ADMIRAL RED. 171 



red, one of which is united to the central band ; be- 

 yond the latter are two irregular blue streaks, and 

 the extreme tip of the wing is of a tawny colour, in 

 which are two o f the smaller white spots surrounded 

 with a dusky ring : the hinder wings are finely 

 marbled with undulating lines and spots of black, 

 brown, and yellowish-grey, the latter forming a large 

 patch near the middle of the anterior edge. The 

 fringe of the wings is white, interrupted with black. 



The caterpillar is solitary, and feeds on the nettle. 

 It prefers the seed of that plant to the leaves, and 

 usually protects itself from the weather by drawing 

 a few leaves around it, which it secures by silken 

 threads. It is greenish, or nearly black, with a ma- 

 cular line of yellow along each side. 



It is common in England, and occurs in some 

 plenty apparently in all parts of Scotland. It is most 

 frequently seen towards the end of autumn, and de- 

 lights to alight on the flower of the dahlia, or some 

 late flowering aster. It is found in all parts of Eu- 

 rope, in the United States of America, and the coun- 

 tries of Africa skirting the Mediterranean. In the 

 East Indies, and in the island of Teneriffe, it is re 

 placed by a very closely allied insect, which beau- 

 tifully exemplifies the nice and occasionally almost 

 imperceptible gradations by which nature sometimes 

 passes from one species to another. The latter is 

 named V. vulcania, and the distinctive marks which 

 it presents are so slight, that they might seem rather 

 between those few days that intervene from the end 



