20 THE GENERA AND SPECIES OF BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 
and he proceeds to express his unbounded gratitude to that “ingenious gentleman,” Mr. Drury, 
who had thus enabled him to discover “the Caterpillar of one of the finest flies in the universe, 
which had hitherto escaped the search of the most skilful and industrious Aurelians.” 
The Chrysalis (No. 6) is suspended by the tail, and in colour differs but little from that of 
the Caterpillar. 
The capture of the perfect insect, which appears towards the end of June, or in July, is 
difficult, on account of its elevated flight, which it delights to take in the neighbourhood of lofty 
oaks, over the tops of which it skims with a power and rapidity, that seem at first to place it 
quite out of the reach of the Lepidopterist, even when armed with his very best appliances, 
such as a small light net at the extremity of a long, pliable rod, &c. Nevertheless, the male, a 
much bolder flier than the female, has been taken on the wing, in this manner. A more 
successful method, however, is to seek this entomological prize while at rest ; when he is often 
to be found on the lower part of the trunks of large trees. A successful Collector informed me 
some years ago, that during an entomological ramble in the New Forest, he once sought shelter 
from an approaching storm under the branches of a spreading oak, and while there, two mag- 
nificent specimens of the Purple Emperor boldly came to share his shelter, and alighted on the 
trunk close to him. It is needless to add, that they both found their way into his collecting 
box. Gloomy weather, with occasional showers, should therefore be selected for the pursuit of 
the Purple Emperor, watching carefully the trunks of the trees, in favourable situations, when- 
ever the sun becomes suddenly overcast. 
The name of the genus, Apatura, which was given to it by Fabricius in 1807,* and which 
should more properly have been Apaturia, is generally said to have been taken from one of the 
names of Aphrodite or Venus, in reference to the beauty of the insect. But I have a fancy 
that Fabricius had in view rather one of the names of Athena, indicating deceitfulness, in refer- 
ence to the deceptive effect of the purple gloss, which entirely disappears in certain lights. 
* Previous to which date our species still remained the Papilio Iris, of Linneeus, 
