203 



Marble Butterfly ( Hipparchia galathea). The character which this insect 

 bears for partial localities in this country, is equally true of it on the Continent. 

 For miles and miles I have traversed districts without seeing a specimen, and then 

 fallen in with spots absolutely swarming with them. It would seem from this, that 

 the Marble Butterfly is less inclined to wander beyond the limits of its birth-place 

 than many others of its family ; it might be wished that the migrations of the 

 lepidopterous tribes, and indeed of several others, were a little more attended to 

 by Naturalists. For that many wander, and some do actually migrate, or expatri- 

 ate themselves, is a matter beyond all doubt. I have myself seen instances of al- 

 most all our common butterflies, far away on the wide sea, out of sight of land 

 in calm or moderate weather, when there was no reason to suppose that their ma- 

 rine perigrinations were occasioned by off-shore storms. It is diflicult to point out 

 the various domiciles of this insect on the banks of the Rhine ; but he who explores 

 the many delightful vallies and meadows in the environs of Baden, will assuredly 

 bear testimony to the number, and partiality for particular spots, alluded to in the 

 above remarks. 



The Purple Emperor (Apatiura iris). Oh ! for my absent nippers, was tee 

 involuntary exclamation, as, in a hot sunny glade, in one of those romantic path- 

 ways cut in the hill sides, looking downwards on the busy bustling crowd of idlers 

 grouped near the Courshaus at Ems, one of these purple paragons of beauty, after 

 gliding with motionless wings, as if supported on a sun-beam, settled on the ground 

 a few paces before me. To gaze in silence in the presence of the royal insect was 

 all that it permitted ; for, on advancing, albeit with tread most cautious, his empe- 

 rorship darted off, with a velocity scarcely allowing the eye to follow his airy flight, 

 until high above a neighbouring oak tree, he again besported himself on motionless 

 wing, gliding or wheeling spirally aloft, in the full enjoyment of his liberty, as if 

 conscious that he was beyond the research of entomological curiosity and contact. 



Camberwell Beauty ( Vanessa antiopa). There is a passage in Foster's 

 Essays, which I have never read (and often and often have I referred to it) with- 

 out a deep conviction of its truth and beauty. " Places and things which have an 

 association with any of the events or feelings of past life will greatly assist the re- 

 collection of them. A man of strong associations finds memoirs of himself already 

 written on the places where he has conversed with happiness or misery. If an 

 old man wished to animate, for a moment, the languid and faded ideas which he 

 retains of his youth, he might walk with his crutch across the green where he once 

 played with companions, who are now probably laid to repose in another spot not 

 far off. An aged saint may meet again some of the affecting ideas of his early 

 piety, in the place where he first thought it happy to pray. A walk in a mea- 

 dow, the sight of a bank of flowers, perhaps even of some one flower, a landscape 

 with the tints of autumn, the descent into a valley, the brow of a mountain, the 

 house where a friend has been met, or has resided, or has died, have often pro- 



