This butterfly is not known to occur in either Scotland or Ireland, and is by no means common in England. Its chief localities are in the midland and eastern counties. The perfect insect generally appears about the middle of July, and after spending a month or six weeks on the wing, seeks out a sheltered spot in which to spend the winter. In the spring--April or May--it again takes to flight, and during the latter month the females are busily engaged in the deposition of their eggs. The caterpillar feeds on the two species of elm (_Ulmus campestris_ and _U. montana_), willow (_Salix alba_), sallow (_S. Caprea_), osier (_S. viminalis_), aspen (_Populus tremula_), and certain fruit trees; and is full grown about midsummer. It is of a tawny grey colour, with a black stripe on each side, and is covered with very small wart-like projections, and the spines are branched. The chrysalis is of a dull pinkish colour, and may be found on tree trunks, palings, and walls, about the end of June, suspended from a silken carpet by means of its anal hooks. _The Small Tortoiseshell_ (_Vanessa Urticae_) _Urticae_ (Plate III, fig. 9) may be distinguished from _Polychloros_ by the _absence_ of the black spot in the anal angle of the fore wings of the latter. It has also a white spot near the tip of each fore wing-between the black border and the first black costal patch. The whole of the base of the hind wing is also black, and the ground colour is decidedly brighter. It is one of the commonest of all British butterflies, and is to be found more or less abundantly in nearly all parts of the British Isles. The hybernated perfect insects come out early in the spring, and lay their eggs in close irregular clusters on nettles (_Urtica dioica_ and _U. urens_). Shortly after the gregarious caterpillars may be found on these plants in dense masses. They change to the chrysalis state about the end of May, and from this time there is a continuous succession of butterflies till the end of the summer. The later specimens, which do not emerge till September or October, spend only a short time on the wing, and then hybernate till the spring, giving rise to the first brood of the following season. The caterpillar of this species is black above and greyish beneath. It is thickly covered with yellow dots, which are so close together on the back as to form two yellowish stripes, separated only by a fine black line. There are also two yellowish stripes along each side; and the body, as with the rest of this genus, is spiny, the spines in this case being black or very dark green. The chrysalis is brownish, and spotted with burnished gold in variable quantity--sometimes so plentifully as to cover the greater part of the surface. _The Peacock_ (_Vanessa Io_)