The Butterflies of the British Isles
by Richard South · English · Gutenberg #43713 · 425,979 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Butterflies of the British Isles
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: The Butterflies of the British Isles
Author: Richard South
Release date: September 13, 2013 [eBook #43713]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43713
Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Jane Robins, Anna Whitehead and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES ***
UNIQUE AND POPULAR WORKS FOR ALL
NATURE LOVERS.
_Uniform with this Volume._
* * * * *
Wayside and Woodland
Blossoms
A Pocket Guide to British Wild Flowers
for the Country Rambler.
(_First and Second Series._)
With Clear Descriptions of 760 Species.
BY
EDWARD STEP, F.L.S.
And Coloured Figures of 257 Species by
MABEL E. STEP.
* * * * *
Wayside and Woodland
Trees
A Pocket Guide to the British Sylva.
BY
EDWARD STEP, F.L.S.
With 127 Plates from Original Photographs by
HENRY IRVING,
And 57 Illustrations of the Leaves, Flowers and Fruit by
MABEL E. STEP.
* * * * *
AT ALL BOOKSELLERS.
_Full Prospectuses on application to the Publishers_--
FREDERICK WARNE AND CO.
LONDON: 15, Bedford Street, Strand.
NEW YORK: 36, East 22nd Street.
THE WAYSIDE
AND WOODLAND
SERIES
THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE
BRITISH ISLES
[Illustration: _Pl._ 1. _Frontispiece._ Swallow-tail Butterfly. _Male
and female, with caterpillars and chrysalids._]
THE BUTTERFLIES
OF THE
BRITISH ISLES
BY
RICHARD SOUTH, F.E.S.
EDITOR OF
"THE ENTOMOLOGIST," ETC.
WITH
ACCURATELY COLOURED FIGURES
OF EVERY SPECIES AND MANY VARIETIES
ALSO DRAWINGS OF EGG, CATERPILLAR
CHRYSALIS, AND FOOD-PLANT
LONDON
FREDERICK WARNE & CO.
AND NEW YORK
1906
(_All rights reserved_)
PREFACE.
Few things add more enjoyment to a country ramble than a knowledge of
the many and varied forms belonging to the animal and vegetable kingdoms
that present themselves to the notice of the observing wayfarer on every
side.
Almost every one admires the wild flowers that Nature produces so
lavishly, and in such charming variety of form and colour; but, in
addition to their own proper florescence, the plants of woodland,
meadow, moor, or down have other "blossoms" that arise from them,
although they are not of them. These are the beautiful winged creatures
called butterflies, which as crawling caterpillars obtain their
nourishment from plant leafage, and in the perfect state help the bees
to rifle the flowers of their sweets, and at the same time assist in the
work of fertilization.
It is the story of these aërial flowers that we wish to tell, and hope
that in the telling we may win from the reader a loving interest in some
of the most attractively interesting of Nature's children.
There are many people, no doubt, who take an intelligent interest in
the various forms of animal life, and yet do not care to collect
specimens because, as in the case of butterflies for instance, the
necessity arises for killing their captives. Such lovers of Nature are
quite satisfied to know the names of the species, and to learn something
of their life-histories and habits. Still, however, there are others,
and possibly a larger number, who will desire to capture a few specimens
of each kind of butterfly for closer examination and study. It is
believed that this little volume will be found useful to both sections
of naturalists alike.
The author in preparing the book has been largely guided by a
recollection of the kind of information he sought when he himself was a
beginner, now some forty odd years ago.
In conclusion, he desires to tender his most sincere thanks to the
undermentioned gentlemen, who so kindly furnished him with eggs,
caterpillars, and chrysalids; or favoured him with the loan of some of
their choicest varieties of butterflies for figuring; without their
valued assistance many of the illustrations could not have been
prepared:--Rev. Gilbert Raynor, Major Robertson, Messrs. F. Noad Clark,
T. Dewhurst, C.H. Forsythe, F.W. Frohawk, A.H. Hamm, A. Harrison, H.
Main, A.M. Montgomery, E.D. Morgan, G.B. Oliver, J. Ovenden, G. Randell,
A.L. Rayward, E.J. Salisbury, A.H. Shepherd, F.A. Small, L.D. Symington,
A.E. Tonge, B. Weddell, F.G. Whittle, and H. Wood.
_Varieties_--Messrs. R. Adkin, J.A. Clark, F.W. Frohawk, and E. Sabine.
With kind permission of the Ray Society, figures of the following larvæ
and pupæ have been reproduced from Buckler's "Larvæ of British
Butterflies":--_P. daplidice_, _C. edusa_, _M. athalia_, _P. c-album_,
_S. semele_, _A. hyperanthus_, _C. typhon_, _C. pamphilus_, _C. rubi_,
_C. argiolus_, _A. thaumas_, _A. actæon_. Larva only--_L. sinapis_, _A.
selene_, _A. aurinia_, and _T. pruni_.
Figures of _A. cratægi_, _A. lineola_, and _C. palæmon_ have been made
from preserved skins.
For coloured plates, 1, 30, 42, 48, 58, 66, 98, 100, 112, 116, 118, and
the accurately drawn black-and-white figures, including enlargements,
the author is greatly indebted to Mr. Horace Knight.
INTRODUCTORY.
Butterflies belong to the great Order of insects called Lepidoptera
(Greek _lepis_, a scale, and _pteron_, a wing), that is, insects whose
wings are covered with minute structures termed scales. Moths
(Heterocera) also belong to the same order, and the first point to deal
with is how may butterflies be distinguished from moths? In a broad kind
of way they may be recognized by their horns (_antennæ_), which are
slender as regards the shaft, but are gradually or abruptly clubbed at
the extremity. For this reason they were designated Rhopalocera, or
"club horned," the Heterocera being supposed to have horns of various
kinds other than clubbed. As a matter of fact this method of separating
moths and butterflies does not hold good in dealing with the Lepidoptera
of the world, and it is from a study of these, as a whole, that
systematists have arrived at the conclusion that there is no actual line
of division between moths and butterflies. In modern classification,
then, butterflies are reduced from the rank of a sub-order, which they
formerly held, and are now dovetailed into the various newer systems of
arrangement between certain families of moths.
As regards British butterflies, however, it will be found that these
may be known, as such, by their clubbed horns. Only the Burnets among
British moths have horns in any way similar, and these are thickened
gradually towards the extremity rather than clubbed. Day-flying moths,
especially the bright-coloured ones, might be mistaken for butterflies
by the uninitiated, but in all these the horns will be found not at all
butterfly-like.
Although varieties of the species will be referred to in the descriptive
portion of the book, a few general remarks on variation in butterflies
may here be made. All kinds are liable to vary in tint or in the
markings, sometimes in both. Such variation, in the more or less
constant species especially, is perhaps only trivial and therefore
hardly attracts attention. In a good many kinds variation is often of a
very pronounced character, and is then almost certain to obtain notice.
Except in a few instances, where the aberration is of an unusual kind,
it is possible to obtain all the intermediate stages, or gradations,
between the ordinary form of a species and its most extreme variety. A
series of such connecting links in the variation of a species is of
greater interest, and higher educational value, than one in which the
extremes alone have a place.
In those kinds of butterflies that attain the perfect state twice in the
year, the individuals composing the first flight are somewhat different
in marking from those of the second flight. Such species as the large
and small whites exhibit this kind of variation, which is termed
seasonal dimorphism. The males of some species, as for example the
Common Blue and the Orange-tip, differ from the females in colour; this
is known as sexual dimorphism. The Silver-Washed Fritillary, which has
two forms of the female, one brown like the male, the other green or
greenish in colour, is a good example of dimorphism confined to one sex.
Gynandrous specimens, sometimes called "Hermaphrodites," are those which
exhibit both male and female coloration, or other wing characters; when
one side is entirely male and the other side entirely female, the
gynandromorphism would be described as complete.
The ornamentation on the under side of a butterfly differs from that of
the upper side, and is found to assimilate or harmonize in a remarkable
manner with the usual resting-place. It is therefore of service to the
insect when settled with wings erect over the back, in the manner of all
butterflies, except some few kinds of Skippers.
The number of known species of butterflies throughout the world has been
put at about thirteen thousand, and it has been suggested by Dr. Sharp
that there may be nearly twice as many still awaiting discovery. Dr.
Staudinger in his "Catalog" gives a list of over seven hundred kinds of
butterflies as occurring in the whole of the Palæarctic Region. This
zoological region embraces Europe, including the British Islands, Africa
north of the Atlas range of mountains, and temperate Asia, including
Japan. The entire number of species that can by any means be regarded as
British does not exceed sixty-eight. Even this limited total comprises
sundry migratory butterflies, such as the Clouded Yellows, the Painted
Lady, the Red Admiral, the Camberwell Beauty, and the Milkweed
Butterfly; and also the still less frequent, or perhaps more accidental
visitors, the Long-tailed Blue and the Bath White. Again, the Large
Copper is now extinct in England, and the Mazarine Blue does not seem to
have been observed in any of its old haunts in the country for over
forty years. The Black-veined White is also scarce and exceedingly
local.
The majority of the remaining fifty-seven butterflies may be considered
natives, and of these about half are so widely distributed that the
young collector should, if fairly energetic, secure nearly all of them
during his first campaign. The other species will have to be looked for
in their special localities, but a few kinds are so strictly attached to
particular spots, that a good deal of patience will have to be exercised
before a chance may occur of obtaining them.
A few remarks may here be made in reference to the names and arrangement
adopted in the present volume.
As will be adverted to in the descriptive section, the English names of
our butterflies have not always been quite the same as those now in
general use. There has, however, been far less stability in scientific
nomenclature, and very many changes in both generic and specific names
have been made during the past twenty years, more especially perhaps
within the last decade.
Genera are now founded by some specialists on characters which formerly
served to distinguish one species from another, whilst other authorities
merge several genera in one upon certain details of structure that are
common to them all.
Patient research into the entomological antiquities has revealed much
important material, some of which may furnish a new interpretation of
the Linnean classification of Lepidoptera.
The discovery of the earliest Latin specific name bestowed upon an
insect, is a labour which entails a large expenditure of time and
requires fine judgment. Great credit is therefore due to those who
undertake such investigations, the result of which may tend to the
establishment of a fixed nomenclature in the, probably not remote,
future, although it sadly hampers and perplexes students in the
meanwhile.
All things considered then, it has been deemed advisable not to make
many changes in specific names, and to retain the old genera as far as
possible. The arrangement of families, genera, etc., will be found to
accord with that most generally accepted both in England and on the
continent.
THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES.
PART I.
THE LIFE CYCLE OF A BUTTERFLY.
As is the case with all other Lepidoptera, butterflies pass through
three very distinct stages before they attain the perfect form. These
stages are:--1. The egg (_ovum_, plural _ova_). 2. The caterpillar
(_larva_, _larvæ_). 3. The chrysalis (_pupa_, _pupæ_). The perfect
insect is called the _imago_ (plural _imagines_).
The Egg.
Butterfly eggs are of various forms, and whilst in some kinds the
egg-shell (_chorion_) is elaborately ribbed or fluted, others are simply
pitted or covered with a kind of network or reticulation; others, again,
are almost or quite smooth. If the top of an egg, such as that of the
Purple Emperor (Plate 28), is examined under a good lens a depression
will be noted, and in this will be seen a neat and starlike kind of
ornamentation. In the middle of this "rosette" are, present in all eggs,
minute apertures known as micropyles (little doors), and it is through
these that the spermatozoa of the male finds entry to the interior of
the egg and fertilization is effected. The changes that occur in the egg
after it is laid are of a very complex nature, and readers who may
desire information on this subject are referred to Sharp's "Insects,"
Part I., in the "Cambridge Natural History," where also will be found
much interesting and instructive matter connected with the caterpillar
and chrysalis, to which stages only brief reference can here be made.
The Caterpillar.
The second stage is that of the caterpillar, and in some species, such
as the Red Admiral, this is of very short duration, a few weeks only,
whilst in others, as for example the Small Blue, it usually lasts for
many months. There is considerable diversity both in the shape and,
where it is present, in the hairy or spiny clothing (_armature_) of
caterpillars. All, however, are alike in one respect, that is the body
is divided into thirteen more or less well-defined rings (_segments_),
which together with the head make up fourteen divisions. In referring to
these body-rings, the first three nearest the head, each of which is
furnished with a pair of true legs (_thoracic legs_), are called the
thoracic segments, as they correspond to the thorax of the perfect
butterfly. The remaining ten rings are the abdominal segments; the last
two are not always easily separable one from the other, and so for all
practical purposes they may be considered only nine in number. These
nine rings, then, correspond to the abdomen of the future butterfly. The
third to sixth of this series have each a pair of false legs
(_prolegs_), and there is also a pair on the last ring; the latter are
the anal claspers.
The warts (_tubercles_) are the bases of hairs and spines, and are to be
seen in most butterfly caterpillars, but they generally require a lens
to bring them clearly into view. These warts are usually arranged in two
rows on the back (_dorsal series_) and three rows on each side (_lateral
series_).
All the various parts referred to, or to be presently mentioned, may be
seen in Fig. 1, which also shows a peculiarity that is found in very
young caterpillars of the Orange-tip, and in some others of the "Whites"
(_Pieridæ_). The odd thing about this baby caterpillar is that the fine
hair arising from each wart is forked at the tip (Fig. 1, _a_), and
holds thereon a minute globule of fluid. When the caterpillars become
about half grown these special hairs are lost in a general clothing of
fine hair. Fig. 1, _b_, represents a magnified single ring of the
caterpillar, and this shows a spiracle and the folds of the skin
(_subsegments_). The manner in which such folding occurs is to be
observed in the higher study of larval morphology.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.
Young caterpillar of Orange-tip highly magnified.
(_After Sharp._)]
On each ring, except the second (including now the three thoracic with
the nine abdominal; and so making twelve rings), the third, and the
last, there is an oval or roundish mark which indicates the position of
the breathing hole (_spiracle_). Through these minute openings air
enters to the breathing tubes (_tracheæ_), which are spread throughout
the interior of the caterpillar in a seemingly complicated kind of
network of main branches and finer twigs; air is thus conveyed to every
part of the body. In the event of one or two air-holes becoming in any
way obstructed, the caterpillar would possibly be none the worse; but if
all the openings were closed up effectually, it would almost certainly
die. Total immersion in water, even for some hours, is not always fatal.
Turning again to the "feet" of the caterpillar, it will be seen from
the figure that the true legs (_a_) differ from the false legs (_b_) in
structure. The former are horny, jointed, and have terminal claws; the
latter are fleshy, with sliding joints, and the foot is furnished with a
series of minute hooks which enable the caterpillar to obtain a secure
hold when feeding, etc. The false legs are also the chief means of
locomotion, as the true legs are of little service for this purpose. The
true legs, however, appear to be of use when the caterpillar is feeding,
as the leaf is held between them so as to keep it steady whilst the jaws
are doing their work.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.
(_a_) True and (_b_) false legs.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.
_a_, labrum; _b_, mandible; _c_, antenna; _d_, ocelli; _e_, maxilla;
_f_, labium; _g_, spinneret; _h_, labial palp.]
In the accompanying figure of the head of a caterpillar the mouth parts
are clearly shown. The biting jaws (_mandibles_) are slightly apart,
above them is seen the upper lip (_labrum_), and below them is the under
lip (_labium_ or _lingua_). The _maxillæ_ are very tiny affairs, but
they should be noted because in the butterfly they become the basal
portions of the two tubes which, when united together, form the sucking
organs (_proboscis_). The eyes, or ocelli as they are termed, are
minute, and are said to be of slight use to the caterpillar as organs of
sight, so that it probably has to depend on its little feelers
(_antennæ_) for guidance to the right plants for its nourishment.
Attention should also be given to the spinneret, as it is by means of
this that the silken threads, etc., for its various requirements are
provided; the substance itself being secreted in glands placed in the
body of the caterpillar. The palpi are organs of touch, and seem to be
of use to the caterpillar when moving about.
Immediately after hatching, many caterpillars eat the egg-shell for
their first meal; they then settle down to the business of feeding and
growing. It should be remembered that it is entirely on growth made
whilst in the caterpillar stage that the size of a butterfly depends. In
the course of a day or two the necessity arises for fasting, as
moulting, an important event, is about to take place. Having spun a
slender carpet of silk on a leaf or twig, the caterpillar secures itself
thereto, and then awaits the moment when all is ready for the
transformation to commence. After a series of twistings from side to
side and other contortions, the skin yields along the back near the
head, the head is drawn away from its old covering and thrust through
the slit in the back, the old skin then peels downwards whilst the
caterpillar draws itself upwards until it is free. The new skin,
together with any hairs or spines with which it may be clothed, is at
first very soft. In the course of a short time all is perfected, and the
caterpillar is ready to enter upon its second stage of growth. At the
end of the second stage the skin-changing operation is again performed,
and the whole business is repeated two or more times afterwards.
Finally, however, when the caterpillar has shed its skin for the last
time, the chrysalis is revealed, but with the future wings seemingly
free. These, together with the other organs, are soon fixed down to the
body by the shell, which results from a varnish-like ooze which covers
all the parts and then hardens.
Generally speaking, newly hatched caterpillars, though of different
kinds, are in certain respects somewhat alike, but the special
characters of each begin to appear, as a rule, after the first change of
skin (_ecdysis_), and these go on developing with each successive stage
(_stadium_) until the caterpillar is full grown. The form assumed in
each stage is termed the _instar_, therefore a caterpillar just from the
egg would be referred to as in the first instar; between the first and
second changes of skin, as in the second instar, and so on to the
chrysalis, which in the case of a caterpillar that moulted, or changed
its skin, four times before attaining full growth, would be the sixth
instar, and the butterfly would then be the seventh instar. In practice,
however, it is usually the stages of the caterpillar alone that are
indicated in this way.
The Chrysalis.
The term _chrysalis_ more especially applies to such of them as are
spotted or splashed with metallic colour, as, for example, the
chrysalids of some of the Fritillaries. The scientific term for the
chrysalis is _pupa_, which in the Latin tongue means "a doll or puppet."
[Illustration: FIG. 4.
Caterpillar of Small White, about to change to chrysalis.]
In passing to the chrysalis stage the caterpillars have sometimes to
make rather more preparations than in previous skin-changing provisions.
Those of the Swallow-tail, Whites, Orange-tip, and similar kinds have to
provide a silken girdle for the waist as well as a pad for the tail.
Chrysalids that hang suspended, head downwards, such as the Vanessids,
Fritillaries, etc., are attached by the cremaster--a hooked arrangement
on the tail (Fig. 5)--to a pad of silk; others, such as the Blues and
the Coppers, appear to be held in position on a leaf, or some other
object, by means of a fine girdle of silk, or sometimes a few silken
threads spread net-like above and below them--rudiments of a cocoon in
fact. Chrysalids of the Skippers are enclosed in a more or less complete
cocoon placed within a chamber, formed of a leaf or leaves of the
food-plant, drawn together by silken cables. Some of these chrysalids
are furnished with hooks on the tail as well as with a girdle for
suspension; but others have hooks only.
As almost all the chrysalids here considered are figured in the
illustrations, it will be unnecessary to refer in detail to their great
diversity in form, but a few general remarks on the structure of a
chrysalis may be made.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.
Enlarged view of cremaster, and a hook still more enlarged.
(_After Sharp._)]
If the upper (_dorsal_) surface of a chrysalis is examined, the thorax
and the body divisions will easily be made out, while, by looking at the
sides and the under (_ventral_) surface, the various organs, such as the
wings, legs, antennæ, etc., will be found neatly laid along each side of
the "tongue," or proboscis, which latter extends down the centre. All
these are separately encased, but by reason of the shell mentioned in
the remarks on the caterpillar, they appear to be welded together. When,
however, the butterfly is ready to emerge, the shell of the chrysalis is
split along the thorax and at the lower edge of the wing-cases, and the
insect is then able to release itself from the pupal trappings. This
breaking open of the chrysalis shell is termed dehiscence (_dehisco_,
"to split open"), and the manner in which it is effected varies in
different species. The emergence of a butterfly from the chrysalis is
always an interesting operation to observe, and every one should make a
point of watching the process, so that he may obtain practical knowledge
of how the thing is done. A photograph of it will be found in the
description of the Wall Butterfly.
The Butterfly.
Having safely cleared itself free of the chrysalis shell, the butterfly
makes its way to some suitable twig, spray, or other object, from which
it can hang, sometimes in an inverted position, whilst a very important
function takes place. This is the distention and drying of the wings,
which at first are very weak and somewhat baggy affairs, although the
colour and markings appear upon them in miniature. All other parts of
the butterfly seem fully formed, but the helpless condition of the wings
alone prevent it as yet from floating off into the air. In a remarkably
short time, after the insect has settled to the business, the fluids
from the body commence to flow and circulate through the wings, and
these are seen gradually expanding and filling out until they attain
their proper size. Occasionally there is some obstruction to the equal
distribution of the fluids, and when this occurs a greater or lesser
amount of distortion, or cockle, in the wing affected is the result.
When the inflation is completed the wings are kept straight out for a
time; they are then motionless, but all their surfaces are well apart.
The wings being now fully developed, the further flow of fluid appears
to be arrested. It has been stated by some authorities that this fluid
is fibrin held in solution, and that when the work of expansion has been
accomplished, the watery medium evaporates, leaving the fibrin to
harden, and so fasten together the upper and lower membranes of the wing
and to fix the veins, or nerves, in their proper position. Mayer, a
specialist on these matters, referring to the expansion of the wings,
remarks that the blood [the fluid previously mentioned] forced into the
freshly emerged wing would cause it to become a balloon-shaped bag if it
were not for fibres that hold the upper and lower walls closely
together. The fibres referred to, he states, are derived from those
hypodermic cells which do not contribute to the formation of scales, but
are stretched out from one wall of the wing to the other.
It may be well now to briefly consider some of the structural details
of the perfect butterfly, so a beginning will be made with the head
(Fig. 6). When looking at the head of a butterfly, the first thing to
attract the attention is the very large size of the compound eye (_a_),
which seems to take up the largest share of the whole affair. Although
so bulky and so complex in the matter of divisions, or facets, as they
are termed (the facets are not shown in figure), the power of sight is
not really very keen. A butterfly can see things in a general way
readily enough, but it seems unable to clearly distinguish one object
from another. When engaged in egg-laying, the female butterfly rarely
fails to place her eggs on a leaf or spray of the plant that the future
caterpillar will feed upon, and it has been suggested that in making
this unerring selection the insect is guided more by the sense of smell
than by that of sight.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.
=Head of Butterfly.=
_a_, compound eye; _b_, palp; _c_, antenna; _d_, proboscis.]
The horns (_c_) (_antennæ_), or feelers, as they are sometimes called,
which adorn the head, are now considered to be organs of smell. These
are composed of a number of rings or segments, which vary in the
different kinds of butterfly, as also does the shape of the terminal
rings forming what is known as the club. In Fig. 7, _e_ (Purple Emperor)
and _f_ (Marbled White) represent the gradually thickened club; in _g_
(Brimstone) and _h_ (Dark-green Fritillary) the clubs are more or less
abruptly formed. Our Skippers have well-developed clubs; these may be
hooked at the tip as in _i_ (Large Skipper), or blunt at the tip as in
_j_ (Chequered Skipper); at the base of the Skipper's antenna, that is
at the point where it is inserted in the head, there is a tuft of rather
long hairs.
Of the various mouth parts it will only be necessary to refer to the
suction-tube, Fig. 6, _d_ (_proboscis_), often called the "tongue,"
which is perhaps the most important, at least to the butterfly itself,
as this organ is, in a way, as useful to it in the perfect state as were
the very differently constructed strong biting jaws (_mandibles_) of its
caterpillar existence. These latter in the butterfly are only
microscopically represented, and the suction-tube of the perfect insect
is an extension of the maxillæ, which in the caterpillar are not
conspicuous. When not engaged in probing the nectaries of flowers for
the sweets they contain, the suction-tube is neatly coiled up between
the palpi (Fig. 6, _b_). Its great flexibility is due to the many rings
of which it is composed. Although seemingly entire, it is really made up
of two tubes, each being grooved on its inner side, and forming, when
the edges are brought together, an additional central canal, through
which the sweets from the flowers and other liquids are drawn up into a
bulb-like receptacle in the head, whence it passes into the stomach.
When it is remembered that the passage of sweet, and no doubt sticky,
fluid through the central tube would most probably result in its walls
becoming clogged, there is reason to suppose that the method of
construction permits of the canal being cleansed from time to time.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.
=Antennæ of Butterflies.=]
The important divisions of the body are the thorax and the abdomen. The
former is made up of three segments (named the pro-, meso-, and
meta-thorax), each of which, as in the caterpillar state, is furnished
with a pair of legs; the second and third, which are closely united,
each bear a pair of wings also. The legs, which in the butterfly are
adapted for walking at a leisurely pace, are made up of four main parts;
these are (a) the basal joint (_coxa_, _coxæ_), (_b_) the thigh
(_femur_, _femora_), (_c_) the shank (_tibia_, _tibiæ_), and (_d_) the
foot (_tarsus_, _tarsi_). The small joint uniting the coxa with the
femur is the trochanter (_tr._). The foot usually has five joints, the
last of which is provided with claws (_e_). The abdomen really consists
of ten rings or segments according to some specialists. Examined from
above, the female butterfly appears to have only seven rings and the
male butterfly eight. This discrepancy arises from the fact that in the
former sex two rings and in the latter one ring are withdrawn into the
body, and so are tucked away out of sight. The organs of reproduction
are placed in the terminal ring. The breathing arrangements are pretty
much as in the caterpillar, but the external openings are not so
apparent owing to the dense clothing of the body.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.
=Leg of Butterfly.=]
The beauty of a butterfly's wings is intimately connected with the form
and colour of the scales with which they are covered, as with a kind of
mosaic; but before the scales and their method of attachment, etc., are
referred to, something should be said about the wings themselves. The
various shapes of these organs of flight will be seen on turning to the
plates, where will be found accurate portraits of every species that
will be dealt with in the descriptive section later on.
A butterfly's wing consists of an upper and a lower membrane, with a
framework of hollow tubes, acting as ribs, between the two layers. Fig.
9, A, shows a fore and a hind wing of the Swallow-tail butterfly. The
point of attachment with the thorax is the base of the wing, and the
edge farthest from the base is the outer margin (_termen_); the upper
edge, or front margin, is the costa; and the lower edge is the inner
margin (_dorsum_). The point where the upper margin meets the outer
margin on the fore wing is the apex, but on the hind wing it is called
the outer angle; the angle formed by the junction of outer and inner
margins is the inner angle of the fore wing, but the anal angle of the
hind wing. The term _tornus_ is sometimes used for this angle on either
wing. Dividing the wings transversely into three portions, we have three
areas, termed respectively basal, central or discal, and outer. These
are terms used in descriptions of butterflies, and it will be useful to
remember them.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.
=Butterflies' Wings.=]
The ribs of a butterfly's wings are by some authors described as veins,
whilst others style the main ones nervures, and the branches nervules.
Fig. 9, B, represents the venation, or neuration of the Black-veined
White, and the numeral system of indicating the veins has been adopted,
as it is the most simple. In another method of referring to the
venation, and one that has been much in use, vein 12 of the fore wing
would be styled the costal nervure, or vein; veins 11, 10, 9 (absent in
figure), 8, and 7 would be the subcostal nervules 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5; 6
would become the upper radial, and 5 the lower radial; 2, 3, and 4 would
be the median nervules 1, 2, and 3; vein 1 would be the submedian
nervure, or vein. On the hind wing, vein 1_a_ would be the internal
vein; 1 the submedian; 2, 3, and 4 the median nervules; 5 the lower and
6 the upper radials; 7 the subcostal, and 8 the costal nervures. Just
near the base of the hind wing will be noted a short recurved vein
(p.c.); this is the precostal vein, and so named because it comes before
the costal. It is always absent in some species. Comparing the venation
of A and B, it will be seen that in A the fore wing has 12 veins and the
hind wing 8 veins, whilst in B there are only 11 veins on the fore wing,
but the hind wing has one vein more than that of A. In the Black-veined
White, vein 9 is absent on the fore wing, and on the hind wing there is
one internal vein.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.
=Arrangement of Scales.=
(_After Holland._)]
Dust-like as they appear to the naked eye, the scales from a
butterfly's wing seen under the microscope are found to be exceedingly
interesting structures and very varied in shape. Dr. Sharp describes
them as "delicate chitinous bags." Chitin, it may be mentioned, is the
horny substance of which the chrysalis shell is formed, and this was
adverted to when discussing the chrysalis stage as a varnish-like ooze.
As seen on the wings, the scales are flattened and the upper and under
sides are then almost, or quite, brought together. They are attached in
lines on the membrane or covering of the wing by short stalks which fit
into sockets in the membrane. The arrangement of the scales, which has
often been stated to resemble that of the slates on a roof, is shown in
Fig. 10.
Colour is chiefly due to pigment contained in the scale or adhering to
the interior of its upper side. Pigments, according to Mayer, are
derived, by various chemical processes, from the blood while the
butterfly is still in the chrysalis. Some scales have minute parallel
lines (_striæ_) on their upper sides, and rays of light falling on these
are turned aside or broken up, and so produce changes in the colouring
of a wing, according to the angle from which it is looked at.
The males of many kinds of butterfly have special scales, which are
known as androconia, or plumules. It is believed that these are scent
organs. Whatever their particular use may be to the possessor, these
androconia enable the entomologist to distinguish male specimens from
females with great certainty. In the Fritillaries they are placed on one
or more of the median nervules (veins 2, 3, and 4) of the fore wing. In
the Meadow Brown and its kindred they form brands on the disc of the
fore wing. In the Skippers they are placed in a fold of the costa in
some species, and in other species they are clustered together, into
more or less bar-like marks, about the middle of the fore wings. Some of
these various shaped "plumules" are shown in the illustrations.
In the foregoing sketch of the life cycle of a butterfly, the object
has been to condense as much necessary information as possible into a
limited space. Many matters of importance to the student have not been
touched on, but it was considered that, as these were more especially
connected with a higher scientific phase of the subject than would here
be found helpful, they might be omitted.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.
=Butterfly Plumules.=
_a._ Tufted Plumule (Satyrs);
_b._ Bristle Plumule (Grizzled Skipper);
_c._ Hair Plumule (Dingy Skipper);
_d._ Jointed Plumule (Silver-studded Skipper);
_e._ Bladder Plumule (Common Blue);
_f._ Dotted Plumule (White-letter Hairstreak).
(_After Aurivillius._)]
Collecting.
Naturally the first matter for consideration, when the formation of a
collection of butterflies has been decided upon, is how to set about it.
Well, there are two methods of effecting our purpose. The specimens may
be purchased from a dealer in such things, or we may acquire an outfit
comprising net, boxes, and pins, and go in search of the insects
ourselves. Apart from its healthful and entertaining possibilities, the
latter method has very much to recommend it. In the first place, those
who are at all observant--and no true lover of Nature can be suspected
of being otherwise--will become acquainted with the objects under
natural conditions, and so be enabled to appreciate them more highly
than could be the case if they were obtained in any other way. The chief
purpose in making a collection of Natural History specimens should be
study of some kind rather than mere accumulation.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.
=Y-piece.=]
[Sidenote: Nets.]
The net may be a simple cane ring one of home construction, or the more
elaborate, but not necessarily more efficient, fabrication of
steel-jointed ring with grenadine bag and telescopic handle. A good
serviceable butterfly-net may be fitted up as follows. Procure a light
flexible cane, about 3 feet or so in length. Next, a Y-shaped holder
(Fig. 12) for the two ends of the cane will have to be made, and either
tin or brass may be used for the purpose. The latter is the better
metal, and the parts should be brazed and not soldered together. (If
difficulty is experienced in the manufacture of this article, it may be
obtained from any dealer in entomological requisites for a few pence.)
The bag may be made of leno, tarletan, or fine mosquito netting; the
latter is the most serviceable, and should be used wherever it can be
obtained. The size of the bag at the top, where it has a wide band to
take the cane, should not exceed the circumference of the cane ring when
fitted in the two arms of the Y-piece; the depth should be just a little
less than the length of one's arm, and the bottom should be rounded off
so that no corners are available for the butterflies to get into and
damage their wings. An opening about 3 inches in length is left in the
seam of the bag just under the Y-piece, so that the cane may be removed
and rolled up when the net is put out of action. The ring band should be
covered with some stouter material to prevent it from fraying, thin
leather is sometimes used for this purpose; the slit in the seam also
requires protecting on each side, and strengthening at the lower end by
a crosspiece. An ordinary walking-stick, with the ferrule end thrust
into the longer tube of the Y, will serve as a handle to the complete
net.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.
=Kite or Balloon Net.=]
The dealers adverted to above generally stock a variety of nets ready
fitted for use. Among these is a very useful pattern known as the kite
or balloon net (Fig. 13). This is made in two sizes, and as the writer
has used this kind of net for at least twenty years, he is able to speak
well of its merits. It does not need a stick for ordinary work, and the
long end of the socket should be about 9 inches in length.
The "ring" being made of four separate rods, in addition to the Y-piece,
some care will have to be taken when a balloon net is unshipped. It will
be found a good plan to leave the two short curved canes in the hem or
band of the bag, remove the two straight arms from the Y-piece and the
band, place these on top of the bag when folded, and then roll all up
together. A canvas or linen pouch or pocket, opening at one end, may be
made to contain the whole affair.
The umbrella-net, when in its case, looks very like the familiar "gamp."
Its chief merit is that it is quickly put up for use, and its principal
defect is that the stick, which crosses the mouth of the bag, frequently
damages the quarry.
Another implement of the chase known as the "Ortner" net is used pretty
extensively on the Continent. English entomologists who have used it
speak of it most favourably. Its great advantage over other nets is
found in the simple and rapid method of its adjustment for use.
In connection with nets it may be well to advise the wielder to remember
that carrying a threaded needle is a useful practice. Tears and rents
are apt to occur, and it is well to have the means of repair handy.
[Sidenote: Killing.]
Some collectors seem to be expert at killing butterflies by pressing the
sides of the thorax together. The method is not, however, as
satisfactory as one could wish, and so no more need be said about it.
For the happy despatch of insects, the cyanide bottle is frequently
used. All that has to be done is to clap the open bottle over the
captive while still in the net, then draw the gauze or what-not over the
mouth of the bottle until the bung can be inserted, and the whole affair
withdrawn from the net.
Cyanide of potassium is a deadly poison, and no inexperienced person
should attempt to charge a cyanide bottle himself. In fact, chemists are
not permitted to supply the poison to unknown customers. Under certain
conditions, however, a chemist might consent to make up a killing
bottle, and the following instructions may help him in doing this. A
fairly strong, clear glass bottle, holding about 4 to 6 ounces; the
mouth must be pretty wide, and closed with a well-fitting bung that has
been dipped in melted wax; if the bung is of fine grained cork, the wax
will not be needed. At the bottom of the bottle place a thick layer of
the cyanide, and over this pour plaster of Paris which has been mixed
with water and converted into a cream-like paste: one-third of the depth
of the bottle to be occupied by the poison and plaster, but only a thin
layer of the latter should cover the former.
Dealers who supply cyanide bottles (uncharged) also have in stock a
brass bottle for chloroform, which some people prefer as a killing agent
because it does not change the colour of insects as cyanide is
occasionally apt to do. In using this, the insect should be boxed, then
a drop of the chloroform may be allowed to run from the bottle over the
perforated lid or bottom of the box, and a finger put over the hole or
holes for a short time.
The majority of butterflies, if transferred to pill boxes from the net,
settle down quietly. In this way they may be taken to one's home and
there placed, boxes and all, into the ammonia jar, a simple but very
effective contrivance. To start one of these lethal chambers, procure a
good sized pickle jar, one of the brown earthenware kind, holding about
2 gallons. At the bottom put in several layers of stout blotting-paper,
and have ready a covering for the mouth of the jar. This covering may be
of skin, waterproof-apron material, or even thick brown paper. Before
turning the boxes into the jar, lift up the blotting-paper, drop in
about half a teaspoonful of strong liquid ammonia (·880) and replace
blotting-paper. Directly the boxes are in the jar, put on cover and tie
it down securely. If brown paper is used, a piece of pasteboard should
be put over it and a weight on top of that. Suffocation takes place
directly the gas reaches the insect, but it often happens that one or
more of the boxes exclude the gas longer than others. At the end of half
an hour all may be removed, but the insects will not hurt in any way if
left in all night.
The best kind of boxes for field work are those known as "glass
bottomed," as in these the captives can be examined and, if not wanted,
may be set free. It is always better to retain only those specimens that
we know are really useful, rather than to incur the necessity of
throwing away insects after we have deprived them of life.
[Sidenote: Pinning.]
If butterflies are pinned on the spot, a collecting box will be
required, and the most useful and convenient is one of an oval shape.
This should be made of zinc, and lined with cork that is held in place
by zinc clips. The cork should be kept damp when in use, and the water
used for damping should have a few drops of carbolic acid mixed with it
so as to prevent the formation of mould. Insects may remain in such a
box for several days without injury. This box will also be useful for
relaxing specimens that have been badly set, or have been simply pinned
during the busy season.
In the matter of pins, it is not altogether easy to make suggestions.
There are, perhaps, only two makers in this country of entomological
pins, and each of these supplies a large number of sizes. The selection
of suitable pins will largely depend on the method of setting adopted.
Black pins are, however, the best for butterflies, and are now used
almost exclusively.
In pinning a specimen care should be taken that the pin passes in a
direct line through the centre of the thorax. Insects that are properly
pinned set better, and have a neat appearance when arranged in the
collection. For regulating the height of specimens on the pin, a handy
graduated stage has been devised by Dr. Scarancke (see Fig. 14). Each of
the little rests are hollowed to receive the body of the insect, so
suppose we wish a quarter of an inch of the pin to show below the body
of a specimen, the pin is pushed through a perforation in the centre of
the rest groove marked "3/16" until the point touches the wooden base,
and we have the required length.
Beginners would, perhaps, find three sizes of pins quite sufficient for
almost every purpose--say, Nos. 10, 8, and 5 of one maker; or Nos. 9,
17, and 5 of the other. In each case the first size pin would be
suitable for small butterflies, the second size for all other
butterflies except quite the largest, for which No. 5 would remain.
English pins are sold by the ounce.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.
=Pinning Stage.=]
[Sidenote: Setting.]
Setting, as it is called, that is, spreading out and fixing the wings
so that all their parts are displayed, arranging the horns, etc., is
perhaps the most tedious work that the collector will be called upon to
perform. The various methods will be referred to, and he must then
decide as to which he will adopt. Each style may possibly be found to
have its difficulties at first; but time and patience will overcome
these, therefore he must be prepared for a good deal of troublesome
practice before he quite gets "the hang of the thing," and can set out
his specimens without removing a greater or lesser number of the scales.
First, as to the flat and high setting as practised by almost every
lepidopterist abroad and by some in our own country. Boards of the
pattern, shown in the illustration, will be required; also some tracing
cloth, and a pair of entomological forceps, bead-headed pins, etc. In
these boards, it will be noticed, the sides tilt outwards; this is to
allow for drooping of the wings, which generally occurs after insects
are removed from the "sets." In this case the wings would settle dead
flat, which is considered to be the acme of perfection in this style of
setting. Carlsbad or other foreign pins would be used for this kind of
work. They are of a uniform length, about one inch and a half, but vary
in thickness, and are usually sold by the 100 or 1000.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.
=Board for Flat-setting.=]
Manipulation of the specimen on these boards is as follows. Having
carefully pinned it, leaving the greater length of pin below the insect,
guide the pin carefully through the narrow opening (_a_ Fig. 15) and the
cork (Fig. 16) below to a suitable depth, so that the body of the insect
rests in the groove and the wings lie easily on the board. Then take two
strips of tracing cloth, glazed side downwards, and pin them on at the
end of each side of the setting-board (Fig. 17). The strip should be
just wide enough to cover all but the basal part of the wings. Now pass
the strips over the wings, press one side lightly with the fingers of
the left hand while the wings are moved into position with the setting
needle (a fine needle with eye end fixed into the stick of a small
penholder will do for this) from the uncovered base, a pin being
inserted below the fore wing while the hind wing is brought into
position, but when this has been done and another pin inserted to keep
it in place, as shown in the diagram, the first pin may be removed;
repeat the same operation on the other side. Other pins will be required
to keep the horns, etc., in place. In dealing with the next specimen the
strips will have to be turned back while it is fixed into position, then
proceed as before. An imaginary line following the inner margin of the
fore wings and passing through the pin on the thorax is an excellent
guide to uniformity in setting. The groove will prevent the pin leaning
to either side, but care should be taken that it does not incline either
forwards or backwards. The strip of tracing cloth may be used more than
once, but the roughness of the pin holes should be removed by drawing
the strip across the back of a knife.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.
=Longitudinal Section of Setting-board.=]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.
=Setting-board in use.=]
[Illustration: FIG. 18.
="Saddle" Setting-board.=]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.
=Setting-bristle.=]
[Illustration: FIG. 20.
=Brace and Band Modes of setting.=]
The setting-boards most frequently used in this country have sloping
sides, and are known as saddles (Fig. 18). Where tracing cloth is used,
the _modus operandi_ is exactly similar to that just described, but
small pins will do for pinning down the strips, as the saddles are made
of cork, or cork carpet, instead of wood.
The following method of setting butterflies on the English kind of
"board" or saddle is frequently adopted. Select a suitable saddle, that
is one that has the groove wide enough to take the body, and rather
wider than the wings when expanded. A setting bristle will then be
required. This is made, as shown in Fig. 19, by fixing a fairly long and
stout bristle, or a very fine needle, or a thin length of quill, in a
cube of cork; the cork cube has a stoutish and sharp-pointed pin pushed
through it as indicated. Having placed the first insect on the saddle
with its body comfortably resting in the groove and the wings flush with
the surface, the setting bristle is then brought into action. The point
of the pin is rested on the saddle directly in the rear of the hind
wing, and the top of the bristle touching the saddle in advance of the
front wing. Tilt the pin slightly forward until the bristle presses
lightly on the central area of the wings, then with the setting needle
push the wings into the required position, and at the same time drive
pin of bristle into the saddle. After the wings have been secured by
means of braces (triangular pieces of thin card or stout paper, with a
pin through the base of the triangle), proceed in the same way with the
other side. Finally, fix a brace to the tip and angle of each fore wing
to keep them from turning up in drying, and a pin or two may be required
for the horns if these are not in a good position. Instead of using
braces, a strip of transparent paper may be pinned over the wings beyond
the bristle, but in this case the bristle must be pressed across the
wings at a point nearer their base than in the previous method (see
lower figure in Fig. 20). In lieu of a setting bristle a length of
sewing cotton may be used. Tie a double knot at one end, and through
this pass the point of a pin in such a way that the cotton lies flush on
the saddle when in use. Insert the pin firmly in the saddle a little in
advance of the fore wing, then draw the cotton downwards across the
wings and hold it taut, with the fore finger of the left hand placed on
it just in rear of the hind wing. Whilst so held the wings can be got
into pose with the setting needle, and braces may then be applied as
previously directed.
Fig. 21 shows a specimen set by a method that is in vogue in the north.
Blocks of soft pine, grooved and bevelled as in the cork saddle, are
easily made. Down the centre of the groove there is a saw cut for the
point of the pin to enter, and nicks are cut along the bottom edge at
each end. One end of a length of cotton is knotted and fixed in a nick,
then a turn is taken over the wings on one side; these are placed in
position and secured by other turns of the cotton. The other side is
then treated in the same manner, and the end of the cotton fastened off
in one of the nicks. This is a quick and, in skilled hands, a very neat
method.
As specimens after being set will have to remain on the setting boards
or saddles for at least a fortnight, it will be necessary to protect
them not only from dust, but from possible attack by ants, cockroaches,
mice, etc. This is best ensured by placing the sets into a receptacle
called a setting or drying house. Dealers supply these, but the young
collector may have a knowledge of carpentry and could make one for
himself. The height and depth of such a construction would depend upon
the number and the width of the boards or saddles that would be put
therein. The width would be that of the length of the boards, which is
usually 14 inches. About a quarter of an inch of cork is cut off each
end of the saddles, and grooves are cut in the sides of the house for
these to run in. The back and the door should have a square of fine
perforated zinc inserted in them for ventilation. As an example of
holding capacity it may be well to note that a house with a height of 12
inches, and a depth of 6 inches, inside measurement, would take eighteen
2-inch boards if the grooves were cut at 2 inches apart, or twenty-four
boards of same width if 1-1/2 inch only were allowed between the
grooves.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.
=Cotton Method of setting.=]
In taking insects off the sets, the braces or strips should be removed
from the wings, and the pins from the horns, with care, as a good deal
of damage can be done in the performance of this operation, simple as it
seems to be. A little twist of a brace and away goes a patch of scales,
a side slip of a pin and off comes a horn.
Pending the arrival of that twelve or twenty drawer cabinet, the
beginner will probably be content to arrange his specimens in boxes. A
handy sized box is one measuring 14 inches by 10 when closed, and it
should have a cell for naphthaline.
Before putting the specimens away into boxes or drawers they should be
labelled with the date of capture, the locality, the name of the captor,
and any other detail of interest in connection with it. All these
particulars may be written on small squares of paper and put on the pins
under the specimens.
Cabinets or boxes containing insects should always stand where they are
free from damp, otherwise mould may make its appearance on the
specimens. Mouldy insects may be cleaned, but they never look nice
afterwards; so it will be well to bear in mind that prevention is better
than cure. Where drawers and boxes are not properly attended to in the
matter of naphthaline, mites are apt to enter and cause injury to the
specimens. If these pests should effect a lodgment, a little benzine
poured on the bottom of box or drawer will quickly kill them. The
benzine, if pure, will not make the least stain, and of course the
drawer or box must be closed directly the benzine is put in. Do this
only in the daytime.
Rearing butterflies from the egg is much practised, and is a very
excellent way. One not only obtains specimens in fine condition, but
gains knowledge of the early stages at the same time. The eggs of most
of the Whites, the Orange-tip, the Brimstone, and some others are not
difficult to obtain, but searching the food-plants for the eggs of many
of the butterflies is tiresome work, and not altogether remunerative.
Females may be watched when engaged in egg-laying, and having marked the
spot, step in when she has left and rob the "nest." The best plan is to
capture a few females and enclose them in roomy, wide-mouthed bottles,
or a gauze cage, putting in with them a sprig or two of the food-plant
placed in a holder containing water. The mouth of the bottle should be
covered with gauze or leno, and a bit of moistened sugar put on the top
outside. Either bottle or cage must be stood in the sunshine, but it
must be remembered that the butterflies require plenty of air as well as
sunshine, and that they can have too much of the latter.
PART II.
DESCRIPTIONS OF SPECIES.
The Swallow-tail (_Papilio machaon_).
The Swallow-tail butterfly is the only British member of the extensive
and universally distributed sub-family Papilioninæ, which includes some
of the largest as well as the most handsome kinds of butterfly. Our
species has yellow wings ornamented with black, blue, and red, and is an
exceedingly attractive insect. The black markings are chiefly a large
patch at the base of the fore wings, this is powdered with yellow
scales; a band, also powdered with yellow, runs along the outer or hind
portion of all the wings. There are also three black spots on the front
or costal margin, and the veins are black. The bands vary in width, and
that on the hind wings is usually clouded more or less with blue. At the
lower angle of the hind wings there is a somewhat round patch of red,
and occasionally there are splashes of red on the yellow crescents
beyond the band. The male and female are shown on Plate 2.
The eggs are laid on leaflets of the milk parsley (_Peucedanum
palustre_), which in the fenny home of the butterfly is perhaps the
chief food-plant of the caterpillar. This is one of the few eggs of
British butterflies that I have not seen. Buckler says that it is
globular in shape, of good size, greenish yellow in colour when first
laid, quickly turning to green, and afterwards becoming purplish.
The caterpillar when full grown, as figured on Plate 1, is bright green
with an orange-spotted black band on each ring of the body, and blackish
tinged with bluish between the rings. The head is yellow striped with
black. When it first leaves the egg-shell, which it eats, the
caterpillar is black with a noticeable white patch about the middle of
the body. After the third change of skin it assumes the green colour,
and at the same time a remarkable =V=-shaped fleshy structure of a
pinkish or orange colour is developed. This is the _osmaterium_, and is
said to emit a strong smell, which has been compared to that of a
decaying pine-apple. The organ, which is extended in the figure of the
full-grown caterpillar, is not always in evidence, but when the
caterpillar is annoyed the forked arrangement makes its appearance from
a fold in the forepart of the ring nearest the head. Other food-plants
besides milk parsley are angelica (_Angelica sylvestris_), fennel
(_Foeniculum vulgare_), wild carrot (_Daucus carota_), etc. From eggs
laid in May or June caterpillars hatch in from ten to twelve days, and
these attain the chrysalis state in about six or seven weeks. If the
season is a favourable one, that is fine and warm, some of the
butterflies should appear in August, the others remaining in the
chrysalids until May or June of the following year; a few may even pass
a second winter in the chrysalis. Caterpillars from eggs laid by the
August females may be found in September, nearly or quite full grown,
and chrysalids from October onwards throughout the winter. They are most
frequently seen on the stems of reeds, but they may also be found on
stems or sprays of the food-plants, as well as on bits of stick, etc. It
would, however, be practically useless to search for the late chrysalids
as the reeds are usually cut down in October, when the fenmen keep a
sharp look-out for them, and few are likely to escape detection in any
place that would be accessible to the entomologist.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 2.
=Swallow-tail Butterfly.=
1 _male_; 2 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 3.
=Black-veined White Butterfly.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
On Plate 1 three forms of the chrysalis are shown. The figures are drawn
from specimens collected in Wicken Fen in October, 1905. Occasionally a
much darker, nearly black, form is found.
This butterfly was known to Petiver and other early eighteenth-century
entomologists as the Royal William. There is every reason to believe
that at one time it was far more widely distributed in England than it
now is. Stephens, writing in 1827, states that it was formerly abundant
at Westerham, and gives several other localities, some very near to
London.
During the last twenty-five years or so, the butterfly has been seen on
the wing, from time to time, in various parts of the Southern and
Midland counties. Caterpillars have also been found at large in Kent.
Possibly attempts may have been made to establish the species in certain
parts of England, and the presence of odd specimens in strange places
may thus be accounted for. Or such butterflies may have escaped from
some one who had reared them.
On the Continent the butterfly is common in woods as well as in meadows,
and even on mountains up to an elevation of 5000 feet. It occurs also,
but less commonly, at much higher altitudes. It therefore seems strange
that in England it should be confined to the low-lying fens of Norfolk
and Cambridgeshire. Such is the case, however, and a journey to one or
other of its localities will have to be made by those who wish to see
this beautiful creature in its English home.
It may be added that the geographical range of the butterfly extends
eastwards through Asia as far as Japan. A form, known as the Alaskan
Swallow-tail, is found in Alaska.
* * * * *
The following ten species belong to the Pierinæ, another sub-family of
Papilionidæ.
The Black-veined White (_Aporia cratægi_).
The Black-veined White (Plate 4) may be at once recognized by its
roundish white wings and their conspicuous veins, which latter are black
in the male butterfly, and in the female brownish on the main ones
(nervures) and black on the branches (nervules). As the scales on the
wings are denser in the male than in the female, the former always
appears to be the whiter insect. On the outer margin of the fore wings
there are more or less triangular patches of dusky scales, and these in
occasional specimens are so large that their edges almost or quite meet,
and so form an irregular, dusky border to the fore wings. These patches
are also present on the hind wings, but are not so well defined.
Sometimes the patches are absent from all the wings. The fringes of the
wings are so short that they appear to be wanting altogether. The early
stages are figured on Plate 3.
The egg is upright and ribbed from about the middle to the curiously
ornamented top, which appears to be furnished with a sort of coronet.
The colour is at first honey-yellow, then darker yellow, and just before
the caterpillar hatches, greyish. The eggs are laid in a cluster on the
upper side of a leaf of sloe, hawthorn, or plum, etc., in the month of
July.
The caterpillar when full grown is tawny brown with paler hairs
arising from white warts; the stripes along the sides and back are
black. The under parts are greyish. The head, legs, and spiracles are
blackish. Caterpillars hatch from the egg in August, and then live
together in a common habitation which is formed of silk and whitish in
colour. They come out in the morning and again in the evening to feed,
but a few leaves are generally enclosed in their tenement. In October
they seem to retire for the winter and reappear in the spring. During
May they become full grown and then enter the chrysalis state. The
butterflies are on the wing at the end of June and in July.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 4.
=Black-veined White Butterfly.=
1, 2 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 5.
=Large White Butterfly.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalids._]
The chrysalis is creamy white, sometimes tinged with greenish, and
dotted with black.
This butterfly was mentioned as English by Merret in 1667, and by Ray in
1710. Albin in 1731, who wrote of it as the White Butterfly with black
veins, figures the caterpillar and the chrysalis, and states that
caterpillars found by him in April turned to chrysalids early in May and
to butterflies in June. Moses Harris in 1775 gave a more extended
account of the butterfly's life-history, and what he then wrote seems to
tally almost exactly with what is known of its habits to-day. This
species has seemingly always been somewhat uncertain in its appearance
in England. Authors from Haworth (1803) to Stephens (1827) mention
Chelsea, Coombe Wood in Surrey, and Muswell Hill in Middlesex, among
other localities for the butterfly. It has also been recorded at one
time or another, between 1844 and 1872, from many of the Midland and
Southern counties. In 1867 it was found in large numbers, about
mid-summer, in hay fields in Monmouthshire. The latest information
concerning the appearance of the species in South Wales relates to the
year 1893, when several caterpillars and four butterflies were noted on
May 22 in the Newport district. At one time it was not uncommon in the
New Forest, but no captures of the butterfly in Hampshire have been
recorded during the last quarter of a century. At the present time it is
probably most regularly obtained in a Kentish locality, presumably in
the Isle of Thanet, which is only known to a few collectors. It may be
mentioned that some thirty years ago caterpillars of the Black-veined
White could be obtained from a Canterbury dealer at a few shillings per
gross.
The species is widely distributed, and often abundant, on the
Continent, and its range extends through Western and Northern Asia to
Yesso, Northern Japan.
The Large White (_Pieris brassicæ_).
This butterfly is probably almost as familiar to those who dwell in
towns as it must be to those who live in the country. It is perhaps
unnecessary to describe it in any detail, and it may therefore suffice
to say that it is white with rather broad black tips to the fore wings;
there are some black scales along the front margin of these wings, and
on the basal area of all the wings. The male has a black spot on the
front margin of the hind wings, and the female has, in addition, two
roundish black spots on the fore wings, with a black dash from the lower
one along the inner margin.
As there is a rather important difference between the specimens of the
spring (_vernal_) and the summer (_æstival_) broods, figures of a male
and a female of each brood, and showing the upper and under sides, are
given. Those on Plate 6 represent the spring form, which was at one time
considered to be a distinct species, and named _chariclea_ by Stephens.
Plate 9 shows the summer form. The chief point of difference is to be
noted in the tips of the fore wings, which in the spring butterflies are
usually, but not invariably, greyish; in the summer butterflies the tips
are black, as a rule, but not in every case.
Occasionally the black on tip of the fore wing in the female is
increased in width, and from it streaks project inwards towards the
upper discal spot. In some examples of the male there is a more or less
distinct blackish spot on the disc of the fore wings. Very rarely the
ground colour is creamy or sulphur tinted.
The greenish tinge about the veins, sometimes seen in these butterflies,
is due to some accidental cause, probably injury to the veins.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 6.
=Large White Butterfly (Spring Brood)=
1, 2 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 7.
=Small White Butterfly=
_Resting._]
The egg is yellowish in colour, somewhat skittle-shaped, and very
prettily ribbed and reticulated. On Plate 5 there are two figures of the
egg from enlarged drawings by Herr Max Gillmer, to whom I am greatly
indebted for the loan of them. In the figure on the right, the dark spot
at the shoulder of the egg represents the head of the young caterpillar,
and in that on the left is seen the caterpillar about to come out of the
egg. The head is already out, and the jaws have left their mark on the
egg-shell. Most caterpillars of the Whites, as well as those of other
butterflies, devour their egg-shells.
The eggs are laid in batches of from six to over one hundred in each
batch. They are placed on end, and on either side of a leaf, chiefly
cabbage. Herr Gillmer writes that he watched a female depositing her
eggs on a leaf of white cabbage in the hot sunshine, and found that she
laid twenty-seven in about nine minutes. A previous observer had timed a
female, and noted that she produced eggs at the rate of about four in
the minute. Caterpillars hatch from the egg in about seven days in the
summer. The caterpillar (Plate 5) when full grown is green tinged with
blue or grey above, and greenish beneath. There are numerous short
whitish hairs arising from little warts on the back and sides; the lines
are yellow. The caterpillars feed in July, and sometimes again in
September and October, on all plants of the cabbage tribe, and also on
tropæolum and mignonette. A number of these caterpillars may often be
seen crowded together on a cabbage leaf, and they sometimes abound to
such an extent that much loss is sustained by growers of this most
useful vegetable. A peculiarity of these caterpillars is that even when
not numerous, their presence is indicated by an evil smell that proceeds
from them. The unpleasantness of the odour is greatly intensified if the
caterpillars are trodden upon.
The chrysalis (Plate 5) is of a grey colour, more or less spotted with
black and streaked with yellow. It is often to be seen fixed
horizontally under the copings of walls, the top bar of a fence, or a
window-sill; but it sometimes affects the upright position when fastened
in the angle formed by two pales. A position that affords some measure
of protection from weather is generally selected.
Although this butterfly is almost annually to be seen, in greater or
lesser numbers, throughout the country, it is occasionally scarce,
either generally or in some parts of the British Islands. For example,
during the past year (1905) it was abnormally plentiful in Ireland, but
at the same time comparatively rare in England. It is a migratory
species, and no doubt its abundance in any year in these islands is
dependent on the arrival of a large number of immigrants. Possibly in
some years none of the migrant butterflies reach our shores, and that it
is largely to this failure the rarity of the species in such years is to
be attributed. Caterpillars resulting from alien butterflies may
absolutely swarm in the autumn of one year, but the eccentricities of an
English winter may be too much for the vitality of such of them as
escape their enemies, _Apanteles glomeratus_, and other so-called
"ichneumons," and reach the chrysalis state. So, with immigration on the
one hand and destructive agencies on the other, it may be understood how
it comes about that the Large White is sometimes abundant and sometimes
scarce.
This species seems to range over the whole of the British Islands, with
the exception, perhaps, of the Shetlands. Abroad, it has been found in
all parts of the Palæarctic Region, except the extreme north, and
Eastern Asia.
The Small White (_Pieris rapæ_).
The Small White butterfly (Plate 11) is, perhaps, more often in
evidence then its larger kinsman just referred to. It also is a migrant,
and although it never seems to be absent from these islands, in its
proper season, its great increase in numbers in some years is almost
certainly due to the arrival of immigrants.
The spring form of this butterfly, named _metra_ by Stephens, who,
together with others, considered it a good species, has the tips of the
fore wings only slightly clouded with black; and the black spots near
the centre of the wings are always more or less faint in the male.
Sometimes the central spot and also the blackish clouding of the tip are
entirely absent. The summer brood, on the other hand, has fairly
blackish tips and distinct black spots--one in the male and three in the
female, the lower one lying on the inner margin. Occasionally examples
of this flight bear a strong resemblance to the Green-veined White, the
next species. The wings are sometimes, chiefly in Ireland, of a creamy
colour, more especially in the female, or, more rarely, of a yellowish
tint. In North America, where this species was accidentally or
intentionally introduced some years ago, bright yellow forms are not
uncommon in some localities, and the variety is there known as
_novangliæ_.
In certain favourable years a partial third brood has occurred, but such
specimens are often small in size.
The egg (Plate 8) is at first pale greenish, but later on it turns
yellowish, and this tint it retains until just before the caterpillar
hatches out.
The caterpillar when full-grown has a brownish head and a green body;
the latter is sprinkled with black and clothed with short blackish hairs
emitted from pale warts. There is a yellowish line on the back, and a
line formed of yellow spots on the side. It feeds on most plants of the
cabbage tribe, and in flower gardens on mignonette and nasturtiums. It
is often attacked by parasites, and especially by the _Apanteles_,
referred to as destructive to caterpillars of the Large White.
The chrysalis may be of various tints, ranging from pale brown, through
grey to greenish; the markings are black, but these are sometimes only
faint. It is to be found in similar situations to those chosen by the
caterpillar of the last species, but often under the lower rail of a
fence or board of a wooden building. Where caterpillars have been
feeding in a garden, they often enter greenhouses, among other places,
to pupate; and where these structures are heated during the winter, the
butterflies sometimes emerge quite early in the year. Distributed
throughout the British Islands, except the Hebrides and Shetlands. It is
common over the whole of Europe, and extends through Asia to China and
Japan. In America, where it was introduced into the United States some
forty-five years ago, it has now spread northwards into Canada, and also
southwards.
The Green-veined White (_Pieris napi_).
This butterfly is not often seen away from its favourite haunts in the
country; these are woods, especially the sunny sides, leafy lanes, and
even marsh land. As in the case of the two Whites previously noticed,
there are always two broods in the year. The first flight of the
butterflies is in May and June, occasionally as early as April in a
forward season. These specimens have the veins tinged with grey and
rather distinct, but are not so strongly marked with black as those
belonging to the second flight, which occurs in late July and throughout
August. This seasonal variation, as it is called, is also most clearly
exhibited on the under side. In the May and June butterfly (Plate 13,
left side) the veins below are greenish-grey, and those of the hind
wings are broadly bordered also with this colour. In the bulk of the
July and August specimens (Plate 13, right side) only the nervures are
shaded with greenish-grey, and the nervules are only faintly, or not at
all, marked with this colour.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 8.
=Small White Butterfly.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalids._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 9.
=Large White Butterfly (Summer Brood).=
1, 2 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.]
Now and then a specimen of the first brood may assume the characters
properly belonging to the specimens of the second brood; and, on the
other hand, a butterfly of the second brood may closely resemble one of
the first brood. As a rule, however, the seasonal differences referred
to are fairly constant. By rearing this species from the egg it has been
ascertained that part (sometimes the smaller) of a brood from eggs laid
in June attains the butterfly stage the same year, and the other part
remains in the chrysalis until the following spring, the butterflies in
each set being of the form proper to the time of emergence.
The strongly-marked specimens (Plate 14) are from Ireland, and are of
the first or spring brood. The seasonal variation in this species is not
so well defined in Ireland as in England.
A form of variation in the female, and most frequent perhaps in Irish
specimens, is a tendency of the spots on the upper side of the fore
wings to spread and run together, and so form an interrupted band.
Specimens with a distinct creamy tint on the wings are sometimes met
with, but such varieties, as well as yellow ones (var. _flava_, Kane),
are probably more often obtained in Ireland and Scotland than in
England. Occasionally male specimens of the second brood have two black
spots on the disc of the wing. Some forms of this butterfly have been
named, and these will now be referred to.
_Sabellicæ_ (Petiver), Stephens, has been considered as a species
distinct from _P. napi_, L. Stephens ("Brit. Entom. Haust.," I. Pl.
iii., Figs. 3, 4) figured a male and a female as _sabellicæ_, which he
states differs from _napi_ in having shorter and more rounded
yellowish-white wings. No locality or date is given in the text (p. 21)
for the specimens figured; but referring to another example which he
took at Highgate on June 4, he says that it agrees with his Fig. 2.
Probably, however, it was his second figure that he intended, the Fig. 4
of the plate, which is a female. This is rather more heavily marked with
dusky scales than is usual in specimens of the first brood, at least in
England, although it agrees in this respect with some Irish June
examples. Fig. 3 represents a male which certainly seems to be referable
to the spring form. Most authors give _sabellicæ_ as belonging to the
summer flight, but this does not seem to be correct.
Var. _napææ_ is a large form of the summer brood, occurring commonly on
the Continent, in which the veins on the under side of the hind wings
are only faintly shaded with greenish-grey. Occasionally specimens are
taken in this country in August, which both from their size and faint
markings on the under side seem to be referable to this form.
Var. _bryoniæ_ is an Alpine form of the female, and in colour is dingy
yellow or ochreous, with the veins broadly suffused with blackish grey,
sometimes so broadly as to hide the greater part of the ground colour.
This form does not occur in any part of the British Islands, but some
specimens from Ireland and from the north of Scotland somewhat approach
it.
All the early stages are shown on Plate 10.
The egg is of a pale straw colour when first laid, but it soon turns to
greenish, and as the caterpillar within matures, the shell of the egg
becomes paler. The ribs seem to be fourteen in number.
The eggs are laid singly on hedge garlic (_Sisymbrium alliaria_) and
other kinds of plants belonging to the Cruciferæ. The egg in the
illustration was laid on a seed-pod of hedge garlic, but the caterpillar
that hatched from it was reared on leaves of garden "nasturtium" and
wallflower.
The caterpillar when full grown is green above, with black warts,
from which arise whitish and blackish hairs. There is a darker line
along the back, and a yellow line low down on the sides. Underneath the
colour is whitish-grey. The spiracular line is dusky, but not
conspicuous, and the spiracles are blackish surrounded with yellow. It
has been stated that caterpillars fed upon hedge garlic and horseradish
produce light butterflies, and that those reared on mignonette and
watercress produce dark butterflies. Barrett mentions having reared a
brood of the caterpillars upon a bunch of watercress placed in water and
stood in a sunny window, but he does not refer to anything peculiar
about the butterflies resulting therefrom. He states, however, that from
eggs laid in June the earliest butterfly appeared within a month, and
the remainder by the middle of August, only one remaining in the
chrysalis until the following June.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 10.
=Green-veined White Butterfly.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 11.
=Small White Butterfly.=
1, 2, 4 _male (spring)_, 3 _do. (summer)_; 5, 7, 8 _female (spring)_,
6, 9, _do. (summer)_.]
Caterpillars may be found in June and July and in August and September.
The chrysalis is green in colour, and the raised parts are yellowish and
brown. This is the most frequent form, but it varies through yellowish
to buff or greyish, and is sometimes without markings.
Generally distributed throughout the British Islands, but its range
northwards does not seem to extend beyond Ross.
In Europe it is generally common, and extends through Western and
Central Asia to Siberia, and, according to Leech, is found in North
Japan. In Amurland and Corea it is represented by the form _orientis_,
Oberth. It occurs in North-West Africa, the Canary Isles, and the
Azores. In America it is found in the Northern States and in California.
The Bath White (_Pieris daplidice_).
The Bath White (Plate 14) is such a rare visitor to this country, that
any one who captures a specimen may congratulate himself on the event.
During the whole of the last century not more than sixty specimens seem
to have been recorded as taken in England, and ten of these were
captured between 1895 and the present time. Nearly all of these were
netted on the south or south-eastern coast, and in the months of July or
August, but chiefly the latter. The occurrence of specimens in May or
June appears to be quite exceptional.
Although it might be passed over for a Green-veined White, or other
common butterfly, when seen on the wing, it is very different from any
of our other species when seen at close quarters. In the greenish
mottling of the under side of the hind wings, the male has some likeness
to the female Orange-tip, but on the Bath White the green is heavier and
less broken up. On the upper side of the fore wings the black markings
comprise a spot, sometimes divided, at the end of the cell, and a patch
on the tips of the wings; the latter enclose spots of the ground colour.
The markings of the under side show through blackish on the upper side
of the hind wings. The female differs from the male in having a black
spot between veins 1 and 2 of the fore wings, and the markings of the
hind wings are blacker, especially on the outer area.
The egg is stated by Buckler to be of a bright pinkish-red colour,
agreeing in this respect, as well as in size, with the anthers of the
flowers of mignonette, upon which plant it is laid in an upright
position. The shape is compared to that of an acorn without the cup, and
it has twelve or fourteen rather prominent ribs.
The full-grown caterpillar is bluish-grey, dotted with glossy black
warts, from each of which there is a short blackish hair. The lines
along the back and sides are yellow, or white spotted with yellow. Head
yellowish, dotted with black, and hairy. August and September. It feeds
on garden as well as wild mignonette (_Reseda_).
The chrysalis is at first similar in colour to the caterpillar, but it
afterwards becomes whitish. It has numerous black dots, and is marked
with yellow along the sides and on the back of the thorax.
The above descriptions are abridged from Buckler's more detailed
account of the life-history of this species. Of the caterpillars
resulting from thirty-three eggs, only two attained the chrysalis state,
in September. One of these turned black and died in November, and from
the other a butterfly emerged in the following June. The figures of
caterpillar and chrysalis on Plate 12 are from Buckler's "Larvæ."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 12.
=Bath White Butterfly.=
_Caterpillar and chrysalis (after Buckler)._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 13.
=Green-veined White Butterfly.=
1, 2 _male (spring)_, 5, 6, _do. (summer)_; 3, 4 _female (spring)_,
7, 8 _do. (summer)_.]
It has been suggested that specimens taken in July and August are the
offspring of immigrants that arrive here in May, but there is no
conclusive evidence of this. It has, however, been proved that our
climate is not suitable for the permanent establishment of the species
here.
The earliest writers on English insects called this butterfly "Vernon's
Half Mourner," or "The Greenish Half Mourner." It was first mentioned by
Petiver, some two hundred years ago, and about that time only two
British specimens were known. One of these was taken in Cambridgeshire,
and one at Hampstead. According to Lewin, who wrote about it in 1795,
the name "Bath White" was given to the butterfly "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 place." In 1796 Donovan only
knew of the Bath specimen; and in 1803 Haworth mentions a faded specimen
taken in June at Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire.
The species is more or less common in many parts of Europe, but it seems
to be most at home and abundant in the south. Its range extends to North
Africa, Madeira, the Canary Isles, and the temperate parts of Asia,
including Northern China and Corea.
The Orange-tip (_Euchloë cardamines_).
This butterfly (Plate 17), as its name suggests, has a large patch of
orange colour on the outer third of its white, or creamy white, fore
wings, and the extreme tip is blackish; at least, this is so in the
male. The female is without the orange patch, and this is replaced by a
smaller one of blackish-grey. The lower portion of this patch is broken
up by the ground colour, and by white spots on the outer margin and
around the tips of the wings. The hind wings, in both sexes, appear to
be dappled with greyish-green, and this is caused by the green marking
on the under surface of the wings showing through. Some specimens,
chiefly from Ireland, have all the wings in the male, and the hind wings
in the female, distinctly tinged with yellow. The discal black spot
varies in size and in shape; often it is roundish, and sometimes it is
crescent-like. It is always larger in the female than in the male, and
may be entirely absent in the latter sex; but this probably occurs very
rarely. Usually the orange patch of the male extends very near to the
inner angle of the wing, but sometimes it is continued through to this
point. It ranges in colour from deep to pale orange, and occasionally to
almost yellow. Small specimens, some not more than one inch and a
quarter in expanse, occur from time to time. In these dwarfs the orange
patch does not reach beyond the black discal spot, which in normal
specimens it usually does. This small form has been considered a
distinct species, and the name _hesperidis_ has been proposed for it.
Female specimens with splashes or streaks of the male colour on the
upper or the under sides have been noted not infrequently; and more
rarely specimens with one side entirely male and the other entirely
female have been taken.
The egg (Plate 15), when freshly laid, is whitish, faintly tinged with
greenish; it soon changes to yellow, and, later on, turns orange and
then dark violet. When the latter colour appears, the little caterpillar
may be expected to hatch out very shortly. The eggs are placed upright
on the foot-stalks of the flowers, and may be readily found in June by
searching the blossom-clusters of hedge-mustard or cuckoo-flower.
The caterpillar, when mature, is dull bluish-green, with raised dots
and warts; from the former arise whitish hairs, and from the latter
longer blackish hairs. There is a white line, or stripe, along the
sides, and the underparts of the body are greener than the back. Both in
colour and marking the caterpillar agrees so closely with the seed-pods
of its food-plant that its detection is not always easy. A peculiarity
in very young caterpillars of this species, and also those of some of
the "Whites," is, that the hairs are forked at the tips, and bear
globules of moisture thereon (see figure and remarks on p. 3).
[Illustration: _Pl._ 14.
=Green-veined White (Irish).=
1 _male_; 2, 3 _female_.
=Bath White.=
4, 5 _male_; 6 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 15.
=Orange-tip Butterfly.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
The caterpillars feed in June and July on lady's smock or cuckoo-flower
(_Cardamine pratensis_), charlock (_Brassica sinapistrum_),
hedge-mustard (_Sisymbrium officinale_), garlic mustard (_S. alliaria_),
rock-cress (_Arabis_), horseradish (_Cochlearia armoracia_), dame's
violet (_Hesperis matronalis_), watercress (_Nasturtium officinale_),
etc.
The chrysalis, as will be seen from the figure (Plate 15), is curiously
elongated, and tapers towards each end; the outline of the back is
curved, and the wing-cases bulge out into an angle about the middle of
the under side. The colour is pale grey or whitey-brown, sometimes with
a strong rosy tinge; the back is speckled with brownish, and has an
olive-grey dorsal line, and the veins of the wings are well defined.
This stage lasts, as a rule, from August of one year until May of the
following year. When the chrysalis is first formed, it is green, with
the wing-cases brighter, and this colour is sometimes retained. It has
been stated that the chrysalids assume the colour of their immediate
surroundings, and this may be so; but all that I have had under
observation were of the colours described above, although some were
fastened to green stem, others to muslin, and others, again, to glass.
Towards the end of May and in June is the usual time for this butterfly
to be on the wing. It has, however, been noticed as early as about the
middle of April, and as late as the middle of July, and rarely in August
and September. The specimens, seen in the last-mentioned months, may
have represented a second brood, and, if so, a very unusual event.
Possibly, however, they may have been specimens whose emergence had for
some reason not understood, been retarded. There is at least one record
of the insect remaining in the chrysalis for two winters.
Although generally distributed throughout England, Wales, and Ireland,
and occurring in Scotland as far north as the Caledonian Canal, it seems
to be more common in some districts than in others. Abroad, its range
extends over Europe, and through Asia as far east as Amurland and China.
The Wood White (_Leucophasia sinapis_).
The graceful little butterfly figured on Plate 19 is creamy white, with
a rather square black or blackish spot on the tip of the fore wings of
the male. In the female the spot is reduced to some blackish scales on
and between the veins. Occasionally there is a second brood in the year,
and the specimens of this flight have smaller and rounder black spots in
the males, and almost none at all in the females. Specimens of the
female sex entirely devoid of black marking are referable to var.
_erysimi_ (see fourth figure in second row, Plate 16). Series of each
brood are shown on Plate 16, which is reproduced from a photograph by
Mr. Hamm. The lower specimen in each series has been reversed to show
the seasonal variation of the under side. The row of specimens on the
left are of the first brood, and the second and last examples in this
series show the characters of var. _lathyri_--black tips to the fore
wings, and dusky band-like shades on the hind wings; the under sides of
the hind wings dull greenish--to which form a good many of our spring
specimens belong. The specimens of the second generation are referable
to var. _diniensis_. The species is sometimes referred to _Leptosia_,
Hüb.
The egg, which is figured on Plate 18, is yellowish-white in colour; it
is ribbed, and rather glassy in appearance. The caterpillars have been
known to hatch out about a week after the eggs were laid.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 16.
=Wood White Butterfly.=]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 17.
=Orange-tip Butterfly.=
1, 5 _male_; 2 _do. (Irish)_; 3, 6 _female_; 4 _do. (Irish)_.]
The caterpillar when full grown is, according to Hellins, "a beautiful
green, the front segments minutely dotted with black; dorsal line darker
green, edged with yellowish-green; spiracular line distinct, of a
fine clear yellow, edged above with darker green; spiracles
indistinguishable." The chrysalis in shape is something like that of the
last species, but the back is not curved, and the ends are less tapered.
The colour is a "lovely delicate green; the abdomen rather yellowish;
just in the spiracular region there runs all round the body a stout pink
rib, enclosing the greenish spiracles; from this a strong pink line
branches off, bordering the outer edge of the wing-case, and the
nervures of the wings themselves are delicately outlined in pink"
(Hellins). Sometimes the chrysalids are green without marking.
Mr. A.M. Montgomery, who on one occasion had four batches of eggs, and
the subsequent caterpillars, under observation, states that the
caterpillars hatched about June 2 from eggs laid about May 22. Pupation
took place about July 3, and, except from one batch that remained for
the winter in the chrysalids, the butterflies emerged between July 16
and 22. The food-plant in this case was bird's-foot trefoil (_Lotus
corniculatus_). The yellow pea (_Lathyrus pratensis_) is a favourite
pabulum, but the caterpillar will also eat a vetch (_Vicia cracca_), and
probably many other plants belonging to the order Leguminosæ.
Caterpillars from the July butterflies would feed in August and
September.
This fragile-looking little species is somewhat local, but is not
altogether uncommon in some of its particular haunts. As its English
name implies, the butterfly is fond of the woods, or, perhaps, is rather
more partial to their shady rides and margins. On dull or wet days, it
settles on the under side of a leaf. The first brood is on the wing in
May, and the second--when this occurs, which is not every year--in July
and August. In Ireland, where it is abundant in the south and west,
there seems to be only one flight, and this is in June. It may be well
to remember that this butterfly does not like the pill-box, and will not
settle down quietly therein.
Possibly the Wood White had a much more general distribution in England
at one time than it now seems to have. It was not uncommon in parts of
Sussex some years ago, but there appears to be no record of its
occurrence there now. It is certainly much scarcer in the New Forest
than it used to be. However, it is still to be found, no doubt, in many
parts of England and Wales, but chiefly perhaps in the counties of
Berkshire, Devonshire, Cornwall, Worcestershire, Herefordshire,
Lancashire, and Cumberland. Also in the south and west of Ireland. It
occurs throughout Europe, Western and Central Asia, and its range
extends eastwards through Siberia, Amurland, China, and Corea to Japan.
The Pale Clouded Yellow (_Colias hyale_).
This usually scarce butterfly (Plate 21) is of a primrose-yellow
colour in the male, and, as a rule, almost white in the female;
sometimes the latter sex is of the yellow male colour. The outer margin
of the fore wings is broadly black in both sexes, but there are some
more or less united spots of the ground colour in the black towards the
tips of the wings, and below vein 3 the black is usually confined to the
outer margin. There is a black spot near the middle of the wing, and
some blackish dusting quite near the base of the wing. The hind wings
have a pale orange central spot, sometimes two spots, and the blackish
border on the outer margin is generally narrow, and often interrupted or
broken up into spots. The fringes of all the wings are pinkish, as also
are the antennæ. The egg is pearly yellowish-white when first laid; a
few days later the top becomes transparent, white, and glassy, shading
downwards into yellow, and then clear rosy orange; the base is pale, but
less transparent than the top. It has a number of transverse ribs,
ranging from nineteen to twenty-two. Before the caterpillar hatches out,
the egg changes to a purplish leaden colour.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 18.
=Wood White Butterfly.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar (after Buckler)
and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 19.
=Wood White Butterfly.=
1, 4, 6 _male_; 3 _do. (var.)_; 2, 5, 7 _female_.]
The caterpillar in October, before hibernation, is about a quarter of an
inch long, and deep clover-green in colour; it has a number of pale,
shining warts along the back, from each of which there is a moderately
long black bristle, and there is a pale yellowish-white stripe above the
black spiracles. The head is pale ochreous green, with warts and
bristles as on the body. It rests upon a pad of silk spun on the centre
of a leaflet. When full grown the colour is clear light green, but has a
darkish velvety appearance, due to the entire surface being densely
sprinkled with black warts, the bristles from the warts on the back are
black, and those on the lower surface are white, the line above the
spiracles, which are white outlined with black, is made up of
lemon-yellow, orange-vermilion, and orange with an upper border of
white. The head, claspers, and legs are green. It feeds in June, and
again in August, on clover, trefoil, etc. The figure on Plate 20 is
after Hübner.
The chrysalis is very similar to that of the Clouded Yellow, the chief
differences are that the head-beak of the present species is straight
instead of being slightly upturned, and the tip of the wing-case extends
further down the body.
The above particulars of the early stages of the Pale Clouded Yellow are
adapted from Mr. Frohawk's account of the life-history of the species
(_Entomologist_, 1892 and 1893).
From eggs laid in September by a captured female, Mr. Williams reared
two butterflies in November of the same year. Other caterpillars from
the same batch of eggs hibernated and recommenced feeding in the spring,
but failed to attain the chrysalis state. Young caterpillars from eggs
obtained in August were successfully hibernated by Mr. Carpenter, and
many of these produced butterflies in the following May.
In rearing this species from eggs laid in the autumn, a fairly dry
treatment appears to be the best. Protect the young caterpillars from
frost, and do not water the plants during the winter. When they become
active again, about February, transfer them to other growing plants,
which should be kept ready for the change. Do not water the plants much,
or wet the foliage at all, and keep a sharp look-out for earwigs.
It seems pretty clear that this species passes the winter as a
caterpillar, and from the evidence available it appears equally certain
that the caterpillars would not survive an ordinary winter in this
country. Possibly, however, in very mild winters, or in certain warm
nooks on the south coast, some may be able to exist until the spring,
and then complete their growth and reach the butterfly state. In such
native-born butterflies the ancestral migratory habit may be lost, owing
to climate, and they would not, therefore, wander far from the spot
where they emerged from the chrysalis, but found a colony, which
probably would be cleared off sooner or later by the severity of an
English winter.
The Pale Clouded Yellow was not mentioned as an English butterfly
until Lewin wrote about it in 1795. He states that he only met with it
"in the Isle of Sheppey and on a hilly pasture-field near Ospringe in
Kent." He seems to have noted it in different years at both places.
Stephens, in 1827, referred to it as a rare British species, and from
that date until 1867 it seems to have been common only in 1835, 1842,
1857, and 1858. In 1868 it was abundant in the southern and eastern
counties, and was observed as far north as Lancashire and Yorkshire,
also in Ireland. It was common on the south coast in 1872, and rather
more so in 1875, when it spread into Essex and Suffolk, and also inland.
Until 1875 the butterflies seem only to have been noticed in the
autumnal months, but in that year specimens had been seen in May and
June. In 1876 the species was pretty plentiful, but after that date it
did not again occur in numbers until 1892, when it was recorded from
most of the southern and eastern counties. In 1893 one or two specimens
were reported as seen in April or May, but less than a dozen were
recorded as captured during the autumn of that year. Not much was seen
of the butterfly again until 1899, when a score or so were recorded from
Kent. Two or three specimens were seen on the south coast in June, 1900,
and the species was plentiful in the autumn of that year in many parts
of the country. Single specimens were seen in June, 1901, and in the
autumn the butterfly was again fairly common in several southern
counties, and abundant in parts of Essex. In 1902 a male was taken near
Dartford in March, and one example in May in a locality where two
specimens had been captured on October 20 of the previous year; six
males and one female were obtained between June 27 and July 12 at
Sheerness. The summer of 1902 was a cold one, and, with the exception of
four specimens at Folkestone in August, the species was not again seen
during that year or the following one; but in 1904 a good many specimens
were secured at Chatham in September, and one or two at Margate in
August.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 20.
=Pale Clouded Yellow Caterpillar.=
(_After Hübner._)]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 21.
=Pale Clouded Yellow.=
1, 2 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.]
When it occurs in this country the butterfly should be looked for in
clover and lucerne fields.
Common throughout the Palæarctic Region. It is probably a species of
Eastern origin, but with a tendency to spread westward.
The Clouded Yellow (_Colias edusa_).
In its typical colouring--orange with broad black borders--this
butterfly (Plate 22) will be recognized the first time it is seen. Both
sexes have a black spot about the centre of the fore wings, and a deep
orange spot near the middle of the hind wings--the latter is subject to
variation in size and shape. The female usually has the black borders
spotted with yellow, but in some examples these spots are almost (Plate
24, Fig. 1) or quite absent. Another form of the female, known as var.
_helice_ (Plate 24, Fig. 2), has the orange colour replaced by
yellowish-white, and in some years is not altogether uncommon. Between
this yellowish-white at one end of the colour range and the typical
orange at the other, specimens showing all the intermediate shades have
been obtained, chiefly by rearing the butterflies from eggs laid by a
female _helice_. One of these intergrades will be seen on Plate 24, Fig.
3. The males vary, especially bred ones, from "deep rich orange to the
palest chrome yellow; the marginal bands also vary in width; in many
examples the yellow nervules run through the borders of all the wings. A
large proportion of the males have the hind wings shot with a beautiful
amethystine blue" (Frohawk).
The egg (Plate 23) is oval, tapering towards each end, very pale
yellowish in colour at first, but afterwards becoming darker yellow, and
then pink. The eggs are laid, as shown in the figure, on the upper side
of a leaf of clover or lucerne, sometimes singly, but often in small
batches.
The caterpillar when full grown is deep green with minute black dots,
from which fine hairs arise, and a pink-marked yellow, or whitish,
spiracular line. The head is also green, rather downy, and small in
size. When first hatched the caterpillar is brownish, but soon changes
to greenish. It feeds on clover (_Trifolium_), trefoil (_Lotus_),
melilot (_Melilotus_), etc., in June and again in September or October.
The chrysalis is yellowish-green above, somewhat paler below; the
wing-cases are rather deeper in tint than the thorax and back, and have
a central black speck and a row of slender marks at the edges. The body
is marked with a splash of reddish and tiny black dots on the under
side. The beak-like projection from the head is dark green above and
yellow beneath.
The figures of the caterpillar and the chrysalis are taken from
Buckler's "Larvæ of British Butterflies," and the descriptions of these
stages by the same author have been followed.
The Clouded Yellow has a great fancy for clover or lucerne fields, and
should be looked for in such places in August and September. It is not
very difficult to rear from the egg, so that if a female is captured in
August (the spring ones should not be taken), it would be a good plan to
try to induce her to lay some eggs. The best method to succeed in this
is to pot up a growing plant of clover, and over this place a glass
cylinder with a muslin cover. (See further directions in the
Introduction, page 28.)
This butterfly, which was known, to the earliest English authors as the
"Saffron" or "Spotted Saffron," has always, no doubt, been erratic and
uncertain in its appearance in this country, sometimes becoming
increasingly abundant for three, four, or even five years in succession,
and then scarce or entirely absent for similar periods. The most recent
years of plenty, or when it was fairly common, were 1877, "the great
Edusa year," 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1899, 1900, and 1902. In some of
these years the Pale Clouded Yellow was also common.
In some of the warmer countries that this butterfly inhabits it has
certainly three, and possibly four, broods in the year. It is therefore
conceivable that at times its increase in numbers may become very great
in some particular area. At such times swarms of the surplus butterfly
population set out to seek fresh fields and pastures new. Some portion
of these flights reach our country from time to time, and this probably
always occurs in the spring of the year. The weather conditions being
favourable, the offspring of the visitors put in a welcome appearance in
the autumn, and not only gladden the heart of the entomologist, but add
a charm to the countryside which every one can appreciate.
The butterfly has probably occurred, at some time or other, in almost
every county in England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland, extending even
to the Orkney Islands (1877).
Its home appears to be in North Africa and South Europe, whence it
spreads over the greater part of Europe and Western Asia.
NOTE.--According to Kirby, this butterfly should be called _Eurymus
hyale_, Linn., and the Pale Clouded Yellow be known as _Eurymus kirbyi_,
Lewis.
The Brimstone (_Gonepteryx rhamni_).
This butterfly (Plate 26) has the tips of the fore wings sharply
pointed, and there is a rather acute angle about the middle of the outer
margin of the hind wings. The colour of the male is bright sulphur
yellow, with a central orange spot on each wing, that on the hind wings
usually the largest; there is also a rusty dot at the outer end of the
upper veins and along the front margin of the fore wings towards the
tip. The female is greenish yellow, and is marked similarly to the male.
In both sexes the horns (_antennæ_) are reddish, and the long silky hair
on the thorax is a noticeable character. It is probably this insect to
which the name "butter-coloured fly," contracted into butterfly, was
first given; anyway, it is the only species to which the name applies so
well.
The egg. If the under sides of the leaves of buckthorn (_Rhamnus
catharticus_) or of the berry-bearing alder (_R. frangula_) are examined
in May or June, the eggs of this butterfly may be found thereon. They
are often placed on a rib of the leaf, but sometimes they are laid as
shown in the illustration (Plate 25). At first the colour is pale
greenish and rather glossy, but it soon changes to yellowish, and later
on, when the caterpillar has formed inside, to a dull purplish-grey.
The caterpillar when full grown is green, merging into bluish-green
on the sides, thickly powdered with shining black specks. There is a
pale line on each side below the spiracles. It feeds in June and July on
both kinds of buckthorn, and will generally be found resting along the
main rib of a leaf.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 22.
=Clouded Yellow.=
1, 3 _male_; 2, 4 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 23.
=Clouded Yellow.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
The chrysalis is bluish-green in colour and of a curious shape. The
sharp yellowish and brown beak-like projection in front and raised
brownish bases of the wing-covers, together with the humped thorax,
somewhat resemble a bird's head when seen from the front. Then, again,
the enlarged wing-cases, which are rather greener than the other parts,
in conjunction with the general outline, give a very good imitation of a
curled leaf.
The butterfly is very constant as regards colour and marking, but
occasionally the fore wings may be more or less suffused with orange,
and in this respect assumes the coloration of the South European species
known as _G. cleopatra_. The attempt has been made to establish the
last-named butterfly in Ireland, but the experiment seems to have been
only partially successful. Sometimes female specimens are found to have
splashes of the male colour on their wings. Occasionally their colour is
intermediate between their own proper tint and that of the male, and
more rarely the wings on one side may be yellow, as in the male, while
those on the other side are greenish, as in the female. Such specimens
are termed gynandrous examples, and sometimes hermaphrodites. The
latter, however, is not correct.
An unusual variation of the butterfly is shown on Plate 27. This has
large oval pale brownish-orange marks on the under side of the wings. It
was taken in the New Forest.
The Brimstone butterfly enjoys a longer existence in the perfect state
than any of the other British species, with the exception, perhaps, of
the Tortoiseshells and their allies. It leaves the chrysalis at the end
of July or beginning of August, and is usually quite common during the
latter month. After this it takes up its winter quarters, from which,
however, it may be tempted to come out whenever the day is sufficiently
warm and sunny for it to indulge in a few hours' flight. The fine
condition of some of the specimens that are seen in May or June has
suggested the possibility of such specimens having remained in the
chrysalis during the winter, but it is not at all probable that they do
so. It may be seen any sunny day from March, or even February, to June
in almost every English and Welsh county where its food-plant grows, and
locally in Ireland. The best time to take specimens is in the autumn,
when they are often to be seen in numbers flying along the rides in or
on the outskirts of woods, and also in clover fields.
Distributed over the whole of temperate Europe, and extending through
Asia to the far east and to North Africa.
* * * * *
The thirty butterflies now to be considered belong to the Nymphalidæ,
which has a larger membership than any other family of butterflies. It
is divided into several sub-families, but only four of these concern us;
these are Apaturinæ (1 species), Nymphalinæ (17 species), Danainæ (1
species), and Satyrinæ (11 species). The next butterfly is our only
representative of Apaturinæ.
The Purple Emperor (_Apatura iris_).
On account of its large size and the beautiful purple sheen over its
brownish-black velvety wings, this butterfly (Plate 29) is always
counted a prize by the collector. It is, however, only the male that
dons the purple, and he only when seen from the proper angle. The female
is without the purple reflection and her wings are browner, but the
white spots on the fore wings and the white bands on the hind wings are
rather wider than those of the male. Above the anal angle of the hind
wings, in both sexes, there is a black spot, ringed with tawny and
sometimes centred with white, and a tawny mark on veins 1 and 2. As will
be seen on turning to the figures on Plate 31, the under side of this
butterfly is exceedingly pretty. On the same plate there is a figure of
the rare variety known as _iole_ (for the loan of which I am indebted to
Mr. Sabine), in which most of the white spots are absent or obscured.
Intermediates between this extreme form and the type also occur, but all
such aberrations are uncommon.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 24.
=Clouded Yellow.=
1 _Female aberration;_ 2, 3, 4 _var. helice_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 25.
=Brimstone Butterfly.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
The egg (Plate 28) may be looked for in August on the upper surface of a
leaf of the sallow (_Salix caprea_). According to Buckler, it is pale
olive green in colour, and cylindrical in shape; the height from base to
top being about equal to the width through from side to side. It has
about fourteen ribs.
The caterpillar in October, just before hibernation, is dingy green
roughened with numerous whitish warts from which arise short bristles,
some of the latter appearing to be tinged with reddish, and those along
the sides longer than those on the upper part of the body; the straight
lines along the back and the oblique ones on the sides are yellowish.
The head and the two horn-like projections, reminding one of the horns
of a slug, are reddish-grey and covered with warts and bristles. The
anal points (tails), which lie close together, are tipped with reddish.
It should be mentioned here that on emerging from the egg the young
caterpillar is without horns; these are not developed until the first
skin is thrown off, which event happens from eight to twelve days after
hatching.
The full-grown caterpillar is green, merging into yellowish towards the
anal points (tails); the oblique stripes on the sides are yellowish,
edged with reddish. The individual depicted on the plate took up a
position for change to the chrysalis on June 6. It spun a mat of silk to
the under side of a sallow leaf, and the next day it was found suspended
by the claspers, which were grasping the silken mat. On the fourth day
the chrysalis was fully developed, and from this a male butterfly
emerged on June 24, an unusually early date.
The chrysalis is whitish, more or less tinged with green, but having the
oblique lines on the sides whitish; the veins of the wings also show up
whitish.
The caterpillar was well known to entomologists in this country as far
back as 1758, when, in May, four were obtained from sallow at Brentwood
in Essex. It usually occurs on sallow, but an instance is recorded of it
refusing to eat this plant; it would probably have starved if willow,
upon which it fed up, had not been substituted. A full-grown caterpillar
was on one occasion found at Raindene in Sussex on poplar, which is a
well-known food of the species on the Continent. Now and then a
full-grown caterpillar has been met with in October, and Buckler reared
two in the autumn from the egg almost to the chrysalis stage, but they
died before the change was effected.
As befits his rank, the Emperor has lofty habits, and after quitting
the clump of sallow bushes, among which its transformations from egg to
the perfect insect were effected, it resorts to the oak trees, around
which it flies in July, and, when not so engaged, rests on a leaf of the
higher branches. To capture the butterfly, when seen at such times, is
not altogether an easy matter, as for the purpose the net must be
affixed to the end of a pole about 14 or 15 feet in length. The insect's
rather depraved taste for the juices of animal matter, in a somewhat
advanced stage of decay, is a fact well known to the professional
collector and others who have taken advantage of it to the monarch's
destruction. This method of attracting a butterfly for the purpose of
capture is, however, not exactly to be commended. It surely is a greater
pleasure to show one's friends a single specimen that has been captured
by dexterity with the net, than to exhibit fifty that were secured by a
device which is not only unsavoury, but unsportsmanlike. The female,
however, is not to be allured; she must be sought among the sallows, and
when seen is not easy to net, as she skims away over the tops of the
bushes and is difficult to follow.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 26.
=Brimstone Butterfly.=
1, 3 _male_; 2, 4 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 27.
=Brimstone Butterfly.= _Underside (aberration)_.
=Common Blue.= _At rest_.]
Although most certainly not so common or so generally distributed as in
former times, the butterfly still occurs in the larger oak woods in most
of the midland, western, and southern counties of England, but is,
perhaps, most frequent in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. In Wales it
is found in Monmouthshire. It has not been recorded from Scotland, and
only doubtfully from Ireland.
In Central Europe it is often abundant, and its range extends eastward
into Amurland, Central and Western China.
* * * * *
Now follow seventeen butterflies of the sub-family Nymphalinæ.
The White Admiral (_Limenitis sibylla_).
The "White Admirable Butterfly," as it was called by some of the older
English entomologists, needs only to be seen to be at once recognized
(Plate 33). The white markings on its blackish wings are somewhat
similar to those of the Purple Emperor. As in that butterfly, so, too,
in this, the most beautiful ornamentation is found on the under side.
The shape of the wing is, however, very different in the two
butterflies, and there is no probability of confusing one with the
other. A somewhat uncommon form is shown on Plate 31 (also kindly loaned
by Mr. Sabine); this is var. _nigrina_. Intermediates also occur, but
these, too, are also rather rare. The eggs, which I have not seen, are
stated to hatch in about fourteen days, and are laid in July. They have
been described as pale green in colour, and of the shape of an orange,
but flatter at the base and top.
The caterpillar (Plate 30) when full grown is dark green on the back
and lighter on the sides, roughened with yellow dots, and with a
yellow-marked white line above the feet. The bristly spines are reddish
with pinkish tips, and those on the second, third, fifth, tenth, and
eleventh rings are longer than the others. The first ring seems to be
without spines, but the brownish head is set with short ones, two on the
crown being rather longer and blacker than the others, and are inclined
backwards.
In the autumn, when still quite tiny, it constructs a winter retreat
(_hibernaculum_) (Plate 30) by fastening a growing leaf of sallow to a
twig with silken threads, and then, using more silk, it draws the edges
of the leaf together, and so forms a secure chamber wherein it can rest
until the following spring, when it quits the domicile and sets to work
on the tender foliage around it. At this time the caterpillar is
brownish in colour. The chrysalis is of the remarkable shape shown on
the plate. It is brownish, with purplish or olive tinge; behind the
rounded hump there is a patch of bright green, and above the wing-cases
a beautiful golden sheen. There are also other metallic spots and dots
on various parts. Altogether, it is one of the prettiest of British
butterfly chrysalids.
I am tempted here to quote Buckler's excellent description of the
pupation of this species, as it will serve to show the remarkable method
by which caterpillars are able to perform a seemingly impossible feat;
that is, to get absolutely free of the old skin whilst hanging head
downwards from the silken pad or button to which they attach themselves
by the anal claspers when preparing to pupate.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 28.
=Purple Emperor.=
_Egg enlarged; young and full-grown caterpillars; chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 29.
=Purple Emperor.=
1 _male_; 2 _female_.]
"When full fed the larva becomes rapidly paler, and then suspends
itself by the anal prolegs to a stem of the honeysuckle or other
surface, and hangs with its body downwards in a sinuous curve, with its
head bent a little upwards, facing the abdomen; it then remains
motionless for three days, becoming whitish on the abdomen, and
remaining very pale green on the thoracic segments. In the course of the
third day the creature seems to wake up, unbends its head, swings itself
to and fro a few times, then stretches itself downwards in a long
attenuated line, which causes a rupture of the skin close to the head;
the skin then is seen slowly to ascend, exposing the bare and soft
shining parts below, from which a flat and forked pair of horns grow out
perceptibly as one beholds this wonderful process; the skin continues to
glide slowly upwards, and as the soft parts become exposed, they are
seen to swell out laterally, and to assume the very singular projections
so characteristic of this chrysalis, the skin of the old head gliding up
the belly marks the progress of the disclosure, as the colour of the old
and new surfaces is at this time alike, the new being, however, rather
more shining and transparent. Occasionally during the bulging out of the
soft parts, a kind of convulsive heave or two occurs, but otherwise it
remains still until the creature is uncovered as far as the ninth or
tenth segment; it then curves its anal extremity by a sudden twist
laterally, and in a moment dexterously withdraws the tip of the anal
segment from the larval prolegs by an opening on the back of the skin at
that part. At this critical moment one has time to see that the naked
shining point is furnished with black hooks, and to apprehend a fall;
but in another moment the pupa has forcibly pressed the curved tip with
its hooks against the stem close to the previous attachment of the anal
prolegs, and now it is strongly and firmly fixed. The creature now seems
endowed with wonderful power and vigour; it swings boldly to and fro,
and undulates itself as if to gain longer swings, when presently the old
skin that remains is seen to burst away and fall off, the chrysalis
gradually becoming quiescent, the entire metamorphosis, from the first
waking to the last movement, occupying nearly seven minutes. In sixteen
days the perfect insect emerged."
Linnæus in 1767 wrote of the sexes of this butterfly as _sibylla_, or
rather _sibilla_, and _camilla_, but, as Kirby points out, three years
earlier the same author had given the butterfly the name _camilla_. It
is probable, therefore, that the latter name will have to be adopted for
our butterfly. Certain it is that the older British authors--Donovan,
Haworth, Stephens, etc., knew our species as _camilla_. The species
known on the Continent as _camilla_, and which, owing to the confusion
of names has been supposed to be British, will have to be called
_drusilla_, according to Kirby.
This species seems to be pretty much restricted to the southern and
eastern counties of England. In the New Forest, Hampshire, it is often
exceedingly abundant in July. So long ago as 1695 the butterfly was
known to occur in Essex, and the species is found in some woods in that
county at the present time. It has, however, quite disappeared from
several woodland localities in Kent and Sussex, where it formerly
occurred. It has been recorded from Shropshire and also from
Worcestershire, but both these counties appear to be beyond the normal
range of the species.
Almost all writers on our butterflies, from Haworth downwards, have
commented on the graceful flight of the White Admiral as it skims aloft
and alow through the woodland glades. This elegance of motion is still
retained even when the wings become sadly torn and frayed, probably by
contact with twigs and thorns.
Widely distributed throughout Central Europe. It is also found in
Amurland, Corea, and Japan.
The Comma (_Polygonia c-album_).
The peculiar shape of the wings of this butterfly (Plate 35) might
cause it to be mistaken for a very tattered example of one of the
Tortoiseshells. The irregular contour of the outer edges of the wings
is, however, quite natural, and is subject to some variation in its
jaggedness. Their colour is deep tawny or fulvous, with brownish borders
on their outer margin. On the fore wings there are three black spots on
the front or costal area, and below the first, which is often divided,
there is a roundish black spot (sometimes double) just above the inner
margin; two, sometimes three, other spots lie between this and the third
costal spot. On the hind wings there are three black spots on the basal
half, and a series of pale fulvous spots before the brownish border;
these are inwardly edged with brownish, and sometimes this edging is
united with the marginal border. Similar spots are, in some specimens,
present in a like position on the fore wings also. On the under side the
wings are of various shades of brown, sometimes variegated with whitish,
or yellowish, and greenish, the latter often conspicuous; other
specimens are paler on the outer half than on the basal half, and,
except occasionally having a series of greenish or dusky spots on the
outer area, are without marking. These differences occur in both sexes.
The white comma or c mark, placed about the middle of the under side of
the hind wings, is rather stronger in the variegated specimens; but it
varies, generally, in shape as well as in size.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 30.
=White Admiral.=
_Young caterpillar with hibernaculum (h); caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 31.
1, 2 Purple Emperor; 3 var. _iole_.
4, 5 White Admiral, var. _nigrina_.]
Var. _hutchinsoni_, Robson, which has been renamed _pallida_ and
_lutescens_, differs from the typical form in having the ground colour
much lighter and brighter on the upper side and ochreous on the under
side. It is shown on Plate 35. The outline of the wings of this form,
which occurs in June and July, is said to be less jagged, and this may
be so as a rule, but it certainly is not always the case. Possibly this
is "The Pale Comma" of Petiver.
There are two broods of this species in the year, but the first or
summer flight of butterflies seems to depend upon a favourable season,
as also does the second or autumnal brood, at least as regards the
number of butterflies representing it. The late butterflies hibernate
and reappear in April, or even March, of the following year. It has been
stated that all the specimens appearing in the spring are of the form
with plain under sides.
From eggs laid between April 27 and May 6, Miss E. Hutchinson, writing
in 1887, says caterpillars hatched between May 5 and 11. They were "fed"
on currant and nettle mixed, and were full grown from June 17th till the
23rd. The first butterfly emerged on June 26, and the last on July 3,
and all were very fine and of the pale summer variety. Two of the
insects paired on June 30, and the female commenced laying on July 1,
and continued doing so till the 10th, when there were 120 ova.
Unfortunately, a very cold spell of weather began on July 12, and more
than half the eggs perished. The butterflies resulting from the
remainder appeared during August, from the 17th to the 27th, but they
would not pair, probably because, although they had emerged at an early
date, they properly belonged to the autumnal flight.
In 1894 Mr. Frohawk reared 200 of these butterflies from 275 eggs laid
by a female between April 17 and June 1 of that year. The caterpillars
were supplied with nettle only. The first butterfly emerged on June 30,
and the last on August 2. Of the whole number forty-one were of the
light fulvous form, var. _hutchinsoni_, and all the others of the dark
or typical form. With few exceptions, the light-coloured butterflies
were the first to emerge, and the major portion of these during early
July, and before any examples of the dark form had come out.
The egg is at first green in colour with ribs whiter, but changes before
the caterpillar hatches out to yellowish. In confinement the female
butterflies deposit their eggs singly or in chains of three or four;
probably the latter is the usual method of laying the eggs under natural
conditions.
The caterpillar when full grown is black, netted with greyish; the
spines on the second to fifth rings inclusive are yellowish, and those
on the back of the other rings are white; the back from ring 6 to ring
10 inclusive is broadly white, marked with black, and the upper surface
of the other rings is more or less yellowish. The head is black, marked
with ochreous; the crown is lobed, and on each lobe is a short club-like
knob.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 32.
=Comma Butterfly.=
_Egg enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 33.
=White Admiral.=
1, 3 _male_; 2, 4 _female_.]
The chrysalis is brownish tinged with pink; the wing-cases and the rings
of the body are edged with blackish; there is a greyish line along the
back of the body and a brownish stripe along the spiracles; at the point
where the body joins the thorax there are some silvery or golden spots.
The figures of caterpillar and chrysalis on Plate 32 are after Buckler.
This butterfly seems to have disappeared from many localities in England
where it formerly flourished. About seventy or eighty years ago, for
example, it was plentiful in Epping Forest, in Herts, and in Dorset.
During the last half-century or so it has been common in certain parts
of many of the counties from Somerset to Durham and Cumberland, but
seems to have occurred only sparingly or singly in Norfolk, Suffolk,
Essex, Kent, Sussex, Hants, Wilts, and Devon. It still occurs now and
then in the Dover district, the most recent record being of one taken in
October, 1894; and it was reported from North Staffordshire in 1893.
Probably it is now almost entirely confined to favoured districts
embraced within the area represented by the counties of Herefordshire,
Worcestershire, and Monmouthshire, whence it may occasionally stray into
the adjoining counties, or even further afield.
This butterfly is often associated with hop gardens, but it is by no
means restricted to such places. The usual food-plants of the
caterpillars are hop (_Humulus lupulus_), nettle (_Urtica dioica_), and
currant (_Ribes_), but it is reported to eat gooseberry (_R.
grossularia_) and elm (_Ulmus_).
Abroad it has a very wide distribution in Europe, and extends through
Asia to Japan.
The Large Tortoiseshell (_Vanessa polychloros_).
Apart from its larger size, and somewhat different outline, this
butterfly may be known from the Small Tortoiseshell by its duller
colour, which is brownish-orange; on the fore wing there are, as a rule,
no blue crescents in the hind marginal border, but there is an extra
black spot placed between veins 1 and 2; on the hind wings a black spot
on the front area represents the black basal area seen on the Small
Tortoiseshell; and this is an important point of difference, although
the two species are not likely to be confused when both are well known.
The blue spots referred to as not usually present on the fore wings are
stated to occur in specimens emerging from chrysalids that have been
kept in a rather cold temperature for a certain length of time.
An aberration known as _testudo_ has the black spots of the fore wings
united, and forming blotches on the front and inner areas; the ground
colour of the fore wings is lighter, and the hind wings are blacker.
This form occurs at large on the Continent, but it is rare; it has also
been produced in the course of temperature experiments.
The only eggs of this butterfly that I have been able to obtain are the
batch figured on Plate 34. These were purplish with whitish ribs, but no
caterpillars hatched from them. Hellins, who squeezed a few eggs from a
freshly killed female, states that the colour apparently is a dull
green. The ribs vary from seven to nine in number.
The caterpillar in the adult stage is black, with a speckled dark
ochreous band traversed by a black central line on the back; the sides
are dappled with ochreous grey; the under parts are brown dappled with
darker, and merging into the black. The spines are dark ochreous tipped
with black, and the head is shiny black and bristly. (The figure is
after Buckler.)
These caterpillars live in large companies, often at the top of a
high elm tree, from which they may be dislodged by a well-aimed stick,
if this happens to be heavy enough to jar the branch when it reaches the
mark. Besides elm trees (_Ulmus_), they also may be found on willow and
sallow (_Salix_), aspen and poplar (_Populus_), white-beam (_Pyrus
aria_), and various fruit trees, especially cherry. Occasionally they
have been found on nettle, but the butterflies from these were small in
size. June is the best month for them.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 34.
=Large Tortoiseshell.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 35.
=Comma Butterfly.=
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 _male_; 7 _female (var. hutchinsoni)_.]
The chrysalis (Plate 34) is greyish, tinged with pink or reddish,
sprinkled with greenish, and shaded with brown and black; the back of
the body nearest the thorax is adorned with golden spots. I once
obtained a number of these chrysalids in July at Mill Hill; they were
found suspended by the tail from the edges of boards that formed a
rickety old cart-shed standing at one end of a field and beneath an elm
tree.
Although this butterfly is often common in the caterpillar state, the
perfect insect, which emerges in July and August, is more frequently
seen in the spring after hibernation than before that event. It probably
establishes itself in suitable quarters, in old trees, faggot stacks,
barns, etc., for its long rest during the winter, at an early period
after emerging from the chrysalis.
No doubt large numbers are destroyed by their great enemies, the
parasitic flies, chiefly perhaps the Hymenopterous _Apanteles_. An
observer states that from fifty chrysalids only one butterfly resulted,
all the others were found to be filled with parasites. In another case
of one hundred caterpillars, some collected when quite small, only one
was not "ichneumoned."
These butterflies, in common with most other Vanessids, do not pair
until the spring, but Barrett cites an instance of caterpillars, from
eggs laid by a female in early September, being reared until about 1/2
inch in length, when they apparently laid up for hibernation.
Lanes margined with trees, especially elms, or the verges of woods, are
the most likely places in which to find the butterfly. At one time and
another it has been observed in nearly every county of England and
Wales, and also in some parts of Scotland, but not in Ireland. It
appears to be more or less common in all counties around London,
extending to Somerset in the west; to Cambs, Norfolk, and Suffolk in the
east; and to Northampton and Warwick in the Midlands.
Abroad it is found throughout the greater part of Europe, Asia Minor,
and eastward to the Himalayas.
The Small Tortoiseshell (_Vanessa urticæ_).
This butterfly is one of the most ubiquitous as well as prettiest that
we have in this country. Its reddish-orange colour, marked with yellow
patches, black spots, and blue crescents, gives it a charming appearance
as it sits on a flower, or even on the ground, with wings fully expanded
to the sunlight. When the wings are closed up, however, the butterfly
seems to disappear, as the under side of the wings is quite sombre in
colour. The only bright spot on the under side is the yellowish central
area of the fore wing, and when the wings are held erect over the
insect's back this is not seen, but only the tips of these wings, which
are of the same dull colour as the hind wings.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.]
The ground colour is subject to modification as regards the shade of
red in the orange, and this may be intense or reduced to just a mere
tinge. Specimens have been taken on the wing in which the colour was
some shade of buff, and the same kind of colour change will sometimes
result from an over-long exposure to the action of ammonia. The black
markings vary in size, and sometimes those on the costal area are more
or less connected or even confluent (Fig. 22); a greater or lesser
amount of blackish suffusion on the hind wings (Fig. 23) generally
accompanies confluence of the costal spots on fore wings. The two black
spots between veins 2 and 4 occasionally enlarge and unite, or, on the
other hand, they decrease in size to vanishing point. Some specimens
have black scales between the second costal spot and the black spot on
the inner margin, and the space between these two spots may be entirely
covered with black and so form a central transverse band (var.
_polaris_). A modification of this form is shown on Plate 38, lower
figure. The yellow patch between the second and third costal black spots
is sometimes continued right across the wings to the yellow spot on the
inner margin, and in this respect resembles an Indian form of the
species named _ladakensis_. Dwarf specimens result, in most cases, when
the caterpillars have fed on hop (_Humulus_); at least, this is so in
confinement.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.]
The egg is at first green, but after a time becomes tinted with yellow
and the ribs stand out clear and transparent. The eggs are laid in a
cluster on the under side of a terminal leaf of a nettle plant in May
and again in July.
The adult caterpillar is yellowish, closely covered with black speckling
and short hairs; there is a black line down the centre of the back, and
this is bordered on each side by the clear ground colour. The spiracles
are black ringed with yellow, and there is a yellowish line above them.
The yellowish spines have black tips. Head black, hairy, and speckled
with yellow. Individuals of another company were almost entirely black,
the spines alone being tinged with yellow. These caterpillars are
gregarious from the time they hatch from the egg until about the last
stage.
The chrysalis is most often of some shade of grey and sometimes tinged
with pinkish. The points on the upper parts of the body are in some
examples metallic at the base, and occasionally the metallic lustre
spreads over the thorax and other parts as well.
There are two broods in the year, one in June, the other in August and
September. The latter brood, or at least some of the butterflies,
hibernate and reappear in the earliest sunny days of spring. They have
been seen on the wing as early as January and February (1896), and as
late as December.
The geographical range of this species extends through Europe and Asia
to Japan.
The Peacock (_Vanessa io_).
Unlike the last species referred to, this handsome butterfly is more
frequently seen in the autumn than after hibernation. It is not likely
to be mistaken for any other kind, for on its brownish-red velvety wings
it bears its own particular badge, the "peacock eyes." The marks on the
hind wings are more like the "eyes" on the tail feathers of the peacock
than are those on the fore wings, and the brownish-red on these wings is
confined to a large patch below the eye-mark, the remainder being
blackish, powdered with yellow scales on the basal area. Some specimens
have a blue spot below the "eye" on the hind wings, and the name
_cyanosticta_ has been proposed for this form by Raynor. The under side
is blackish, with a steely sheen, and crossed by irregular black lines;
the fore wings are tinged with brown on the inner area, and the central
dot and a series of dots beyond are ochreous; the hind wings have an
ochreous central dot.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 36.
=Large Tortoiseshell.=
1, 3 _male_; 2, 4 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 37.
=Small Tortoiseshell.=
_Eggs enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
In a state of nature the butterfly seems little given to variation. In
rearing from the caterpillar, however, some curious aberrations
occasionally crop up. In my early days of collecting I raised a number
of specimens from caterpillars selected from a large brood; every one of
these butterflies was of a dull brownish colour and had a greasy
semi-transparent appearance. I regret to add that I set them all at
liberty as they did not come up to my, then, standard of what a Peacock
butterfly should be. Now and then specimens are bred from collected
caterpillars, in which the eye spots are represented by a broad white
cloud-like suffusion on the fore wings, and by a pale roundish patch on
the hind wings; in conjunction with this the black costal spots of the
fore wings are all more or less united (see Plate 41). This extreme
variety is known in the vernacular as the "Blind Peacock," and as _ab.
belisaria_ in science; between it and the typical form there are all
kinds of intermediate modifications, and one of these is also shown on
the plate referred to. It may be interesting to remark that similar
varieties have been produced by subjecting the chrysalids at a
particular period to a very low temperature. Readers who may wish to
know more about "Temperature Experiments" are referred to a pamphlet on
the subject by Dr. Max Standfuss.
The egg, an enlarged figure of which will be found on Plate 39, is
olive green in colour, and has eight ribs, which start just above the
base and turn over the top. The eggs are laid in April or May in batches
on the upper part of nettle plants and under the young leaves.
The mature caterpillar is velvety black with white dots, and the
divisions between the rings of the body are well marked. The spines are
black and rather glossy, and besides this clothing, the body is also
provided with short hair which gives the velvety appearance. The head
and a plate on the next ring, also the legs, are shining black; the
prolegs are blackish, tipped with yellowish. When quite young they are
greenish-grey, and although hairy are without spines. The caterpillars
usually feed in companies in June and July on the common stinging
nettle. They have also been found on hop. Once or twice I have reared
caterpillars of this butterfly, and also those of the Small
Tortoiseshell and the Red Admiral, on hop, but the result has been
disappointing, as the specimens produced were always small in size. The
individuals for these experiments were obtained from nettle, and were
generally about half grown at the time they were put on the hop diet.
The chrysalis is figured on Plate 39. Its colour may be pale greenish,
greyish, pale brown, or brownish-grey, but is usually stippled with
blackish, especially the antennæ and the outline of the wing-cases. Some
of the points on the thorax and the ring, or rings, next to it have a
metallic lustre. Two chrysalids among those resulting from my hop-fed
caterpillars were more or less suffused with the metallic sheen. It does
not seem to be very clearly known where the caterpillars retire to for
pupation. Those that I have found have been under a tent-like
arrangement of the lower nettle leaves. In confinement, however, I have
noted that in a roomy cage they all go to one end of it and suspend
themselves from the roof; in a large flower-pot they crowd together in
much the same way.
The butterfly is on the wing in August and September, and frequents
all and every kind of ground where flowering plants, especially the
taller kinds, are available; clover fields are attractive, and so also
are orchards. It passes the winter in some hollow tree trunk, wood
stack, or possibly buildings of some kind, and in the spring it again
comes forth. March and April are the usual months for its reappearance,
but in 1900 it was seen flying over the snow on February 17. The time
last mentioned is probably an unusual one, but it is interesting to note
that a very similar observation was made by Harris, who in 1778 wrote in
his remarks on this butterfly, "I have seen them flying in February,
when the snow has been on the ground."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 38.
=Small Tortoiseshell.=
1, 2 _female_; 3, 5 _male_; 4 _var._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 39.
=Peacock Butterfly.=
_Egg enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
Usually the Peacock butterfly assumes the perfect state but once in the
year. There is, however, a record of half-grown caterpillars being found
in September, and that these produced butterflies in due course.
Although not always abundant, the butterfly is to be, or has been, found
in almost every part of the kingdom, excepting perhaps north of the
Caledonian Canal in Scotland. Around Bishop Auckland and in other parts
of the county of Durham, and also in Northumberland, it was common some
forty years ago, but it seems to be hardly ever seen there now. The same
applies to other northern localities where it was once plentiful. Its
distribution includes the whole of Europe, Asia Minor, Siberia,
Amurland, Corea, and Japan.
The Camberwell Beauty (_Vanessa antiopa_).
This is a large and handsome insect; its chocolate-brown wings are
bordered with ochreous speckled with black scales. The border is
variable in width, and this is occasionally so wide that it partly or
completely hides the blue spots, which in the ordinary form are placed
on a dark band just before the ochreous border. Such specimens are known
as var. _hygiæa_ or var. _lintneri_ (Plate 41); but in the former form
the yellow spots on the front edge of the fore wing are absent, and in
the latter variety these spots are sometimes united and form a blotch.
One authority states that the proportion of these extreme variations in
nature is about 1 in 500. The same form may be produced by subjecting
summer chrysalids to a temperature of about 110 deg. Fahr. during three
to five consecutive days, the chrysalids being placed in this heat four
times a day, and for a period of one hour each time. Dr. Max Standfuss,
who has made many experiments with this and other butterflies, states
that the result of such treatment as that adverted to, and as regards
this species, has been the production of as many as seven of the
varieties among forty specimens. It would seem probable, then, that the
varieties occurring in the open are from chrysalids that received a
greater amount of heat than those that produce the ordinary butterfly.
It has been stated that the borders are ochreous, but this only applies
to the specimens seen in the summer or early autumn. The butterflies
hibernate, and when they leave their winter retreats in the spring, the
colour of the border is considerably paler and often even white. For
some time it was considered that white borders were a peculiarity of the
British Camberwell Beauty and stamped it a genuine native. Probably
there are some who may still hold this opinion. An example of each form
is represented on Plate 43, the upper one was taken in the spring, and
the other in the autumn. Both belong to Mr. J.A. Clark, to whom I am
indebted for their loan.
The egg is at first deep ochreous yellow, changing through olive brown
to red brown, and a day or two before the larva hatches out becoming
leaden grey. The ribs, which are eight or nine in number, are most
prominent below the top, and disappear before the base is reached. The
eggs are laid on twigs or stems in small batches of 30 or 40 up to large
ones of 150 to 250.
The caterpillar has been described by Mr. Frohawk, who gives a full
account of the life-history of this species in the _Entomologist_ for
1902 and 1903. The following is an abridgement of his description.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 40.
=Peacock Butterfly.=
1, 3 _male_; 2, 4 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 41.
1, 3 =Peacock vars.=; 2 =Camberwell Beauty var.=]
The head is bilobed, having a deep notch on the crown, and of a dull
black colour, covered with black warts, each emitting a white hair. The
ground colour of the body is deep velvety black, and densely sprinkled
with pearl-white warts, each emitting a fine white hair, some being of
considerable length, and the majority slightly curved. Down the centre
of the back is a series of rich deep rust-red shield-like markings,
which commences on the third segment and terminates on the eleventh
segment. In the centre of the anal segment is a shining black dorsal
disc, much resembling the head; the legs are black and shining, and the
four pairs of prolegs are rust colour, with a polished band above the
feet, and the anal pair are black with pale reddish feet.
The caterpillars feed on sallow, willow, birch, and elm. They cover the
leaves of their food-plant with a silken web and live thereon in
companies, and do not separate until about to prepare for the chrysalis
state.
The chrysalis. The dorsal half of the head and wing points are black,
and the ventral half orange. Some of the points on the body are tipped
with orange. The whole surface is finely and irregularly furrowed and
granulated. The ground colour is pale buff, covered with fine fuscous
reticulations. The entire surface is clothed with a whitish-powdery
substance, giving a pale lilac or pinkish bloom to the chrysalis, which,
however, is easily rubbed off, the chrysalis then assuming a brownish
hue. Our figure of the chrysalis is after Holland.
Mr. Frohawk, who had female butterflies living under observation for
about three months, states that eggs were laid in April, May, and June.
Caterpillars from the first batch of 192 eggs hatched early in May,
nineteen days after they were laid. These were full grown by June 20,
and entered the chrysalis state soon after. The butterflies from these
commenced to emerge about the middle of July.
He says: "Both sallow and willow are equally suitable food for the
larvæ, and birch is readily eaten, even when willow has formed the sole
food until the last stage; they will feed on elm. Nettle was not
appreciated, and not touched by them during the last two or three
stages."
This butterfly appears to have first attracted the attention of the
earlier British entomologists about the middle of the eighteenth
century. Stephens, writing in 1827, remarks that "about sixty years
since it appeared in such prodigious numbers throughout the kingdom,
that the entomologists of that day gave it the appellation of the Grand
Surprise." Harris figured the butterfly under the name mentioned by
Stephens, and it has also been referred to by others as the "Willow
Beauty" and the "White Petticoat." Newman called it the
"White-bordered;" and from this, as well as from his description of the
butterfly, it would seem that he had not seen any specimen, caught in
Britain, with ochreous borders. Such specimens have most certainly been
captured in these islands, and occasionally in some numbers, as, for
example, in the autumns of 1872 and 1880. In the former year the
butterflies were seen or taken in a great many parts of the kingdom. The
single specimens that are taken now and then in the spring have
hibernated, and possibly they may have just come over from the
Continent. It is, however, equally possible that they may have arrived
in the country the previous autumn and passed the winter here. After the
invasion in the autumn of 1872, specimens were observed in January,
March, and April, 1873, at places widely apart. In 1881 single specimens
were taken in April in Surrey, Kent, and Brecknockshire; and in Essex
and at Hampstead in August. One or two specimens were taken in the
summer or autumn of the years 1884 to 1887 inclusive. In 1888 two were
captured in Essex in May; and in August, three in Kent, one each Surrey,
Hants, and Isle of Wight; and one in Kent in September. In 1889 a
specimen was taken in Surrey in April, one in Kent, and one in Cambs in
May; a few also in the autumn of that year. In 1891 a specimen was seen
at Balham in September. In 1893 one was taken in Epping Forest in April,
and one in South Devon in August. Single specimens were noted in
Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, Berwick, and the Isle of Skye, in September,
1896, and one at Epsom in December of that year. In 1897 one was
recorded from Yorks (August), and one from Norfolk (September); and in
May, 1898, one was taken at Norwich. One or two were observed in August
or September, 1898 and 1899; and in 1900 there seems to have been an
invasion, on a small scale, of this butterfly in August into some of the
eastern and southern counties of England. It extended westward to
Somersetshire, and northward to Roxburghshire. A few were taken in
various southern localities, including south-east and north London, in
August and September of 1901. A specimen occurred in the Isle of Wight
in September, 1903, and one in September, 1904; and in the latter year
one was captured in August at Raynes Park in Surrey. In 1905 one
butterfly was taken at Harrow, Middlesex, on July 27; one at Norwich on
August 26, and one in Suffolk on September 29.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 42.
=Camberwell Beauty.=
_Egg enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 43.
=Camberwell Beauty.=]
A full record of this fine butterfly in the British Islands would occupy
too much space, but the details given above will show something of its
erratic occurrence since 1880. It visits Ireland occasionally, but there
are no recent reports of its having been seen there.
Kane, in his _Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland_, mentions a
specimen taken in Co. Kerry, July 21, 1865; one from near Belfast [in
1875?]; and a third example seen by a friend "many years ago" near
Trillick, Co. Tyrone. The latter was "settled on the roadside, but not
captured, it being Sunday."
Distributed throughout the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere,
it is common in the Scandinavian Peninsula, whence probably our
specimens came; also in Germany. In some parts of the Continent it is,
however, almost as uncertain in its occurrence as in England.
The Painted Lady (_Pyrameis cardui_).
The usual colour of this butterfly is tawny-orange, but in some
specimens, especially fresh ones, there is a tinge of pink, or a rosy
flush; the markings are black, and there are some white spots towards
the tips of the fore wings. The black markings on the hind wings are
subject to variation in size, and sometimes they run one into the other.
Occasionally this union of the spots is accompanied by blackish
suffusion spreading more or less over the entire surface of the wings,
so that they appear blackish with tawny-orange patches or clouds. A
somewhat peculiar variety of the species, kindly lent by Mr. J.A. Clark,
is shown on Plate 49. Specimens of this form, or some modification of
it, have been obtained in England, but very rarely. Similar examples
have also been found in other parts of the globe. Fig. 24 represents
another interesting aberration of this butterfly.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 44.
=Painted Lady.=
_Caterpillar, chrysalis and protection-web._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 45.
=Painted Lady.=
1, 3, 4 _male_; 2, 5 _female_.]
The egg is at first green, and gradually becomes darker. It is
strongly ribbed from the base to the top, where the ribs become finer
and turn over towards the central hollow, at the bottom of which is the
micropyle. The fine cross-ribs form slight bosses at their junction with
the upright ribs. The eggs are laid on the leaves of the thistle, but
usually only one on a leaf.
The caterpillar is rather stout for its length. It has a dark greyish
head, which is covered with short bristles. The ground colour of the
body varies from greyish-green and ochreous-grey to blackish, and in the
darker colour is generally freckled with paler, sometimes yellowish.
There is a black line along the back, often edged with yellowish, and
sometimes much broken up; the lines on the sides are yellowish, but not
always distinct; the line below the yellow-ringed black spiracles,
however, is generally broad and yellowish in colour. Although thistles
(_Carduus_) appear to be the plants most frequently eaten by these
caterpillars, they have sometimes been found feeding upon mallow
(_Malva_), burdock (_Arctium_), viper's bugloss (_Echium_), and even
nettle (_Urtica_). They commence life by fixing up the edges of a leaf
so as to form a sort of pocket in which to conceal themselves, but as
they eat away the fleshy part of the leaf their retreat is easily
detected. The hiding-place, or dining-room, of a full-grown caterpillar
is shown on the plate; change to the chrysalis is often effected in a
somewhat similar structure.
The chrysalis is grey, ochreous-grey, or greenish; shaded or striped
with brownish. The raised points are burnished, and according to the way
light falls on them appear golden or silvery. This metallic effect is
also seen on other parts of the chrysalis, but chiefly on the back.
This butterfly is a notorious migrant. Its proper home is probably in
Northern Africa, and there it, at times, becomes so exceedingly numerous
that emigration is possibly a necessity in the interests of future
generations of the species. Whatever the cause of their leaving may be,
there is no doubt about the fact that the butterflies do quit the land
of their birth in great swarms. Almost any part of the world may become
the dumping-ground of this surplus stock. Our own islands are frequently
favoured in this way, and it is most likely that if this were not so,
this pretty butterfly would not be so common throughout Great Britain as
it is in some years. The natural habit of the species is to go on
reproducing its kind throughout the year, and those individuals that
arrive here most certainly endeavour to do this in their new home.
Unfortunately our climate is not, as a rule, a suitable one for those
caterpillars which hatch from the egg late in the season, and although
some may complete their growth, and even attain the perfect state, the
butterfly, so far as is known, does not hibernate as do the
Tortoiseshells and the Peacock. It may therefore be assumed that the
specimens seen in May or June of any year are not native born, but early
immigrants, and that it is from such aliens that the caterpillars and
butterflies observed later in the year are descended.
A curious habit of the Painted Lady, and also of the Red Admiral, is
that of continuing on the wing long after other kinds of butterfly have
retired to their resting-places for the night. Both have been seen
flying about at dusk, and have been recorded as attracted by light on
more than one occasion.
It has been noted that these butterflies, in early summer, usually occur
singly, and seem to become attached to some short stretch of ground,
over which they career to and fro with almost mechanical regularity.
They may be struck at with the net again and again, but do not desert
their beat. Even if caught and released again they appear to be
undismayed, and resume their interrupted patrol either at once or very
shortly afterwards. The later butterflies also are not afraid of the
net, and will repeatedly return to some favourite perch after being
struck at and missed.
Although the butterfly has been observed, sometimes in abundance, in
every part of the British Islands, even to the Shetlands, its occurrence
in any given locality is always uncertain. In some years it may be
fairly common in the early part of the year and very scarce later on.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 46.
=Red Admiral.=
_Eggs enlarged; young and adult caterpillars; chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 47.
=Red Admiral.=
1, 2 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.]
A North American species, _Pyrameis virginiensis_ (_huntera_), has been
once or twice, since 1828, reported as captured in England, but its
occurrence in this country can only be regarded as accidental.
The Red Admiral (_Pyrameis atalanta_).
The vivid contrast of black and scarlet in this butterfly will certainly
arrest the attention of even the least observant. But Nature, ever
excellent in her colour schemes, has toned down the glare of the scarlet
bands by the addition of some splashes and dots of white above them on
the fore wings, and some dots of black on those of the hind wings. Then,
by way of a finish, there is a delicate tracing of blue along the outer
margin of the fore wings, and a touch of the same colour at the angle of
the hind wings, the scalloped margins of all the wings being white
relieved by black points. On the under side the combination of colour on
the fore wings is much the same as above, but there is also some blue
tracing on the central area, and the tips harmonize with the hind wings,
which are mottled with various shades of brown, traversed by wavy black
lines, and have a more or less square pale spot on their front edges.
The ordinary variation in this butterfly consists of slight differences
in the tone of the red markings, which ranges from the normal scarlet in
one direction to almost crimson, and in the other to orange-yellow. The
bands on the fore wings may be broken up into two, or sometimes three,
distinct parts; and a specimen with the bands of hind wings marked with
yellow has been noted. There is often a white dot in the bands of the
fore wings, and this occurs in both sexes.
A somewhat rare variety is represented on Plate 49. It was reared from
one of three caterpillars casually picked up at Erith, and is now in Mr.
Sabine's collection. Somewhat similar specimens have been figured
elsewhere. One of these was bred from a caterpillar found at Ashton in
1867, and another was captured in Jersey in 1893. All these varieties
seem to be modifications of the form named _klemensiewiczi_ by Schille,
and which was figured by Esper as a variety of _atalanta_ in 1777. This
form has also resulted from temperature experiments on the chrysalis, of
the kind previously adverted to.
The egg when first laid is green in colour, but as the caterpillar
matures within the colour changes to greenish-black, with the ten ribs
showing up more or less transparent. The egg is laid in an upright
position on nettle leaves and young shoots, but not in batches like
those of the Tortoiseshell, etc.
The caterpillar varies in colour. Some are blackish freckled with white,
with two yellow stripes, sometimes broken up, on the sides; and the rows
of branched spines yellow, except those nearest the head, which are
black or tipped with black. Others are greyish, or grey marked with
yellowish-green. Others, again, are dark brownish, with the spines on
the back pale, and those on the sides black; or all the spines may be
shining black (Hellins).
The chrysalis is greyish, prettily ornamented with gold along the centre
of the back and on the thorax and head. The projections are also tinged
with metallic gloss. It is generally suspended under a canopy of nettle
leaves.
The caterpillars do not live in companies like those of the Peacock
and Tortoiseshells, but each individual constructs for itself a kind of
tent (see Plate 48) by spinning together the leaves of its food-plant,
the common stinging-nettle. Although the caterpillar is well concealed
in such hiding-places when newly made, it "gives itself away" when it
has partly consumed its home. It has been found on pellitory
(_Parietaria officinalis_), and also on hop (_Humulus_); but I have
found that caterpillars fed on hop alone always produce small
butterflies.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 48.
=Red Admiral.=
_Caterpillar's shelter-tent, and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 49.
1, 2 _Red Admiral var._
3, 4 _Painted Lady var._]
The caterpillars, which in a state of Nature are often badly
"ichneumoned," have been noted in England as early as the end of June
and as late as October. In the South of Europe they have been seen in
February.
The butterflies seen in spring and early summer, up to, say, the
beginning of July, are supposed to have wintered in this country, but
there is no positive evidence, that I can find, that the butterfly does
hibernate here. It is, however, most probable that they are arrivals
from abroad. The species is found throughout Europe and North Africa,
Northern Asia, and North America, and it may be suspected of migration,
although there is, perhaps, not such conclusive evidence on this point
as in the case of its cousin, the Painted Lady.
Anyway, unless we admit immigration, it seems difficult to understand
why this butterfly should suddenly become common in some British
localities from which it has been almost or quite absent for several
years. Again, we rarely hear of butterflies moving about at night, but
the Red Admiral, as well as the Painted Lady, are known to do this. If
it does hibernate in this country it is very late in taking up winter
quarters, as it is seen on the wing at the end of October, and sometimes
even in November; it has also been known to emerge from the chrysalis in
the latter month. It does not appear in the spring with other
hibernating species, and is rarely seen before the end of May, but June
seems to be about the normal time.
In the autumn it is fond of making excursions into the flower garden
and the orchard, where it takes toll from flower and fruit, an over-ripe
pear or plum being its special weakness. The blossoms of ivy, hop,
thistle, teazle, etc., are attractive, but a tree-stem that has been
bored by the caterpillar of the goat moth will be visited by nearly
every Red Admiral in the district. One observer mentions that he once
saw quite thirty of these butterflies gathered around one wounded birch
tree on Wimbledon Common. There was not room for all to imbibe at the
same time, but those unable to satisfy their desire at the moment were
content to sit around and await a favourable opportunity of joining in
the feast. The seductive fluid obtained from such trees is evidently
more potent than the nectar from flowers, as under its influence the
insect is so listless that it may be taken up between the finger and
thumb.
Its range extends throughout the British Islands, and seems to be very
similar to that of the Painted Lady.
The Silver-washed Fritillary (_Argynnis paphia_).
The wings of this fine butterfly are fulvous, with the veins and spots
black; the spots on the hind wings are band-like, and the central spots
on the fore wings are sometimes connected. The female is paler than the
male, and is without the heavy black scales (_androconia_) on veins 1,
2, and 3; the basal third of the fore wing, and a larger area of the
hind wing, tinged with greenish. The form of the female with all the
wings greenish is the var. _valesina_ (Plate 52), and between this and
the type there are various intergrades, one of which is shown on the
plate. Specimens with white spots on the fore wings, and chiefly in the
males, are sometimes not uncommon in the New Forest, as, for instance,
in the year 1893, when quite a large number were secured. Very much more
rarely white spots occur on all the wings (Plate 57, Fig. 1). In a very
remarkable male specimen, taken in the New Forest in 1881, the central
area of all four wings is black, and the veins beyond are broadly edged
with the same colour. A curious female aberration has the central black
spots much reduced or absent, whilst those on the outer margin are
united, and form elongate blotches between the veins, the upper one
being wedge-shaped. Aberrations of the _valesina_ form, similar to that
figured on Plate 57, Fig. 2, and Fig. 25 on next page, are not often met
with; the ground colour is greenish, but much suffused and clouded with
black. Now and then gynandrous specimens are obtained, the one side
normal male and the other side typical female, or var. _valesina_.
The egg when newly laid, in July, is whitish tinged with green, ribbed,
and cross-furrowed, the alternate ribs not extending to the top. As the
caterpillar matures, the egg-shell appears blackish and the ribs hoary.
The caterpillar when full grown is velvety black with two bright yellow
lines along the back; the spines are of a reddish-ochreous colour with
the extreme tips and branches black. There are only two on the first
ring, and these are inclined forward over the head. The chrysalis is of
a pale ochreous colour, streaked and mottled with brownish; the hollow
part of the back has a brilliant golden sheen, and the points on the
rest of the body are gold tipped. Suspended by the anal hooks to a
silken pad spun on a twig, rock, or other object in the vicinity of its
feeding-place, it is capable of much activity in the way of wriggling
when touched, and displays the beauty of its metallic adornment to the
greatest advantage when so engaged.
The caterpillar hatches in August, and after eating its egg-shell and
nibbling a leaf or two of dog-violet (_Viola canina_), goes into winter
quarters whilst in its second skin, and consequently very small; the
spines, which are such an imposing feature of the adult caterpillar,
have not yet appeared. In April, after feeding again, it moults the
second time, and the spines are then disclosed.
Sometimes caterpillars continue to feed in the autumn instead of
hibernating. This, at least, has happened to Mr. Frohawk on two
occasions, notably in 1893, when he had several individuals of a brood,
from eggs laid by a female of the _valesina_ form, that departed from
the usual custom of their kind by feeding and growing until they
eventually passed through all the stages and emerged perfect butterflies
in September and October of that year. Something similar occurred in a
brood that he was rearing in the autumn of 1895, but on this occasion
only one caterpillar continued to feed beyond the normal time.
The English name by which we now know this, the largest of the six
British Argynnids, seems to have been given to it by Moses Harris in
1778. Sixty years or so before that date it was called the "Greater
Silver-streaked Fritillary." Fortunately, in this case, as in others
where the vulgar tongue is entomologically concerned, the law of
priority does not apply, so that the name Silver-washed, which so well
expresses the underside ornamentation, may be retained.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.
=Aberration of var. valesina.=]
The butterfly is probably to be found in most of the Southern English
and Welsh counties, especially where there are extensive woods. In North
Devon, however, it occurs in places where there is not much in the way
of woodland. It is abundant in the New Forest, and also in some parts of
Ireland. Although it has been observed as far north as the Clyde, it is
scarce in North England and Scotland. The _valesina_ form is to be seen,
in July and August, in the New Forest every year, and sometimes in
numbers. This variety has been reported from Kent, Sussex, Devon, and
Dorset; also from "near Reading" and "the border of Hertfordshire."
[Illustration: _Pl._ 50.
=Silver-washed Fritillary.=
1, 3 _male_; 2, 4, 5 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 51.
=Silver-washed Fritillary.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
Abroad, the typical form is distributed through Europe and Asia to
China, Corea, and Japan. The _valesina_ variety is uncommon in Northern
Europe, but in some parts of China it seems to be the dominant form.
The High Brown Fritillary (_Argynnis adippe_).
Bright fulvous with black spots and veins. The female is not so bright
in tint as the male, and is without the thick patch of scales on veins 2
and 3. The series of black spots parallel with the outer margin of the
fore wing are normally six in number, but the third is usually small and
sometimes absent, whilst the fourth and fifth are often much larger than
others of the series. In the corresponding row on the hind wing the
first and third spots are sometimes wanting. On the under side the
silvery spots are generally as seen in Plate 54, but they are subject to
modification, and not infrequently are absent from the tips of the fore
wings, and sometimes from the outer margin of the hind wings also. A
very rare aberration has the central area of the fore wings black on the
upper and under sides; the hind wings are black above with fulvous
lunules on the outer margin, and the silvery spots on the under side are
reduced to five, and these are confined to the basal area. In another
remarkable form the hind wings above are similar to the last-mentioned
variety, but on the under side the silvery spots on the basal half are
united and form a large patch, which is divided by the nervures, and
there are no silvery spots on the outer margin. The variety shown on
Plate 57 has the under side of the hind wings buff in colour, the
markings on the outer margin are reddish-brown with a few silvery scales
towards the anal angle, and the basal silvery spots are confluent,
agreeing in the latter character with the preceding variety, and also
with var. _charlotta_ of the next species. In var. _cleodoxa_ the spots
on the under side are yellowish instead of silvery, but the red spots on
the outer area are sometimes silver centred; this form is only rarely
found in Britain. Possibly some of the reputed British examples of _A.
niobe_ may have been referable to _cleodoxa_, but what appears to be
more certain is that the actual occurrence of _niobe_ in England is
exceedingly doubtful.
The egg when newly laid is yellowish-green; it afterwards turns pink,
and then rosy red; during the winter it changes to greyish or
bluish-green. As a rule, the eggs are laid at the end of July, and the
caterpillars do not hatch until the following March or early in April.
In 1893, however, Mr. Frohawk had a few caterpillars hatch out between
the middle of August and September 20, from a number of eggs laid at the
end of June. One of these, fed up, pupated on October 13, and the
butterfly emerged on November 21. The majority of the eggs remained over
to the following spring. According to an observation made by Mr. W.H.B.
Fletcher, the caterpillar is fully formed soon after the egg is laid,
but remains within the shell all the winter.
The caterpillar, which feeds upon dog-violet, and also the sweet violet,
is figured on Plate 53. The head is pinkish-brown, covered with short
greyish bristles. Body black, incrusted with ochreous grey on the sides,
and on the back marked with ochreous grey on the hinder half of each
ring; dorsal line white. The branched spines are pinkish-brown.
The chrysalis is deep brown, freckled with paler; points along the
back of the body brilliant greenish-golden, as also are the four points
on the thorax. The wing-cases are rather paler. The foregoing brief
description was taken on July 10, and the butterfly emerged five days
afterwards.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 52.
=Greenish Silver-washed Fritillary.=
_Var. valesina, female._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 53.
=High Brown Fritillary.=
_Eggs enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
Barrett says, "Apparently found in most of the larger woods of the
southern counties, from Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk on the east,
to Devonshire, Glamorganshire, and Merionethshire on the west; also in
similar situations through the north-western counties and the more
sheltered woods of the Midlands to Herefordshire, Shropshire,
Derbyshire, and Lincolnshire. Found in several localities in Yorkshire,
in the favoured Grange and Silverdale districts of Lancashire, and near
Lake Windermere in Westmoreland, its extreme northern boundary being
reached in Cumberland."
It is widely distributed over Europe, and its range extends into Asia
Minor and Amurland. In China and Japan it is represented by various
forms, the commonest of which is var. _locuples_.
The Dark Green Fritillary (_Argynnis aglaia_).
This butterfly is bright fulvous in the male, paler in the female; the
latter sex is blackish towards the base, and has paler spots on the
outer margin. The black marking is pretty much as in the previous
species, but the male has the black scales (_androconia_) on veins 1 and
2, and these are less conspicuous. The basal two-thirds of the hind
wings is greenish on the under side. The silvery spots are arranged in
fairly regular series, and there are no silvery centred red spots
between the two outer series. The blackish crescents on the outer margin
of the fore wings are edged with silver, but this is chiefly towards the
tips of the wings.
There is some variation in the tone of the ground colour, lighter or
darker than normal in both sexes; the female seems to be the most
variable in this respect, and sometimes, especially in the north,
examples of this sex are much suffused with blackish or greenish-black.
Occasionally the colour is quite pale, as shown in the middle figure on
Plate 61, and sometimes it is clouded with greyish. The black spots are
apt to run together, and so form bands and blotches. An example of this
kind of aberration is shown on the plate.
Var. _charlotta_ differs very little from the type on the upper side,
but on the under side of the hind wings the basal silvery spots are
united, as shown in the upper reverse side figure on the plate. This
variety was known to the entomologist of Haworth's time as the "Queen of
England Fritillary," and there is a figure of it in Sowerby's "British
Miscellany," which was published in 1806.
The egg is yellowish when first laid, and a day or two afterwards
violet-brown rings appear above the base and the apical half. It is
ribbed and finely cross-ribbed, and some of the ribs are continued to
the truncate and slightly depressed top.
When full grown the caterpillar is shining purplish-grey, thickly mixed
with velvety black; the grey is most in evidence between the rings and
along the lower part of the sides. There is a yellow stripe along the
middle of the back, and this has a central black line of irregular
width; along the lower part of the sides there is a row of reddish
spots, and these are connected by a fine yellowish line. The black
spines are branched, and, except on the first three rings, which have
only two rows, arranged in three rows on each side of the yellow stripe.
The head is glossy black, and, like the body, hairy. (_Adapted from
Buckler._)
It feeds in May and June on dog-violet, and has been reared on garden
pansy. The chrysalis has the head, thorax, and wing-cases black, very
glossy, and marked with pale brownish; the body is pale brownish, and
the points black. Suspended in a tent-like arrangement of leaves.
Moorlands, downs, sea-cliffs, and flowery slopes are the kind of
situations most to the fancy of this agile butterfly. It is on the wing
in July and August, and is much more easily seen than caught. However,
it is rather fond of perching on the taller kinds of thistles, and is
then not difficult to capture, if quietly approached. It is common
locally in most of the English and Welsh counties. In Ireland it seems
to be chiefly attached to the coast, and is plentiful in some of its
localities. In Scotland it occurs in many suitable districts, but Skye
is the only one of the isles from which it has been reported. Its
distribution extends through Europe and Asia to Amurland, China, and
Japan.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 54.
=High Brown Fritillary.=
1, 4, 5 _male_; 2, 3 _female_.]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 55.
=Dark Green Fritillary.=
_Eggs, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar and chrysalis._]
The Queen of Spain Fritillary (_Argynnis lathonia_).
In shape and in general appearance this butterfly is not unlike a small
example of the Silver-washed Fritillary; the large silvery, or sometimes
pearly, blotches on the under side of the hind wings at once reveal its
higher British rank. When flying it has a curious resemblance to the
Wall, and sometimes it has been taken when the captor supposed that he
was netting a specimen of that plebeian butterfly. The black markings on
the upper side vary somewhat in size, and occasionally those on the
front area, or those on the inner area of the fore wings, are more or
less confluent; very rarely the wings are suffused with a steely-blue or
bronze colour. The specimens occurring in this country do not, however,
exhibit so much variation as has been observed in this butterfly abroad.
I have not seen any of the early stages. The figures of the caterpillar
and the chrysalis (Plate 58) are after Hübner, and the following
descriptions of the egg and other stages are adapted from the detailed
life-history of the species by Mr. Frohawk, published in the
_Entomologist_ for 1903:--
"The egg is one-fortieth of an inch high, of a rather straight-sided
conical form, widest at the base, where it is smooth and rounded off at
the edge. There are about forty longitudinal keels, irregularly formed
and of different lengths, some not reaching halfway up the side, and
others running the entire length from base to crown, where they
terminate abruptly, and form a series of triangular peaks round the
summit surrounding the granulated micropyle; the spaces between the
keels are finely ribbed transversely. When first laid it is of a very
pale lemon-yellow colour, inclining to ochreous, appearing almost white
in certain lights; the colour gradually deepens, becoming yellower with
a greenish tinge. On the fifth day the crown of the egg assumes a dull
grey, finally changing to a lilac-grey."
The female butterfly, when placed in the sunshine, laid about a hundred
eggs during the day--August 7. These were mostly placed singly on the
leaves or other parts of a plant of heart's-ease (_Viola tricolor_), but
some were laid on the gauze cover of the cage. All the caterpillars
hatched out on August 14.
The caterpillar when full grown is velvety black, densely sprinkled with
tiny white dots, each bearing a black bristle; there are six rows of
spines, which are of various shades of brown with yellowish bases and
shining black bristles; along the back there are two white streaks on
the fore part of each ring, and white warts emitting black bristles on
the hind part. The head is amber-coloured above, but black below, and is
covered with bristles like the body.
The chrysalis has the head, thorax, and wing-cases shining olive-brown;
the body chequered and speckled with olive-brown, ochreous, black, and
white. The spiracles are black and conspicuous, and the points on the
body are amber-coloured. The thorax and first two body rings have
brilliant burnished silver-gilt ornamentation.
The butterflies commenced to emerge on September 25, and between that
date and the 28th ten came out. Although he succeeded in rearing almost
all the caterpillars to the chrysalis, no less than eighty died in this
stage, and he states that "there is no doubt that the late autumn
English climate is quite unsuited for the existence of this species," as
well as for others that come to us from abroad.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 56.
1, 2, 3 _Pearl-bordered Fritillary vars._
4, 5 _Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary vars._
6, 7 _Heath Fritillary vars._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 57.
1, 2 _Silver-washed Fritillary vars._
3 _High Brown Fritillary var._]
Moses Harris, in 1775, gave this butterfly the name "Queen of Spain;" it
had been known to English entomologists from 1710 until then as the
"Lesser Silver-spotted Fritillary." Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire seems to
have been the only British locality in which it had been observed until
1795, when Lewin mentions a specimen taken in a Borough (London) garden
in August. All the Cambridge specimens had been captured in the month of
May. Stephens, writing in 1828 ("Ill. Brit. Ent. Haust.," i. 37), says--
"Previously to the year 1818, few cabinets possessed even a single
specimen; and from the very few known instances of its capture (six
only, according to Mr. Haworth), there is reason to believe that some of
the specimens at that time [1803] placed in collections were foreign;
but in the above remarkable year for the appearance of certain
papilionaceous insects, this species occurred simultaneously in several,
and very distant, parts, having been taken in August by Mr. Haworth at
Halvergate, in Norfolk; by Mr. Vigors in Battersea-fields; by myself at
Dover, and, during that and the following month, near Colchester;
Birchwood, Kent; and Hertford in plenty by others. At the latter place I
saw several specimens, but was not fortunate enough to secure any."
The butterfly has been taken, chiefly odd specimens, in many of the
eastern and southern counties, from Norfolk to Dover, and almost always
in the autumn. It has also occurred at Scarborough (1868), and at least
once in Ireland (1864).
The neighbourhood of Dover seems to have always been the most favoured
locality, and no less than twenty-five specimens were captured there in
1882. Several examples were also obtained at Dover in 1883, and a single
specimen in other parts of Kent in 1884 and 1885. The most recent
records are--Brighton, one example in 1892; Clifton, one in July, 1898;
Christchurch, one in August, 1899; Poole, one in 1901. There does not
seem to be any authentic record of the caterpillar having been observed
in Kent or any other British locality in which the butterfly has been
noted. This may possibly be due to its love of concealment.
There are two flights of the butterfly in the year, one in the spring
and the other in the autumn.
Females from the Continent may arrive on our east or south coasts in
May, and deposit eggs from which the autumn butterflies are developed.
Some of these might wander farther inland, but eggs would almost
certainly be laid on the spot. The fate of the caterpillars from
autumnal eggs would depend on the winter; if mild they, or at least some
of them, might manage to get through and attain the butterfly state
about May, but their doing so is rather doubtful.
The species is widely distributed and often common on the Continent, and
its range extends to Persia, Northern Asia, and North Africa. In Eastern
Asia it is represented by var. _isoea_.
The Pearl-bordered Fritillary (_Argynnis euphrosyne_).
Some authors consider the smaller Fritillaries to be generically
separable from the larger kinds, and place this and the next species in
the genus _Brenthis_, whilst the Queen of Spain is referred to the genus
_Issoria_, Hübner. Here, however, they are retained in _Argynnis_.
In colour and in the marking of the upper side the Pearl-bordered is
very like the High Brown, but, as will be seen from the figures, it is
much smaller in size, and the ornamentation on the under side is
different. There is one silvery spot at the base of the hind wings, a
larger one about the middle of the wings, and a row of spots on the
outer margin. The female is rather larger than the male, and darker at
the bases of the wings.
[Illustration: _Pl. 58._
=Queen of Spain Fritillary.=
_Caterpillar and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 59.
=Dark Green Fritillary.=
1, 4 _male_; 2, 3, 5 _female_.]
Variation on the upper side consists of more or less black suffusion on
the basal or general area of the wings, and an increase in the size of
the black spots, resulting in the formation of bands or patches; or the
black spots may be much reduced in size, and some of them entirely
absent. Some of the more striking kinds of aberration, both above and
below, are represented on Plate 56, Figs. 1-3, and Plate 65, Figs. 1-4.
The usual colour is sometimes replaced by buff, and this may be
yellowish or whitish in tint; occasionally white spots appear on the
wings. The life-history of this butterfly is depicted on Plate 60.
The egg, which is laid in May or June, is whitish-green at first, and
afterwards turns brownish. It is distinctly ribbed, and the top is
somewhat rounded and hollowed in the centre.
The full-grown caterpillar is black, and the numerous minute hairs with
which it is clothed give it a velvety appearance. There is a
greyish-edged black line down the middle of the back, and the spines on
each side of this are whitish or yellowish, with the tips and the
branches black; all the other spines are black. A greyish stripe runs
along the lower part of the sides, and this is traversed from the fourth
to the last ring by a blackish line. Head black, shining, downy, and
slightly notched on the crown. The natural food-plant is dog-violet
(_Viola canina_), but the caterpillar will also eat garden pansy, and
has been known to nibble a leaf of primrose. It retires for hibernation
when quite small, and recommences to feed in March.
The chrysalis is brownish, with the raised parts of the thorax and head
greyish; the body is paler brown, and the points thereon are blackish.
This butterfly seems to be fairly common in woods throughout England
and Wales, and it is often abundant in some of the more extensive
woodlands, especially in the southern counties. It used to be plentiful
in Northumberland and Durham, but has become scarcer in those counties,
and in some others in the north of England. It occurs in Scotland, and
is not uncommon in Sutherlandshire, but Kane does not include it in his
Irish catalogue.
Clearings in woods are generally the best places in which to find this
pretty little Fritillary; but it also seems to have a fondness for the
margins of brooks and rills, where these run through or by the sides of
woods. Usually it is on the wing in May or June, but sometimes, in early
seasons, it puts in an appearance at the end of April. To entomologists
of a bygone age it was known as the "April Fritillary," but this name
would hardly be a suitable one for it in the present day. Very rarely a
few specimens have been taken in August; and there is at least one
record of caterpillars that had ceased feeding in July, in the usual
way, and were apparently settled down for hibernation, suddenly arousing
from their slumbers, and completing their growth in August.
Abroad, the species is distributed throughout Europe, except the extreme
south, and extends into Armenia, Northern Asia Minor, the Altai, and
Amurland. It is stated to be double-brooded on the Continent.
The Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (_Argynnis selene_).
This butterfly differs from the last one referred to in having a rather
deeper colour on the upper side, and heavier black markings on the outer
margin of the hind wings. The female is slightly more orange in tint,
and has a series of pale spots on the outer margin of each wing. On the
under side the red markings are browner in tint, and there are more
silvery spots on the hind wings. Variation in colour and marking is
similar to that mentioned under the Pearl-bordered. On Plate 66 a white
spotted female and a specimen with the hind wings clouded with black are
represented. These are rather uncommon aberrations. The life-history of
this species is figured on Plate 62.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 60.
=Pearl-bordered Fritillary.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; partly grown caterpillar; chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 61.
=Dark Green Fritillary vars.=
1, 2, 4, 5 _male_; 3 _female_.]
The egg is at first greenish, then yellowish, and afterwards greyish,
and then becoming blackish towards the hollowed top. The ribs seem to be
eighteen or twenty in number; laid in June or July on plants of
dog-violet. On emerging from the egg the young caterpillar devours most
of the shell. It is then of a pale olive colour with brownish warts,
from each of which there is a pale and rather long jointed bristle; the
head is black. The full-grown caterpillar is smoky pink and
velvety-looking. There is a brownish line along the middle of the back.
The spines are "ochreous in colour, tinged with pink, and beset with
fine pointed black bristles." The upper ones are rather stouter than the
others, and the pair on the first ring, the only spines on this ring,
are rather more than twice the length of the others, and are directed
forward over the head, thus giving the appearance of a pair of horns;
the second and third rings have each four spines, which are rather finer
than those on the rest of the body, which are arranged in six rows. A
pale pinkish stripe runs along the lower part of the body; just above
the feet. Head black and notched on the crown (Buckler). The chrysalis
is brown on the thorax and the body; the wing-cases are more ochreous
and marked with black near the edge. There is a black V-mark on the
thorax, with a silvery spot on each side, one silvery spot on each side
of the head, and other metallic spots on the body near the thorax
(Buckler).
On the Continent there are two broods of the butterfly, and specimens
are occasionally seen in August in this country; one of these late
examples, taken by Mr. Barker in 1881, is shown on the plate (Fig. 6).
Sometimes one or two caterpillars of a brood in confinement will feed up
and attain the perfect state in August instead of settling down with
their companions for hibernation.
The butterfly in June and July frequents similar places to those
favoured by the Pearl-bordered, and its distribution in Britain is
somewhat similar, although it is a more local species. It seems,
however, to be commoner in Scotland than the Pearl-bordered, and has
been recorded at least once from Ireland.
Its range abroad extends farther east, as it is found in Corea.
The Heath Fritillary (_Melitæa athalia_).
The ground colour of this butterfly, sometimes called the
"Pearl-bordered Likeness" or "May Fritillary," is brownish-orange, and
the markings are black or blackish; the bases of the wings are clouded
with blackish, and the fringes are white checkered with black.
The ground colour varies in tint, and may be pale tawny or deep reddish.
The black markings are subject to modification in two directions; in one
leading up to almost complete disappearance from the central area, and
in the other they are much intensified and greatly obscure the ground
colour. Sometimes the whole of the wings, with the exception of a series
of orange spots on the outer area, are blackish. This form is known as
var. _navarina_. The left-hand figure at the bottom of Plate 68 shows an
aberration approaching this form, whilst the right-hand figure comes
close to var. _corythalia_. Specimens with all the wings thinly marked
with black, as in the fore wing of the variety last referred to, would
be referable to var. _obsoleta_.
According to Barrett, specimens from Essex have the ground colour on
the under side of the hind wing much yellower than are the same parts in
specimens from Sussex. I have not noticed this, but some Essex examples
that I have seen were much darker and more heavily marked with black on
the upper side, and especially on the hind wings, than any that I have
seen from other parts of England, except, perhaps, a few individuals
from North Devonshire. These Essex specimens reminded me very much of
_M. dictynna_, a Continental species, with which, it appears, the Heath
Fritillary was confounded by some of the old authors.
[Illustration: _Pl._ 62.
=Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.=
_Egg, natural size and enlarged; caterpillar (after Buckler),
and chrysalis._]
[Illustration: _Pl._ 63.
=Queen of Spain Fritillary.=
1, 2 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.]
There is a good deal of variation on the under side, but chiefly of a
minor character, and most often unconnected with variation on the upper
side. The following are more important varieties.
Var. _tessellata_, the Straw May Fritillary of Petiver, and figured by
him in 1717 and by Stephens in 1827, has the under side of the hind
wings entirely straw-coloured with black veins. There are three large
squarish yellow spots on the basal area, outlined in black; a yellow
central band, margined and traversed by black lines. On the outer margin
there is a series of yellow crescents, outlined in black.
Var. _eos_ of Haworth (the Dark Underwing Fritillary) is the _pyronia_
of Hübner and Stephens, and a modification of var. _corythalia_, Hübn.
On the under side the fore wings are fulvous, and have two black spots
in the discal cell, and a black band, intersected by the veins, on the
central area. On the hind wings the basal third is fulvous with eight
black spots; the central area is whitish intersected by the black veins.
On the yellow-tinged whitish outer area there is a series of
black-margined orange crescents; a row of black lunules precedes a thin
black line on the outer margin.
The egg is upright, ribbed, and pale whitish-green in colour. As the
caterpillar matures the shell becomes greyish. The eggs were laid in a
cluster on a leaf of cow-wheat (_Melampyrum pratense_) as shown in the
figure, but failed to hatch.
The full-grown caterpillar is black on the back, becoming olive tinged
on the sides and olive-brown underneath; the divisions between the rings
are olive. The whole of the upper surface, except a line along the
middle of the back, is dotted with white, and there are eleven
white-tipped orange or yellowish spines on each ring, except the last
two and the three nearest the head; the first and the last each have
four spines, the third has eight, and the second and the eleventh have
each ten spines. The head is black marked with white, and is clothed
with short, stiff, black hair or bristles (Buckler). The chrysalis is
pale whitish-ochreous, the markings on the wing-cases are black, and
those on the other parts are orange and black.
Cow-wheat appears to be the chief food of the caterpillar, but it will
also eat, and has been found on, foxglove (_Digitalis purpurea_) and
woodsage (_Teucrium scorodonia_). Plantain is also said to be a
food-plant, but Buckler says that his caterpillars would not eat this.
The caterpillars are rather shy in their habits, and, except when the
sun is shining brightly, require to be carefully looked for among their
food-plant and the dead leaves, etc., around. They hatch from the egg in
July, feed for a few weeks, and then hibernate in companies under a web.
In April and May they become active again, feed up quickly, and appear
as butterflies in June and early July.
The species is, unfortunately, becoming scarcer in England than it used
to be. It seems quite to have disappeared from some of the districts in
which it was formerly common. No doubt in one or two of its old and
well-known localities the butterflies, and perhaps the caterpillars
also, have been too freely taken, and its natural enemies have probably
completed the business. Clearings in woods or heathy borders of woods
are the kind of places this species appear to prefer. Its headquarters
in any given locality seems to be changed from time to time, so that the
exact spot where it will occur next year cannot be predicted from this
year's observations.
The butterfly seems to be unknown in Scotland, and has only been
recorded from Killarney in Ireland. In England it is to be found in the
counties of Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Devonshire.
Its geographical distribution extends through Europe into Asia Minor,
East Siberia, and Northern Amurland. In Corea and Japan it is
represented by a larger form known as var. _niphona_.
The Glanville Fritillary (_Melitæa cinxia_).
This butterfly is bright brownish-orange with black markings, as shown
on Plate 71. The under side of the hind wings and the tips of the fore
wings are very pale yellowish; the former with two black-margined
brownish-orange bands, and lines of black dots; the tip of the fore wing
is also dotted and marked with black. The female is slightly paler, and
the markings are often blurred.
There is variation in the black markings on the upper side. Sometimes
these are enlarged, but more often they are much reduced, and the
central one may be completely absent from all the wings
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/43713