The _caterpillar_, which feeds on the common grasses, is of a bright apple-green colour, with three darker green stripes bordered with a whitish tint, the largest stripe being that on the back. The _butterfly_ abounds all over the country, from June till September. * * * * * {112} THE WHITE ADMIRAL. (_Limenitis Sybilla._) (Plate VII. fig. 1.) This elegant butterfly is one of those in which the choicest ornamentation is bestowed upon the _under_ surface, to the comparative neglect of the upper. Above, a dark sepia-brown tint, banded and spotted with white, is all that greets the eye; but beneath there is a piece of the most exquisitely harmonious colouring, though the hues that compose it are still of a subdued and secondary nature;--silvery blue, and golden brown blended with a cooler brown and black, are placed in vivacious contrast with bands and spots of pure silvery white. The _caterpillar_ (Plate I. fig. 4), which feeds on the Honeysuckle, is a pretty and singular looking creature; general colour bright green, with reddish branched spines, and white and brown side-stripes. The _chrysalis_ (Plate I. fig. 21) is also a very beautiful and curious object, very knobby and angular, of dark green general colour, and ornamented with _bright silver_ spots and stripes. The _butterfly_ is found from the end of June till the end of July; its favourite resorts being oak-woods in the southern counties. {113} Localities:--Colchester; Epping; Hartley Wood, near St. Osyth, Essex; near Rye, and in other parts of Sussex; at several places in Kent; near Winchester; and in Black Park, where Dr. Allchin informs me he took a large number in one day. The superlatively graceful motions of this butterfly on the wing, as it comes floating and sailing through the wood openings, have long been celebrated; and the story has been often quoted from Haworth, of the old fly-fancier, who, long after he had become too feeble and stiff-jointed to pursue or net a butterfly, used to go and sit on a stile which commanded a well-known resort of his favourite _Sybilla_, and there, for hours together, would he feast his eyes on the sight of her inimitably elegant evolutions. * * * * * THE PURPLE EMPEROR. (_Apatura Iris._) (Plate VII. fig. 2.) By universal suffrage, the place of highest rank among the butterflies of Britain has been accorded to this splendid insect, who merits his imperial title by reason of his robe of royal purple, the lofty throne he assumes, and the boldness and elevation of his flight. A glimpse of this august personage on the wing is enough to fire the collector with enthusiastic ambition {114} for his capture; sometimes a matter of the easiest accomplishment, sometimes just as hopelessly impossible, according to his majesty's humour of the moment.