286 AN OUTLINE OF BRITISH CATERPILLARS. 



them, copiously spotted with yellow. In others, they are narrow, 

 and faintly marked. The colour of these bands varies, also, from a 

 fine lemon- to a greenish- yellow. 



This caterpillar J common throughout the greater part of Europe, 

 lives, in societies, upon the various species of the nettle, as Urtica 

 dioica, urens, and pilulifera. In early age, it exhibits a blackish or 

 blackish-grey hue : assuming, after the second moult, the outline 

 which it retains to the period of metamorphosis. These caterpillars, 

 when upon the eve of taking on the chrysalid form, disperse ; and, 

 creeping along trees or walls, suspend themselves to undergo the 

 wonted transformation. Sometimes, although rarely, they attach 

 themselves to the plant on which they have previously fed. They 

 are found from May to the end of September. 



The Chrysalis is ordinarily of a slight violet ash-grey, or flesh- 

 grey colour ; often marked with golden or silvery spots on its ante- 

 rior part. Dorsal points conical and strongly marked. Sometimes, 

 it is met with, under the coping of walls, completely of a splendid 

 golden-yellow colour. In this case, however, the chrysalis has in- 

 variably been perforated by an insect of the Ichneumon, or rather of 

 the Chalcisj tribe. The perfect insect is evolved at the expiration 

 of from fifteen to eighteen days. 



Vanessa lo. Boisduval, NymphalideSy pi. i., fig. ], 2, and 3 ; 

 Donovan, vol. vi., pi. 206. — Caterpillar : deep velvet-black, punc- 

 tated with white. Each ring, except the first, furnished with six 

 longish, black spines, rather hairy than branched. The first, more 

 slender than the rest, and destitute altogether of spines. Head, 

 and scaly feet, of a shining-black. Membranous feet, reddish-yel- 

 low, bordering on ferrugineous. Stigmata, blackish and scarcely 

 visible. Exists, in numerous societies, over the greater ])art of 

 Europe, during July and September, upon Urtica dioicaj and pilu- 

 lifera, and, sometimes, upon Humulus lupulus. When going into 

 the chrysalid state, the caterpillar quits its place of nativity, and 

 suspends itself to the leaves of the nettle, or other adjacent plant. 



The Chrysalis is often of a golden-yellow, sometimes of greyish, 

 tinted with violet, colour ; and marked with silvery spots on the 

 thorax. Somewhat more elongated, in figure, than that of V. ur- 

 tiae : with the dorsal points more prominent ; the head more dis- 



