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IN WHAT STATE OR CONDITION DO OUR 

 BUTTERFLIES PASS THE WINTER ? 



-ooo- 



EPITOME OF A PAPER 



READ BY 



H. T. STAINTON, ESQ., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S. 

 ON -iGTH MAY, 1880. 



As there are four stages of butterfly life — egg, larra, pupa, and 

 imago, or perfect insect — it is evident that our buttei-flies might 

 pass the winter in any one of these stages. The question before 

 us is the practical one, In what stage of their life's history do 

 they pass the winter ? 



In the first place eight species pass the winter in the imago or 

 butterfly state, and these furnish us ■nith the earhest butterflies we 

 see in the new yeai', if we should hapj^en to have hot sunny weather 

 in February or March. These eight species are, the 



Brimstone Peacock SmaU TortoisesheU 



Painted Lady Camberwell Beauty Comma 

 Red Admiral Large TortoisesheU 



The Clouded Yellow, wliich is of constant occurrence as hyber- 

 nating in Southern Europe, may, perhaps, occasionally hybernate 

 Avith us, but as far as we at present know, it is not, like the eight 

 aboYe mentioned, one that regularly passes the winter \\\i\\ us in 

 the perfect state. 



In the next place, twelve species pass the winter in the pupa 

 or chrysalis state : the earliest of these appear on the wing A\hen 



