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
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_).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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