172 ADMIRAL RED. 



a casual modification of the characters of V. atalanta, 

 than the indication of any specific difference ; yet the 

 two have a totally different range of geographical 

 distribution.* " This insect very rarely appears," 

 says a popular writer, speaking of V. atalanta, " un- 

 til late in September, and then so perfect and fresh 

 in its plumage, as to manifest its recent production 

 from the chrysalis. In some years they abound, and 

 we may see twenty of these beautiful creatures ex- 

 panding and closing their brilliant wings under the 

 fruit trees on our walls, or basking upon the disc of 

 some autumnal flower; and at another, perhaps, 

 hardly a specimen is to be obtained ; nor do they 

 seem, like the wasp, to be scarce or abundant ac- 

 cording to the deficiency or plenty of the season, but 

 influenced by other causes. Many of our butter- 

 flies are produced by successive hatches, supplying 

 the places of those which have been destroyed, and 

 here it is difficult to mark the duration of an indivi- 

 dual ; and others, as the nettle, peacock, and wood 

 tortoise, in many instances survive the winter, hidden 

 in some recess or sheltered apartment, appearing in 

 the spring time-worn and shabby. But V. atalanta 

 appears only in the autumn, not as a preserved crea- 

 ture, but as a recent production ; and hence we can 

 ascertain the duration of its life to be comprised only 



* A figure of V. Vulcania will be found in Loudon's Mag. 

 of Nat. Hist., v. p. 752, where it is described by an intelli- 

 gent observer as intermediate between V. Atalanta and C. 

 Cardui. Both Cramer and Herbst have figured it as a va- 

 riety of V. atalanta. 



