NYMPHALID.E. 135 



the hybernation of this species is that the act does not appear 

 to be induced by cold weather, nor is every individual in- 

 fluenced in the same way. The autumn of the year 1865 

 was unusually fine and hot — in September extremely so. 

 Early in August, the weather then being as usual rather wet 

 and stormy, I noticed two of these butterflies on the ceiling 

 of an unused building. (At this time young larvte were in 

 plenty on the nettles, and they did not feed up before the 

 end of the month.) These two butterflies remained perfectly 

 torpid through the intense heat of this unusual September, 

 and were joined early in the month by others, so that by 

 October there were eight on the ceiling, besides a number of 

 moths. At this time butterflies of this species were still 

 flying out of doors in abundance and getting worn, and — 

 which is very singular — none of these active specimens 

 joined the hybernating examples when the weather changed, 

 although they had eveiy opportunity of doing so. Dr. Sharp 

 even records having found thirty specimens laid up in a dark 

 corner at the end of July, and similar observations were 

 made by others. My specimens remained quietly until the 

 following AjDril, waking up at the first warm weather ; and 

 the inference seems unavoidable that all those which intend 

 to hybernate retire for that purpose quite early in the 

 autumn, or even in the summer; and that those which con- 

 tinue on the wing through the autumn, die at the approach of 

 winter. Certainly the specimens which appear in the spring, 

 although consisting of both sexes, bear a very small propor- 

 tion to the number observable in the previous autumn. Mr. 

 H. Jenner Fust, Jun., records a most curious instance of 

 hybernation, in which three specimens settled down in a 

 church bell, which was in regular use, and there spent the 

 winter, undisturbed by the vibrations. 



This is one of our most abundant and generally distributed 

 species, especially frequenting gardens — to which it is a 

 great ornament — but also loving lanes, corners of fields, and 

 waste places generally, wherever thistles, knapweed, and 



