A curious habit of the Painted Lady, and also of the Red Admiral, is that of continuing on the wing long after other kinds of butterfly have retired to their resting-places for the night. Both have been seen flying about at dusk, and have been recorded as attracted by light on more than one occasion. It has been noted that these butterflies, in early summer, usually occur singly, and seem to become attached to some short stretch of ground, over which they career to and fro with almost mechanical regularity. They may be struck at with the net again and again, but do not desert their beat. Even if caught and released again they appear to be undismayed, and resume their interrupted patrol either at once or very shortly afterwards. The later butterflies also are not afraid of the net, and will repeatedly return to some favourite perch after being struck at and missed. Although the butterfly has been observed, sometimes in abundance, in every part of the British Islands, even to the Shetlands, its occurrence in any given locality is always uncertain. In some years it may be fairly common in the early part of the year and very scarce later on. [Illustration: _Pl._ 46. =Red Admiral.= _Eggs enlarged; young and adult caterpillars; chrysalis._] [Illustration: _Pl._ 47. =Red Admiral.= 1, 2 _male_; 3, 4 _female_.] A North American species, _Pyrameis virginiensis_ (_huntera_), has been once or twice, since 1828, reported as captured in England, but its occurrence in this country can only be regarded as accidental. The Red Admiral (_Pyrameis atalanta_). The vivid contrast of black and scarlet in this butterfly will certainly arrest the attention of even the least observant. But Nature, ever excellent in her colour schemes, has toned down the glare of the scarlet bands by the addition of some splashes and dots of white above them on the fore wings, and some dots of black on those of the hind wings. Then, by way of a finish, there is a delicate tracing of blue along the outer margin of the fore wings, and a touch of the same colour at the angle of the hind wings, the scalloped margins of all the wings being white relieved by black points. On the under side the combination of colour on the fore wings is much the same as above, but there is also some blue tracing on the central area, and the tips harmonize with the hind wings, which are mottled with various shades of brown, traversed by wavy black lines, and have a more or less square pale spot on their front edges. The ordinary variation in this butterfly consists of slight differences in the tone of the red markings, which ranges from the normal scarlet in one direction to almost crimson, and in the other to orange-yellow. The bands on the fore wings may be broken up into two, or sometimes three, distinct parts; and a specimen with the bands of hind wings marked with yellow has been noted. There is often a white dot in the bands of the fore wings, and this occurs in both sexes.