which, though a very different looking +plant, is of the same genus, and shares the same properties. She evidently +works out the natural system of botany, and might have been a pupil of +Jussieu, had she not been tutored by a far higher AUTHORITY. + +[Illustration: II.] + +{5} + +This display of instinct would seem far less wonderful did the mother +butterfly herself feed on the plant she commits her eggs to. In that case, +her choice might have appeared as the result of personal experience of some +peculiar benefit or pleasure derived from the plant, and then this +sentiment might have become hereditary; just as, for example, the acquired +taste for game is hereditary with sporting dogs. Whereas the fact is, that +a butterfly only occasionally, and as a matter of accident rather than +rule, derives her own nectareous food from the flowers of the plant, whose +leaves nourish her caterpillar progeny. So that this, as well as numberless +other phenomena of instinct, remains a mystery to be admired, but not +explained by any ordinary rule of cause and effect. + +Having thus efficiently provided, as far as board and lodging are +concerned, for the welfare of the future brood, the mother seems to +consider them settled for life, takes no further care of them, nor even +awaits the opening of the sculptured caskets that contain their tiny +life-germs; but, trusting them to the sun's warmth for their hatching, and +then to their own hungry little instincts to teach them good use of the +food placed within their reach, she sees them no more. + +But though abandoning her offspring to fate in this manner, it must not be +imagined that the butterfly mother takes her pattern of maternity from +certain {6} human mothers, and in a round of "butterfly's balls," and such +like dissipations, forgets the sacred claims of the nursery. No, she has +far other and better excuses for absenting herself from her family; one of +which is, that she usually dies before the latter are hatched; and if that +is not enough, that the young can get on quite as well without her; for +probably she could not teach them much about caterpillar economics, unless, +indeed, she remembered her own infantile habits of lang syne, so totally +different from those of her perfected butterfly life. + +The space of time passed in the egg state varies much according to the +temperature--from a few days when laid in genial summer weather, to several +months in the case of those laid in the autumn, and which remain quiescent +during the winter, to hatch out in the spring. + +The eggs of butterflies, in common with those of insects in general, are +capable of resisting not only vicissitudes, but extremes of temperature +that would be surely destructive of life in most other forms. The severest +cold of an English winter will not kill the tender butterfly eggs, whose +small internal spark of vitality is enough to keep them from freezing under +a much greater degree of cold than they are ever subjected to in a state of +nature. For example, they have been placed in an artificial freezing +mixture, which brought down the thermometer to 22deg below zero--a deadly +chill--and yet they survived with apparent {7} impunity, and afterwards +lived to hatch duly. Then as to their heat-resisting powers, some tropical +insects habitually lay their eggs in sandy, sun-scorched places, where the +hand cannot endure to remain a few moments; the heat rising daily to +somewhere about 190deg of the thermometer--and we know what a roasting one +gets at 90deg or so. Yet they thrive through all this. + +For a short time previous to hatching, the form and colour of the +caterpillar is faintly discoverable through the semi-transparent egg-shell. +The juvenile CATERPILLAR, or LARVA, gnaws his way through the shell into +the world, and makes his appearance in the shape of a slender worm, +exceedingly minute of course, and bearing few of the distinctive marks of +his species, either as to shape or colouring. On finding himself at +liberty, in the midst of plentiful good cheer, he at once falls vigorously +to work at the great business of his life--_eating_; often making his first +meal--oddly enough--off the egg-shell, lately his cradle. This singular +relish, or digestive pill, swallowed, he addresses himself to the food that +is to form the staple fare during the whole of his caterpillar +existence--viz. the leaves of his food-plant, which at the same time is his +home-plant too. + +At this stage his growth is marvellously rapid, and few creatures can equal +him in the capacity for doubling his weight--not even the starved +lodging-house "slavey," when she gets to her new place, with _carte +blanche_ allowance and the key of the pantry; for, in the course {8} of +twenty-four hours, he will have consumed more than twice his own weight of +food: and with such persevering avidity does he ply his pleasant task, +that, as it is stated, a caterpillar in the course of one month has +increased nearly ten thousand times his original weight on leaving the egg; +and, to furnish this increase of substance, has consumed the prodigious +quantity of forty thousand times his weight of food--truly, a ruinous rate +of living, only that green leaves are so cheap. + +But the life of a caterpillar, after all, is not merely the smooth +continual feast he would doubtless prefer it to be; it is interrupted, +several times in its course, by the necessity nature has imposed upon him +of now and then changing his coat--to him a very troublesome, if not a +painful affair. + +For some time previous to this phenomenon, even eating is nearly or quite +suspended,--the caterpillar becomes sluggish and shy, creeping away into +some more secluded spot, and there remaining till his time of trouble is +over. Various twitchings and contortions of the body now testify to the +_mal-aise_ of the creature in his old coat, which, though formed of a +material capable of a moderate amount of stretching, soon becomes outgrown, +and most uncomfortably tight-fitting, with such a quick-growing person +inside it: so off it must come, but it being unprovided with buttons, +there's the rub. However, with a great deal of fidgeting and +shoulder-shrugging, he manages to tear his coat down the back, and lastly, +by patient efforts, shuffles off the old rag; {9} when, lo! underneath is a +lustrous new garment, somewhat similar, but not exactly a copy of the last, +for our beau has his peculiar dress for each epoch of his life,--the most +splendid being often reserved for the last. + +This change of dress ("_moulting_," it is sometimes called) is repeated +thrice at least in the creature's life, but more generally five or six +times. Not only does the outer husk come off at these times, but, wonderful +to relate! the lining membrane of all the digestive passages, and of the +larger breathing tubes, is cast off and renewed also. + +After each moult, the caterpillar makes up for his loss of time by eating +more voraciously even than before, in many instances breaking his fast by +making a meal of his "old clo'"--an odd taste, first evinced, as we have +seen, in earliest infancy, when he swallowed his cradle. + +On Plate I. are shown the chief varieties of form taken by the caterpillars +of our British butterflies, and a glance at these will give, better than +verbal descriptions, a general idea of their characteristics. + +Their most usual shape is elongated and almost cylindrical, or slightly +tapering at one or both ends. Of these, some are smooth, or only studded +with short down or hairs; such are the caterpillars of the Swallow-tail +butterfly (fig. 1), of the Brimstone (fig. 2), Clouded Yellows, and Garden, +and other white butterflies. Others, of the same _general_ form, are beset +with long branched spines, making perfect _chevaux-de-frise_; such {10} are +those of the Peacock, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, and the Silvery +Fritillaries. + +The caterpillars of another large section have the body considerably +thicker in the middle (rolling-pin shaped), and the tail part two-forked, +or _bifurcate_. This form belongs to the numerous family that includes the +Meadow-brown (fig. 3), the Ringlets, and many others. + +The _bizarre_ personage, at fig. 4, turns to the graceful White Admiral +butterfly. + +The Purple Emperor begins his royal career in the curious form shown at +fig. 5--a shape unique among British butterflies, as beseems that of their +sovereign; and he carries a coronet on his brow already. + +All those beautiful little butterflies called the Hair-streaks (fig. 9), +the Blues (fig. 10), and the Coppers, have very short and fat caterpillars, +that remind one forcibly of wood-lice--a shape shared also by that small +butterfly with a big name, the Duke of Burgundy Fritillary (fig. 8), an +insect very distinct from the Fritillaries above mentioned with thorny +caterpillars. + +The _legs of a caterpillar are usually sixteen in number_, and composed of +two distinct kinds, viz. of _six true legs_, answering to those of the +perfect insect, and placed on the foremost segments of the body; and of +_ten_ others, called "_prolegs_;" temporary legs, used principally for +strengthening the creature's hold upon leaf or branch. + +Like the rest of its body, the caterpillar's head widely {11} differs in +structure from that of the perfect insect, being furnished with a pair of +jaws, horny and strong, befitting the heavy work they have to get through, +and shaped like pincers, opening and shutting from side to side, instead of +working up and down after the manner of the jaws in vertebrate animals. +This arrangement offers great convenience to the creature, feeding, as it +is wont to do, on the thin edge of a leaf. It is a curious sight to watch a +caterpillar thus engaged. Adhering by his close-clinging prolegs, and +guiding the edge of the leaf between his forelegs, he stretches out his +head as far as he can reach, and commences a series of rapid bites, at each +nibble bringing the head nearer the legs, till they almost meet; then +stretching out again the same regular set of mouthfuls is abstracted, and +so on, repeating the process till a large semi-circular indentation is +formed, reaching perhaps to the midrib of the leaf; then shifting his +position to a new vantage ground, the marauder recommences operations, +another sweep is taken out, then another, and soon the leaf is left a mere +skeleton. + +But a change, far more important than mere skin-shifting, follows close +upon the animal's caterpillar-maturity, complete as soon as it ceases to +grow. + +The form and habits of a worm are to be exchanged for the glories and +pleasures of winged life; but this can only be done at the price of passing +through an intermediate state; one neither of eating, nor of flying, but +motionless, helpless and death-like. {12} + +This is called the CHRYSALIS _or_ PUPA _state_. + +_Pupa_ is a Latin word, signifying a creature swathed, or tied up; and is +applied to this stage of all insects, because all, or some, of their parts +are then bound up, as if swathed. + +The term _Chrysalis_ is applicable to butterflies only, and, strictly, only +to a few of these--_Chrysalis_[1] being derived from the Greek [Greek: +chrusos] (_chrysos_), _gold_--in allusion to the splendid gilding of the +surface in certain species, such as the _Vanessas_, Fritillaries, and some +others. + +In the older works on entomology we frequently meet with the term _Aurelia_ +applied to this state, and having the same meaning as chrysalis, but +derived from the Latin word _Aurum_, gold. + +Here the reader is again referred to Plate I. for a series of the principal +forms assumed by the chrysalides of our native butterflies, and as these +for the most part represent the next stage of the caterpillars previously +figured, an opportunity is afforded of tracing the insect's form through +its three great changes; the whole of the butterflies in their perfect +state being given in their proper places in the body of the work. + +[Illustration: III.] + +{13} The complicated and curious processes by which various caterpillars +assume the chrysalis form, and suspend themselves securely in their proper +attitudes, have been most accurately and laboriously chronicled by the +French naturalist, Reaumur; but his memoirs on the subject, which have been +frequently quoted into the larger entomological works, are too long for +insertion here in full, and any considerable abbreviation would fail to +convey a clear idea of the process, on account of the intricacy of the +operations described. So I can only here allude to the difficult problems +that the creature has to solve, referring the reader to the above-mentioned +works for a detailed description of the manner of doing so; or, better +still, I would recommend the country resident to witness all this with his +own eyes. By keeping a number of the caterpillars of our common +butterflies, feeding them up, and attentively watching them when +full-grown, he will now and then detect one in the transformation act, and +have an opportunity of wondering at the curious manoeuvres of the animal, +as it triumphs over seeming impossibilities. + +By reference to the figures of chrysalides on Plate I. it will be seen that +there are two distinct modes of suspension employed among them; one, by the +tail only, the head hanging down freely in the air:--in the other, the tail +is attached to the supporting object; but the head, instead of swinging +loosely, is kept in an upright position by being looped round the waist +with a silken girdle. + +To appreciate the difficulty of gaining either of the above positions, we +must bear in mind that, before doing so, the caterpillar has to throw off +its own skin, carrying with it the whole of its legs, and the jaws {14} +too--leaving itself a mere limbless, and apparently helpless mass--its only +prehensile organs being a few minute, almost imperceptible hooks on the end +of the tail; and the required position of attachment and security is +accomplished by a series of movements so dexterous and sleight-of-hand +like, as to cause infinite astonishment to the looker-on, and, as Reaumur +justly observes, "It is impossible not to wonder, that an insect, which +executes them but once in its life, should execute them so well. We must +necessarily conclude that it has been instructed by a GREAT MASTER; for He +who has rendered it necessary for the insect to undergo this change, has +likewise given it all the requisite means for accomplishing it in safety." + +If we examine a chrysalis we are able to make out, through the thin +envelope, all the external organs of the body stowed away in the most +orderly and compact manner. The antennae are very conspicuous, folded down +alongside of the legs; and precisely in the centre will be seen the tongue, +unrolled and forming a straight line between the legs. The unexpanded wings +are visible on each side--very small, but with all their veinings +distinctly seen; and the breathing holes, called spiracles, are placed in a +row on each side of the body. + +The duration of the chrysalis stage, like that of the egg, is extremely +variable, and dependent on difference of temperature. As an instance of +this, one of our common butterflies has been known to pass only seven {15} +or eight days in the chrysalis state; this would be in the heat of summer. +Then, in the spring, the change occupies a fortnight; but when the +caterpillar enters the chrysalis state in the autumn, the butterfly does +not make its appearance till the following spring. Furthermore, it has been +proved by experiment, that if the condition of perpetual winter be kept up +by keeping the chrysalis in an icehouse, its development may be retarded +for two or three years beyond its proper time; while, on the other hand, if +in the middle of winter the chrysalis be removed to a hothouse, the +enclosed butterfly, mistaking the vivifying warmth for returning summer, +makes its _debut_ in ten days or a fortnight. + + * * * * * + + +{16} + +CHAPTER II. + + "COMING OUT"--ICHNEUMONS--THE BUTTERFLY PERFECTED--ITS + WINGS--LEPIDOPTERA--MEANING OF THE WORD--MICROSCOPIC VIEW--NEW + BEAUTIES--MAGNIFIED "DUST"--THE HEAD AND ITS ORGANS--THE TONGUE--THE + EYES--THE ANTENNAE--THEIR USES--INSECT CLAIRVOYANCE--AN UNKNOWN + SENSE--FORMS OF ANTENNAE--THE LEGS. + +We now arrive at the last stage, the consummation of all this strange +series of transformations; for veritable transformations they are to all +intents and purposes; though some learned naturalists have discovered--or +imagined so--that the butterfly, in all its parts, really lies hid under +the caterpillar's skin, and can be distinguished under microscopical +dissection; and that, therefore, the so-called transformations are merely +the throwing off of the various envelopes or husks, as they become in turn +superfluous, as a mountebank strips off garment after garment, till lastly +the sparkling harlequin is discovered to view; or, in more exact language, +they consider these changes in the light rather of successive developments +and emancipations of the various organs than as their actual +transformations. Still, it seems to me, the difference is chiefly one of +terms. The real wondrous fact remains undiminished and {17} unexplained; +that a creeping wormlike creature, in process of time, is changed into a +glorious winged being, differing from the former in form, habits, food, and +every essential particular, as widely as any two creatures can well differ, +as widely as a serpent from a bird, for instance. + +As the imprisoned butterfly approaches maturity, a change is observable in +the exterior of the chrysalis, the skin becomes dry and brittle, usually +darkens in colour, and if the enclosed butterfly be a strongly marked one, +the pattern of its wings shows through, often quite distinctly. + +When the fulness of time arrives, the creature breaks through its thin +casings, which divide in several places, and the freed insect crawls up +into some convenient spot to dry itself, and allow the wings to expand. + +All the organs are at first moist and tender, but on exposure to the air +soon acquire strength and firmness. + +At the moment of emergence, the wings are very miniature affairs, sometimes +hardly one-twentieth of their full size when expanded; but so rapid is +their increase in volume, that they may actually be seen to grow, as the +fluids from the body are pumped into the nervures that support the +wing-membrane, and keep it extended. + +In the more strongly marked, or richly coloured species, it is a +wonderfully beautiful sight to watch this expansion of the wings, and to +see the various features {18} of their painted devices growing under the +eye and developing gradually into their true proportions. + +Generally within an hour the development is complete, and the wings, having +gained their full expanse and consistency by drying in the sun, are ready +for flight, and the glad creature wings his way to the fields of air, and +enters on that life of sunshine and hilarity which is associated with the +very name of "_Butterfly_." + +But not every chrysalis arrives at this happy consummation of its +existence. Supposing that you have reared and watched a caterpillar to +apparently healthy maturity, that it has duly become a chrysalis, and you +are awaiting its appearance in butterfly splendour--peeping into your box +some morning to see if the bright expected one is "out," be not surprised +if in its stead you find the box tenanted by a swarm of little black +flies--an impish-looking crew. Whence came all these? Why they and the +empty chrysalis shell are all that remains of your cherished prize; so look +no more for the fair sunny butterfly, devoured ere born by that +ill-favoured troop of darklings who have just now issued from the lifeless +shell. + +The truth is, that long since, perhaps in early larva-hood, the creature's +fate was sealed; a deadly enemy to his race is ever on the alert, winging +about in the shape of a small black fly, in search of an exposed and +defenceless caterpillar. Having selected her victim, she pierces his body +with a sharp cutting instrument she is armed with, and in the wound +deposits an egg; the {19} caterpillar winces a little at this treatment, +but seems to attach little importance to it. Meanwhile his enemy repeats +her thrusts till some thirty or forty eggs, germs of the destroyers, are +safely lodged in his body, and his doom is certain beyond hope. The eggs +quickly hatch into grubs, who begin to gnaw away at the unhappy creature's +flesh, thus reducing him gradually, but by a profound instinct keeping +clear of all the vital organs, as if knowing full well that the creature +must keep on feeding and digesting too, or their own supply would speedily +fail; as usurers, while draining a client, keep up his credit with the +world as long as they can. + +Weaker grows the caterpillar as the gnawing worms within grow stronger and +nearer maturity. Sometimes he dies a caterpillar, sometimes he has strength +left to take the chrysalis shape, but out of this he _never_ comes a +butterfly--the consuming grubs now finish vitals and all, turn to pupae in +his empty skin, and come out soon, black flies like their parent. + +But, supposing that it has escaped this great danger, we now see the +creature in its completest form, as the + +IMAGO, OR PERFECT BUTTERFLY. + +The first term, _Imago_, is a Latin one, merely signifying an image, or +distinct unveiled form; as distinguished from the previous _larva_, or +masked state, and the _pupa_, or swathed and enveloped state. The word +_imago_ then, in works on entomology, always means the {20} perfect and +last stage of insect life, and is applied to all insects with wings--for it +must be borne in mind that no insect is ever winged till it reaches the +last stage of its existence. + +If the progressive development of these lovely beings is so marvellous, no +less so is their structure when perfected, and of this some general +description must now be attempted. + +In contemplating a butterfly, one feels that the mind is first engaged by +that ample spread, and exquisite painting of the wings that form the +creature's glory; let therefore these remarkable organs have our first +attention. + +Wherein do these wings chiefly differ from all other insect wings? +Certainly in being covered thickly with a variously coloured powdery +material, easily removed by handling. This apparent dust is composed, in +reality, of a vast number of regularly and beautifully formed +_scales_--feathers they are sometimes called, but they are more comparable +to fish scales than to any other kind of natural covering. The general term +_Lepidoptera_, applied to _all_ butterflies and moths, is derived from +these _scaly-wings_; _Lepis_[2] being the Greek for a _scale_, and _ptera_ +meaning _wings_ in the same language. + +The use of a tolerably powerful pocket lens will afford _some_ insight into +the exquisite mode of painting + +{21} employed in these matchless pieces of decoration; but the possessor of +a regular microscope may, by applying it to some of our commonest +butterflies, open for himself a world of beauty, and feast his eyes on a +combination of refined sculpture with splendour of colouring; now melting +in softest harmony, then relieved by boldest contrast--a spectacle, the +first sight of which seldom fails to call forth expressions of wonderment +and warm delight; and, truly, little to be envied is the mind untouched by +such utter beauty as here displayed. + +As an example of the method by which this admirable effect is produced, let +us take a small portion of the wing of the Peacock, a very beautiful, +though an abundant species, and one admirably adapted for microscopic +examination, and to illustrate the subject, from the great variety of rich +tints brought together in a small space, the part selected being the +eye-like spot at the outer corner of each upper wing. Even to the naked eye +this appears as a very splendidly coloured object, yet but little of its +exquisite mechanism can be discovered by the unassisted organ. Something +more is brought out by a moderately strong lens: we then see the colours +disposed in rows, reminding us of the surface of Brussels carpet, or of +certain kinds of tapestry work. + +Now let us place the wing on the stage of a good microscope, with the root +of the wing pointing towards the light (that is the best position for it); +we shall then first perceive that the whole surface is covered, or, so to +{22} speak, tiled over with distinct, sharply cut _scales_, arranged as in +fig. 16, Plate II., with the outer or free edges of one row overlapping the +roots of the next. These roots being all planted towards the base of the +wing, if we place that end next the light (as above directed), the free +edges of the scales throw a strong shadow on the next row, which brings out +the imbricated effect most strikingly. + +Beginning our observations at the outer edge of the wing, we first notice a +delicate fringe of scales or plumes, more elongated and pointed than the +surface scales, and of a quiet brown colour. This tint is continued inwards +for a short space, gradually lightening, when (as we shift the field of +view towards the centre of the wing) the colour of the scales suddenly +changes to an intense black; then a little further, and the black ground is +all spangled with glittering sapphires, then strewed deep with amethyst +round a heap of whitest pearls. Golden topaz--(jewels only will furnish apt +terms of comparison for these insect gems)--golden topaz ends the bright +many-coloured crescent, and in the centre is enclosed a spot of profoundest +black, gradating into a rich unnameable red, whose velvet depth and +softness contrast deliciously with the adjacent flashing lustre; then comes +another field of velvet black, then more gold, and so on till the gorgeous +picture is complete. + +Subject a piece of finest human painting to the scrutiny of a strong +magnifying glass, and where is the beauty thereof? Far from being +magnified, it will have wholly vanished: its cleverest touches turned to +coarse, repulsive daubs and stains. + +[Illustration: IV.] + +{23} + +Now, bring the microscope's most searching powers to bear upon the painting +of an insect's wing, and we find only pictures within pictures as the +powers increase; the very pigments used turn out to be jewels, not rough +uncut stones, but cut and graven gems, bedded in softest velvet. + +If by gentle rubbing with the finger-tip the scales be removed from both +sides of the wing (for each side is scale-covered, though generally with a +very different pattern), there remains a transparent membrane like that of +a bee's or fly's wing, tight stretched between stiff branching veins, but +bearing no vestige of its late gay painting, thus showing that the whole of +the colouring resides in the scales, the places occupied by the roots of +the latter being marked by rows of dots. + +Hitherto we have been looking at these scales as the component parts of a +picture, like the _tesserae_ of mosaic work; but they are no less +interesting as individual objects, when viewed microscopically. To do this, +delicately rub off a little of the dust or scales with the finger; then +take a slip of glass, and pressing the finger with the adhering dust upon +it, the latter will come off and remain on the glass, which is then to be +placed under the microscope. These scales may be treated either as opaque +or transparent objects, and in both conditions display exceeding beauty, +some of these single atoms showing, by aid of the microscope, as {24} much +complexity of structure as the whole wing does to the unassisted vision. + +A few of the highly varied forms they present are shown on Plate II. Figs. +23 to 38 are selected from among the commoner forms, as seen by a +comparatively low power. The small stalk-like appendage is the part by +which the scale is affixed to the wing: it may be called the root. Figs. +17, 18, 19, 20, 21, show some very remarkable forms, which are, so far as +has been ascertained, peculiar to butterflies of the _male_ sex, though the +use or reason of this masculine badge, only visible to highly magnifying +optics, is neither known nor probably to be known at present; but +singularly beautiful and curious they are to look at. The little balls at +the end of threads are the root portion, and fit into cup-like sockets, +placed here and there among the ordinary scales. The surface of these +scales is beautifully ribbed and cross-ribbed, and at the upper end is a +plume-like tuft of delicate filaments. The curious scale aptly called, from +its shape, the Battledore scale, and shown at fig. 22, also belongs to the +male of various butterflies, especially those pretty little ones known as +the "Blues." Its surface is most curiously ornamented with rows of +bead-like prominences. + +Probably one would imagine that in such wee specks as are these scales, one +single layer of substance would suffice for their whole thickness (if we +can talk of _thick_ness, with objects almost immeasurable in their +_thin_ness). But such is not the case, for when scales have {25} been +injured by rubbing we now and then find a part with the sculptured surfaces +torn off on each side, showing a plain central layer, so that at least +three layers--two ornamented and one plain--go to form a filmy body, only a +small fraction of the thickness of paper. + +But there are other portions of a butterfly to claim our interest besides +its wondrous wings. + +On the creature's head are grouped together some most beautiful and +important organs. The most peculiar of these is the long spiral "sucker," +which extracts the honied food from the blossoms to which its wings so +gracefully waft it. This organ is shown, slightly magnified, at fig. 8, +Plate II., and a most delicate piece of animal mechanism it is. Any human +workman would, to a certainty, be not only puzzled, but thoroughly beaten, +in an attempt to construct a tube little thicker than a horse-hair, yet +composed throughout its length of two distinct pieces, capable of being +separated at pleasure, and then joined again so as to form an air-tight +tube. This redoubtable problem, however, is solved in the construction of +this curious little instrument that every butterfly carries. + +The junction of the two grooved surfaces that form the tube is effected by +the same contrivance that reunites the web of a feather when it has been +pulled apart. We all know how completely it is made whole again, and on +examining by what means this result is brought about, we find that it is by +the interlacing of a {26} number of small fibres or hairs, just as, on a +larger scale, a pair of brushes adhere when pressed face to face; and so in +the butterfly's sucker, the two edges that join to form the tube are +closely set with minute bristles that, when brought together, interlock so +closely as to make an air-tight surface. + +Fig. 9, Plate II., is a transverse section taken near the base of the +sucker, the small opening at the top being the food passage, those at the +side the air-tubes that supply air for respiration and perhaps assist in +suction. + +The tube is probably made with separable parts in order that if its +interior should become at any time clogged by grosser particles drawn up +with the flower nectar, it may be opened and cleansed by the insect; +otherwise, the tube once rendered impassable, the insect would speedily +starve, as this narrow channel is the only inlet for the creature's +nourishment--its only mouth, in fact, for no butterfly possesses jaws to +bite with, or can take any but the liquid food pumped up by suction through +this pipe. + +At the end of the proboscis--or, as it is called scientifically, the +Haustellum[3]--there are visible in some butterflies a number of small +projections, of the form shown at fig. 10, Plate II., which is a highly +magnified figure of the end of the Red Admiral's proboscis. These +appendages are generally supposed to be organs of taste, {27} and to aid in +the discrimination of food when the pipe is unrolled and thrust down deep +into the nectary of a flower. + +The _compound eye_ of a butterfly, wonderful as its structure is, does not +greatly differ from that of many other insects, being like them composed of +an immense number of little lenses set together to form a hemisphere large +in comparison with the insect's head. A portion of one of these eyes forms +a pretty and interesting object for the microscope, presenting a honey-comb +appearance, the hexagonal lines that mark the division of the lenses being +most beautifully geometrical and regular in their arrangement. More than +seventeen hundred of these lenses have been counted in a single eye, and +each of these is considered to possess the qualities of a complete and +independent eye. If this be true, the butterfly may be said to be endowed +with at least thirty-four thousand eyes! + +There exist also, as in other insects, _two simple_ eyes, placed on the top +of the head, but so buried in down and scales as to be neither visible, nor +useful for vision as far as we can perceive; probably the creature finds +that his allowance of thirty-four thousand windows to his soul lets in as +much light as he requires. + +Every one looking at a butterfly must have remarked its long horns, called +_antennae_,[4] which project from above the eyes, like jointed threads, +thickening--in some {28} species gradually, in others suddenly--into a club +or knob at the extremity; a peculiarity which, it will be remembered, was +pointed out at the commencement, as a prominent mark of distinction between +butterflies and moths. + +Very graceful appendages are these waving _antennae_, and evidently of high +importance to their owner; but still, their exact office or function is +unknown, notwithstanding that many guesses and experiments have been made +with a view of settling that question. + +Investigators have perhaps erred, by assuming at the outset that these +antennae _must_ be organs of some sense that we ourselves possess; whereas, +I think that there is much evidence to show that insects are gifted with a +certain subtle sense, for which we have no name, and of which we can have +as little real idea, as we could have had of the faculty of sight, had all +the world been born blind. + +For example; if you breed from the chrysalis a female Kentish Glory Moth, +and then immediately take her--in a closed box, mind--out into her native +woods, within a short space of time an actual crowd of male "Glories" come +and fasten upon, or hover over, the prison-house of the coveted maiden. +Without this magic attraction, you might walk in these same woods for a +whole day and not see a single specimen, the Kentish Glory being generally +reputed a very rare moth; while as many as some 120 males have been thus +decoyed to their capture in a few hours, by the charms of a couple of lady +"Glories," shut up in a box. + +[Illustration: V.] + +{29} + +Now, which of our five senses, I would ask--even if developed into +extraordinary acuteness in the insect--would account for such an exhibition +of clairvoyance as this? + +May not, then, this undiscovered sense, whatever may be its nature, reside +in the antennae? for it is a remarkable fact, that the very moths, such as +the Eggers, the Emperor, the Kentish Glory, &c., which display the +above-mentioned phenomenon most signally, have the _antennae in the males_ +amplified with numerous spreading branches, so as to present an unusually +large sensitive surface. This seems to point to some connexion between +those organs and the faculty of discovering the presence, and even the +condition, of one of their own race, with more, perhaps, than a mile of +distance, and the sides of a wooden box, intervening between themselves and +their object. + +Whilst writing this, the current number of the "Entomologist's Weekly +Intelligencer" has arrived, and I there read that Dr. Clemmens, an American +naturalist, has been lately experimenting on the antennae of some large +American moths, for the purpose of gaining some information as to their +function. The article, though very interesting, is too long for quotation +here; but it appears that with the moths in question, a deprivation of the +whole, or even part of the antennae, interferes with, or entirely +annihilates the power {30} of flight, so that the creature when thus shorn, +but not otherwise injured, if thrown into the air seems to have no idea of +using his wings properly, but with a purposeless flutter tumbles headlong +to the earth. Still this merely goes to prove that the antennae are the +instruments of some important sense, one of whose uses is to guide the +creature's flight; but as many wingless insects have large antennae, this +evidently is not their only function. + +The antennae are also often styled the "feelers;" but with our present +incomplete knowledge of their nature, the former term is preferable, as it +does not attempt to define their use as the word "feelers" does. + +Considerable variety of form exists in the clubbed tip of the antennae in +various butterflies, as will be seen by reference to Plate II., where three +of the most distinct forms are shown considerably magnified. Fig. 12 is the +upper part of the antenna of the High-brown Fritillary (_Argynnis Adippe_), +the end suddenly swelling into a distinct knob. Fig. 13 is that of the +Swallow-tail Butterfly (_Papilio Machaon_), the enlargement here being more +gradual; and fig. 14 is that of the Large Skipper Butterfly (_Pamphila +Sylvanus_), distinguished by the curved point that surmounts the club. +These differences in the forms of the antennae are found to be excellent +aids in the classification of butterflies, and I shall therefore have +occasion to refer to them more minutely in describing the insects in +detail. + +The stems of these organs are found to be tubular, {31} and at the point of +junction with the head the base is spread out (as shown at fig. 15), +forming what engineers call a "flange," to afford sufficient support for +the long column above. + +The _legs_ are the last portions of the butterfly framework that require +especial notice, on account of a peculiar variation they are subject to in +different family groups. + +It may be laid down as an axiom, that _all true insects have six legs_, in +one shape or another; and butterflies, being insects, are obedient to the +same universal rule, and duly grow their half-dozen legs; but in certain +tribes the front pair, for no apparent reason, are so short and imperfect +as to be totally useless for walking purposes, though they may possibly be +used as hands for polishing up the proboscis, &c. So the butterfly in this +case _appears_, to a hasty observer, to have only _four_ legs. + +This peculiarity is a constant feature in several natural groups of +butterflies, and therefore, in conjunction with other marks, such as the +veining of the wings and the shape of the antennae, its presence or absence +is a most useful mark of distinction, in classifying or searching out the +name and systematic place of a butterfly. + + * * * * * + + +{32} + +CHAPTER III. + + WHAT BUTTERFLIES NEVER DO--GROUNDLESS TERROR--A MISTAKE--USES OF + BUTTERFLIES--MORAL OF BUTTERFLY LIFE--PSYCHE--THE BUTTERFLY AN EMBLEM + OF THE SOUL--THE ARTIST AND THE BUTTERFLY. + +Among the _negative_ attributes of butterflies, I may state positively, +that _no butterfly whatever can either sting or bite in the least degree_; +and from their total harmlessness towards the person of man, conjoined with +their outward attractiveness, they merit and enjoy an exemption from those +feelings of dread and disgust that attach to many, or, I may say, to almost +all other tribes of insects; even to their equally harmless near relatives +the larger moths. At least, it has never been my misfortune to meet with a +person weak-minded enough to be afraid of a butterfly, though I have seen +some exhibit symptoms of the greatest terror at the proximity of a large +Hawk-moth, and some of the thick-bodied common moths--"Match-owlets," the +country folk call them. + +Once, also, I listened to the grave recital--by a classical scholar too--of +a murderous onslaught made by a Privet Hawk-moth on the neck of a lady, and +how it "_bit a piece clean out_." Of course I attempted to prove, by what +seemed to me very fair logic, that the {33} moth, having neither teeth nor +even any mouth capable of opening, but only a weak hollow tongue to suck +honey through, was utterly incapable of biting or inflicting any wound +whatever. But, as is usual in such cases, my entomological theory went for +nothing in face of the gentleman's knock-down battery of _facts_--_ocular_ +facts; he had _seen_ the _moth_, and he had _seen_ the _wound_: surely, +there was proof enough for me, or any one else. So, I suppose, he +steadfastly believes to this day, that the moth was a truculent, +bloodthirsty monster; whilst I still presume to believe, that if any wound +was caused at the moment in question, it was by the nails of the lady +attacked, or her friends, in clutching frantically at the terrific +intruder; who, poor fellow, might have been pardoned for mistaking the fair +neck for one of his favourite flowers (a _lily_, perhaps), while the utmost +harm he contemplated was to pilfer a sip of nectar from the lips he +doubtless took for rosebuds. + +Utilitarians may, perhaps, inquire the _uses_ of butterflies--what they do, +make, or can be sold for; and I must confess that my little favourites +neither make anything to wear, like the silkworm, nor anything to eat, like +the honey-bee, nor are their bodies saleable by the ton, like the cochineal +insects, and that, commercially speaking, they are just worth nothing at +all, excepting the few paltry pence or shillings that the dealer gets for +their little dried bodies occasionally; so they are of no more use than +poetry, painting, and music--than flowers, rainbows, and all such {34} +unbusinesslike things. In fact, I have nothing to say in the butterfly's +favour, except that it is a joy to the deep-minded and to the +simple-hearted, to the sage, and, still better, to the child--that it gives +an earnest of a better world, not vaguely and generally, as does every +"thing of beauty," but with clearest aim and purpose, through one of the +most strikingly perfect and beautiful analogies that we can find throughout +that vast Creation, where-- + + "All animals are living hieroglyphs."[5] + +The butterfly, then, in its own progressive stages of caterpillar, +chrysalis, and perfect insect, is an emblem of the human soul's progress +through earthly life and death, to heavenly life. + +Even the ancient Greeks, with their imperfect lights, recognised this +truth, when they gave the same name, Psyche ([Greek: Psuche]), to the soul, +or spirit of life, and to the butterfly, and sculptured over the effigy of +one dead the figure of a butterfly, floating away, as it were, in his +breath; while poets of all nations have since followed up the simile. + +And this analogy is not only a mere general resemblance, but holds good +through its minute details to a marvellous extent; to trace which fully +would require volumes, while in this place the slightest sketch only can be +given. + +First, there is the grovelling caterpillar-state, {35} emblematical of our +present imperfection, but yet the state of preparation and increase towards +perfection, and that, too, which largely influences the future existence. + +Many troubles and changes are the lot of the caterpillar. Repeated +skin-shiftings and ceaseless industry in his vocation are necessary, that +within his set time he may attain full growth and vigour. + +Then comes a mighty change: the caterpillar is to exchange his worm-like +form and nature for an existence unspeakably higher and better. But, as we +have seen, to arrive at this glory there is only one condition, which is, +that the creature must pass through another, and, as it might seem, a +gloomy state--one anything but cheerful to contemplate; for it must cease +to eat, to move, and--_to the eye_--_to live_. Yet, is it really dead now, +or do we, who have watched the creature thus far, despair and call it lost? +Do we not rather rejoice that it rests from its labours, and that the +period of its glorification is at hand? + +In the silent chrysalis state then our _Psyche_ sleeps away awhile, +unaffected by the vicissitudes around it; and, at last, when its appointed +day arrives, bursts from its cerements, and rises in the air a winged and +joyous being, to meet the sun which warmed it into new life. Now it is a +_butterfly_,--bright emblem of pleasure unalloyed. + +This happy consummation, however, is only for the chrysalis which has not +within it the devouring worm, the fruit of the ichneumon's egg, harboured +during the {36} caterpillar state--and emblem, in the human soul, of some +deadly sin yielded to during life, and which afterwards becomes the gnawing +"worm that dieth not." For in this case, instead of the bright butterfly, +there issues forth from the chrysalis-shell only a swarm of black, +ill-favoured flies, like a troop of evil spirits coming from their feast on +a fallen soul. + +If a caterpillar were gifted with a foreknowledge of his butterfly future, +so far transcending his inglorious present, we could imagine that he would +be only impatient to get through his caterpillar duties, and rejoice to +enter the chrysalis state as soon as he was fitted for it. How +short-sighted then would a caterpillar appear who should endeavour, while +in that shape, to emulate the splendour of the butterfly by some wretched +temporary substitute, adding a few more, or brighter stripes than nature +had given it; or, again, if one whose great change was drawing near, should +attempt to conceal its visible approach by painting over the fading hues of +health, and plastering up the wrinkles of its outward covering, so soon to +be thrown off altogether; instead of striving for inward strength and +beauty, which would never decline, but be infinitely expanded in the +butterfly--and regarding the earthly beauty's wane as the dawn of the +celestial. + +[Illustration: VI.] + +{37} With these and similar reflections before us (which might be +multiplied _ad infinitum_), we shall no longer look upon the caterpillar as +a mere unsightly and troublesome reptile, the chrysalis as an +unintelligible curiosity, and the butterfly as a pretty painted thing and +nothing more; but regard them as _together_ forming one of those beautiful +and striking illustrations with which the book of Nature has been so +profusely enriched by its GREAT AUTHOR; not to be taken as _substitutes_ +for His revealed Word, but as harmonious adjuncts, bringing its great +truths more home to our understandings, just as the engravings in a book +are not designed as substitutes for the text, but to elucidate and +strengthen the ideas in the reader's mind. + +While the poet draws from the butterfly many a pleasant similitude, and the +moralist many a solemn teaching, the artist (who should be poet and +moralist too) dwells upon these beings with fondest delight, finding in +them images of joy and life when seen at large in the landscape, and rich +stores of colour-lessons when studied at home in the cabinet. + +The owners of many a name great in the arts have been enthusiastic +collectors of butterflies. Our distinguished countryman, Thomas Stothard, +was one of their devotees, and the following anecdote, extracted from his +published life, shows how he was led to make them his special study:-- + +"He was beginning to paint the figure of a reclining sylph, when a +difficulty arose in his own mind how best to represent such a being of +fancy. A friend who was present said, 'Give the sylph a butterfly's wing, +and then you have it.' 'That I will,' exclaimed Stothard; 'and to be +correct I will paint the wing {38} from the butterfly itself.' He sallied +forth, extended his walk to the fields, some miles distant, and caught one +of those beautiful insects; it was of the species called the Peacock. Our +artist brought it carefully home, and commenced sketching it, but not in +the painting room; and leaving it on the table, a servant swept the pretty +little creature away, before its portrait was finished. On learning his +loss, away went Stothard once more to the fields to seek another butterfly. +But at this time one of the tortoise-shell tribe crossed his path, and was +secured. He was astonished at the combination of colour that presented +itself to him in this small but exquisite work of the Creator, and from +that moment determined to enter on a new and difficult field--the study of +the insect department of Natural History. He became a hunter of +butterflies. The more he caught, the greater beauty did he trace in their +infinite variety, and he would often say that no one knew what he owed to +these insects--they had taught him the finest combinations in that +difficult branch of art--colouring." + +The above doubtless has its parallel in the experience of many artistic +minds, whose very nature it is to appreciate to the full the perfections +set forth in a butterfly, admiring-- + + "The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie, + The silken down with which his back is dight, + His broad outstretched horns, his airy thigh, + His glorious colours and his glistening eye." + SPENSER. + + * * * * * + + +{39} + +CHAPTER IV. + + BUTTERFLIES IN THE CABINET--HOW TO CATCH THEM--APPARATUS--GOING + OUT--WEATHER--LOCALITIES--LOCAL BUTTERFLIES--INCOGNITOS--FIELD + WORK--FAVOURITE STATIONS--BEWARE OF THE BRAMBLE. + +The mention of butterflies "in the cabinet" leads at once to the question, +how to get them there; or, in other words, HOW TO CATCH A BUTTERFLY. + +This is a question often less difficult to answer in words than in action, +for many of our butterflies are gifted not only with strong prejudices +against the inside of a net, but with very strong powers of escaping from +that unpleasant situation. Still, by aid of proper apparatus, a sure eye +and hand, and often, of a good pair of legs, there is no butterfly, however +fleet and wary, that we may not feel ourselves a tolerable match for. + +Firstly, then, as to the out-door apparatus required. + +This is simple enough, a _net_ and _pocket-boxes_, with a few _pins_, being +the only essentials.[6] + +{40} + +Variously constructed nets are used, according to fancy, but the choice may +lie between two chief forms: the _Clap-net_ and the _Ring-net_. + +[Illustration] + +The former certainly gives more power in a fair chase, but the latter has +the advantage of being the {41} lighter, more portable, and less +conspicuous of the two. Both of these instruments are shown in the +accompanying figures. + +The clap-net (fig. 1) usually has the sticks that compose the framework +made each in three separate pieces, joined by ferrules--a couple of light +fishing-rods will do excellently, a piece of bent cane being substituted +for the top joint. The manner in which the gauze is extended between, and +fitted on, these rods will be sufficiently obvious on looking at the cut, +which represents the net half open. In taking an insect, one handle is held +in each hand, the net opened wide, and thrown over, or made to intercept +the insect, when, by suddenly closing the handles together, a closed bag is +made, and the little prisoner is secured. + +[Illustration] + +The ring-net (fig. 2), which is the implement most generally in vogue, may +be constructed in several ways. The cheapest, and at the same time a highly +serviceable one, is made by getting from a tinman a tin "socket" of this +form, the larger end fitting on to the end of a straight stick, and the two +smaller tubes receiving the ends of a hoop of cane, which carries the net, +it being passed through a loose hem round the top of the latter. The cane, +taken out of the socket, can be rolled up closely with the net and carried +in the pocket to the scene of action, while the handle may be a strong +common walking-stick, a {42} most useful auxiliary in getting across +country, and thus this net becomes really no incumbrance to the tourist, +who may have other matters in hand besides butterfly hunting--perhaps +sketching and botanizing--when the larger clap-net becomes quite +embarrassing. + +Another form of this net has the ring made of _metal_, and _jointed_ in +several places, so as to fold within a small pocketable compass, and +arranged to screw into a brass socket on the top of the stick. This is a +very commendable net--not so easily home-made as the last, certainly, but +it can be readily procured complete from the London dealers (or +"naturalists," as they style themselves). + +A net that has been a good deal used of late opens and shuts on the +umbrella principle, and with the same celerity, forming a ring-net when +open--when shut going into a case like that of an umbrella. + +Some entomologists, nervously sensitive to public opinion, are, however, +somewhat shy of sporting these umbrella nets, for should rain perchance +come down while he is on the road, the villagers may be astonished at the +insane spectacle of a man scuttling along through the torrent and getting +drenched through, while he carries a good-looking umbrella carefully under +his arm for fear it should get wet; and if, on the other hand, the weather +be fine, the carrying such a protective would seem an equally eccentric +whim. But only the _very_ thin-skinned would be driven from the use of a +good weapon by such a harmless contingency as I have here supposed. {43} + +Other necessary equipments for the fly-catcher are two or three _light +wooden boxes_, as large as can conveniently be carried in the pockets, and +having either the bottom, or, if deep enough, both bottom and top lined +with a layer of _cork_, about one-eighth of an inch in thickness. + +A pin-cushion, well furnished with _entomological pins_, should also be +carried, and will be found to be most accessible when suspended by a loop +and button (or otherwise) inside the breast of the coat. + +The pins here mentioned, which are an important item among +butterfly-collecting requisites, are of a peculiar manufacture--very +small-headed, long and thin, but strong. Any good London dealer will supply +them on application, or send them by post into the country. + +Armed with the above simple _paraphernalia_, viz. net to catch, boxes and +pins to contain and detain, the insect hunter may sally forth on any fine +summer's day, with a pretty sure prospect of sport, and the chance, at +least, of a prize. Much depends, however, on the choice of a day, and the +nature of the locality that is to form the hunting ground. + +As to weather, it must be remembered that winged insects have a great +objection to face a north, or north-east wind, during the prevalence of +which you will probably find hardly one stirring, however prolific the +locality may at other times be. + +Butterflies, as a rule, do not appear to be at all {44} influenced by an +eye for the picturesque and romantic in the choice of their favourite +haunts. Often have I been disappointed in this way, finding a delicious +spot, basking in sunshine, and bedight with all manner of flowers such as a +butterfly loves, yet with scarcely a stray butterfly to enliven it; while, +on the other hand, a piece of the most unpromising flat waste land will be +all alive with insect beauty. Those, for example, who would see those +splendid creatures, the Swallow-tail butterfly and the large Copper (if +this exists with us at all now), must go to the dreary fen districts that +form their almost exclusive haunts. + +It is, in fact, very hard to say what influences bring a swarm of +butterflies together, to populate one particular spot, to the utter neglect +of others close at hand, and, to all appearance, just as eligible. + +Some species are most remarkable for their excessive _localness_ (as it is +called), or, limiting their range to an exceedingly small circumscribed +space; so much so, that some rare species have been known to haunt just one +corner of one particular field, year after year, while not a single +specimen could be found in all the neighbouring fields, though precisely +similar, to all appearance. This phenomenon is quite inexplicable with +regard to insects endowed so pre-eminently with locomotive powers as +butterflies are. + +The local nature of his game should, however, induce the collector to leave +no nook or corner unexplored when he is "working" a district; as the +passing over (or rather, neglecting to _pass over_) a single field may lose +him the very species it would joy him most to find. + +[Illustration: VII.] + +{45} + +I would also advise the beginner--and, indeed, all but the very experienced +hands--to catch, not necessarily for slaughter, but for inspection, every +attainable individual whose species he cannot positively declare to when on +the wing, lest he pass by some rarities unawares. Thus the valued Queen of +Spain, and the much-disputed _Dia_ Fritillaries, the _Melitaeas_, the Brown +Hair-streak, and (on the mountains) the rare _Erebias_, perhaps some new to +this country,--any of these might be mistaken by a novice for some of the +commoner brown species. Among the "Whites," too, the Black-veined White, +that great prize, the Bath White, and the white varieties of the Clouded +Yellow and Clouded Sulphur, might share the same fate, or fortune rather, +of being reckoned as "Cabbage Whites." + +Then, with the "Blues." Who is there that could at once distinguish with +certainty the very rare Mazarine Blue (_P. Acis_) from the common Blues +when on the wing? Perhaps it would turn out to be less rare than supposed, +if all the Blues in a fresh locality were netted as they came near, and set +at liberty after passing muster. + +Why, only last season a very curious Blue,[7] never before observed in this +country, was captured near {46} Brighton by a collector, who, at the +moment, thought it was only a Common Blue, so precisely similar did it look +when flying. + +As to the manipulation of the net, it will be better to leave the young +collector to find that out for himself, which, if he has the use of his +hands, he will quickly do when he gets into the field. He will soon +perceive that with most of the swifter butterflies, it is of no use to make +a rush at them. A surprise answers better than a charge; for they easily +take alarm at open violence, and then go off straight ahead at a pace that +renders pursuit, over bad ground especially, most trying, if not hopeless +work. So the "_suaviter in modo_" principle is best here as +elsewhere:--gently follow up and watch your butterfly till he pauses over +or settles upon a flower, or whatever it may be; then, with caution, you +can generally come within striking distance without giving alarm, and one +vigorous, well-aimed stroke usually settles the matter; if, after that, he +is outside of your net instead of in, you will find it a difficult matter +to get another chance, at least, with most of the larger and strong-flying +kinds. But there is much diversity of disposition among these creatures, +and some are unscared by repeated attacks. These points of character the +collector will soon learn when he has been among these lively little people +for a season. + +The different species have also their own favourite positions, on which +they delight to perch. + +Thus the Clouded Yellow loves the low flowers of {47} the railway-bank and +the down; often seen toying with a breeze-rocked flower as yellow-coated as +himself, as though he had mistaken it, in its fluttering, for one of his +mates. + +Then the Peacock and Red Admiral are attached to several plants of the +composite order, such as the thistles, teazle, and above all (as far as I +have observed), to that fine, stalwart plant that frequently abounds in +thickets, &c., and known as Hemp Agrimony (_Eupatorium cannabinum_). I +seldom, at the proper season, visit a clump of this growing in a sunny +opening, without finding, besides a store of other insects, one or both of +these grand butterflies enthroned on the ample purplish flower-heads, and +_fanning_ their gorgeous wings, after the custom of their genus, then +launching into the air, and, after a few circling evolutions in that +element, returning to the self-same flower-heads, their chosen seats. + +Both of these flies are easily captured when in this position, as they +allow a near approach, and can be without hindrance swept off by a rapid +side-stroke of the net. + +The glorious Purple Emperor is celebrated for his predilection for a throne +on the oak, though some other lofty trees, such as the ash, are +occasionally honoured by the imperial presence; but his habits and _locale_ +will be referred to more particularly hereafter. + +That lovely butterfly, the Silver-washed Fritillary, has a _penchant_ for +settling on the bramble, which {48} justifies the preference by proving +itself the insect's best friend; but withal a most provoking opponent to +his would-be captor, who may get him safely within the net's mouth at the +first stroke, when, ten to one, the trusty bramble-hooks clutch into the +gauze, and effectually prevent the quick turn of the net that should close +it, while the prisoner, seeing his chance, darts out with a sharp rustle +that one's irritated feelings easily interpret into a derisive laugh. + +But experience will in time teach the fly-catcher the required adroitness +to avoid this humiliating defeat. + + * * * * * + + +{49} + +CHAPTER V. + + HOW TO KILL A BUTTERFLY--AN APOLOGY--A TEST FOR LUNACY--CHARGE OF + CRUELTY AGAINST ENTOMOLOGISTS--THEIR JUSTIFICATION ATTEMPTED--PAINLESS + DEATH--CHLOROFORM--SETTING BUTTERFLIES--CABINETS AND STORE + BOXES--CLASSIFICATION--LATIN NAMES--SAVING TIME AND MONEY. + +Having complied with the old adage, "First catch your hare," the next point +naturally is--how to cook it. So, having caught our butterfly, what are we +to do with him?--a question that generally resolves itself firstly into + +HOW TO KILL A BUTTERFLY. + +This truculent sentence may, I fear, look like a blot on the page to some +tender-hearted reader, and, in truth, this killing business is the one +shadow on the otherwise sunshiny picture, which we would all gladly leave +out, were it possible to preserve a butterfly's beauty alive; but this +cannot be done, and yet we have made up our minds to possess that +beauty--to collect butterflies, in short; there is but one way for it, and +so a butterfly's pleasure must be shortened for a few {50} days, to add to +our pleasure and instruction, perhaps for years after. + +In the time of the great Ray, in such mean repute was the science of +entomology held, mainly, I believe, on account of the _small size_ of its +objects, that an action at law was brought to set aside the will of an +estimable woman, Lady Glanville, on the ground of _insanity_, the only +symptom of which that they could bring forward in evidence was her +_fondness for collecting insects_! + +But this was some two centuries ago, and matters have greatly mended for +the entomologist since then. Now he may collect butterflies, or other +flies, as he pleases, without bringing down a commission "_de lunatico_" on +his _head_, but still the goodness of his _heart_ is sometimes called in +question, and he has to encounter the equally obnoxious charge of _cruelty_ +to the objects of his admiration--that, too, from intelligent and worthy +friends, whose good opinion he would most unwillingly forfeit. + +He, therefore, is naturally most anxious that those friends should be led +to share his own conviction, that the pursuit of entomology--the needful +butterfly killing and all included--may be not only not cruel, but actually +beneficent in theory and practice. + +So I will briefly try to act as apologist for the "brotherhood of the net," +myself included. + +In the first place, I will state roundly my sincere belief that _insects +cannot feel pain_. This is no special pleading, or "making the wish the +father to the thought," {51} but a conviction founded on an ample mass of +evidence, on my own observations and experiments, and strengthened by +analogical reasoning. I wish I had space to lay this evidence in full +before the reader; but this being here impracticable, I will not damage the +argument by taking a few links out of a chain of facts which depend on +their close connexion with each other for their strength and value. + +There is, however, one fact which may be taken by itself, and goes a long +way in our favour, that I must mention here. + +Insects, when mutilated in a way that would cause excessive pain and speedy +death to vertebrate animals, afterwards perform all the functions of +life--eating, drinking, &c. with the same evident _gusto_ and power of +enjoyment as before. Plenty of striking instances of this are on record, +and, as an example, I have seen a wasp that had been snipped in two, +afterwards regale himself with avidity upon some red syrup, which, as he +imbibed, gathered into a large ruby bead just behind the wings (where the +stomach should have been); but really the creature's pleasure seemed to be +only augmented by the change in his anatomy, because he could drink ten +times his ordinary fill of sweets, without, of course, getting any the +fuller. I could almost fancy a scientific epicure envying the insect his +ever fresh appetite and gastronomic capabilities. + +After all that can be said on this subject, there will still probably be +misgivings in the mind of many, both {52} as to the question of insect +feelings and also as to our right to shorten their existence, even by a +painless death. + +As to the first point, we have now the means of giving any insect an +utterly painless quietus, be it capable of feeling pain or no. + +In regard to the second, I think few will deny that man enjoys a vested +right to make use of any of the inferior animals, even to the taking of +their life, if the so doing ministers to his own well-being or pleasure, +and practically every one assumes this right in one way or another. Game +animals are shot down (and they assuredly _do_ feel pain), not as +necessaries of life, but confessedly as luxuries. Fish are hooked, crabs, +lobsters, shrimps perish by thousands, victims to our fancies. +Unscrupulously we destroy every insect whose presence displeases us, +harmless as they may be to our own persons. The _aphides_ on our flowers, +the moths in our furs, the "beetles" in our kitchens--all die by thousands +at our pleasure. Then, if all this be right, are we not also justified in +appropriating a little butterfly life to ourselves, and does not the mental +feast that their after-death beauty affords us at least furnish an equal +excuse for their sacrifice with any that can be urged in favour of any +animal slaughter, just to tickle the palate or minister to our grosser +appetites? To this query there can be, I think, but one fair answer, so we +may return with a better face to the question, "How to kill a butterfly." + +[Illustration: VIII.] + +{53} + +I have alluded above to a painless mode of doing so, doubtless applicable +to all insects. I know it answers admirably with the large moths, so +tenacious of life under other circumstances. This potent agent is +_chloroform_, whose pain-quelling properties are so well known as regards +the human constitution. + +There is a little apparatus[8] constructed for carrying this fluid safely +to the field, and letting out a drop at a time into the box with the +captured insect, taking care that the drop does not go on to the insect. Or +a wide-mouthed bottle may be used, having at the bottom a pad of +blotting-paper, or some absorbent substance, on which a few drops of +chloroform may now and then be dropped. The insect being slipped into this, +and the stopper or hand being placed over the bottle's mouth, insensibility +(in the insect) follows immediately, and in a few minutes, at most, it is +completely lifeless. + +But the usual and quickest mode of despatch is by _a quick nip between the +finger and thumb applied just under the wings_, causing, for the most part, +_instantaneous death_: and this can be done through the net, when the {54} +inclosed butterfly shuts his wings, as he usually does when the net wraps +round him. + +Now take one of your thin pins, and pass it through the thorax of the +butterfly, while open or shut, and put it into the corked lining of your +pocket-box. So secured, the butterfly will travel uninjured till you reach +home; but a heap of dead butterflies in a box together will, in the course +of a long walk, so jostle together, as to entirely destroy each other's +beauty, rubbing off all their painted scales, when, of course, they are as +butterflies no longer. + +When you get home, take out all the pins, excepting such as may be stuck +_perpendicularly_ through the _middle of the thorax_, and as soon as +possible proceed to "set" your captures. + +[Illustration] + +Preparatory to this, some articles called _setting-boards_ must be +provided. A section of one of these is shown in the accompanying cut; but +in reality they are made much longer, so as to accommodate a column of +half-a-dozen butterflies or more: the breadth may vary, {55} according to +the width of the butterflies that are to be set thereon. + +The bottom is usually a thin slip of deal, on which are glued two strips of +cork, bevelled off towards the edges, with a slightly curved face. +Sometimes, however, the whole board is made of soft pine, with a groove +planed down the middle, and with care will answer pretty well; but the +corked board is far preferable. + +The mode of "setting" the insect with card "braces" transfixed with pins, +which retain the wings in their proper position, will be also readily seen +by reference to the figure. + +A great point in "setting" is to take care that all the wings are +symmetrically arranged, or diverging from the body at equal angles on each +side. Let the _antennae_ also be carefully preserved, as on their integrity +much of the specimen's value depends. + +It will be needless to say that any handling of the _wings_ is to be +avoided, as a touch will sometimes destroy their bloom. + +The setting-board, when filled, should be put away into a secure, +dust-proof, and dry place; and in a few days, more or less, according to +the dryness or otherwise of the atmosphere, the butterflies will have dried +and set in their positions, and are then ready for transference to the +store-box or cabinet. + +The choice of this receptacle is a serious question for the beginner, who +is often in want of a guide to the judicious expenditure of his money, if +money he means {56} to spend in this pursuit. To preserve insects, it is +_not_ absolutely necessary to have either a cabinet or the regularly-made +store-boxes; for, with a little contrivance, any close-shutting, shallow +box may be extemporized into a store-box. The bottom may either be lined +with sheet-cork (such as is used by shoemakers)--which, however, is a +rather dear commodity--or common wine-corks may be sliced up, and cut into +little square patches that may be attached in straight rows to the bottom +of the box with strong gum or other cement. The first specimens, the +nucleus of the future great collection, can be kept here well enough, till +a real cabinet can be compassed. + +A cabinet, however, need not be bought all at once; it may be arranged to +grow with the collection--and, it may be, with the collector too--by having +one or two drawers made at a time; till, in course of time, a sufficient +number is obtained, when the whole may be fitted into a case at a small +additional expense, and then there is a first-rate cabinet complete; for, +to make this plan really advantageous, the drawers should be well made and +of good material. Of course, all the drawers must be made to the same +"gauge," to insure perfect fitting when the cabinet is made up. + +These drawers may be made by any clever joiner, but as their construction +is peculiar, and not easily described, it is necessary, either that the +maker should be accustomed to this speciality, or that he be furnished with +a pattern, either by buying a single drawer at a dealer's, {57} where that +can be done, by borrowing one out of a friend's cabinet, or by making +therefrom a good working drawing (in section, &c.). + +The glasses which cover in the drawers should always have separate frames +for the more perfect exclusion of dust and mites. + +Well seasoned mahogany or deal may be the material for the drawers, but on +no account let them be of cedar, a material often used by ignorant or +unprincipled makers, to the great detriment of the collection, and +mortification of the collector, as resinous matter after a short time +exudes from the pores of this wood, dropping down on to the glasses below +in a gummy shower, and the effluvium seems to condense upon the contained +insects, whose wings are gradually discoloured and disfigured by greasy +looking blotches. The drawers are lined at bottom with cork, covered with +_pure white_ paper, which should be attached with _thin_ paste. + +The butterflies are then to be arranged in the drawers in perpendicular +columns, and in accordance with some system of classification. If there be +room it is well to have a considerable number of specimens of each species, +especially when it is one liable to much variation. At least one of each +sex should always be given, and also one of each sex showing the _under_ +surface. When the chrysalis can be procured, that also should be pinned +down with its fellow-butterfly, and a good coloured drawing of each +caterpillar would be a valuable addition to the series. Between the +columns, lines should be {58} ruled varying in distance according to the +breadth of the butterflies, and small labels should be pinned down at the +foot of each species giving its _specific_ name; the name of the genus +being placed at the head of the _first_ species of the genus. The names of +the families and sub-families under which the _genera_ are classed are also +generally given in their respective places. + +I have in this little work followed the system of classification used in +the _public_ collection of British butterflies at the British Museum, which +seemed to me more intelligible and natural when applied to our very limited +number of butterflies, than did the system of Doubleday adopted in the +great world-wide collection which exists in the private entomological room +of the British Museum. + +The following table gives the first-mentioned arrangement of all the +British species under their respective genera, sub-families, and families. +The most authentic of the _reputed_ species are also here inserted in their +proper places. + + Fam. PAPILIONIDAE. + Sub-fam. PAPILIONIDI. + PAPILIO Machaon. + -- Podalirius. + Sub-fam. PIERIDI. + GONEPTERYX Rhamni. + COLIAS Edusa. + -- Hyale. + APORIA Crataegi. + PIERIS Brassicae. + -- Rapae. + -- Napi. + -- Daplidice. + EUCHLOE Cardamines. + LEUCOPHASIA Sinapis. + + Fam. NYMPHALIDAE. + Sub-fam. SATYRIDI. + ARGE Galathea. + LASIOMMATA Egeria. + -- Megaera. + HIPPARCHIA Semele. + -- Janira. + -- Tithonus. + -- Hyperanthus. + {59} + EREBIA Blandina. + -- Ligea. + -- Cassiope. + CAENONYMPHA Davus. + -- Pamphilus. + Sub-fam. NYMPHALIDI. + LIMENITIS Sybilla. + APATURA Iris. + + Sub-fam. VANESSIDI. + CYNTHIA Cardui. + VANESSA Atalanta. + -- Io. + -- Antiopa. + -- Polychloros. + -- Urticae. + GRAPTA C. Album. + + Sub-fam. ARGYNNIDI. + ARGYNNIS Paphia. + -- Aglaia. + -- Adippe. + -- Lathonia. + -- Euphrosyne. + -- Selene. + -- Dia. + MELITAEA Cinxia. + -- Athalia. + -- Artemis. + + Fam. ERYCINIDAE. + NEMEOBIUS Lucina. + + Fam. LYCAENIDAE. + THECLA Betulae. + -- Pruni. + -- W. Album. + -- Quercus. + -- Rubi. + CHRYSOPHANUS Phlaeas. + -- Chryseis. + -- Dispar. + POLYOMMATUS Boeticus. + -- Argiolus. + -- Alsus. + -- Acis. + -- Arion. + -- Corydon. + -- Adonis. + -- Alexis. + -- Aegon. + -- Agestis. + -- Artaxerxes. + + Fam. HESPERIDAE. + PYRGUS Alveolus. + NISIONADES Tages. + STEROPES Paniscus. + PAMPHILA Actaeon. + -- Linea. + -- Sylvanus. + -- Comma. + +It will be seen by the above list that seventy species are given as +British. Of these, five species, viz. _Papilio Podalirius_, _Erebia Ligea_, +_Argynnis Dia_, _Chrysophanus Chryseis_, and _Polyommatus Boeticus_, have +been so rarely taken as to be refused a place among the _regular_ denizens +of our island. So that we can only reckon up the small number of +_sixty-five species of true British butterflies_. + +These it now remains to describe individually, but, prior to entering on +that task, I would say a few words {60} on the acquirement of scientific +nomenclature and systematic arrangement, a knowledge of which will +facilitate even our recreations in natural history, while it is absolutely +essential to carrying out the really scientific study of any department. + +It is true, that the painting of a butterfly and the fragrance of a flower +can give deep pleasure to a mind quite unconscious of their Latin names, +their genus, order, or anything of the kind; but the interest of natural +objects is, I am sure, greatly augmented when we acquire some insight, +however dimly, into the wonderful mechanism of creation's plan, its +infinite gradation of forms, and their curious, subtle relationships, to +which a _good_ system of classification serves, in some degree, as an +index. I say, "_in some degree_," as a system framed in perfect accordance +with that of nature is a discovery rather to be desired than hoped for, +with the limited knowledge at present permitted to us. + +Though these Latin names are generally considered as unwelcome excrescences +on the pages of _popular_ natural history works, I would yet advise the +young entomologist to master them for once, and accustom himself well to +their use. He will not find the task a very difficult one, if I may judge +from the repeated instances in which I have heard the almost infantile +progeny of my naturalist friends glibly mouthing these redoubtable words, +and applying them with the most precise accuracy. + +Among collectors it is customary in familiar {61} conversation to use only +the second, or _specific_ name of the insect's Latin title; thus, in +speaking of the common Swallow-tailed Butterfly, they call it "_Machaon_" +only, which at once distinguishes the one they mean from the other, or +scarce Swallow-tailed Butterfly, which they would speak of as +"_Podalirius_." The Pearl-bordered Likeness Fritillary may be called +"_Athalia_," and so on. I think it will be allowed that these Latin names +are not harder to learn, remember, or pronounce, than the long-winded +English titles; and, when acquired, bring their possessor the advantage of +being able to converse with precision on their subject with all +naturalists, whether British or Continental; for these names of science are +current in all European languages. + +Another piece of advice is: don't _waste time_ in trying to puzzle out the +_meaning_, the why or the wherefore of butterflies' scientific names. Now +and then, certainly, they have some allusion to the insect's appearance, or +to the plant on which it feeds; thus, for instance, _Gonepteryx Rhamni_, +the entomological name of the Brimstone Butterfly, means the +"_Angle-winged_ (butterfly) _of the Buckthorn_," and this is very +appropriate and descriptive; but in general there is no more connexion +between the name and the character of a butterfly, than there is between a +ship's name--the "_Furious_," the "_Coquette_," or the "_Pretty Jane_," as +it may be--and the moral disposition or personal appearance of the vessel +that bears it. + +Also, don't _waste money_ and encourage dishonesty, by {62} giving the +absurdly large prices put upon _British_, or _pretended_ British specimens +of butterflies, or other insects that are rare in this country though +common on the Continent; when, for all purposes of science, or the pleasure +derived from their beauty, _avowed_ Continental specimens, at one-twentieth +of the price, will do just as well. In putting these into your cabinet, +however, always attach to the pin underneath the insect a label, bearing +some mark to denote the specimen's foreign origin. + + * * * * * + + +{63} + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BRITISH BUTTERFLIES SEPARATELY DESCRIBED. + +THE SWALLOW-TAILED BUTTERFLY. (_Papilio Machaon._) + +(Plate III. fig. 1.) + +There is no possibility of mistaking this noble insect for any other of our +native species, after a glance at its portrait. Its superior size, +conjoined with the possession of a pair of _long_ tails on the hind wings, +would at once mark it distinctly, independently of the peculiar markings +and colour. + +In the colouring of the wings, a broad simplicity prevails, the general +ground-tint being a clear creamy yellow, with the bars and marginal bands +of the deepest velvety black. The broad bands of black on the front wings +are powdered towards the centre with _yellow_ scales, and those on the hind +wings with _blue_ scales. The only other colour on this side is a spot of +rust-red at the inner angle of the hind wings. + +The under side is very similar in colouring to the upper, but the black +markings are less decided and sharp, and there are several additional +rust-red spots on the hind wings. {64} + +The _caterpillar_, which is a very handsome creature, is found feeding on +various umbelliferous plants; among which, its chief favourites in this +country appear to be the Wild Carrot (_Daucus Carota_), the Marsh +Milk-parsley (_Selinum palustre_), and Fennel (_Anethum Foeniculum_). In +colour it is bright green, with velvet-black rings, which are spotted with +red. A distinguishing mark of this caterpillar is a reddish-coloured forked +appendage just behind its head, which, when the animal is alarmed, gives +out a strong-scented fluid, supposed to be for the purpose of alarming some +of its enemies. + +The _chrysalis_, again, is a very pretty object, especially when of its +ordinary colour, which is a lively green, shaded in some parts into bright +yellow; but there is a frequent variety marked only with various shades of +brown and buff. Living specimens of both of these are before me at this +moment, and when they assume the perfect state, I shall be curious to mark +whether these differences are continued in the respective butterflies. + +These chrysalides are most interesting objects to keep during the winter +months. As the spring advances, the colours of the butterfly begin to +appear faintly through their thin green envelope, and the pattern of the +upper wings, which only are visible, becomes at last distinctly +perceptible, of course in miniature. When this is the case, we should begin +to watch for the release of the beautiful prisoner. + +If you visit his cage the first thing every morning (for his exit most +frequently takes place in the early part of {65} the day), you may be +fortunate enough on one of these occasions, to find the creature either +actually emerging, or just out of his case; cutting an odd figure, and +evidently neither very proud of himself nor much at his ease, his wings +being tiny things, hardly bigger than those of a humble-bee, and hanging +limply from his comparatively ponderous and gigantic body; which they are +nevertheless destined, ere many hours are over, to carry with most enviable +celerity through the air. + +The rapid increase in size of these organs is a matter of marvel; you can +literally see them grow, and within about an _hour_ they will have reached +their full expanse. The creature attaches itself, back downwards, to the +lid of its cage, or to the under side of any convenient _horizontal_ +surface, that the wings, by their own weight, may aid in their dilatation, +and that they may dry without creasing, as they will sometimes do, when the +insect, being under a slippery bell-glass, for instance, is unable to reach +the desirable point of suspension, which it always evinces extreme anxiety +to do. By the time the sun is well out, our pet will have his wings +thoroughly plumed for flight; and here a difficulty sometimes presents +itself to the entomologist. What is to be done with our new-born Machaon? +It is probably a splendid specimen for the cabinet, and the collector may +long to grace his "series" with its virgin splendours. But then there will +creep over him the unwelcome sensation, that it is a somewhat cowardly +proceeding to foster a bright being into a life that might be all +joyousness, {66} and then, taking advantage of his domesticated position, +to cut short that life, almost ere commenced, and to forbid those wondrous +wings to carry their possessor to even one short day's enjoyment of +sunshine and nectar, and the doubtlessly exalted pleasure of mere airy +motion itself. Fairly chasing down a butterfly is all well enough; but this +is quite another thing. + +Every one must, however, choose for himself, as to taking the sentimental +or the entomological view of the matter. + +Each probably finds its followers, and to the occasional prevalence of the +more tender sentiment, are probably owing many of those stray Swallow-Tails +that turn up here and there in unlikely places. + +The chrysalides, for rearing, may be obtained in the autumn or winter, +either from entomologists resident in the localities of the butterfly, or +more generally and certainly from the London or Cambridge dealers, who will +send them into the country by post for a few pence each. + +The flight of this species is rapid and powerful, and it has a habit of +soaring loftily. + +In this country its head quarters are in the fens of Cambridgeshire, +Norfolk, and Huntingdonshire. It has been found in some abundance near +Cambridge, Norwich, Yaxley, Whittlesea Mere, Burwell, and Hornsey Fens; +also singly in Lancashire, at Battersea, Pulborough in Sussex, near Ashford +in Kent, at Balcombe, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, near Chatham, at Southend, +Essex, and on the Cliffs of the South Coast. {67} + +From its local character, this is of course one of the species that the +collector can hardly expect to meet with, except he live in one of the +districts given above as its head quarters. In these, however, it is +abundant enough, and the first sight of a number of these grand insects on +the wing must be enough to gladden the eye of any naturalist. + +This butterfly comes out first in May, and is met with from that time till +August. + + * * * * * + +THE BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY. (_Gonepteryx Rhamni._) + +(Plate III. fig. 2.) + +Though one of the commonest of our native butterflies, this, like +numberless other very common things, is also one of the loveliest, both in +the graceful outline of its wings, and in the lively hue that overspreads +their surface; charms the more to be appreciated, as this insect is one of +the few that do not wait for the full bloom of summer ere they condescend +to make their appearance, but in the earliest, chill months of spring, and +even in the dead winter season, the country rambler is sometimes gladdened +by its gay flight; and in fact there is not one winter month that is not +occasionally enlivened by this flying flower, when a day of unwonted +mildness and sunshine tempts it from its winter retreat. {68} + +Until very recently it had always been stated by entomologists, that the +Brimstone Butterfly was "double-brooded" (a term meaning that it went +through _two whole cycles of existence_, from the _egg_ to the _perfect +insect_, in _one year_), one brood appearing in May, and the other in the +autumn. + +But it is now established, on very satisfactory evidence, that _one brood +only is produced, and that, the autumnal one_. A considerable number of +these survive the winter in some place of concealment, and coming out again +in the spring form the so-called spring brood. Many of these hybernators +are found to be in very fair condition in the spring, but in general they +lack the perfect freshness and bloom of those taken in autumn; the wings of +those I have taken at this period are often semi-transparent, from having +lost feather, and frequently are spotted and discoloured, as if by mildew; +a sign probably of their owners having wintered in damp lodgings. + +Mr. Douglas states that they get very fat and full of honey before +consigning themselves to their long winter's sleep; evidently an +instinctive provision against the waste of substance that must of necessity +accompany all, even the most sluggish vitality: in this respect following +the same instinct that leads bears, and other hybernating animals, to +fatten up to their utmost stretch before retiring for the season. + +[Illustration: IX.] + +{69} The _eggs_ should be sought for in the month of May, or a little +earlier or later, on the buds and young shoots of the two species of +Buckthorn (_Rhamnus Frangula_ and _R. Catharticus_). When examined with the +microscope, these are found to be very pretty objects of conical form, with +sculptured ribs on the sides. + +The _caterpillar_ that results from these, when it grows up, is of a fine +green colour, shagreened over with black points, and shading off into a +paler line along the side. Its shape is represented at Plate I. fig. 2. It +is found on the _young_ buckthorn foliage that forms its food. + +The _chrysalis_ is of the remarkable shape shown on Plate I. fig. +13,--green, marked with yellow. It remains in this state for about twenty +days, when the perfect butterfly appears. + +The general colour of the male Brimstone Butterfly is a clear, brilliant +yellow, much like that of the Daffodil, its contemporary; and in the centre +of each wing is a small spot of rich orange-colour. A very beautiful +feature to be remarked in this butterfly is the silken mane, so to speak, +composed of long hairs of silvery gloss and whiteness, which are arranged +as if combed up from the sides of the thorax, so as to meet in a crested +form over the top. + +The female chiefly differs from the male in the ground colour of the wings, +which are of a pale and very peculiar greenish white tint, rather more +deeply tinged with yellow at the extremities of the wings. + +As the male, from his colour, bears the name of "Brimstone," or "Sulphur," +the complexion of his mate may be accurately compared to the tint of +another {70} sulphureous preparation, called by druggists "milk of +sulphur." + +The only noticeable variation this butterfly is subject to in this country +is in the size of the orange wing-spots, which are sometimes greatly +enlarged. + +In a well-marked variety, common in the south of Europe, Madeira, &c., this +enlargement reaches a great development, nearly the whole of the _upper_ +wings being suffused with a deep orange, though in all other respects the +insect does not differ from our common form. This beautiful variety has +been described as a different species under the name of _Gonepteryx +Cleopatra_; but M. Boisduval has proved that they are identical, by rearing +both the ordinary _Rhamni_ and the _Cleopatra_ from the same batch of eggs. + +The female _Cleopatra_ does not differ materially from _Rhamni_. I look on +this variety as very interesting, as a probable instance of the direct +effect of increased warmth of climate in intensifying colour.[9] + +Plentiful as this butterfly is in all the southern counties, and extending +in more or less abundance as {71} far northwards as the lake district, it +there becomes scarce; and I can find no instance of its having occurred in +Scotland. + +Of course, its prevalence in any district is naturally regulated by the +abundance of its food-plants, the buckthorns. + +Gardens, fields, and lanes are equally the resort of this favourite insect; +and there the newly-hatched specimens are to be found on the wing from +August to October. + + * * * * * + +THE CLOUDED YELLOW, OR CLOUDED SAFFRON. (_Colias Edusa._) + +(Plate III. fig. 3, Male; 3A, Female.) + +This richly-coloured and nimble-winged fly is ever the darling of the +collector. None make a finer show in the cabinet, and few tempt pursuit +more strongly than does this golden beauty when on the wing. + +For many years past, and up to quite a recent period, the appearance of +this butterfly in any abundance was a phenomenon only occurring at +uncertain periods, separated by intervals of several years. In one season, +perhaps, hardly a solitary specimen would be seen, and in the very next, a +swarm of them would spread over the southern counties, delighting the +fly-catcher and puzzling the naturalist to find a sufficient reason for +{72} this sudden burst of insect-life. Whether the eggs lay dormant for +years, till hatched under peculiarly favourable conditions; or whether +every now and then a few individuals were tempted to cross the Channel from +the Continent by some attraction unknown to us, or were, _nolens_, +_volens_, blown hither by the wind, and then deposited eggs which produced +the next year's troop of butterflies; or, lastly, whether an agency was at +work here, of whose nature we are entirely ignorant,--all these are +questions that still remain to be answered. There is, I believe, no +foundation for the opinion sometimes held by entomologists, that this +species prevails at _regular_ periods, such as once in four, or once in +seven years. In fact, for the last two or three years its permanent +residence and appearance among us seems to be established, while, at the +same time, its northward range has been greatly extended, a considerable +number having been taken even _in Scotland_--its existence in that country +having been previously quite unheard of. + +The environs of London, especially on the south side, have been abundantly +visited by this charming insect; but its tastes have a decidedly maritime +tendency, and we find it has a marked preference for the _South Coast_; +abounding, again, more especially towards the eastern end. Its favourite +resorts are clover and lucerne fields, though dry flowery meadows, open +downs, and the sides of railway-banks are also the scenes of its lively +flight--for _Edusa_ has indeed a lively flight, and his pursuer has need of +the "seven-league boots," with the hand of {73} Mercury, to insure success +in the fair open race, if that can be called a fair race at all, between a +heavy biped, struggling and perspiring about a slippery hill-side, such as +_Edusa_ loves,--and a winged spirit of air, to whom up-hill and down-hill +seem all one. + +In truth, the best way to get _Edusa_ is to watch and mark him down on a +flower, then creep cautiously up till within range, raise the net quietly, +and _strike rapidly downwards_ over the insect, who usually darts _upward_ +when struck at; and, in nine cases out of ten, _Edusa_ will be fluttering +under the net. It is not the most heroic style of sport, this, but it fills +the boxes admirably. + +The _caterpillar_ is of a deep green colour, having on each side a white +line, marked with yellow and orange. It may be sought for in June and July, +on various plants of the leguminous order, which form its food, such as +None-such Trefoil (_Medicago lupulina_), Lucerne (_M. Sativa_), and Clover. + +The _chrysalis_ is in shape between that of the Brimstone, and Cabbage +butterfly, green with a yellow stripe, and rust-coloured dots. + +The _butterfly_ seldom is seen on the wing till July, but August is its +great season; and it lingers with us till late in autumn. + +I remember the pleasure with which, on a chill, stormy day in October, I +watched the sports of a pair who were my sole companions while sketching, +in a remote, rocky nook of the South Welsh coast. Very {74} battered and +weather-worn were the pretty creatures, but still retaining much of the +golden bloom of their summer dress. + +The Clouded Yellow has been found hybernating in the chink of an old wall +at the end of February, but I am not aware of its coming out again in the +spring, like the Brimstone. + +The ground tint of the wings is an exceedingly rich orange-yellow, or +saffron colour, surrounded by a border of very dark brown, sometimes nearly +black. This border is marked, in the male, with thin yellow _lines_, and in +the female with _paler yellow spots_. There is a beautiful rose tint in the +fringe of the wings and on their front edge. Underneath the wings are paler +yellow, taking a citron hue in some parts, and marked with black and brown; +in the centre of the under wings is a brown-circled silvery spot. + +There is a peculiar and constant _variety of the female_, in which all the +yellow portion of the upper surface is replaced by a _greenish white_ tint; +but in every other respect the insect agrees with the common form of +_Edusa_. This interesting variety was formerly ranked as another species, +under the name of _C. Helice_; but it is a curious fact that no +corresponding variety of the male has ever been observed; and last year I +captured a pair together--a white female and common orange male--who were +on those terms of tender intimacy which are generally supposed to betoken +identity of species. {75} + +Varieties of the female are also met with, of various intermediate shades +of colour between the white and the ordinary orange. + +Yet is it not possible that all these varieties may be mules between _C. +Edusa_ and _C. Hyale_ (the next species), the males of which are often seen +pursuing the lady _Edusas_? but if so, as indeed it would be on any other +hypothesis, it is hard to account for the unvarying character of the male. + +This butterfly is also called the Clouded Saffron. + + * * * * * + +THE CLOUDED SULPHUR, OR PALE CLOUDED YELLOW BUTTERFLY. (_Colias Hyale._) + +(Plate III. fig. 4.) + +We may, in general, readily distinguish this elegant insect from the last +species--the females of which it rather resembles in its markings--by the +difference in the ground tint of the wings, which in this vary from +primrose or sulphur yellow to a greenish white. + +There is, however, some risk of confounding this with the white variety of +_Edusa_ (_Helice_), a mistake often committed by young entomologists; so it +will be well to point out the most prominent distinction between the two; +and this is easily done, by observing that in _Edusa_ the dark border of +the upper wings is of nearly {76} equal breadth along the whole of the +outer margin, and _at the lower corner is continued inwards for a short +distance_; whilst in _Hyale_ this border _narrows rapidly, and disappears +before reaching the lower corner of_ the wing. Also the dark border of the +hind wings is much broader in _Edusa_ than in _Hyale_. Here we have +distinctive marks, quite independent of the ground colour of the wings. + +The sexes of this butterfly are nearly alike in their markings, the chief +difference being in the yellower ground tint of the males. + +The same localities--viz. the south and south-east coast, and the adjacent +district--that are most prolific in its near relative, _Edusa_, likewise +furnish this species in the greatest plenty; but this is by far the rarer +species of the two, and, either by coincidence, or in obedience to some +direct law, several successive periods of its abundance have been +septennial, or have occurred once in seven years. Thus the years 1821, '28, +'35, '42, '49, and '56 are noted in entomological records as having +produced it in great numbers. + +On the coast of France, opposite to our own, it is one of the common +butterflies, and it is not improbable that it frequently makes the passage +of the Channel. The maritime habits of both this and _Edusa_ are well +known, and I have frequently seen the latter flying out to seawards, and +coquetting with the waves, till the eye could follow the golden speck no +longer. Taking advantage then of a favouring wind, its naturally strong +{77} and rapid flight would quickly take it across the few miles of sea +that separate us from the Gallic shore. + +_Hyale_, whose flight is at least as strong as _Edusa's_, and whose +salt-water tastes are similar, doubtless acts in the same manner. + +The northward range of this species is more limited than that of _Edusa_, +but it has been taken singly near York, Manchester, and a few other +northern localities. In the lucerne fields near Brighton, a dozen or more +have been sometimes captured in one day. + +The _caterpillar_ is of a sea-green colour, with four yellow lines, two +along the back and one on each side; and is to be found, in June and July, +feeding on lucerne and other plants of the same natural order. + +The _chrysalis_ is very similar to that of _Edusa_, green, with a yellow +stripe. + +In this country, the _butterfly_ first appears in August; but on the +Continent it seems to be double-brooded, being found in May as well as in +August. + + * * * * * + +THE BLACK-VEINED OR HAWTHORN BUTTERFLY. (_Aporia Crataegi._) + +(Plate IV. fig. 1.) + +When on the wing, this species might easily be mistaken by the +inexperienced for the common Cabbage {78} White; and, by virtue of this +_incognito_, does in all probability often escape from the terrors of the +net, which would speedily entrap him, were his real character known to the +young hunter; for this butterfly is one of those called, in entomological +slang, "_a good thing_"--a term expressive neither of superior excellence +nor beauty, but meaning that the insect can't be met with everywhere, or +every day, and when seen is always to be caught. + +A closer view, however, shows it to be very distinct from all the other +"Whites;" its _decided black veinings on a milk-white ground_, in +conjunction with its large size, being sufficient for its immediate +recognition. + +The outline of the wings, as well as the play of the veining lines on their +surface, is extremely elegant. It will be observed, that instead of the +feathered fringe that surrounds the wings of most butterflies, they are +bordered in this species by a stout nervure, forming a sharp black outline, +and giving a peculiarly chaste finish. + +The under side differs in no mentionable respect from the upper--a very +rare circumstance in this tribe. From being very sparingly coated with +scales, the wings are semi-transparent, differing much in this respect from +those of the Garden White butterflies. + +The female generally has the veins of the fore wings of a browner tint than +in the males. + +This butterfly is one of the very local species, though its food plants are +everywhere to be found, in more or less abundance. {79} + +The following localities, among others, have been recorded as producing +it:--Herne Bay, and other parts of the Isle of Thanet, plentifully; near +Faversham, Kent; Horsham, Sussex; New Forest; Brington, in Huntingdonshire; +near Cardiff, South Wales, plentiful. + +The caterpillars are gregarious, feeding under cover of a silken web. The +hawthorn and the sloe are its chief food plants in this country, but it is +here too rare an insect to do much damage. Not so, however, on the +Continent, where it is extremely common, and is classed among noxious +insects, committing great devastation among various fruit trees, especially +the apple, pear, and cherry. + +But even in this country the insect is occasionally met with in great +profusion, but only in isolated spots. Mr. Drane, writing from Cardiff to +the _Zoologist_, says, "In the middle of April (1858) I found the _larvae_ +feeding by thousands upon insulated shrubs of _Prunus Spinosa_ (Common +Sloe), eating out the centres of the unexpanded buds, or basking in the sun +upon their winter webs." + +The body of the adult _caterpillar_ is thickly clothed with whitish hairs, +is leaden grey on the side and underneath, black on the back, and marked +with two longitudinal reddish stripes. Found from the middle of April to +the end of May. + +The _chrysalis_, shown at fig. 14, Plate I., is greenish white, striped +with yellow and spotted with black. + +The _butterfly_ appears in June. + + * * * * * + +{80} + +THE LARGE GARDEN WHITE BUTTERFLY (_Pieris Brassicae._) + +(Plate IV. fig. 2.) + +Why this butterfly should so far outnumber every other native species +(excepting, perhaps, the more rural Meadow Brown), is a question beyond our +power to answer satisfactorily. Certainly, the food plants of the +caterpillar--cabbages, cresses, and their tribe--are universally met with; +but then we find there are other insects whose food plant is equally +plentiful and widespread, and yet they are nevertheless very rare or local. + +This is pre-eminently the domestic butterfly, abounding in suburban +gardens, and at times penetrating into the smoky heart of London, and then +even the young "St. Giles's bird," whose eyes were never gladdened by green +fields, gets up a butterfly hunt, and, cap (or rag) in hand, feels for the +nonce all the enthusiasm of the chase in pursuit of the white-winged +wanderer, who looks sadly lost and out of place in the flowerless, +brick-and-mortar wilderness. + +This and the next species are the only British butterflies who can be +charged with committing any appreciable amount of damage to human food and +property. In the winged state, indeed, it is utterly harmless (like all +other butterflies); but not so the hungry caterpillar progeny, as the +gardener knows too well when he looks {81} at his choice cabbage rows all +gnawed away into skeletons. + +In some seasons and places they multiply so inordinately and prodigiously +as to deserve the title of a plague of caterpillars, and several remarkable +instances of this phenomenon are on record. + +A note in the _Zoologist_, p. 4547, by the Rev. Arthur Hussey, gives us the +following:--"For the last two summers many of the gardens of this village +have been infested by caterpillars to such an extent that the cabbages have +been utterly destroyed." When the time for changing to the chrysalis state +arrived, the surrounding buildings presented a curious appearance, being +marked with long lines of the creatures travelling up the walls in search +of a suitable place of shelter for undergoing their transformation. A great +number of the caterpillars took refuge in a malt-house, from which they +could not escape as butterflies, the result being that for several weeks +the maltster swept up daily many hundreds of the dead insects. + +In 1842, a vast flight of white butterflies came over from the Continent to +the coast about Dover, and spreading inland from thence, did an immense +amount of damage to the cabbage gardens; but so effectually did the +ichneumon flies do their work, that an exceedingly small proportion of the +caterpillars, resulting from this flock of immigrants, went into the +chrysalis state, nearly all perishing just before the period of change. + +Those small, silky, oval objects, of yellowish colour, {82} frequently +found in groups on walls and palings, are the _cocoons_ of these useful +little flies, spun round about and over the remains of the dead caterpillar +their victim. "These," as Mr. Westwood observes, "ignorant persons mistake +for the eggs of the caterpillar, and destroy; thus foolishly killing their +benefactors." + +Happily these devastating caterpillars have plenty of enemies to prevent +their continued multiplication, and to reduce their number speedily when it +exceeds certain limits. Besides the ichneumons, mentioned above, the +feathered tribes do much towards keeping them down. Mr. Haworth, in his +"_Lepidoptera Britannica_," says, with reference to this: "Small birds +destroy incredible numbers of them as food, and should be encouraged. I +once observed a titmouse (_Parus major_) take five or six large ones to its +nest in a very few minutes. In enclosed gardens sea-gulls, with their wings +cut, are of infinite service. I had one eight years, which was at last +killed by accident, that lived entirely all the while upon the insects, +slugs, and worms which he found in the garden." + +The pretty _egg_ of this butterfly is figured on Plate II. fig. 1: it may +be found commonly enough, with a little searching, on cabbage-leaves, +either at the end of May or beginning of August. + +The _caterpillar_, which, besides cabbages, consumes various other +cruciferous plants,--also Tropaeolums, or, as they are erroneously called, +"Nasturtiums,"--is green, {83} shaded with yellow on each side, and covered +with black points, on each of which is situated a hair. + +By way of compensation for the damage it inflicts, it has been suggested +that a durable green dye might be extracted from the caterpillars of +cabbage butterflies, since it is extremely difficult to eradicate the stain +made by a crushed caterpillar on linen. If this strange and novel dye +should ever take its place among the vagaries of fashion, the shopkeepers +could find a familiar French name, as the word _chenille_, applied to +another commodity, means simply "caterpillar," so "_chenille green_" would +be the phrase for the colour afforded by smashed caterpillars. + +The _chrysalis_ (Plate I. fig. 15) may be found almost anywhere, laid up +under ledges of garden walls, doorway, or any convenient projection, not +too far from the creature's food. Wanting an individual just now, to sit +for his portrait, I had only to step out of my door, and within a hundred +yards espied a candidate for the distinction, ready to hand, under the +coping-stone of a gate-post. + +A _female_ specimen of the butterfly is figured on Plate IV. fig. 2. The +_male_ may be readily distinguished by the _absence of the black spots and +dashes on the upper side of the front wings_. + +The winged insect may be seen throughout the warm season from April to +August. + + * * * * * + + +{84} + +THE SMALL GARDEN WHITE. (_Pieris Rapae._) + +(Plate IV. fig. 3.) + +Outwardly resembling the last in almost every respect but that of its +inferior size, this species shares the gardener's malediction with its +larger, but perhaps less destructive, relative; for the caterpillar of +_Rapae_, though smaller, bores into the very heart of the cabbage, instead +of being content with the less valuable outer leaves, as _Brassicae_ is. +From this pernicious habit the French call this grub the _ver du coeur_. + +The colour of this _caterpillar_ is pale green, with a yellow line along +the back, and a dotted one of the same colour on each side. + +The _chrysalis_ is nearly like that of the last in shape, but of course +smaller, and is of a more uniform brownish or yellowish tint. + +[Illustration: X.] + +{85} This butterfly occasionally multiplies immensely, and is given to +migrating in vast armies to distant settlements, sometimes crossing the sea +to effect this purpose. Here is an extract from a Kentish newspaper, +describing an occurrence of this phenomenon:-- + +"One of the largest flights of butterflies ever seen in this country, +crossed the Channel from France to England on Sunday last. Such was the +density and extent of the cloud formed by the living mass, that it +completely obscured the sun from the people on board our Continental +steamers, on their passage, for many hundreds of yards, while the insects +strewed the decks in all directions. The flight reached England about +twelve o'clock at noon, and dispersed themselves inland and along shore, +darkening the air as they went. During the sea-passage of the butterflies, +the weather was calm and sunny, with scarce a puff of wind stirring; but an +hour or so after they reached _terra firma_, it came on to blow great guns +from the S. W., the direction whence the insects came." + +A contemporary account states that these were the small white butterflies +(_Pieris Rapae_). + +The smaller butterfly with more dusky markings, formerly known as _P. +Metra_, has been recently proved to be merely a variety of _Rapae_, a Mr. +J. F. Dawson having reared a brood of caterpillars all _exactly similar_ in +appearance, which eventually produced every variety of _P. Rapae_ and _P. +Metra_. + +Mr. Curtis, in his "Farm Insects," mentions the capture, near Oldham in +Lancashire, of a male specimen, which had all the wings of a _bright +yellow_ colour. + +Most juvenile butterfly hunters, unblest by scientific knowledge of insect +life, imagine that this and the last owe their difference in size simply to +their being old and young individuals of the same name; forgetting--or, +rather, never having heard--that butterflies never grow in the slightest +degree after once getting their winged form; only as caterpillars do they +grow. {86} + +The male is distinguished from the female by having only _one round black +spot_, or sometimes none, on each _upper_ wing, whilst the female is +spotted as in the engraving. The under side of the hind wings is dull +yellow, lightly powdered with black scales. + +The _butterfly_ is seen during nearly the whole of the summer, and is found +almost everywhere. + + * * * * * + +THE GREEN-VEINED WHITE BUTTERFLY. (_Pieris Napi._) + +(Plate IV. fig. 4.) + +Is so called from the greenish tint that _often_ borders the veins or +nervures on the _under_ side of the _hind_ wing; but the name is _not +always_ an appropriate one, for a large proportion of the specimens met +with have the veinings grey, and not at all green; but the fact is, that +the ground colour varies greatly, from creamy white to full buff, or bright +clear yellow; in the latter case it is, that the minute black scales which +border the course of the nervures, covering over the yellow, produce a +grey-green effect on the eye. + +The size also is very variable. I have a specimen that expands two inches +and two lines across, from tip to tip, and have seen another not larger +than a small Copper butterfly--little more than one inch from tip {87} to +tip. The intensity of the dark markings, on both the upper and under sides, +is also subject to much variation. + +But, under all these circumstances, the presence of dark cloudy veins on +the under side--appearing, but less distinctly, on the upper side--will at +once distinguish it from the last species, the only one with which it can +possibly be confounded. + +The _male_ has only _one round spot_ on the _front_ wings; the _female_ +being marked as in the plate. + +Both in woods and cultivated grounds we meet with this butterfly commonly +enough, most abundantly in May and July, though it may be found from April +to August. + +The _caterpillar_ feeds on the same tribe of plants as the two last, but is +supposed to be especially attached to the Rape (_Brassica Napus_), whence +its specific name. Its colour is green, with yellow spots round each +spiracle, which is itself tinged with red. + +Two varieties of this were formerly ranked as distinct species, under the +name of _P. Sabellicae_ and _P. Napae_. + + * * * * * + +{88} + +THE BATH WHITE. (_Pieris Daplidice._) + +(Plate IV. fig. 5, Female.) + +Of all the members of this white-winged genus that inhabit Britain, this is +at the same time the most beautiful and the rarest. The capture of a Bath +White is an entomological "event," and the day thereof is a red-letter day +in the fortunate captor's life. + +On the opposite coast of France, however, and generally on the Continent, +far from being a rarity, this is one of the commonest butterflies--a fact +difficult for an English collector, removed by only a few miles of sea, to +realise, or reconcile with the _extravagant_ value and importance attached +to a true "British specimen." + +The remark made under the head of the Black-veined White, as to that +eluding the net of the novice, by its resemblance to a common kind, will +apply with still greater force to this one; for I suppose there are few +even of the tolerably experienced "hands" who could tell this from the two +last described insects, at a short distance. One curious circumstance +bearing on this is, that a large per centage of the Bath White captures in +this country have been made by juvenile beginners, who hunt and catch +_everything_ they see, Common Whites and all. {89} + +This fact should encourage the collector, especially when at work on the +south-east coast, to net all the middle-sized Whites that come within +reasonable distance--of course letting them off again, if they are not of +the right sort. + +The wing markings on both the upper and under sides are, though simple, +extremely elegant and chaste. The _female_, which is the sex figured, has +the upper wings beautifully spotted with black. The hind wings are bordered +with a _row of black spots_, and clouded towards the centre with a faint +tint of the same. + +The male is distinguished by the absence of the black spot nearest to the +lower margin of the front wing, and of the black marginal spots and grey +clouding of the hind wings. The markings of the under surface, however, +show through their substance rather plainly. + +In both sexes, the ground colour of the wings is milk-white. But the chief +decoration is reserved for the under surface, which is chequered, in a +manner not easily described, with a soft but rich green tint upon white, +relieved here and there by a few black touches. + +We are informed by Lewin, that it was named the Bath White from a piece of +needlework executed at Bath, by a young lady, from a specimen of this +insect, said to have been taken near that city. But the south-eastern +corner of England, and more especially on the coast, seems to be the +head-quarters of this valued fly,--lending probability to the supposition +entertained {90} by many, that a large proportion of those taken here have +migrated or been blown across the Channel; though I believe it sometimes +breeds here, and that the caterpillars have, on one or two occasions, been +found in this country. + +The butterfly has been taken several times at Dover, Margate, and other +places on the Kentish coast; at Lewes; Whittlesea Mere, Cambridge; +Worcester, and near Bristol. + +The _caterpillar_, which is to be found in June and September, is bluish +with black spots, a pale yellow line on each side, and two of the same +colour on the back. M. Le Plastrier reared a number of them, feeding them +on the leaves of the Wild Mignonette (_Reseda lutea_). It also feeds on +Weld (_Reseda Luteola_). + +The _chrysalis_ very much resembles that of the Small Garden White, and is +totally unlike that of the next, the Orange-Tip, with which it has been by +some entomologist united into another genus (_Manicipium_). + +_Daplidice_ is a slow insect--slower than the Common Whites--and it is an +easy matter to catch it, when recognized, which the peculiarly heavy flight +might aid one in doing. + +May and August are the months in which to look after this gem of the +_Pontia_ genus. + + * * * * * + +{91} + +THE ORANGE-TIP BUTTERFLY. (_Euchloe Cardamines._) + +(Plate V. fig. 1, Male; 1_a_, Female.) + +Few vernal ramblers in the country, whether entomological or no, can fail +to have noticed, and been charmed by, this merry blossom-like insect, as it +gaily flits along by hedge-row and wood-side, pausing anon to taste its own +sweet flowers of May, and looking, even when on the wing, so unlike any +other of our native butterflies. Truly it is an exquisite and loveable +little creature, this Orange-Tip--sometimes styled the Wood Lady; but this +latter title is somewhat awkward in its application, inasmuch as the +"_lady_" insect is entirely without the characteristic _orange_ adornment, +and would hardly be suspected as being the same species with her handsome +lord. + +The _male Orange-Tip_ needs no description, for the purpose of recognition, +beyond that conveyed by his name; but as the _female_ is less known, and +has been on several occasions mistaken for the rare Bath White +(_Daplidice_), it will be well to point out her chief distinguishing +characters. The difference between the two insects certainly is obvious +enough, when the two are _seen_ together, but their written descriptions +read rather alike. {92} + +The female _Cardamines_ has the wings white _above_, with a greyish black +tip, and a _small oval_, or _crescent-shaped black spot_ (much smaller than +that of Daplidice) near the _centre_ of the front wings; _beneath_, a white +ground, with green marblings, that are much more sharply defined than those +in _Daplidice_. Near the centre of the front wing is a _clear black spot_, +corresponding in position with that on the upper surface, _and not shaded +off with green, as in Daplidice_. + +We speak of the _green_ marblings of this species--and, to the naked eye, +they do appear to be of quite a bright green--but under a microscope or +powerful lens that colour disappears, being resolved into a combination of +bright yellow and pure black scales, which, with the dazzling snow-white +ground scales that surround them, form a microscopic tableau of +extraordinary beauty. This can, however, only be seen by daylight, for +under artificial light the yellow, on which the whole effect depends, is +entirely lost. + +The _caterpillar_ is slightly hairy, and green, with a white stripe on each +side. It has been generally stated that the _Cardamine impatiens_ is the +common food plant of this species, _apropos_ of which I will quote the +following communication from Mr. Doubleday to the editor of the +_Zoologist_:-- + +"In reply to your query about the food of the larva of _Cardamines_, I may +say that I have found it upon several plants. I believe that _Cardamine +pratensis_ (common cuckoo-flower) is the one on which the eggs {93} are +most frequently deposited, but the greater part of the _larvae_ must perish +in this neighbourhood, because the fields are mowed before the larvae are +full-grown. I have very often seen the larvae on the seed-pods of _Erysimum +Alliaria_, and have several times found the _pupae_ on the dead stems of +this plant in winter; I think that it is the principal food of Cardamines +at Epping; it also probably feeds on _E. barbarea_, and other similar +plants. Some years ago we used to have a quantity of a large single rocket +in the garden, and there was always a number of the larvae of _Cardamines_ +feeding on the seed-pods. _Cardamine impatiens_ is so local a plant _that +it cannot be the common food of the larvae of Cardamines_." + +The _chrysalis_ is of the very singular shape shown at fig. 17, Plate I., a +shape quite unique among British butterflies, though that of the next +slightly approaches it. It is to be looked for in autumn and winter on the +dry, dead stems of the plants named in the foregoing paragraph. + +The perfect butterfly, which is very common throughout the country, is met +with from the end of April to the end of May or beginning of June. + + * * * * * + +{94} + +THE WOOD-WHITE BUTTERFLY. (_Leucophasia Sinapis._) + +(Plate V. fig. 2.) + +A glance at the figure of this graceful little butterfly (on Plate V.) will +suffice to distinguish it at once, and clearly, from all our other Whites. +The most ordinary form of the insect is there represented, but there are +specimens occasionally met with that have the blackish spot at the tip of +the wings very much fainter; and sometimes, as in one that I possess, this +spot is totally wanting. The shape of the wings in these is also different, +being much rounder, and proportionately shorter, than in the ordinary +shape. This difference in outline is, I believe, a sexual distinction, the +more rounded form belonging to the female insect. + +The slender, fragile wings and the attenuated body of the Wood-white give +it a look of almost ghostly lightness, and its manners befit its spectral +aspect, for it seems to _haunt_ the still and lonely wood glades, flitting +about slowly and restlessly, and being seldom seen to settle. + +From its weak flight, it is a very easy insect to capture. It appears to be +addicted to early rising, _twenty-six_ specimens having been taken _one +morning before breakfast_ by a gentleman at Grange, in North Lancashire. +{95} + +The _caterpillar_ is green, striped on each side with yellow; it feeds on +the Bird's-foot Trefoil, and other leguminous plants. + +The _chrysalis_ is shown on Plate I. fig. 18, and in shape somewhat +approaches that of the Orange-tip. + +The _butterfly_ appears in May and August, and though by no means a common +or generally distributed insect, is found--and sometimes abundantly--in +many localities throughout the country, as far north as Carlisle; some of +these are here given. Woods in neighbourhood of Brighton, Horsham (Sussex), +Dorchester, New Forest, Exeter, Epping, West Wickham Wood, Monkswood, +Huntingdonshire, Plymouth, Wavendon, Worcester, Kent and Surrey, +Teignmouth, Gloucestershire, Carlisle, Lake District, Leicester, +Manchester, North Lancashire. _Unknown in Scotland._ + + * * * * * + +THE MARBLED WHITE BUTTERFLY. (_Arge Galathea._) + +(Plate V. fig. 3.) + +This highly interesting and elegant insect would, by the uninitiated, +probably be classed among the last group of Butterflies--the Whites--from +the similarity in its colours; but from all those it may be readily +distinguished by having _only four walking legs_ (instead of the _six_ +which all our other white butterflies possess), {96} and also by the +_eye-like_ spots most visible on the under side. + +The colouring may be described as consisting of nearly equal quantities of +_black_ and _creamy-white_, or _pale yellow_, so arranged as to form a +_marbled_ pattern of great richness. This description applies to the upper +surface; on the under, the pale tint very much preponderates, many of the +black masses of the upper side being here reduced to mere lines. + +Many an entomologist, whose hunting ground has been limited to a small +district, has collected for years without once seeing this pretty creature +on the wing; and then visiting another neighbourhood, perhaps not far +distant, he will suddenly find it in profusion. I well remember the +feelings of surprised delight with which, under these circumstances, I +first made its acquaintance. The scene of the event was a grassy opening in +a wooded hill-side in Kent, and here were literally hundreds visible at +once, making the air all alive as they fluttered about in sportive groups: +it was a sight not to be forgotten; while a hundred yards from this spot +not a solitary one was to be seen, so closely limited is the local range of +this species. + +The _caterpillar_, which feeds on grasses, like the rest of its tribe, is +green, with yellowish stripes on each side, and has a reddish head and +tail. The form is shown at fig. 3, Plate I.--a form common to all the tribe +to which this species belongs. + +July and August are the months when we should {97} look for this charming +butterfly, in wood clearings and meadows near woods. + +Some of the localities in which it has been observed are: Isle of Wight, +Surrey Hills, Eastwell Park (Kent), Dover, Lewes, Brighton, Epping, +Gloucestershire, Kingsbury, Darenth Wood, New Forest, Rockingham Park, +Teignmouth, York, Barnwell Wold, South Wales. _Not known in Scotland._ + + * * * * * + +THE SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLY. (_Lasiommata Egeria._) + +(Plate V. fig. 4.) + +Every one who has wandered through green woodland ridings, or coppiced +paths, must be familiar with a lively, spotted brown insect that trips +along just ahead of one, in a sociable way, for some distance, finding time +to turn aside into the leafy recesses on either side without losing ground; +then, having had enough of our company, mounting overhead, and retracing +its course in the same playful way, and soon lost in the winding of the +path. + +This is the Speckled Wood, or Wood Argus Butterfly, a very pretty insect on +both sides, and receiving the latter name--Argus, "the many-eyed"--from the +rows of rich black _eyes_ that grace its pinions. {98} + +Over nearly the whole of England it is to be met with commonly wherever +there is wooded ground; but in several parts of Scotland it is quite +unknown. + +The prevailing colour of the wings is deep brown, spotted with various +shades of buff or lighter brown. The "eyes" are velvety black, with a pure +white centre-spot. + +The _caterpillar_--a grass feeder--is dull green, with broad white side +stripes. + +The _chrysalis_, which is of a beautiful grass-green colour, may be found +in winter, under trees, attached to blades of grass. + +The _butterfly_ is out from April to August. + + * * * * * + +THE WALL BUTTERFLY. (_Lasiommata Megaera._) + +(Plate V. fig. 5.) + +The habits and movements of this pretty species much resemble those of the +last; but the Wall Butterfly is a more sun-loving insect, and rather +frequents road-sides and dry sunny banks. Still, there are many spots where +one sees both the _Lasiommatas_ together. + +The colours on the upper side are a _rich tawny or fulvous ground_, with +_dark-brown markings_, and pure {99} black eye-spots. The under side of the +hind wings is pencilled with sober colours, but in a design of great beauty +and delicacy; and especially to be admired are the double-ringed "eyes," a +band of which runs parallel with the outer margin of the hind wings. + +The _caterpillar_ feeds on grasses; is green, with three pale lines down +the back, and one more clearly marked on each side. + +The _butterfly_ appears in May, and again in August and September; and is +everywhere common throughout the country. + +It is called the Wall Butterfly from its frequent habit of choosing a +road-side _wall_ for a perch, whence, on the approach of man, it darts off; +returning again, however, on the departure of the obnoxious person. + + * * * * * + +THE GRAYLING BUTTERFLY. (_Hipparchia Semele._) + +(Plate V. fig. 6, Female.) + +This fine insect is the largest _British_ species of the genus, and also of +the family, some of the females measuring two inches and three-quarters +from tip to tip across the expanded wings; and it also exhibits more +vivacity of colouring than most of its brethren. + +Above, the wings are deep brown, marked with {100} broad patches of paler +colour, sometimes making a bright contrast in the female, but much duller +and more uniform in the male. + +The female also exceeds her lord considerably in stature, and, in fact, by +her side he looks rather a mean and shabby fellow. + +The device on the under side of the hind wings, though composed of the +plainest colours, is very ornamental; grey and brown are the prevailing +hues, disposed in mottled bars and stripes, reminding one of agates, or +some other ornamental stones. + +This butterfly is not everywhere to be found, but haunts rocky places and +hill-sides, on a chalky or limestone soil. At St. Boniface's Down, in the +Isle of Wight, I noticed it in such exceeding profusion last August, that I +could quickly have caught thousands, had I been so disposed. + +Though a powerful-looking insect, its flight is by no means swift, and it +suffers itself to be captured without difficulty. + +The _caterpillar_ is dull pinkish about the back, with three obscure +grey-green stripes, a dark line on the sides, and greenish beneath. It +feeds on grasses, and has been said to undergo its transformation to the +chrysalis in the earth; but this point requires confirmation. + +The _butterfly_ is seen from the middle of July till the beginning of +September. + +The following are localities for it:--Bembridge and Ventnor (Isle of +Wight), Brighton, Lewes, New Forest, Exeter, Plymouth, Falmouth, Truro, +Bristol, Dorsetshire, Salisbury Plain, Winchester, Worcester, Newmarket, +Gamlingay, Isle of Arran, Arthur's Seat (Edinburgh), Durham, Darlington, +Glasgow, Lake District. + +[Illustration: XI.] + +{101} + +THE MEADOW BROWN BUTTERFLY. (_Hipparchia Janira._) + +(Plate VI. fig. 1, Male; 1_a_, Female.) + +Perhaps of all our butterflies this is the least attractive, being too +common to excite interest from its rarity or difficulty of attainment, as +other dingy butterflies do, and too plain and homely to win regard, in +spite of its commonness, as the beautiful "Small Tortoise-shell" and the +Common Blues do. + +This is the sober brown insect that keeps up a constant fluttering, in +sunshine and gloom, over the dry pasture land and barren hill-side; and +perhaps it ought to find favour in our eyes, from this very fact of keeping +up a cheerful spirit under circumstances the most unfavourable to butterfly +enjoyment in general. + +The colouring of the _male_, on the upper side, may be described as a +_sooty brown_, rather lighter about the eye-spot on the front wing. {102} + +The _female_ is a little smarter in her attire, having an orange-tawny +patch on the front wing. + +Beneath, both sexes are nearly alike; the general colour of the front wing +being fulvous, or orange-brown, with a cool-brown margin. The hind wings +are marked with tints of a duller brown, varying much in distinctness in +different specimens. + +The _caterpillar_ is green, with a white stripe on each side. Feeds on +grasses. + +The _butterfly_ abounds almost everywhere, from June till the end of +August. + + * * * * * + +THE LARGE HEATH BUTTERFLY. (_Hipparchia Tithonus._) + +(Plate VI. fig. 2, Male.) + +Though much less abundant than the last, this is another very common +species, and met with throughout England and the _south_ of Scotland. + +The ground tint above is a _rich rust-colour_, or _orange-brown, bordered +with dark-brown_; the base of the wings also slightly clouded with the +same; and on each front wing, near the tip, there is a _black eye-spot_, +with _two white_ dots. So far, both sexes are similar; but the _male_ has, +in addition, a _bar of dark-brown across the centre of the rust-coloured +space_, on the upper wing. This sex is that figured on the plate. {103} + +Underneath, there is a pretty arrangement of subdued colouring; that of the +front wings nearly resembling the upper side; the lower wings clouded and +spotted with russet-brown on a paler brown ground, the _dark rounded brown +spots_ having _white_ centres; but there are _no black_ eye-spots on the +hind wings. + +The _caterpillar_ is greenish-grey, with reddish head and two pale lines on +each side and a dark one down the back. + +The _butterfly_, a feeble flier and easily captured, appears in July and +August; its favourite resorts being heaths, dry fields, and lanes. + +It is sometimes called the _Small_ Meadow Brown, and the Gate-keeper. + + * * * * * + +THE RINGLET BUTTERFLY. (_Hipparchia Hyperanthus._) + +(Plate VI. fig. 3, Female.) + +This is one of those butterflies in which Nature, departing from her +accustomed plan, has reserved the chief adornment of the wings for the +_under_ surface, leaving the upper comparatively plain and unattractive. + +In both sexes the wings, above, are of a deep sepia brown, surrounded by a +greyish white fringe, and bearing several black spots in paler rings, which +rings are {104} much _less distinct_ in the _male_ than in the female, the +sex figured in the plate. + +The under surface is of a soft russet ground, adorned with a wreath of the +_ringlet_-spots from which the insect takes its common name. These are +_black eye-spots_, white-centred and set in a clear ring of pale tawny +colour. The most usual form and proportions of these spots are shown in the +figure (with closed wings), but there are many varieties met with, the +following being the most remarkable that have come under my notice. + +One, and not a very uncommon one, has _no light rings_ round the black +spots on the under side. + +Another has the rings reduced to a range of mere light specks, the _black +eye-spots being entirely absent_. + +Then again, another has the black _pupils_ exceedingly large and rich, +forming a most elegant variety. + +The spots on the _upper_ side in the _male_ are sometimes quite +imperceptible. + +The ground colour of the _upper_ side is occasionally of a pale drab or +fawn colour. + +The _caterpillar_ of this species is very like that of the last in +colouring, and feeds on the same grasses. + +The _butterfly_, which is out in June and July, is a common and widely +distributed species, frequenting woods, shady corners of hedge-rows, &c. + + * * * * * + +{105} + +THE SCOTCH ARGUS BUTTERFLY. (_Erebia Blandina._) + +(Plate VI. fig. 4, Female.) + +The genus _Erebia_, to which this species belongs, is composed of a group +of mountain butterflies, very numerous in the Alpine regions of the +Continent, seventeen species being described as inhabiting the Alps; and, +though only two have yet been discovered in this country (unless we admit +_Ligea_, formerly taken in the Isle of Arran[10]), it is not at all +improbable that others may be waiting for us in some of the mountain +districts, if we will but look them up. Both tourists and, more especially, +residents in those localities should be encouraged by the hope of adding a +new species to our list to explore thoroughly the hill-sides and summits at +various seasons of the year, as many of the species, besides being +extremely local in their range, are only on the wing during a very short +period of the year. + +The Scotch Argus is a pretty, though not brightly-coloured butterfly. + +The colour above is a deep rich brown, with a coppery or orange-red band on +each wing, and each band has several (three or four usually) black +eye-spots thereon. + +{106} + +On the under side, the front wings are nearly the same as on the upper +side, showing the red patch and eyes plainly; but the hind wings are +without the red patch, and are divided into broad bands of brownish tints, +very variable, having sometimes a tendency to chocolate colour, sometimes +to an olive or russet brown: but the stripe which is shown as lightest in +the engraving of the under side is almost always greyer than the rest, +having occasionally a purplish ash colour. On this band are some minute +specks, occupying the places of the upper surface eyes. + +The number of eye-spots is very variable on both surfaces. + +The female, which is the sex figured, is both larger than the male and has +the reddish band of a brighter colour. + +The _caterpillar_, whose food plant is unknown, is stated by Duncan to be +"light green, with brown and white longitudinal stripes; head reddish." + +The _butterfly_ appears in August and September. A few years ago it was +esteemed a rare insect, but it has since been found in plenty in some of +the following localities, the list of which would doubtless be largely +added to by further research in the northern hilly districts, its chosen +haunts. + +Near Edinburgh; near Minto, in Roxburghshire; Isle of Arran; Braemar; near +Newcastle; Castle Eden Dene; Durham; Craven; Wharfedale. {107} + +At Grange, in North Lancashire, this "rarity" is a common garden butterfly, +according to Mr. C. S. Gregson. + + * * * * * + +THE MOUNTAIN RINGLET BUTTERFLY. (_Erebia Cassiope._) + +(Plate VI. fig. 5.) + +A few years ago this little butterfly was esteemed one of the greatest of +British rarities. The first well authenticated specimens were discovered +and captured in Westmoreland by that distinguished artist, T. Stothard, +R.A.; then for several years no more were taken, and the very existence of +the butterfly in Britain was questioned. Since that time, however, its +peculiar haunts among the mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland have +been rediscovered, and great numbers have been captured by various +collectors. It is only found in very elevated situations, flying about the +moist, springy spots that abound on these mountain sides, and in many spots +the insect is very plentiful, within a limited range. + +Mr. Curtis says, "They only fly when the sun shines, and their flight is +neither swift nor continued, for they frequently alight among the grass, +and falling down to the roots, their sombre colour perfectly conceals +them." + +The following notice of their locality, &c. from {108} personal +observation, is quoted from a communication to the _Intelligencer_, by a +well-known entomologist, Mr. R. S. Edleston, of Manchester. He says:-- + +"I and my friend, Mr. Hugh Harrison, in the middle of June made the ascent +to Sty Head Tarn; for the first time in my experience, the weather was +everything we could desire--calm and sunshine; this, combined with the dry +season of last year and the long drought for months during this, enabled us +to collect on ground in other years a dangerous morass. The result was, we +captured _Cassiope_ in abundance, some of them in superb condition, just +emerged from the chrysalis. A very short time on the wing suffices to +injure them. They vary considerably in the development of the black spots +on the fulvous patch, almost obsolete in some through all gradations to the +fullest development; the patch varies in like manner, and also in form; +lastly, they vary in size." + +The caterpillar is yet _unknown_. + +The _butterfly_ has the wings above of a dark brown colour. Each wing bears +near its extremity a bar of deep but dull red, divided into sections where +the brown veins cross. In each section is usually a black spot, but +sometimes these are absent, and a few red spots take the place of the bar. +The hind wings are smoothly rounded in their outline, and not toothed or +scalloped as in the last species (_Blandina_). The _males_ generally appear +towards the end of June, but a few sometimes earlier. The females, however, +come later. {109} being found in July, and some even as late as August. The +following localities for it are recorded:--Rannoch, Perthshire; Lake +District; Sty Head Tarn; Langdale Pikes; Red Skrees Mountains, near +Ambleside; Gable Hill. But other stations for it will probably be added to +our list in time. + + * * * * * + +THE MARSH RINGLET, OR SMALL RINGLET BUTTERFLY. (_Coenonympha Davus._) + +(Plate VI. fig. 6.) + +This species, which is another North-country butterfly, varies so much in +its colouring of sober drab or brown, with black eye-spots, that its +varieties have been described as distinct species under the names of _C. +Polydama_, _Typhon_, and _Iphis_, now, however, all placed together under +the name of _Davus_. + +These variations appear to depend in great measure upon local differences +of elevation, latitude, &c. + +From this excessive variability also it is very difficult to give a clear +_general_ description of the markings, though the insect may be +distinguished from other British species that approach it in appearance by +the obscure yellowish-drab tint of the upper surface, marked with +indistinct eye-spots, and more especially by having on the under surface of +the hind wings an _irregular_ {110} _whitish_ band across the centre, and +outside of this a row of about six clearly defined black eye-spots with +white centres, situated each in a pale ochreous ring. + +The _butterfly_, which appears in June and July, is exclusively met with in +the North (including North Wales), and inhabits the moors and marshy +heaths, or "mosses," in a great many localities in Scotland and the +northern counties. The following are among those recorded:-- + +SCOTLAND.--Shetland Isles; Isle of Arran; Pentland Hills; Ben Nevis; Ben +Lomond, near Oban; Ben More. + +ENGLAND.--Lake District of Cumberland; Yorkshire; Beverley; Cottingham; +Hatfield Chase; Thorne Moor; White Moss, Trafford Moss, Chat Moss, near +Manchester; Chartly Park, near Uttoxeter; Delmere Forest, Cheshire; between +Stockport and Ashton; near Cromer, in Norfolk; near Glandford Brigg, +Lincolnshire. + +IRELAND.--Donegal mountains. + +NORTH WALES.--Between Bala and Ffestiniog. + +Ashdown Forest, in Sussex, has been given as a locality, on doubtful +authority, certainly; but from what I have seen and know of that district +and its productions, I think it is not at all impossible that _Davus_ may +be really found there. We have there, at any rate, the heath-covered, yet +swampy, moorlands that the insect loves, and also in plenty the plants one +finds most abundant in the northern moorlands; such {111} as Vacciniums, +Cotton-grasses, the three common Heaths, &c. &c. with great variety in the +elevation, some of the ground lying very high. + + * * * * * + +THE SMALL HEATH BUTTERFLY. (_Coenonympha Pamphilus._) + +(Plate VI. fig. 7.) + +This is the pretty little tawny-coloured butterfly that mixes with the +sportive group of "Blues," Meadow Browns, &c. on heaths, downs, and grassy +fields. + +The general colour of the upper surface is a tawny yellow or buff, shaded +with a darker tint of brown at the edges and at the bases of the hind +wings. On the under side it may be distinguished from _C. Davus_ by the +_absence of the clearly defined black eye-spots_ which the latter has. It +is usually much inferior in size to the last. + +The _caterpillar_, which feeds on the common grasses, is of a bright +apple-green colour, with three darker green stripes bordered with a whitish +tint, the largest stripe being that on the back. + +The _butterfly_ abounds all over the country, from June till September. + + * * * * * + +{112} + +THE WHITE ADMIRAL. (_Limenitis Sybilla._) + +(Plate VII. fig. 1.) + +This elegant butterfly is one of those in which the choicest ornamentation +is bestowed upon the _under_ surface, to the comparative neglect of the +upper. Above, a dark sepia-brown tint, banded and spotted with white, is +all that greets the eye; but beneath there is a piece of the most +exquisitely harmonious colouring, though the hues that compose it are still +of a subdued and secondary nature;--silvery blue, and golden brown blended +with a cooler brown and black, are placed in vivacious contrast with bands +and spots of pure silvery white. + +The _caterpillar_ (Plate I. fig. 4), which feeds on the Honeysuckle, is a +pretty and singular looking creature; general colour bright green, with +reddish branched spines, and white and brown side-stripes. + +The _chrysalis_ (Plate I. fig. 21) is also a very beautiful and curious +object, very knobby and angular, of dark green general colour, and +ornamented with _bright silver_ spots and stripes. + +The _butterfly_ is found from the end of June till the end of July; its +favourite resorts being oak-woods in the southern counties. {113} + +Localities:--Colchester; Epping; Hartley Wood, near St. Osyth, Essex; near +Rye, and in other parts of Sussex; at several places in Kent; near +Winchester; and in Black Park, where Dr. Allchin informs me he took a large +number in one day. + +The superlatively graceful motions of this butterfly on the wing, as it +comes floating and sailing through the wood openings, have long been +celebrated; and the story has been often quoted from Haworth, of the old +fly-fancier, who, long after he had become too feeble and stiff-jointed to +pursue or net a butterfly, used to go and sit on a stile which commanded a +well-known resort of his favourite _Sybilla_, and there, for hours +together, would he feast his eyes on the sight of her inimitably elegant +evolutions. + + * * * * * + +THE PURPLE EMPEROR. (_Apatura Iris._) + +(Plate VII. fig. 2.) + +By universal suffrage, the place of highest rank among the butterflies of +Britain has been accorded to this splendid insect, who merits his imperial +title by reason of his robe of royal purple, the lofty throne he assumes, +and the boldness and elevation of his flight. + +A glimpse of this august personage on the wing is enough to fire the +collector with enthusiastic ambition {114} for his capture; sometimes a +matter of the easiest accomplishment, sometimes just as hopelessly +impossible, according to his majesty's humour of the moment. + +Cowardice is not one of his attributes, and if he has formed a preference +for any especial spot, he will risk loss of liberty and life rather than +forsake it. + +The old mode of capturing this prize was by a ring net fixed at the end of +a pole some twenty or thirty feet long, and so sweeping him off as he sat +on his leafy throne, or in one of his evolutions when he quitted his seat +for a turn in the air. + +This method still is practised, and succeeds occasionally, but the weapon +is an unwieldy one, both in use, and for carriage to the place of action; +and science has now placed in our power another plan, by means of which I +believe that by far the greater number of recent captures have been made. + +The plan alluded to, is to take advantage of the creature's royal taste for +game--for in that light I take his predilection for decomposing animal +matter, now a matter of notoriety; and so potent is the attraction of the +_haut-gout_ for the royal palate, that if any animal, or part of one, not +too recently slaughtered, be suspended near the known haunts of the insect, +ten to one but its savour will bring him down to earth to taste the +luxurious morsel, and so engrossed does he become when thus engaged, that +he may be swept off by the net without difficulty. In the space of two or +three days large numbers of Emperors have been caught by means {115} of +this novel and singular trap, and the seemingly coarse and unbutterfly-like +taste that leads them to it. + +The wings of the male only have that splendid glow of changing purple that +gives him his name and honours, the empress having in its place a sober +garb of brown; she, however, considerably exceeds her lord in dimensions +and expanse of wing. From her stay-at-home habits, sitting all day in her +oak-leaf bower, she is comparatively seldom seen or captured. I believe +collectors generally take about ten males to one female. + +On the under side the colouring of both sexes is similar, and affords a +striking contrast to the dark upper surface, having the white markings +arranged as on the upper side, but rather broader; and, instead of the dark +brown or purple, a lively pattern of orange-brown, greyish brown, and +black. On the front wing is a purple-centred eye-spot, and a smaller one is +seen near the lower angle of the hind wing. + +The firm, muscular appearance of the wings, gives promise of great strength +in those organs, fully borne out in the powerful and bird-like flight of +the creature, who has also a habit of soaring, about midday, to vast +heights in the air, and there engaging in contests, sportive or pugnacious, +with his brother, or rival, Emperors. + +In the _caterpillar_ state also the Purple Emperor is a remarkable +creature, of the form shown in Plate I. fig. 5, bright green, striped with +yellow on each side, and bearing on his head a pair of horns or tentacles. +{116} Though the perfect insect is chiefly found on the oak, the +caterpillar feeds generally on the broad-leaved Sallow, though it has been +occasionally found on the Poplar. + +The _chrysalis_, which may be found on the same trees, suspended to the +under side of a leaf, is shown at Fig. 22, Plate I. and is of a light green +colour. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July, and is found in oak woods in many +localities of the South. The following are a few of these:--Near +Colchester, extremely abundant, Epping, Great and Little Stour Woods; +Kettering, Barnwell Wold, Northamptonshire; Bourne, Lincoln; Leicester; +Reading, Newbury, Berks; Herefordshire; Forest of Dean, Monmouthshire; +Warwickshire; Suffolk; Monkswood, Hunts; Clapham Park Wood, Beds; Darenth +Wood, Chatham, Tenterden; Ticehurst, Balcombe, Tilgate Forest, Arundel, +near Brighton; Lyndhurst; Stowmarket; Isle of Wight. + +[Illustration: XII.] + +{117} THE PAINTED LADY. (_Cynthia Cardui._) + +(Plate VII. fig. 3.) + +We now come to a very natural group of butterflies, rich, and often +gorgeous, in their colouring, and having, both in their perfect and +preparatory states, many characteristics in common, in point of habits, as +well as of appearance and construction. The caterpillars are all thorny, +and the chrysalides are adorned with brilliant metallic (generally +_golden_) spots, from which appearance was derived the name +"_chrysalis_,"[11] since applied, but somewhat improperly, to the _pupae_ +of _all_ butterflies. This golden effect is produced by a brilliant white +membrane underlying the transparent yellow outer skin of the chrysalis, and +it may be imitated, as discovered by Lister many years ago, "by putting a +small piece of black gall in a strong decoction of nettles; this produces a +scum which, when left on cap-paper, will exquisitely gild it, without the +application of the real metal." + +The present species is a highly elegant insect, well named the Painted +Lady, and in France the "_Belle Dame_." + +The colouring of the upper surface is composed of black and very dark +brown, with irregular markings of an orange red, tinged partially with a +rosy hue. Near the tip of the front wings are several pure white spots. + +Beneath, the great beauty lies in the delicate pencilling of the hind wing +with pearly greys and browns, and contrasted with this, the warm roseate +blush and aurora tint on the upper wing. + +The _caterpillar_ is thorny and brown, with yellow stripes down the back +and sides. It feeds on various {118} species of thistle, but sometimes also +on the nettle and other plants. + +The _chrysalis_ is brown and grey, with silver spots. + +The butterfly first appears about the end of July, and is seen till the end +of September, and occasionally in October. I took a beautiful fresh +specimen in _October_, while strolling through a nursery garden at +Wandsworth. + +Those seen in early spring are _hybernated_ specimens. + +The appearance of this butterfly in any given locality is a matter of great +uncertainty, though it capriciously visits, and even abounds occasionally +in almost every place. + +It is a bold insect, and, though agile in its movements, not difficult to +catch, for, if disturbed or missed at the first stroke, it returns to the +charge quite fearlessly. + + * * * * * + +THE RED ADMIRAL. (_Vanessa Atalanta._) + +(Plate VIII. fig. 1.) + +In grand simplicity and vividness of colour, the Red Admiral perhaps +surpasses every other British butterfly, and reminds one forcibly of some +of the gorgeous denizens of the tropics. Intense black and brilliant +scarlet in bands and borders are the two chief elements {119} of this +splendour, relieved delightfully by the cool white spots at the outer and +upper corners, and by the choice little bits of blue at the inner and lower +angles and near the margins. The painting of the under surface entirely +beggars description. There is, in addition to the red band, a good deal of +blue on the upper wing, and the lower wing is covered by an intricate +embroidery of indescribable tints--all manner of browns, and greys, and +blacks, with golden and other hues of metals, are here pencilled and +blended with magic effect. + +The _caterpillar_, which feeds on the common nettle, is thorny, yellowish +grey in colour, with light yellow lines on each side and black markings. + +The _chrysalis_ is brownish, with gold spots. + +The butterfly usually comes out in August, and may be met with till early +in October. The hybernated specimens of this are more rarely seen than +those of any of the other common _Vanessas_. + +Like others of its genus, the Red Admiral is familiar, and even saucy, in +its manners, seeming to prefer the haunts of men to the solitudes that +other insects love, flaunting boldly before our face in gardens and +highways, where most we meet it. + +It is found commonly all over the country. + + * * * * * + +{120} + +THE PEACOCK BUTTERFLY. (_Vanessa Io._) + +(Plate VIII. fig. 2.) + +The form and markings of this species, so distinct from every other of our +butterflies, will be seen by reference to the plate; and as to its +colouring, I will not do it the injustice to attempt a description of its +rich perfection, more especially as almost every reader may hope to add the +insect to his collection during his first year's hunting, and then he can +study its beauties for himself. + +The under side, however, presents a remarkable contrast to the splendour of +the reverse, being covered with shades and streaks of funereal blacks and +browns. This affords a strange effect when the insect, sitting on a flower +head, alternately opens and shuts the wings with a fanning motion, +according to its custom. + +The _caterpillar_ (Plate I. fig. 6), which feeds gregariously upon the +nettle, is black, dotted with white, and thorny. + +The _chrysalis_ is greenish, with gold spots. + +The _butterfly_, which is common in nearly every part of England, comes out +in August and September, the individuals met with not unfrequently in the +spring having hybernated. + +Mr. Doubleday writes thus to the _Zoologist_ regarding the winter retreats +of butterflies of this genus:--"Last {121} winter some large stacks of +beech faggots, which had been loosely stacked up in our forest (_Epping_) +the preceding spring, with the dead leaves adhering to them, were taken +down and carted away, and among these were many scores of _Io_, _Urticae_, +and _Polychloros_." + +In Scotland this is generally a very rare butterfly, but has latterly been +abundant in Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. + + * * * * * + +THE CAMBERWELL BEAUTY. (_Vanessa Antiopa._) + +(Plate VIII. fig. 3.) + +Many years ago, when Camberwell was a real village, luxuriating in its +willows, the entomologists of the day were delighted by the apparition, in +that suburb, of this well-named "Beauty," whose name since then has always +been associated with Camberwell--certainly not a promising place in the +present day for a butterfly hunt, for, though it has its "beauties" still, +they are not of the lepidopterous order, nor game for any net that the +entomologist usually carries. Since then it has been found at intervals, +and in very variable abundance, in a wide range of localities. + +The arrangement of colours in this butterfly is most remarkable and +unusual, by reason of the sudden contrast between the pale whitish border +and the velvet depth of the colours it encloses. {122} + +The inmost portion of all the wings is a deep rich chocolate brown, then +comes a band of black, including a row of large blue spots, and succeeded +by an outer border of pale yellow tint, partially dappled with black +specks. + +The _caterpillar_ feeds on the _willow_ (which accounts for its former +appearance in Camberwell). It is thorny, black, with white dots, and a row +of large red spots down the back. + +The _chrysalis_ is very angular, and blackish with tawny spots. + +The butterfly comes out of the chrysalis late in the autumn, and is seen +from August till October; but a great proportion of those observed in this +country have survived the winter, and have been seen abroad again in the +spring. It has been frequently seen feasting on over-ripe or rotten fruit, +and at such times may be often surprised and captured with ease. + +No spot can be pointed out where one can _expect_ to meet with this fine +insect; but it has appeared singly at intervals in the following localities +among others:--Scotland, Ayrshire; Durham; Scarborough; York; Darlington; +Sheffield; Manchester; Lake District; Appleby; Coventry; Peterborough; +Oxford; Burton-on-Trent; Norfolk; Lincolnshire; Suffolk; Bristol; Ely; +Shrewsbury; Plymouth; Teignmouth; Kent; Ashford; Bromley; Tenterden; +Ramsgate; various places in neighbourhood of London; Epping; Hampshire; +Isle of Wight; Lewes; Worthing. {123} + +On the Continent this is a common butterfly, in many places being the most +abundant of all the _Vanessas_. + + * * * * * + +THE LARGE TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY. (_Vanessa Polychloros._) + +(Plate IX. fig. 1.) + +The beginner often has a slight difficulty in finding a good and permanent +distinction between this species and the next (_V. Urticae_). At the first +blush, the superior size of this seems to be a sufficient mark, and then +the orange of the wings has usually a much browner, or more tawny hue, than +that of _Urticae_; but as I have seen specimens of _Polychloros absolutely +smaller_ than some very large _Urticae's_, and as the colour of both +occasionally varies, so that they approach each other in this respect also, +it is evident we must look for some better mark of distinction; and here +_is_ one. In _Polychloros_, _all_ the light markings between the black +spots on the upper edge of the front wing are _yellow_, whereas in +_Urticae_ the _outer one next the blue and black border is pure pearly_ +WHITE. The two other marks on the front edge are yellow. _Polychloros_ has +also, near the _lower corner of the front wing, an extra black spot_, not +found in _Urticae_. + +The blue spots on the border are in this species almost confined to the +hind wings. {124} + +The _caterpillar_ generally feeds on the elm, whence the butterfly is +occasionally called the "Elm Butterfly," but it has also been found on the +willow, and on the white beam-tree. Mr. Boscher of Twickenham informs me +that the specimens he has bred from caterpillars fed on the _willow_ have +been all far below the average size. The caterpillar is thorny, and of a +tawny colour, broadly striped with black along each side. + +The _chrysalis_ is of a dull flesh colour, with golden spots. + +The _butterfly_ makes its appearance in July and August, _hybernated_ +specimens being also frequently seen in the spring, from March till May. + +In some places and seasons it is not rare, but is very uncertain in its +appearance, abounding most in the southern districts, and being almost +unknown in Scotland. It is fond of gardens and other frequented places. + + * * * * * + +THE SMALL TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY. (_Vanessa Urticae._) + +(Plate IX. fig. 2.) + +This pretty species is much commoner than the last, being, in fact, the +most plentiful of all the _genus_, and found everywhere, in gardens, by +weedy road-sides and waste grounds, &c. + +Its markings are very similar to those of the last, but the colouring is +much more gay and brilliant. {125} + +The distinguishing mark of this species--the possession of a pure _white_ +spot near the upper corner of the front wing--has been already pointed out +under _V. Polychloros_. + +The blue crescent-spots of the border are much more marked than in the +last, and extend along the edge of the front wing. The orange colour also +approaches a _scarlet_, and the yellow spots have a brighter hue than in +_Polychloros_. + +The _caterpillar_, which is found feeding in large companies on the nettle, +is of greyish colour, with a black line on the back, and brown and yellow +stripes on the sides. Thorny, like rest of the genus. + +The _chrysalis_ is generally of a brown hue, spotted with gold, but I have +seen it gilded all over, making a very splendid appearance. + +Hybernated individuals of this butterfly are seen during the spring months, +but the first emergence from the chrysalis takes place in June, and the +insect is seen on the wing constantly from that time till October. + +The following interesting notice of the capture of a swarm of these +butterflies in _mid-winter_, is quoted, from the _Zoologist_, p. 5000. The +writer is a Mr. Banning, resident near Ballacraine, in the Isle of Man:-- + +"Whilst standing in my farm-yard on the day following Christmas-day (1855), +it being unusually fine and warm, I was suddenly astonished by the fall of +{126} more than a hundred of the accompanying butterflies (_V. Urticae_). I +commenced at once collecting them, and succeeded in securing more than +sixty. These I have fed on sugar spread over cabbage-leaves and bran until +now, and, to all appearances, those which still survive (more than forty in +number) are thriving well, and in good condition." + + * * * * * + +THE COMMA BUTTERFLY. (_Grapta C. Album._) + +(Plate IX. fig. 3.) + +The singularly jagged outline of this butterfly at once distinguishes it +from every other native species, though, did we not know it as a distinct +species, it might have been taken for one of the two previous species very +much stunted, deformed, and torn, so similar is it in colour and the plan +of its markings. + +The upper surface is deep fulvous, or rusty orange, and marked with black +and dark brown. In different individuals, the under side varies greatly in +its tints and markings, especially near the border of the wings, which are +sometimes of a deep rich olive brown, sometimes pale tawny. They all agree, +however, in bearing in the centre of the hind wings the character from +which the insect takes its specific name, viz. a white mark in form of the +letter C, which has also been likened with less justice to a , whence its +English name of "Comma." {127} + +The female is of a paler tint than the male, and the edges of the wings are +less deeply scalloped and cut. The figure is that of a male. + +The _caterpillar_ is tawny-coloured; but the back, for about the hinder +half its length, is whitish; head black. The body is armed with short +spines, and there are two ear-like tubercles projecting from the side of +the head. It has been found feeding on the elm, willow, sloe, currant, +nettle, and hop. + +The _chrysalis_ is of the curious shape shown at fig. 24, Plate I.; of a +brownish tint, with gold spots. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July and August, and hybernated individuals in +the spring, up till May. Its range seems to be nearly confined to the +Midland and Western districts. It was formerly found near London, and in +other places, whence it has now disappeared. + +The following localities are given for it:--Carlisle and the Lake district, +York, Green Hammerton (Yorkshire), Doncaster, Broomsgrove (Worcestershire), +Warwickshire, Peterborough, Scarborough, Barnwell Wold (Northamptonshire), +Bristol, Gloucester, Dorchester. I found it very plentiful on the banks of +the Wye, in 1858; and in the following May I took one in South Wales, at +Pont-y-Pridd. In Scotland, Fifeshire has been mentioned as a locality. + +This is a rapid flyer, and not very easily caught when fresh on the wing. + + * * * * * + +{128} + +THE SILVER-WASHED FRITILLARY (_Argynnis Paphia._) + +(Plate IX. fig. 4, Male; 4 _a_, Female.) + +The beautiful genus to which this butterfly belongs is distinguished by the +adornment of silvery spots and streaks with which the under side of the +hind wings is bedight; while the upper surface is chequered with black, +upon a rich golden-brown ground, the device reminding one of those +old-fashioned chequered flowers called "fritillaries," whence the common +name of these butterflies. + +Of all the British Fritillaries, this is, perhaps, the loveliest, from the +exquisite softness and harmony of the silvery pencillings on the iridescent +green of the under side; though some of the others with bright silver +_spots_ are gayer and more sparkling. + +The two sexes differ considerably on the upper surface; the _male_ being +marked with black (as in the engraving) upon a bright orange-brown ground, +while the _female_ is without the broad black borders to the veins of the +front wings, and the ground colour is suffused with an olive-brown tint, +inclining sometimes to green. The black spots are also larger. Beneath, +however, both sexes are marked nearly alike with _washy streaks of silver_, +and not with defined spots. {129} + +The _caterpillar_ (fig. 7, Plate I.), as with all the Fritillaries, is +thorny, with two spines behind the head longer than the rest; black, with +yellow lines along the back and sides. It feeds on violet leaves, also on +the wild raspberry and nettle. + +The _chrysalis_ (fig. 16, Plate I.) is greyish, with the tubercles silvered +or gilt. + +The _butterfly_ is out in July and August, and is not rare in the woods of +the South and Midland districts, but it also extends its range into +Scotland. On the banks of Wye, about Tintern and Monmouth, I found it +extremely abundant. It has been seen swarming in a teasel-field, near +Selby, Yorkshire. + +Its predilection for settling on bramble sprays has been alluded to on page +47. + + * * * * * + +THE DARK-GREEN FRITILLARY. (_Argynnis Aglaia._) + +(Plate X. fig. 1, Male.) + +This is a handsomely-marked insect--orange-brown, chequered with black, +above. Beneath, the _front wing_ is coloured nearly as above, _but bears +near the tip several silvery spots_. The hind wing is splendidly studded +with rounded spots of silver, on a ground partly tawny, partly olive-green +and brown. The _male_ is the sex {130} represented, the female being darker +above, both as to the ground colour and markings. + +The _caterpillar_, which feeds on the dog-violet, is very similar to that +of the last; as also is the _chrysalis_. + +The _butterfly_ is out in July and part of August, and may be seen in a +variety of situations, from the breezy tops of heathy downs, to close-grown +forest-lands in the valleys; and it seems to be distributed over the whole +of the country, occurring in widely distant localities, from the south +coast to Scotland. + + * * * * * + +THE HIGH-BROWN FRITILLARY. (_Argynnis Adippe._) + +(Plate X. fig. 2.) + +On the upper surface, this insect so closely resembles the last, that it is +difficult in a description to discriminate between them; but _beneath_, the +two are distinguished by the _absence in Adippe of the silvery spots near +the tip of the front wing_; and though there is some similarity in the +arrangement of the silver spots on the hind wing, and in its general +colouring, _Adippe_ is distinguished by a row of rust-red spots, with small +silvery centres, between the silver border spots and the next row inwards. +By comparing the figures of the under sides of _Adippe_ and _Aglaia_, these +will be readily made out. {131} + +The _caterpillar_ is thorny, greyish, with black spots on the back, +intersected by a white line. Feeds on the violet. + +The _chrysalis_ is reddish, spotted with silver. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July, in many open places, in woods, and on +heaths, in various parts of England, but most plentifully in the south. +Like the last species, it is an active and wary insect on the wing, and +requires considerable agility and dexterity for its capture. + + * * * * * + +THE QUEEN OF SPAIN FRITILLARY. (_Argynnis Lathonia._) + +(Plate X. fig. 3.) + +This splendid little species is one of the prize-flies of the +collector--that is, if the specimen be an undoubted native; for while a +"Queen of Spain" taken within our shores will command a considerable sum of +money in the market, another, precisely similar, but brought over from the +opposite French coast, may be bought for a very few pence; but the mode of +carriage, you see, makes all the difference, and the value of the insect +depends entirely upon whether its own wings or a steam-boat have brought it +over the Channel. So much for "the fancy." + +When figured side by side with the other Fritillaries, this species looks +distinct enough from any of them; {132} but it has been several times +confounded with small specimens of _Adippe_ and with _Euphrosyne_, and its +capture has thereupon been erroneously published; but this must have been +the effect of a description imperfectly written or read. It will be +observed that the form of the front wings differs in this from the rest of +the Fritillaries, the outer margin being _concave_ in its outline. The +inner corner of the hind wings also is more sharply angular. + +Above, the colouring of the wings is similar to that of the others of the +genus, tawny-brown and black. Beneath, the front wing has a group of silver +spots near the tip, the ground colour of the hind wing is yellowish, and +the silver spots are proportionately larger than in the other species; +_near the margin of the hind wing_, and parallel with its edge, are _seven +dark-brown spots with silver centres_. + +The _caterpillar_ is brown, striped with white, and yellowish tint; head, +legs, and thorns, tawny coloured. It feeds on the wild heartsease, also on +sainfoin and borage. + +The _chrysalis_ is tinted with dull-green and brown, and spotted with gold. + +The _butterfly_ is said to be double-brooded--one brood appearing in June, +the other in September. The most likely places in which to look for it are +clover fields in the south of England, and more especially on the +south-east coast. Though still classed among the rarest of British +butterflies, it has been found in a great many localities. It has been +taken at Brighton; Shoreham; Eastbourne; Dover; Margate; Ashford; Chatham; +Exeter; Bristol; Harleston, near Norwich; Colchester; Lavenham; +Peterborough. + +[Illustration: XIII.] + +{133} + +THE PEARL-BORDERED FRITILLARY. (_Argynnis Euphrosyne._) + +(Plate X. fig. 4.) + +This very common insect is considerably smaller than any of the preceding +species, though small specimens of the last sometimes do not much exceed it +in size. The upper surface is lively orange-brown, with black markings. +Beneath, the _hind wing_ is mapped out with black lines into various +irregular spaces, _all_ of which are filled with tints of dull yellow, +ochreous, or reddish orange; excepting a row of silver spots on the border, +_one silver spot in the centre of the wing_, and _one_ triangular one close +to the root of the wing. + +The _caterpillar_ is black, with white lines; and the pro-legs red. It +feeds on various species of _viola_. + +The _butterfly_ appears first in May, and there is another brood in autumn, +about August. It frequents woods and hedgerows, being met with most +profusely in the south; but its range is extended into Scotland. In Ireland +I believe it is unknown. + + * * * * * + +{134} + +THE SMALL PEARL-BORDERED FRITILLARY. (_Argynnis Selene._) + +(Plate XI. fig. 1.) + +This butterfly, which is very nearly related to the last, often so closely +resembles it in the marking of the upper surface, that even practised eyes +are sometimes at a loss to distinguish the two, without a reference to the +under side; for on this side do the real distinctive marks lie, and chiefly +on the hind wing. In addition to the silver border and central spots of +_Euphrosyne_, this species has several other silvery or pearly patches +distributed over the hind wing; and the reddish-orange colour adjoining the +silver border in _Euphrosyne_ is exchanged for dark chestnut-brown in +_Selene_. In average size the two insects differ very slightly, though the +name of this expresses an inferior size. + +The _caterpillar_ much resembles that of the last, and feeds on +violet-leaves. + +The _chrysalis_ is greyish. + +The _butterfly_ is double-brooded, appearing first in May and again in +August. It is not so common an insect as _Euphrosyne_, but is met with in +similar situations, and has a range nearly co-extensive with that of the +latter. + + * * * * * + +{135} + +THE GLANVILLE FRITILLARY. (_Melitaea Cinxia._) + +(Plate XI. fig. 2.) + +Though usually rather abundant where it occurs at all, this insect is one +of the most local of all our butterflies, and I can only find recorded +about a dozen places for it in the country. Of these, the Isle of Wight is +the great metropolis of the insect, and there, in many places round the +coast, numerous colonies have been established. + +This butterfly is distinguished from the next (_M. Athalia_), which it very +much resembles, principally by the characters on the under surface. + +The hind wing (beneath) is covered with alternate bands of bright +straw-colour and orange-brown, divided by black lines; and possesses in +_the marginal straw-coloured band a row of clear_ BLACK SPOTS. Another row +of black spots crosses the centre of the wing. It will also be observed +that the _hind wings_ have on _their upper surface a row of black spots_ +parallel with, and not far from, the margin. The colouring of the upper +side is orange-brown with black markings. + +The _caterpillar_, which feeds on the narrow-leaved plantain, is thorny and +black, with reddish head and legs. The chrysalis is brownish, marked with +fulvous tint. A highly interesting account of the habits and {136} history +of this butterfly in all its stages has been sketched from the life by the +Rev. J. F. Dawson (who has made an intimate acquaintance with a colony of +the insect at Sandown, Isle of Wight), and will be found in the +_Zoologist_, p. 1271. + +The _butterfly_ first appears about the first or second week in May, and +thence continues till about the middle of June, seldom enduring till July. +It is to be looked for in rough, broken ground, such as the Isle of Wight +landslips, where plenty of the narrow-leaved plantain grows. + +Other localities for the Glanville Fritillary are, Folkestone below +West-Cliff (abundant); round Dover; Birchwood; Dartford, Kent; Stapleford, +near Cambridge; Yorkshire; Lincolnshire; Wiltshire; Peterboro', Stowmarket; +and in Scotland, at Falkland in Fifeshire. + + * * * * * + +THE PEARL-BORDERED LIKENESS FRITILLARY. (_Melitaea Athalia._) + +(Plate XI. fig. 3.) + +This is another very local butterfly, though rather more widely and +generally distributed than the last, which, as before stated, it greatly +resembles in appearance, especially on the upper side. {137} + +It may be characterised negatively as _not_ having the rows of black spots +found on both surfaces of _Cinxia_, though its colouring is very +similar--fulvous (or orange-brown) and black above; straw-coloured, +fulvous, and black beneath. + +The _caterpillar_ is black, with rust-coloured spines; and feeds on various +species of plantain. + +The _butterfly_ is out from May to July, and is met with (if at all) on +heaths, clearings in woods, &c. Localities, in some of which it is very +plentiful, are, Caen Wood; Coombe Wood; Epping; Halton, Bucks; Bedford; +Aspley Wood, Beds; Plymouth, Teignmouth, Stowmarket, Dartmoor, Devonshire; +Oxford; Wiltshire; Colchester; St. Osyth; Tenterden; Faversham; Deal; +Canterbury. Very rare in north of England. + + * * * * * + +THE GREASY OR MARSH FRITILLARY. (_Melitaea Artemis._) + +(Plate XI. fig. 4.) + +The _black_ markings on the upper side of this butterfly closely approach +those of the last two species, but the interstices, instead of being filled +up with a _uniform fulvous tint_, as in those, are "coloured in" with +_several distinct shades_, some with _pale tawny yellow_, others with _deep +orange brown_. This latter tint forms a band parallel {138} to the outer +margin of each wing, the band on the front wings having a row of pale spots +in it; that on the hind wings a row of black spots. _Beneath_, the upper +wing has an appearance of the markings having been "smudged" together, and +a shining surface, as if it had been greased, whence the common name of the +insect; the hinder wings are like those of the two last, yellowish, banded +with brownish orange, the outer band of which bears a _series of black +spots each surrounded by a pale yellowish ring_. + +The _front_ edge of the front wing is slightly _concave_ in its outline, +about the middle, whereas it is _convex_ in _Cinxia_ and _Athalia_. + +The _caterpillar_ is black, with reddish brown legs. It is gregarious, +feeding under protection of a web upon the leaves of plantain, devils-bit +scabious, and some other plants. + +The _chrysalis_ is drabbish, with darker spots, and is said to suspend +itself by the tail from the top of a tent-like structure made of blades of +grass spun together at the top. + +The _butterfly_ appears in June (sometimes a little earlier or later), and +frequents marshy meadows, moist woods, &c., but is a very local insect, +abounding most in the south. The specimens, however, that I have seen from +the north, are much larger, brighter, and more distinctly marked than the +"southerners." The nearest localities to London are, Hornsey, and Copthall +Wood at the top of Muswell Hill; West Wickham Wood, and {139} High-Beech +(Epping). It is also found near Brighton (plentifully); Carlisle; Durham; +Burton-on-Trent; York; Haverfordwest, S. W.; Cardiff, S. W.; +Weston-super-Mare; Bristol; and a great number of other places distributed +throughout the country. In Ireland at Ardrahan, co. Galway. Rare in +Scotland. + + * * * * * + +THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY FRITILLARY. (_Nemeobius Lucina._) + +(Plate XI. fig. 5.) + +Though this little insect bears the name of _Fritillary_, at the end of its +lengthy and important title, it really belongs to a family widely differing +from that of any of the true Fritillaries previously described, and it only +shared their name on account of its similarity in colour and markings. + +The _caterpillar_ (Plate I. fig. 8), instead of being long and thorny like +those of the true Fritillaries, is _short, thick, and wood-louse shaped_. +Its colour is reddish brown, with tufts of hair of the same colour. It +feeds on the primrose. + +The _chrysalis_ differs from that of the true Fritillaries as much as the +caterpillar does, being of the form, and suspended in the manner, shown at +fig. 25, Plate I. + +The _butterfly_ is chequered on the upper surface with {140} tawny, and +dark brown or black. It appears in May and June, and again in August, being +found in woods, principally in the south, and its range is often confined +to a small spot hardly fifty yards in diameter, within which it may be +quite plentiful. The following are among its recorded +localities:--Carlisle; Lake District; West Yorkshire; Roche Abbey, +Yorkshire; Peterborough; Stowmarket; Pembury; Barnwell Wold, Northants; +Oxford; Blandford; Worcester; Gloucestershire; Bedfordshire; Epping; Coombe +Wood; Darenth Wood; Boxhill; Dorking; Brighton; Lewes; Worthing; Lyndhurst; +Teignmouth. + +The _males_ of all the members of the family to which this butterfly +belongs, and of which this is the sole European representative--_the_ +ERYCINIDAE--have only _four_ legs adapted for walking, whilst the _females_ +have _six_. + + * * * * * + +THE BROWN HAIR-STREAK. (_Thecla Betulae._) + +(Plate XII. fig. 1, Male; 1 _a_, Female.) + +The genus to which this butterfly belongs, contains five British species, +elegant and interesting insects, though not gaily tinted. They are most +obviously distinguished from other small butterflies by the _tail-like_ +projection on the lower edge of their hind wings (though one of their {141} +number, _T. Rubi_, has this very slightly developed). From each other they +are best distinguished by the characters on their under surface, where they +all bear a more or less distinct _hair_-like _streak_, whence their common +name--Hair-streak. + +The Brown Hair-streak is the largest of the genus, measuring sometimes an +inch and two-thirds in expanse. The two sexes differ considerably on the +upper surface, the male being of a deep brown colour, slightly paler near +the middle of the front wing, while the female possesses on the front wing +a _large patch of clear orange_. Both sexes have several orange marks upon +the lower angles of the hind wings. Beneath, the general colour is tawny +orange with duller bands, and marked with one white line on the front wing, +and _two parallel white lines on the hind wings_. + +The _caterpillar_ is green, marked obliquely with white; it feeds on the +birch and also on the sloe. + +The _butterfly_ appears in August, continuing into September. It is +generally distributed through the south, but is by no means an abundant +insect. Mr. Stainton observes that it has a habit of "flitting along in +hedges just in advance of the collector;" but it is also found in oak woods +in company with the Purple Hair-streak. + +Forty were taken in a season in woods near Henfield, Sussex. Other +localities are, Underbarrow Moss, Westmoreland; North Lancashire, common in +some parts; Preston; Valley of the Dovey, Montgomeryshire; {142} Cardiff, +S. W.; Barnwell Wold; Peterborough; Colchester; Epping; Darenth Wood; +Coombe Wood; Brighton; Tenterden; Winchester; Woolmer Forest, Hants; +Plymouth; Dartmoor; Wallingford, Berks; Ipswich; Dorsetshire; Norfolk; +Wiltshire; Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire. + + * * * * * + +THE BLACK HAIR-STREAK. (_Thecla Pruni._) + +(Plate XII. fig. 2.) + +The upper side is very dark brown, sometimes almost black, and bearing near +the _hinder_ edge of the _hind wings_ a _few orange spots_. This character +will at once distinguish this from the next species (_W. Album_). On the +under side of the hind wing is a _broad band of orange_, having a _row of +black spots on its inner edge_. + +The _caterpillar_ is green, with four rows of yellow spots. It feeds on the +sloe. + +The _butterfly_ comes out about the end of June or in July. It is generally +a very rare insect, but is occasionally taken in great plenty in certain +spots. The Rev. W. Bree, writing to the _Zoologist_ from the neighbourhood +of Polebrook, North Hants, says, "_Thecla Pruni_ is very uncertain in its +appearance. In 1837 it literally swarmed in Barnwell and Ashton Wolds; I do +not scruple to say that it would have been possible {143} to capture some +hundreds of them, had one been so disposed; for the last few years it has +appeared very sparingly indeed." It has also been found in the following +localities:--Overton Wood; Brington, Huntingdonshire; and Monks Wood, +Cambridgeshire. + + * * * * * + +THE WHITE LETTER HAIR-STREAK. (_Thecla W. Album._) + +(Plate XII. fig. 3.) + +This is very much like the last in appearance, and has often been mistaken +for it by inexperienced eyes. The _points_ of difference are--on the upper +side, the absence of the orange band at the hinder edge of the hind wings, +and the presence of a _bluish grey circumflex line at the inner angle_; +here also is sometimes a _small orange dot_;--beneath, the _orange band +forms a series of arches_, bounded on the edge nearest the root of the wing +_by a clear black line_ instead of the rounded black spots seen at this +part in _Pruni_. + +The _caterpillar_, which feeds on the elm, is wood-louse shaped; pea-green, +barred with yellow; head black. May be beaten off elm trees in May. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July, and is found in various situations, +sometimes flying high up round elm trees, sometimes descending to bramble +hedges, or fluttering {144} about in weedy fields a foot or two from the +ground. It was formerly a much rarer insect than at present, and now its +appearance in any given locality is a matter of much uncertainty. Mr. J. F. +Stephens writes as follows to the _Zoologist_:-- + +"For eighteen years I possessed four bleached specimens only of _Thecla W. +Album_, having vainly endeavoured to procure others, when, in 1827, as +elsewhere recorded, I saw the insect at Ripley, not by dozens only, but by +scores of thousands! and although I frequented the same locality for +thirteen years subsequently, sometimes in the season for a month together, +I have not since seen a single specimen there; but in 1833 I caught one +specimen at Madingley Wood, near Cambridge." + +Other localities:--Near Sheffield; Roche Abbey; York; Peterborough; near +Doncaster; Polebrook, Northants; Allesley, Warwickshire; Brington, +Huntingdonshire; Yaxley and Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire; Needwood Forest, +Staffordshire; Wolverston, near Ipswich; Chatham; Southgate, Middlesex; +West Wickham Wood; Epping; Bristol. + + * * * * * + +{145} + +THE PURPLE HAIR-STREAK.(_Thecla Quercus._) + +(Plate XII. fig. 4, Male; 4 _a_, Female.) + +At once the commonest and the handsomest of the Hair-streaks, being found +in almost every part of England where there is an oak wood, and looking +like a small Purple Emperor, with its rich gloss of the imperial colour. + +The _male_ has all the wings, in certain lights, of a dark brown colour, +but with a change of position they become illuminated with a deep rich +purple tint, extending over the whole surface excepting a narrow border, +which then appears black. The _female_ has the purple much more vivid, but +confined to a _small patch_ extending from the root to the centre of the +front wing. Beneath, the wings are shaded with greyish tints, crossed by a +white line on each wing, and having _two orange spots_ at the inner corner +of the hind wing. + +The _caterpillar_ (Plate I. fig. 9), which feeds on the oak, is reddish +brown, marked with black. + +The _chrysalis_, which is sometimes attached to the leaves of the oak, and +at others is found _under the surface of the earth_ at the foot of the +tree, is a brownish object, of the lumpy shape shown in Plate I. fig. 28 (a +form shared by the chrysalides of all the Hair-streaks). {146} + +The _butterfly_ is seen in July and August, flitting about in sportive +groups round oak trees, and occasionally descending within reach of the +net. It also affects other trees besides oaks, some thirty or forty at a +time having been seen gambolling about one _lime_ tree. It being so +generally distributed, it will be needless to particularize its localities. + + * * * * * + +THE GREEN HAIR-STREAK. (_Thecla Rubi._) + +(Plate XII. fig. 5.) + +This pretty little species is at once known from all other English +butterflies by the rich _bright green_ colour that overspreads its under +surface. Above, the wings are deep, warm brown. + +The _caterpillar_ is green, spotted and striped with white, and feeds on +the bramble; also on the broom, and other plants of the same order. + +The _butterfly_ appears first in May and June, and again in August, it +being _double-brooded_. It is found flying about rough brambly hedges, and +often settles on the outer leaves of low trees about a dozen feet from the +ground. It seems to occur generally throughout the country, and extends +into the southern parts of Scotland. It has been found in many localities +close to London. + + * * * * * + +{147} + +THE SMALL COPPER BUTTERFLY. (_Chrysophanus Phlaeas._) + +(Plate XIII. fig. 1.) + +We now arrive at a genus characterized by the splendid golden or burnished +coppery lustre and tint of their wings; of which, however, the present +little species is the only one that remains to us, should the "_Large +Copper_" be really (as it is feared) extinct. + +This little, but lively representative of the genus, is one of our +commonest and most widely distributed butterflies, flashing about in the +sunshine, joining in a dance with the no less lively blues, or settling on +the lilac flowers of the scabious, &c., whose soft tones set off to the +best advantage the metallic effulgence of this little gem. + +The _caterpillar_ feeds on sorrel leaves; is green, with three red stripes. + +The _chrysalis_ and caterpillar both resemble in shape those of the +Hair-streaks. + +The _butterfly_ is supposed to be _triple_-brooded, coming out in April, +June, and August; and is so common, that no localities need be given. + + * * * * * + +{148} + +THE LARGE COPPER BUTTERFLY. (_Chrysophanus Dispar._) + +(Plate XIII. fig. 2.) + +A few years ago, this was the pride of British entomology, for we were +supposed to have the insect entirely to ourselves, it being unknown on the +Continent, whilst it literally swarmed in some of the fens of +Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire. Then, from some cause, never +satisfactorily explained, it almost suddenly disappeared, and, there is +reason to fear, has become quite extinct in this country. Still, hopes are +entertained that it may be surviving in some unexplored districts, and that +it will again "turn up." + +As comparatively very few persons have ever seen this splendid creature on +the wing, the following communication from one who _has_, quoted from the +_Intelligencer_, will be of interest to those who have not read it in that +periodical. It is from the pen of Mr. E. C. F. Jenkins, of Sleaford, +Lincolnshire. He writes: "I proceed to give you some account of my own +acquaintance with that most beautiful insect, which, some thirty years ago, +was so abundant in the unreclaimed fens about Whittlesea Mere, that I never +expected to hear of its utter extermination. Its brilliant appearance on +the wing in the sunshine I shall never forget, and to watch it sitting on +{149} the flower of the _Eupatorium cannabinum_ and show the under sides of +its wings, was something ever to be remembered. I once took sixteen in +about half an hour on one particular spot, where the above-mentioned plant +was very plentiful; but unless the sun was very bright they were very +difficult to find. In those days the larva was unknown, and I attribute the +disappearance of the butterfly to the discovery of the larva, to the +unceasing attacks of collectors, and to the burning of the surface-growth +of the fens, which is done in dry weather when they are to be reclaimed." + +The two sexes of this butterfly differ very remarkably in the appearance of +the upper surface. This, in the _male_, is of an effulgent coppery colour, +narrowly bordered with black, and having a black mark in the centre of each +wing. The _female_ is larger, has a redder tinge, with a row of black spots +on the front wings, and the hind wings nearly covered with black, excepting +a band of coppery red near the margin, extending also more or less +distinctly along the courses of the veins. Underneath, both sexes are +nearly alike, the hind wing of a general _light blue tint_, with a red band +near the margin, and spotted with black. + +The _caterpillar_ is green, darker on the back, and paler at the sides, it +feeds on the water dock. + +The _butterfly_ used to be found in July and August, being formerly +especially abundant about Yaxley and Whittlesea Mere, and has been taken +also at Benacre, Suffolk; and Bardolph Fen, Norfolk. {150} + +Various reports of its capture, during the last two or three years, have +been published; but they all seem to require confirmation. + +This butterfly is now generally considered to be a _large_ local variety of +the continental one called _Hippothoe_, with which it closely agrees in its +markings. + + * * * * * + +THE BLUES. (Genus _Polyommatus_.) + +We now arrive at a numerous genus of elegant and lively little insects, +collectively known as the "Blues," though some of them are _not blue_ at +all. In their manners, and the localities they inhabit, there is so much in +common, that one description of these will answer for nearly every one of +them; so that my small available space will be in great part devoted to +pointing out the marks of distinction between the various species, ten in +number, several of them closely resembling others in general appearance, +and requiring some care in their discrimination. + +Their _caterpillars_, which are wood-louse shaped, or _onisciform_, +generally feed on low plants, chiefly of the papilionaceous order; and the +_butterflies_ are found in dry meadows, on downs, and in open heathy +places. The first species, _P. Argiolus_, is, however, an exception to the +above, both in its food and haunts. {151} + +Several species of this genus are often found together. For example, in the +Isle of Wight, last August, I took _P. Argiolus_, _Corydon_, _Adonis_, +_Alexis_, and _Agestis_, all within about one hour, and a space of a few +yards square in the corner of a field. + + * * * * * + +THE AZURE BLUE BUTTERFLY. (_Polyommatus Argiolus._) + +(Plate XIII. fig. 3, Male; 3 _a_, Female.) + +_Colouring_:--Upper side, beautiful lilac blue--the male with a narrow +black border (fig. 3), the female with a broad one, sometimes extending +over the outer half of the wing (fig. 3 a). Under side, very delicate +_silvery blue, almost white_, with numerous small black spots. _No red +spots._ + +_Caterpillar_, green, with darker line on back. Feeds on the flowers of +holly, ivy, and buckthorn. + +The _butterfly_ appears in May, or sometimes in April, and again in August, +frequenting _woods_ and hedges, especially where holly and ivy abound. I +noticed immense numbers about the ivied walls of Chepstow Castle. + +As the name "Azure Blue" is in general use, I have retained it above, but +that of "Holly Blue," sometimes {152} applied to it, is preferable, as its +colour is much less an azure blue than that of _Adonis_. + +Localities:--Common in the south, and found as far north as Durham and the +Lake District. Not known in Scotland. + + * * * * * + +THE BEDFORD BLUE, OR LITTLE BLUE. (_Polyommatus Alsus._) + +(Plate XIII. fig. 4, Male; 4 _a_, Female.) + +This is the _smallest of British butterflies_, specimens being sometimes +seen even smaller than those figured. + +_Colouring_:--Upper side, dark brown, distinctly powdered with blue near +the root of the wing in the _male, without blue in the female_. Under side, +_pale grey-drab_, bluish near the base, marked with rows of _black spots_ +in pale rings. _No red spots._ + +_Caterpillar_, green, orange stripe down back, and streaks of same colour +on each side. + +The _butterfly_ is out in May and June, and is sometimes seen much later. +It is generally met with on limestone or chalky soils; and, from a long +list of localities I have looked over, it seems to be distributed over +England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. + + * * * * * + +{153} + +THE MAZARINE BLUE. (_Polyommatus Acis._) + +(Plate XIII. fig. 5, Male; 5 _a_, Female.) + +_Colouring_:--Upper side, male, _deep purple, or mazarine blue_, with a +_border of black_ (fig. 5); female, _dark brown_ (fig. 5 _a_). Under sides +of both sexes similar, _pale greyish drab_, tinged at the base with +greenish blue, numerous _black spots in white rings_. No red spots. + +Though this elegant butterfly was frequently met with some years ago, it +has lately become one of our rarest species, and I can give no locality +where it can be now found. It has been _reported_ as taken lately at +Ventnor, Isle of Wight, and somewhere in South Wales, also in other places, +but only singly. + +Collectors, on visiting any new district, should net all the Blues they are +not _quite_ sure are common ones, and this may perchance turn up among them +sometimes. + +The _caterpillar_ is said to feed on the flower heads of common Thrift +(_Armeria vulgaris_). + +The _butterfly_ may be _looked for_ in July. + + * * * * * + +{154} + +THE LARGE BLUE. (_Polyommatus Arion._) + +(Plate XIV. fig. 1.) + +This is the _largest_ of all our "Blues," and, next to the last, the +rarest, though still taken in some numbers every year. + +_Colouring_:--Upper side, _dark blue_, granulated with black scales that +give it a dull aspect, having a black border, and a series of _large black +spots across the front wing_. Under side, greyish drab, suffused with +greenish blue near the body; towards centre, many black spots in indistinct +light-coloured rings, and a double border of the same. _No red spots._ + +The _caterpillar_ is _unknown_. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July, frequenting rough, flowery +pasture-grounds, but is exceedingly local. A famous place for it is +Barnwell Wold, about a mile and a half from the village of Barnwell, near +Oundle, Northamptonshire, where the insect was discovered by the Rev. W. +Bree many years ago; but it is less abundant there than formerly, from the +repeated attacks of collectors, who catch all they can find. Other +localities, mentioned in various works, are--Brington, Huntingdonshire; +Shortwood, and some other spots, near Cheltenham; Charmouth, Dorsetshire; +Dover; Downs {155} near Glastonbury, Somerset; Downs near Marlborough, +Wiltshire; Broomham, Bedfordshire; near Bedford; near Winchester. + + * * * * * + +THE CHALK-HILL BLUE. (_Polyommatus Corydon._) + +(Plate XIV. fig. 2, Male; 2 _a_, Female.) + +_Colouring_:--Upper side, _male, pale silvery greenish blue_, with very +silky gloss, and shading off into a _broad black border_. + +Female, dark smoky brown, with a leaden tinge, sprinkled near the body with +_greenish_ blue scales of the _same colour_ as the males; border of orange +spots, more or less visible. _Under side_ marked as in fig. 2 _a_, on a +brown ground, with a row of _red_ spots near border of hind wing. + +The _caterpillar_ (Plate I. fig. 10) is green, striped with yellow on the +back and sides. + +The _chrysalis_ is brownish, and of the shape shown at fig. 29, Plate I. + +The _butterfly_ is out in July and August, frequenting chalky downs, +especially in the south, and where it does occur is often extremely +abundant. Occasionally it is found _off the chalk_, having been seen in +Epping Forest, decidedly _not_ a chalk district. Other localities {156} +are--Croydon; Brighton; Lewes; Dover; Winchester; Isle of Wight; Halton, +Bucks; Newmarket; Peterborough; Norfolk; Suffolk; Berkshire; Oxfordshire; +Wiltshire; Gloucestershire. At Grange, North Lancashire, it is the +commonest "Blue," _not on chalk_, but _limestone_. + + * * * * * + +THE ADONIS BLUE. (_Polyommatus Adonis._) + +(Plate XIV. fig. 3, Male; 3 _a_, Female.) + +_Colouring_:--Upper side, _male, brilliant sky-blue, without any lilac +tinge_, bordered by a distinct black line, the _fringe distinctly barred +with blackish_. Female, dark smoky brown, sprinkled near body with _pure +blue scales the colour of those of male_; border of orange spots, more or +less visible. + +Under side, male, marked as in fig. 3; border of red spots. + +Female, almost exactly like that of Corydon (fig. 2 _a_), but usually has +the black spots on the front wing smaller. + +This is a most lovely little butterfly, the blue of its upper surface being +quite unapproachable among native insects. Mr. Stainton, speaking of the +different blues of Corydon and Adonis, happily observes that, "_Corydon_ +{157} reminds one of the soft silvery appearance of _moonlight_, whilst +_Adonis_ recalls the intense blue of the sky on a hot summer's day." + +_Caterpillar_ like that of Corydon. + +The _butterfly_ is double-brooded, appearing first in May and again in +August. It is found on the same soils and in most of the localities with +the last, but is, I believe, more confined to the south. + + * * * * * + +THE COMMON BLUE. (_Polyommatus Alexis._) + +(Plate XIV. fig. 4, Male; 4 _a_, Female.) + +_Colouring_:--Upper side, male, lilac blue. Female, purplish blue about the +centre, brown towards the margins, but the proportions of blue and brown +are very variable--sometimes all the wings have a border of orange-red +spots, sometimes these are absent from one or both pairs of wings. + +_Fringe_ in both sexes _white, uninterrupted by dark bars_. + +_Under side_, male, marked as in fig. 4, and hardly to be distinguished +from under side of male Adonis, except by the ground colour, which is paler +and _greyer_ than in Adonis. Female, same pattern as male, but coloured +with warmer tints--more like male Adonis. {158} + +This very pretty little insect is the blue butterfly one sees everywhere, +abounding in meadows, on heaths and downs, and not at all confined to +chalky soils, like some other "blues." + +The _caterpillar_ is green, with darker stripe on the back, and white spots +on each side. It feeds on Bird's-foot Trefoil and other leguminous plants. + +The _butterfly_ is to be found almost constantly from the end of May to the +end of September, being double-brooded. + + * * * * * + +THE SILVER-STUDDED BLUE. (_Polyommatus Aegon._) + +(Plate XIV. fig. 5, male; 5 _a_, Female.) + +_Colouring_:--Upper side, _male, purplish blue_ (rather deeper than that of +Alexis), with a rather broad black margin. Female, dark brown, sometimes +slightly tinged with blue, and bordered on the hind wings with dull orange +spots; but these are often absent. + +Fringe white, _not_ barred with black. Under side, _near the margin of the +hind wings_, and between that and the orange border spots, are several +_metallic spots, of a bluish tint_, whence the insect has its name of +"Silver-studded." {159} + +The _caterpillar_ is brown, with white lines. Feeds on broom and other +plants of the same order. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July and August, and is very frequently met with +throughout the country on heaths, commons, and downs, both on sandy and +chalky soils. In many places it is the commonest of the "Blues." It has +been found at Epping; Coombe Wood; Darenth Wood; Box Hill; Ripley, Surrey; +Brighton; Lewes; Deal; Lyndhurst; Blandford; Brandon, Suffolk; Holt, +Norfolk; Birkenhead; Bristol; Sarum, Wiltshire; Lyme Regis; Parley Heath, +Dorsetshire; Manchester; York; several places in Scotland. + + * * * * * + +THE BROWN ARGUS. (_Polyommatus Agestis._) + +(Plate XIV. fig. 6.) + +Though this butterfly and the next are classed among the "Blues," from +their possessing the same structure and habits, there is _no trace of blue_ +in the colouring of _either sex_, as in all the preceding species of +_Polyommatus_. + +In this species the colour of both sexes on the upper side is a _warm, dark +brown_, having on all the wings a border of dark orange spots. The female +hardly differs from the male, except in having this border broader, and +more extended on the front wing; where, {160} in the male, it is sometimes +very indistinct. The under side much resembles that of the female of +_Alexis_, the border of orange spots being even more distinct on the front +wing than on the hind one. It will be observed on referring to Plate XIV. +that on the under sides of all the butterflies there figured, there is an +irregular black spot situated near the front edge of the upper wing and +midway in its length--this is called the "_discoidal spot_." It will also +be observed that the common Blue (fig. 4) has, on the area of the wing, +between the discoidal spot and the root of the wing, two spots, which are +_absent in this species_. This forms a very ready mark of distinction, +though it requires a good many words to explain it. + +The _caterpillar_, which feeds on _Erodium Cicutarium_, and perhaps on +_Helianthemum_ (Rock Cistus), is green, with pale spots on the back, and a +brownish line down the middle. + +The _butterfly_ appears in May and June, and again in August, and is common +in very many localities in the south, being particularly abundant on the +downs of the south coast and the Isle of Wight. + + * * * * * + +{161} + +THE ARTAXERXES BUTTERFLY. (_Polyommatus Artaxerxes._) + +(Plate XIV. fig. 7.) + +_Colouring_, same as in the last species (_Agestis_); but on the upper +surface, the orange border-spots are often hardly perceptible on the front +wing, and there is a distinct _white_ spot in the centre of the front +wings. The _under side_ also is precisely like that of Agestis, with the +black spots removed from the centre of the white rings, which are thus +changed into _large white spots_, as shown in the figure. + +There has been a great deal of discussion among entomologists, as to +whether this be a distinct _species_, or only a variety of _Agestis_. I +believe it to be the latter, but do not attach much importance to the +question; and as this butterfly is found under the name of _Artaxerxes_, in +almost every cabinet, and is rather a famous little insect, I have thought +it best to give it a separate heading under its usual title, and collecting +readers may still label it in their cabinet either as above, or as "_P. +Agestis, var. Artaxerxes_," and probably will be equally right either way. + +The popular nature and limited extent of this work will not, however, admit +of the subject being entered into scientifically, and I can only here state +that I have {162} seen specimens from various parts of the country, that +include every intermediate variety between the ordinary _Agestis_ of the +south, and the _Artaxerxes_ of Scotland. The Durham Argus, formerly called +_P. Salmacis_, forms one of these gradations. + +Against the idea of _Agestis_ and _Artaxerxes_ being one species, it has +been objected, that the former is double, the latter single brooded. What +of that? Plenty of species that are double-brooded in the south of Europe +are well known to become single-brooded in a more northern situation. + +The _caterpillar_ is said to be exactly like that of _Agestis_. It feeds on +_Helianthemum vulgare_ (Rock Cistus). + +The _butterfly_ is found in July and August in several parts of Scotland, +and the north of England. Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, has been long noted for +producing it. + +[Illustration: XIV.] + +{163} + +THE SKIPPERS. (Family--_Hesperidae_.) + +These curious little butterflies form a very natural group; in many +respects, both of structure and habits, approaching the moths, and +therefore placed at the end of the butterflies. They are of small size, but +robust appearance, and not brightly coloured. Their flight is rapid, but of +short continuance, and they seem to _skip_ from flower to flower: hence +their name. They are chiefly distinguished scientifically from other +butterflies by the form of the _antennae_, which are more or less hooked at +the tip (see one magnified on Plate II. fig. 14), by the great width of the +head, and the distance between the roots of the _antennae_, by their +moth-like habit of rolling up leaves for their habitation when +caterpillars, and by spinning a _cocoon_ for the chrysalis. The +caterpillars are shaped as in fig. 11, Plate I.; the chrysalides, as in +figs. 26 and 27. There are _seven British species_. + + * * * * * + +THE GRIZZLED SKIPPER. (_Thymele Alveolus._) + +(Plate XV. fig. 1.) + +The ground colour of this smart little butterfly is very dark _brown, or +black, with a greenish hue_ over it, and it is sharply marked with squarish +spots of _creamy white_. The _fringe_ is also _chequered with_ the same +colours. Sexes similar in appearance. + +The _caterpillar_ feeds on the wild Raspberry, also, it is said, on +_Potentilla alba_, and _P. anserina_, and is greenish, with white lines. + +The _butterfly_ appears in May, and again in August, being double-brooded. +It appears to be common in grassy wood-openings all over the country, +extending also into the south of Scotland. + + * * * * * + +{164} + +THE DINGY SKIPPER. (_Thanaos Tages._) + +(Plate XV. fig. 2.) + +Certainly a rather "dingy" butterfly, its colour being _dull grey brown_, +with confused bands of darker brown; near the border _a row of whitish +dots_. Sexes similar. + +The _caterpillar_ (fig. 11, Plate I.) feeds on Bird's-foot Trefoil, and is +pale green, with four yellow lines and rows of black dots. + +The _chrysalis_ is shown at fig. 27, Plate I. + +The _butterfly_ comes out in May and August, being double-brooded, and is +found on hill-sides, dry banks, old chalk pits, &c. generally throughout +the country, though it is less common than the last. It is also met with +frequently in Scotland. + +[Illustration: XV.] + +{165} THE CHEQUERED SKIPPER. (_Steropes Paniscus._) + +(Plate XV. fig. 3.) + +_Sexes similar. Wings chequered with brownish black, and tawny orange +above_; beneath, in addition to the above colours, there are on the hind +wing several bright spots of pale buff _distinctly outlined_ with dark +brown--having a much more ornamental effect than we generally meet with on +the under surface in this family--the colouring on that side being usually +faint and _blurred_ so as to give a washed-out or wrong-sided appearance. + +The _caterpillar_ is brown, striped and "collared" with yellow; head black. +It feeds on the Plantain, also on Dog's-tail Grass (_Cynosurus cristatus_). + +The _butterfly_ appears in June, but is very local--being either found +plentifully in a place or not at all. It has occurred at Barnwell, and +Ashton Wold, Northants; Kettering; Sywell Wood, near Northampton; near +Peterborough; Clapham Park Wood, and Luton, Bedfordshire; Bourne, +Lincolnshire; Monks Wood, Hunts; White Wood; Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire; +Stowmarket; Milton; Rockingham Forest; Dartmoor; Netley Abbey; Charlbury, +near Enstone, Oxon. + + * * * * * + +THE LULWORTH SKIPPER. (_Pamphila Actaeon._) + +(Plate XV. fig. 4, Male; 4 _a_, Female.) + +This plainly-coloured little butterfly, prized by collectors for its +rarity, has, in the male sex, great general resemblance to that of the next +species--the common _P. Linea_--but _Actaeon_ may be distinguished by +having the wings clouded over nearly the whole surface with {166} dull +brown, having something of a greenish cast. The _female_ is, however, very +different from that of _Linea_, having all the wings of uniform dingy +brown, excepting a crescent-shaped row of tawny spots near the tip of the +front wing, and a more or less distinct streak of the same colour near the +centre. + +The male _Actaeon_ is further distinguished from the female by the +possession of a blackish streak near the centre of his front wing. + +_Beneath_, the wings are clouded obscurely with tawny yellow and a dingy +brownish tint, the yellow tinge predominating in the male. + +The _caterpillar_ is unknown. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July and August, but is so extremely limited in +its local range that it is only to be met with, so far as is known, in +three spots--all on the same line of coast--viz. Lulworth Cove, +Dorsetshire; the "Burning Cliff," about five miles nearer Weymouth along +the coast; and at Sidmouth, Devonshire. At the present time I believe the +"Burning Cliff" is the locality where the insect is found in the greatest +plenty. It is to be looked for on the rough broken ground covered with +weeds that slopes down to the shore on this coast. + +Mr. Humphreys states that in 1835 he saw it in great abundance at +Shenstone, near Lichfield. + + * * * * * + +{167} + +THE SMALL SKIPPER. (_Pamphila Linea._) + +(Plate XV. fig. 5, Male; 5 _a_, Female.) + +Upper side, _uniform orange tawny colour_, shaded into brown at the +borders. The _male_ (fig. 5) has an oblique blackish line near the centre +of the front wing; this is absent in the female (fig. 5 _a_). The males of +this butterfly very much resemble those of the last rare species +(_Actaeon_), but they may be distinguished by the middle part of the upper +wing not being clouded with brown, as it is in _Actaeon_. Under side, two +shades of tawny colour, but _not spotted_. + +The _caterpillar_ is green, with four white lines, and feeds on grasses. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July, and is very common and widely distributed. + + * * * * * + +THE LARGE SKIPPER. (_Pamphila Sylvanus._) + +(Plate XV. fig. 6, Male; 6 _a_, Female.) + +Upper side, dark rich brown, shaded and spotted with tawny or fulvous tint. +The _male_ is known by a {168} dark-brown, _burnt_-looking streak near the +centre of the front wings; the female being without this mark. Under side, +greenish, with _indistinct_ yellowish spots. + +The _caterpillar_ is green (darker on the back), and dotted with black; +spotted with white underneath. It feeds on various grasses. + +The _butterfly_ appears in May, and again in August or the end of July; and +is very common in almost every locality, frequenting grassy places in and +near woods, road-sides, &c. + + * * * * * + +THE SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPER. (_Pamphila Comma._) + +(Plate XV. fig. 7, Male; 7 _a_, Female.) + +This butterfly closely resembles the last, especially on the upper side; +which is, however, more brightly and clearly marked. But the chief +distinction is to be found on the _under side_, which is marked, on a +greenish ground, with _clear-cut, square white spots_. The male, as in the +last species, is distinguished by the thin blackish bar placed obliquely on +the front wing. The outline of this species also differs somewhat from that +of the last, especially in the males. This difference will be better +understood by comparing figs. 6 and 7 on the plate, than by description. +{169} + +The _caterpillar_ is dull-green and reddish, with a white collar, and +spotted with white near the tail-end. It feeds on leguminous plants. + +The _butterfly_ appears in July and August, but is only found in a limited +number of localities, and these chiefly in the southern counties; but where +found at all, it is generally abundant. Among its localities are the +following:--Croydon; Brighton; Lewes; Dover; Lyndhurst; Blandford; +Plymouth; Old Sarum, Wiltshire; Barnwell and Ashton Wolds, +Northamptonshire; Halton, Bucks; Newmarket; Gogmagog Park, Cambridge; Hull; +Scarborough. + + * * * * * + + +{170} + +REPUTED BRITISH SPECIES. + +On Plate XVI. are grouped together figures of six species of butterflies +which are not admitted into our regular British lists, on account of the +extreme rarity of their capture, or the fact of their not having been +observed at all for several years past. They are all _common_ species in +various parts of the Continent, and some of them will probably occur again +in this country. + + * * * * * + +PAPILIO PODALIRIUS.--The SCARCE SWALLOW-TAILED Butterfly (fig. 1).--There +is no reasonable doubt that several individuals of this elegant butterfly +were formerly taken in various parts of the country, but no captures have +occurred for many years past. The caterpillar, also, was more than once +found in the New Forest District, Hampshire. Generally a common insect on +the Continent. + +[Illustration: XVI.] + +{171} + +PARNASSIUS APOLLO.--The APOLLO Butterfly (fig. 2).--I have good reason for +believing that a specimen of this splendid Alpine butterfly was captured in +this country very lately, and it is not at all impossible that it may be +some day found on our north country mountains, or those of the Lake +District. It is a most beautiful insect, with its singular semi-transparent +and partially _glazed_ wings; the lower of which bear large eye-spots of +crimson-scarlet. + + * * * * * + +EREBIA LIGEA.--The ARRAN BROWN Butterfly (fig. 3).--Of this species, +greatly resembling our _E. Blandina_, several specimens were formerly taken +by some entomologists in the Isle of Arran, where, as also in other +mountain districts, it may probably still exist; but its haunts have to be +re-discovered by some enterprising butterfly-hunter. + +From _Blandina_, which it almost exactly resembles on the upper surface, it +may be distinguished by the marking of the under side of the hind wing, on +which is an irregular, broken band of _pure white_, and between this and +the margin a row of _three_ distinct black eye-spots. + + * * * * * + +ARGYNNIS DIA.--WEAVER'S FRITILLARY.--This species is so nearly like +_Euphrosyne_ or _Selene_, on the upper surface, that it readily might be, +and perhaps {172} sometimes is, passed by as one of those common insects. +Underneath it is chiefly recognised by the beautiful blush of _silvery +purple_ that extends in a band across the middle of the hind wings, and +more faintly tinges the front wings near the tip. + +There is little reason to doubt that this insect was really taken by Mr. +Richard Weaver at Sutton Park, near Tamworth; also by Mr. Stanley, near +Alderley, in Cheshire. + + * * * * * + +CHRYSOPHANUS CHRYSEIS.--The PURPLE-EDGED COPPER Butterfly.--As this species +has been admitted by that very careful and accurate entomologist, Mr. +Stainton, into his "Manual," I cannot refuse it a place here, though, from +all the information I can gain, its only claim to the name of "British" +rests on a tradition of its having been taken a long time ago in Ashdown +Forest, Sussex; and since then, by a _dealer_, in Epping Forest. It is a +beautiful insect, coppery red, bordered with changeable purple, and I +should be glad to see it fairly established in our lists. + + * * * * * + +POLYOMMATUS BAETICUS.--The LONG-TAILED BLUE.--This Butterfly has been long +known, as a _southern_ insect, with a very wide range of distribution, +abounding in the south of Europe and thence extending into India, Java, &c. +Then last year it was seen in {173} Guernsey, and in August of the same +year an individual was actually captured in this country, the scene of the +event being somewhere on the chalk downs in the neighbourhood of Brighton, +and the fortunate captor being Mr. McArthur, of that town. My friend and +neighbour, Dr. Allchin, of Bayswater, was on the spot at the time, and saw +the insect shortly after its capture. + +The _butterfly_, which on the upper side has somewhat of the aspect of a +female "Common Blue," will be at once recognised by its _long tail-like +appendages to the hind wings_. Beneath, its plan of colouring is totally +distinct from that of any of our native "Blues" (_Polyommati_), being +destitute of the numerous little eye-like spots, which are replaced by +bands of fawn colour and white; but at the lower angle of the hind wings +are two spots of glittering metallic green, reminding one, on a small +scale, of the "eye" of a peacock's feather. + +The habits of the insect are those of our Common Blues--skipping about over +grassy places, and for a Common Blue it would on the wing be readily +mistaken. + +Collectors will in the coming season doubtless search the south coast +district thoroughly, and many a Common Blue will be apprehended on +suspicion. + +Should our little friend _Baeticus_ continue his northward progress (as we +have some reason to hope he may), we may find him regularly enrolled on the +native lists, and gracing the ranks of that select little company entitled +"Our British Butterflies." + + * * * * * + + +{175} + +REFERENCES TO PLATES. + +PREPARATORY STATES AND DETAILS. + + PLATE I. + Fig. + Caterpillars of-- + 1. Swallow-tailed Butterfly. + 2. Brimstone B. + 3. Meadow-brown B. + 4. White Admiral. + 5. Purple Emperor. + 6. Peacock B. + 7. Silver-washed Fritillary. + 8. Duke of Burgundy Fritillary. + 9. Purple Hair-streak. + 10. Chalk-hill Blue B. + 11. Dingy Skipper. + + Chrysalides of-- + 12. Swallow-tailed B. + 13. Brimstone B. + 14. Black-veined White B. + 15. Large Garden White B. + 16. Silver-washed Fritillary. + 17. Orange-tip B. + 18. Wood-white B. + 19. Marbled-white B. + 20. Meadow-brown B. + 21. White Admiral. + 22. Purple Emperor. + 23. Large Tortoiseshell B. + 24. Comma B. + 25. Duke of Burgundy Fritillary. + 26. Small Skipper B. + 27. Dingy Skipper B. + 28. Purple Hair-streak B. + 29. Chalk-hill Blue B. + + PLATE II. + 1. Egg of Garden White B. + 2. -- Queen of Spain Fritillary. + 3. -- Large Heath B. + 4. -- Peacock B. + 5. -- Large Tortoiseshell B. + 6. -- Meadow-brown B. + 7. -- Wood Argus. + 8. Head of Red Admiral B. magnified. + 9. Section of sucker of ditto, magnified. + 10. Papillae on end of do. magnified. + 11. Portion of Eye of Butterfly, magnified. + 12. Antenna of Fritillary, magnified. + 13. -- Swallow-tailed B. magnified. + 14. -- Skipper B. magnified. + 15. Base of Antenna, magnified. + 16. Arrangement of Scales on Wing, magnified. + 17. Plumed Scale, magnified. + 18. Long form of ditto, magnified. + 19. Another form of ditto, magnified. + 20. -- from Small White B. magnified. + 21. -- from Orange-tip B. magnified. + 22. Battledore Scale from Blue B. magnified. + 23. Ordinary Scale from Garden White B. magnified. + {176} + 24. Ordinary Scale from Wood White, magnified. + 25. Ditto. + 26. Ordinary Scale from Brimstone B. magnified. + 27. Ditto. + 28. Ditto. + 29. Ordinary Scale from Common Blue B. magnified. + 30. Ditto. + 31. Ditto. + 32. Ordinary Scale from Small Tortoiseshell B. magnified. + 33. Ditto. + 34. Ditto. + 35. Ditto. + 36. Ordinary Scale from Chalk hill Blue B. magnified. + 37. Ordinary Scale from Apollo B. magnified. + 38. Form common to Vanessa genus magnified. + + BUTTERFLIES. + + PLATE III. + Fig. + 1. Swallow-tail. + 2. Brimstone. + 3. Clouded Yellow, 3 _a_, female. + 4. Pale Clouded Yellow. + + PLATE IV. + 1. Black-veined White. + 2. Large Garden White. + 3. Small Garden White. + 4. Green-veined White. + 5. Bath White. + + PLATE V. + 1. Orange Tip, 1 _a_, female. + 2. Wood White. + 3. Marbled White. + 4. Wood Argus. + 5. Wall. + 6. Grayling. + + PLATE VI. + 1. Meadow Brown, 1 _a_, female. + 2. Large Heath. + 3. Ringlet. + 4. Scotch Argus. + 5. Mountain Ringlet. + 6. Small Ringlet. + 7. Small Heath. + + PLATE VII. + 1. White Admiral. + 2. Purple Emperor. + 3. Painted Lady. + + PLATE VIII. + 1. Red Admiral. + 2. Peacock. + 3. Camberwell Beauty. + + PLATE IX. + 1. Large Tortoiseshell. + 2. Small Tortoiseshell. + 3. Comma. + 4. Silver-washed Fritillary, 4 _a_, fem. + + PLATE X. + 1. Dark Green Fritillary. + 2. High-brown Fritillary. + 3. Queen of Spain Fritillary. + 4. Pearl-bordered Fritillary. + + PLATE XI. + 1. Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. + 2. Glanville Fritillary. + 3. Pearl-bordered Likeness Fritillary. + 4. Greasy Fritillary. + 5. Duke of Burgundy Fritillary. + + {177} + PLATE XII. + 1. Brown Hair streak, 1 _a_, female. + 2. Black Hair-streak. + 3. White Letter Hair-streak. + 4. Purple Hair-streak, 4 _a_, female. + 5. Green Hair streak. + + PLATE XIII. + 1. Small Copper. + 2. Large Copper, 2 _a_, female. + 3. Holly, or Azure Blue, 3 _a_, female. + 4. Bedford Blue, 4 _a_, female. + 5. Mazarine Blue, 5 _a_, female. + + PLATE XIV. + 1. Large Blue. + 2. Chalk-hill Blue, 2 _a_, female. + 3. Adonis Blue, 3 _a_, female. + 4. Common Blue, 4 _a_, female. + 5. Silver-studded Blue, 5 _a_, female. + 6. Brown Argus. + 7. Artaxerxes Butterfly. + + PLATE XV. + 1. Grizzled Skipper. + 2. Dingy Skipper. + 3. Chequered Skipper. + 4. Lulworth Skipper, 4 _a_, female. + 5. Small Skipper, 5 _a_, female. + 6. Large Skipper, 6 _a_, female. + 7. Silver-spotted Skipper, 7 _a_, fem. + + PLATE XVI. + 1. Scarce Swallow-tail. + 2. Apollo. + 3. Arran Brown. + 4. Weaver's Fritillary. + 5. Purple-edged Copper. + 6. Tailed-Blue (_P. Boeticus_). + + * * * * * + + +{178} + +INDEX. + + PAGE + Antennae, 27 + Apollo Butterfly, 171 + Apparatus, 39 + Arran Brown B., 171 + Artaxerxes B., 161 + Artist and Butterfly, 37 + + Bath White B., 88 + Black-veined White B., 77 + Blues, The (Genus _Polyommatus_), 150 + Blue B., Adonis, 156 + Azure, 151 + Bedford, 152 + Chalk-hill, 155 + Common, 157 + Holly, 151 + Large, 154 + Mazarine, 153 + Silver-studded, 158 + Tailed (_Boeticus_), 172 + Boxes, 43 + Brimstone B., 67 + Brown Argus B., 159 + Butterfly Emblems, 34 + hunting, 39 + + Cabinets, 55 + Camberwell Beauty B., 121 + Caterpillar, 7 + Chrysalis, 12 + Classification, 58 + Clouded Sulphur B., 75 + Yellow B., 71 + Comma B., 126 + Copper B., Large, 148 + Purple-edged, 172 + Small, 147 + + Eggs of B., 3 + Eye of B., 27 + + Fritillary B., Dark Green, 129 + Duke of Burgundy, 139 + Glanville, 135 + Greasy, 137 + High-brown, 130 + Pearl-bordered, 133 + Pearl-border. Likeness, 136 + Queen of Spain, 131 + Silver-washed, 128 + Small Pearl-bordered, 134 + Weaver's (_Dia_), 171 + + Garden White B., Large, 80 + Small, 84 + Grayling, 99 + Green-veined White, 86 + + Heath B., Large, 102 + Small, 111 + Hair-streak B., Black, 142 + Brown, 140 + Green, 146 + Purple, 145 + White-letter, 143 + {179} + + Ichneumon, 18 + Imago, 19 + + Larva, 7 + Latin names, 60 + Legs of B., 31 + + Marbled White B., 95 + Meadow Brown B., 101 + + Nets, 40 + + Orange Tip B., 91 + + Pain in Insects, 50 + Painted Lady B., 117 + Pale Clouded Yellow B., 75 + Peacock B., 120 + Purple Emperor B., 113 + + Red Admiral B., 118 + Reputed British Species, 170 + Ringlet B., Common, 103 + Mountain, 107 + Small, 109 + + Scotch Argus B., 105 + Skippers (Family _Hesperidae_), 163 + Skipper B., Chequered, 165 + Dingy, 164 + Grizzled, 163 + Large, 167 + Lulworth, 165 + Small, 167 + Silver-spotted, 168 + Speckled Wood B., 97 + Swallow-tail B., 65 + Scarce, 170 + + Tongue of B., 25 + Tortoiseshell B., Large, 123 + Small, 124 + + Wall B., 98 + White Admiral B., 112 + Wings of B., 20 + Wood Argus B., 97 + Wood White B., 94 + + * * * * * + + +LONDON: +PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, +70 TO 76, LONG ACRE, W.C. + + * * * * * + + + NATURAL HISTORY--ZOOLOGY. + + 42/- ROUTLEDGE'S ILLUSTRATED NATURAL HISTORY. 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SEEMANN. + + 5/- BRITISH MOSSES. 20 pages of Coloured Illustrations. R. STARK. + + 3/6 THE FAMILY DOCTOR. 500 Illustrations, comprising all the Medicinal + Plants. + +_For Books on Potato, Apple, Asparagus, Mushroom, Fruit, Grape, Flax, see +"Agriculture and Farming," page 41._ + +_George Routledge & Sons, London, Glasgow, and New York._ + + * * * * * + + +NOTES + +[1] Plural _Chrysalides_. + +[2] Making _Lepidos_ in genitive. + +[3] A word derived from the Latin, and meaning literally a "sucker." + +[4] _Antenna_ in the singular number. + +[5] Bailey's "Festus." + +[6] As beginners in entomology are, I know, often glad to be informed of +some reliable dealer from whom to procure the apparatus required for the +pursuit, I have pleasure in here giving the name of Mr. T. Cooke, of 30, +Museum Street (six doors from the British Museum), where all the apparatus +mentioned in this work, and numerous other natural history articles, are to +be found, good and cheap, I believe. For the guidance of young amateurs, I +will mention the prices of a few of the more necessary articles I have +myself purchased or examined at the above establishment. Cane ring-nets, +with stick, and ready for use, 2s.; ring-net, with three-jointed metal ring +and screw-socket, 4s. 6d.; pocket collecting-boxes, corked, 3d. to 1s. +each; store-boxes, 10 in. by 8 in., corked top and bottom, 2s. 6d.; drying +houses, for securely keeping setting-boards when in use, and containing +eleven corked setting-boards and drawer for pins, &c., 10s. 6d.; sheet cork +for lining cabinets, 7 in. by 3-1/2 in., 1s. 6d. doz. sheets; entomological +pins, three sizes, mixed, 1s. oz., &c., &c. + +[7] Polyommatus Boeticus. + +[8] A very ingenious and neat contrivance--the invention of my friend Dr. +Allchin, of Bayswater. It may be obtained of Messrs. Cooke & Son, +Naturalists, 30, Museum Street, London, W.C. It is of brass, with screw +caps, the inner one having a small hole through which the chloroform can be +used, drop by drop. The price is 4s. Also, the new Cyanide Killing-bottles, +1s. 6d.; 2s. ready for use. + +[9] _Cleopatra_, as Duponchel observes, is found in France, only in the +hottest parts, and is first seen as we go southwards, about Avignon, but +abounds most on the shores of the Mediterranean. + +Why the two varieties _Cleopatra_ and the common _Rhamni_ fly together we +cannot fully explain; but it is possible there may be a constitutional +difference between individual insects, just as we see that of two +Englishmen going to a hot climate, one will brown deeply, while the +complexion of the other will hardly alter, though exposed to the very same +external influence. + +[10] See page 171. + +[11] See the meaning of Chrysalis and Aurelia, on page 12. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of British Butterflies, by W. S. 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