126 THE BOOK OF BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



enthroned, it is clear that the collector, however much he 

 may covet the prize, must be satisfied with the view alone. 

 To sweep him from his seat, a net with a handle 2 oft. 

 or more in length used to be recommended a handle, of 

 course, that could be fitted together and taken to pieces 

 again like a fishing-rod or the handle of a chimney-sweep's 

 brush. But apart from the difficulty of carrying such a 

 weapon to the field of operations it must have been 

 extremely awkward to use, and few indeed, I fancy, would 

 be the Emperors captured by its aid. The collector obtains 

 specimens now by taking advantage of a well-known though 

 very un-butterfly-like taste this insect has acquired. Most 

 butterflies feed, if they feed at all, on the nectar of flowers, 

 and possibly this one does sometimes, for he has been 

 taken at sugar ; but the Emperor has often been easily 

 caught while intently regaling himself from a muddy pool, 

 from animal droppings, or from the dead and putrefying 

 bodies of stoats, rabbits, birds, and so on, that are usually 

 to be found in woods. Knowing this, and knowing also 

 that Emperors are to be found in the locality, the would-be 

 possessor may usually obtain them without much difficulty. 

 The Purple Emperor, however, is not to be found 

 everywhere. It should only be sought for in oak- 

 woods, and in those only in the midland, southern, and 

 eastern counties of England; that is to say, roughly 

 speaking, south of a line drawn from the Humber to 

 Devonshire. The following counties have been mentioned 

 as supplying specimens : in the east Lincoln, Suffolk, 

 Cambridge, Essex, and Kent; in the south Middlesex, 

 Surrey, Sussex, Berks, Hants and the Isle of Wight, 

 Wilts, Somerset, Dorset, and Devon ; in the midlands, 

 Bedford, Huntingdon, Buckingham, Oxford, Northampton, 

 Nottingham, Warwick, Leicester, Hereford, Gloucester, 

 and Monmouth. 



