po LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



trees, a habit which on the Continent causes the insect to be 

 sometimes regarded as injurious, but in England it is not 

 sufficiently plentiful to cause any material damage. The pupa 

 is flesh-coloured, with golden spots. 



Two other species closely aWied to this are found in Eastern 

 Europe. One, V. xanthomelana, Denis, extends to Northern 

 India, and the other, V. v.-album, Denis, is hardly distinguish- 

 able from the North American V.j. -album of Boisduval. 



THE SMALL TORTOISE-SHELL. VANESSA URTICVE. 



(Plate XVIII., Fig. i.) 



Papilio urtica, Linn., Syst. Nat. (x.), i., p. 477, no. 114 (1758), 

 id. Faun. Suec. (ii.), p. 218, no. 1058 (1761); Esper, 

 Schmett, i., pt. i, p. 170, pi. 13, fig- 2 (1777). 

 Vanessa urtic<z> Steph., 111. Brit. Ent. Haust., i., p. 43 (1827); 

 Kirby, Eur. Butterflies and Moths, p. 12, pi. 6, fig. 4 

 (1878); Lang, Butterflies Eur., p. 173, pi. 40, fig. 3 

 (1882); Barrett, Lepid. Brit. IsL, i., p. 131, pi. 19, figs. 

 i, i, a-c (1892); Buckler, Larvas Brit. Butterflies and 

 Moths, pp. 55, 181, pi. ix., fig. 2 (1886). 

 Although this Butterfly is gregarious, and feeds on nettles, 

 yet even nettles are by no means so abundant as formerly, and 

 the species is thus much less common than it used to be. Still 

 it is to be met with in all parts of the country, in gardens, 

 weedy places, lanes, open places in woods, &c., and as it hiber- 

 nates, and has a succession of broods, there is not a month in 

 the year when it may not be found, for an unusually fine day 

 or artificial warmth will sometimes tempt it from its hiding- 

 place, even in mid-winter. 



The Butterfly generally measures about two inches across 

 the wings, which are reddish-orange, with black hind-margins, 

 spotted with blue on all the wings. The fore-wings have three 

 black costal spots separated by yellowish ones 3 and the outer- 



