I 



THE VANESSIDI. 83 



An Anthocharis with a larger body than those just mentioned 

 has been noticed in Orenburg, and is not very remarkable in the 

 adult state, but Dr. Rambur having met with it in Andalusia, 

 in the environs of Malaga and Granada, studied its metamor- 

 phosis. The caterpillar lives in the fields on coniferous plants. 

 It makes a sort of delicate shroud of silk for itself before 

 becoming a pupa, the shape of which is not at all angular, like 

 those of the other Papilionidi, 



The most favourite, perhaps, of all the butterflies is the Pea- 

 cock — Vanessa lo. If it came from the tropics alone its value 

 would be incalculable, but although it is so common its beautiful 

 ornamentation and splendid colouring always make it prized. This 

 Vanessa appears in the spring-time and also in the summer, and 

 a third generation may ornament the autumn. Nettles are the 

 food of the caterpillar, as they were with the small Vanessa just 

 described. In their early days the caterpillars hatched from one 

 set of eggs keep together and do not separate until the time for 

 metamorphosis is at hand. They crowd upon the same leaf or 

 twig, and when this is eaten they move en masse to others. 

 Their colour is velvety black, pointed with white, and each 

 segment of their bodies, except the first, carries six branching 

 spines or stiff hairs. The membranous feet have a circle of 

 very fine spines upon them, and they are constructed so as to 

 climb the rather tender twigs and leaves of the nettle. Before 

 turning into the chrysalis the caterpillars fix themselves usually 

 to the leaves of their favourite plant or to some other in its 

 immediate neighbourhood. Fifteen days after this the butter- 

 flies escape. The different generations do not exhibit any altera- 

 tions in their colouring, so that those noticed in the case of the 

 other VanesscB must have some other cause than the influence of 

 heat and light. Some of the latest metamorphosed peacocks 

 hybernate and fly early in the spring. The pendant chrysalis 

 and the butterfly of Vanessa lo are shown in the plate with 

 several caterpillars. The angular shape of the chrysalis is very 

 evident. 



The favourite White Admiral butterfly frequents woods and 

 forest glades in preference to the open fields and gardens, and 

 flies in June, and sometimes as late as September. Its spiny 



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