6o 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



as Meadow Browns, Small Heaths, etc., with one 

 eye-spot at least near the tip of the forewings ; 

 also the small brown or tawny butterflies called 

 Skippers, from their erratic flight, with large heads 

 and slightly hooked antennae. Moths, too, often 

 swarm ; among others, the purplish-brown Gamma 

 Moth, or Silver y {Plusia Gamma), so called from 

 the peculiar mark in the middle of the forewings. 

 These are accompanied by many other butterflies 

 and moths, bees, grasshoppers, and swarms of other 

 insects. 



The grubs and caterpillars of several interesting 

 insects feed on Peas and the seeds of other 

 leguminous plants in their pods. Among these 

 are the green or brown slug-shaped caterpillars of 

 the Tailed Blue Butterfly (Lampides Ixzticus), which 

 is very common throughout Africa and Southern 

 Asia, and reaches the extreme north-western limit 

 of its range as an occasional visitor in the Channel 

 Islands and in the south of England. The butter- 

 fly measures about an inch and a half across the 

 wings, which are violet-blue in the male and brown 

 in the female. The hindwings are provided 



with a short tail, almost as in the Hairstreak 

 Butterflies, and are streaked with white on the 

 underside. 



But a far more injurious insect is the Pea Weevil 

 (Bruchus pisi). It is a small black beetle, clothed 

 with whitish down, and the first four joints of the 

 antennas and the tarsi (or foot-joints), and part at 

 least of the tibiae (or shanks), are red. It is oval, 

 with a short broad snout, and measures less than 

 a quarter of an inch in length. The beetles are 

 frequently to be seen on the blossoms of the peas, 

 but their grubs often commit great ravages by 

 devouring the peas in their pods. Another dis- 

 agreeable quality of the weevils which infest peas 

 and beans, as well as those which attack corn, is 

 that they impart a poisonous quality to the pulse 

 or grain on which they feed. 



Order XXVI. Rosacea? (18 genera) 



This Order is very extensive, and not only in- 

 cludes the Roses, but nearly all our most important 

 fruits, both native and foreign, such as Straw- 



