The Butterflies of the British IslesSouth, Richard
Science
The Butterflies of the British Isles
South, Richard
Butterflies -- Great Britain; Butterflies -- Great Britain -- Identification; Lepidoptera -- Great Britain
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.
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