266 



Marvels of Insect Life 



is a full brimstone yellow, the female is of the paler greenish-yellow that agrees 

 with the tint of the primrose flower. 



Many of the butterflies pass through the winter in the chr\'salis stage, and 

 come out in the winged condition in early summer ; others come out in the late 

 summer or early autumn, and secure a winter retreat in a faggot-stack, a thatched 

 roof, under the branches of a dense holly-tree, or even in a snug corner of a dwelling- 

 house. The brimstone is one of these, and almost any dav that is sunnv in the 

 early part of the year it may wake up and indulge in a flight to see how things are 

 going on in nature. Then in May, when the young leaves of the buckthorn are 

 expanding, the female brimstone may be seen depositing her eggs singly, on the 

 under side of the leaf. It is a long-shaped, pale green egg, tapering at the upper 

 end, and with ribs running lengthwise. Later it becomes yellow, and finally purplish. 



The caterpillar, which is 

 rather flat beneath, is 

 coloured a beautiful 

 green which has a dis- 



tinge of 



blue in 



sides, 



a line 



Closely 



upper 



to be 



minute 



tmct Liix^v 

 it towards the 

 where there is 

 of paler tint, 

 examined, the 

 parts are seen 

 s})rinkled with 

 black dots. The general 

 effect of the colour is 

 a close harmony with 

 the under surface of 

 the leaf on which it is 

 feeding. 



About the end 

 July or beginning 

 August it changes into 

 the rather singular- 

 shaped chrysalis, but 

 still retains its beautiful green colour, which makes it difficult to distinguish 

 from the leaf to which it is attached, and of which it might be a torn 

 and curled-up portion. It remains in the chrysalis stage for a few weeks onK- : 

 and in suitable places during August and September the newly emerged butterfly 

 may be considered fairly common. Our two species of buckthorn are the only 

 food-plants of the caterpillar, and wherever either of these grows one may expect 

 to meet with the Insect. To-day our cabbage whitt> butterflies would probably, 

 from their extreme commonness in inhabited districts, be considered as the 

 typical butterflies, but in earlier days, when woods and thickets covertxl the land 

 more thoroughly, and cabbage patches were unknown, the brimstone must have 

 been more plentiful than the whites, which must have been coast Insects, their 



Pl''''t" ''Vj [£. sup, F.L.S. 



Caterpillar and Chrysalis of Brimstone-Butterfly. 



Two stages in the life-history of the familiar brinistone-butterflv are included in this 

 photograph. The egg is laid in early summer on buckthorn leaves, where in Julv the blue- 

 green caterpillar will be found fully grown, possibly the chrysalis also, as in the photograph. 

 Turn the page, and note how the chrysalis looks like a bird 'in flight. 



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