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
[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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account