Small Tortoiseshcll 



in the centre of the wing, the largest one being con- 

 tinued down to the margin^ which is not the case with 

 the corresponding spot in Polychloros. On the hind- 

 wing the black patch continues downward towards the 

 bottom angle and inwards to the body, whereas this 

 spot neither goes in nor down in Polychloros. Lastly, 

 the ground colour in Urtic* is or a bright red, almost a 

 scarlet, with the blue spots extending into both wings. 



The caterpillar of Polychloros is brown, spiny, and 

 striped along the back and sides ; it feeds on Elm, 

 Willow, and Cherry, during the summer months. The 

 butterfly appears in August. 



It is by no means so common with us as its smaller 

 and gayer cousin, being confined mostly to the South 

 of England. There are occasional records for Scot- 

 land ; I was present when a specimen was captured by 

 a friend on the coast of Argyllshire in the year 1887. 



THE SMALL TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY (Vanessa 

 Urtic<e\ Plate V., Fig. 4. Among the many puzzling 

 problems that naturalists have to solve, few present 

 greater attractions than those relating to the migration 

 and hibernation of animals. The birds have long 

 claimed the attention of ornithologists in this respect, 

 but the insects have in a great measure been neglected. 

 However, there are signs of a revival. Migratory and 

 hibernating butterflies are well enough represented in 

 the British list to supply material for much patient and 

 useful research. The facts about them are not all 

 known not by any means. We know, or fancy we do, 

 that the dominating factor in both cases is the food- 

 53 



