126 FAN-WINGED BUTTERFLIES. 



England in woods and meadows, heaths and downs during 

 the months of June and July. Their caterpillars, which are 

 spiny, feed mostly on the dog-violet and raspberry. 



The Fritillaries have a distinctive though not peculiar 

 mark, in the shortness and seeming imperfection of their fore- 

 most pairs of legs, which are not usable for walking. 



We come now to the fan- winged genus Fanessa, com- 

 prising some of our commonest, but also most beautiful and 

 richly-coloured, Butterflies all, like the last, with the fore- 

 legs imperfect. Among these is the little " Tortoise-shell," 

 noticed already as a survivor of, and occasional visitor in, 

 winter. It derives its name from its orange black -spotted 

 wings, margined by a border of blue-crescents, and thickly 

 furred at their base with golden hair, which also covering the 

 body, helps, doubtless, to protect it when exposed to frost. 

 This butterfly is among those which are called double-brooded, 

 one set of eggs being hatched in spring, the other towards 

 autumn, of which latter families are the winter survivors. 



The caterpillars are greenish black, with yellow stripes, and 

 spiny, like the nettle on which they feed; while young, in 

 large societies, which afterwards disperse. The " Great Tortoise- 

 shell/' or " Elm Butterfly," is much larger, and less common 

 than the above. 



* Vanessa Urticae. 



