146 BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



thousand species of chiefly small or medium sized and somewhat 

 sombre-hued butterflies. The majority have eye-like spots upon 

 the under surface of the wings ; similar spots are sometimes seen on 

 the upper surface. The caterpillars feed on different grasses, and 

 are generally green in colour, with a forked tail. The Marbled 

 White, the Scotch Argus, the Wall Brown, and the Meadow Brown 

 are familiar examples. 



The true Fritillaries are very beautiful butterflies of rich 

 brown colour with black spots and bars on the Upper surface, 

 and spotted or streaked with silver on the under surface of the 

 wings. The Pearl Bordered, the Silver Washed, and the High 

 Brown are fairly common English forms. The Vanessa Butter- 

 flies, of which the Peacock, Red Admiral, and Tortoiseshell are 

 familiar examples, are very handsome insects; their caterpillars 

 are cylindrical, covered with long branching spines, and live, 

 chiefly, gregariously on nettles. 



The beautiful Swallow-tail Butterfly (Papilio machaon) is our 

 only British representative of a very gorgeous family, the members 

 of which attain their greatest size and most resplendent colour- 

 ing in the tropics. Formerly the Swallow-tail Butterfly seems to 

 have been widely distributed throughout England, but now it is 

 restricted to one or two localities of the fens of Norfolk and Suffolk. 

 The caterpillar feeds upon fennel and wild carrot, and is at first 

 black, becoming green with black rings spotted with red as it 

 increases in size. When alarmed, it has a curious habit of sud- 

 denly poking out two horn-like processes from between the head 

 and the first segment of the body, and at the same time giving 

 off a faint smell. 



The Pieridae, popularly called Cabbage Butterflies, have a 

 wide distribution, being found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and 

 Australia. The great Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris brassier) 

 is to be seen in every field and garden. The caterpillar is a great 

 pest to the agriculturist, making sad havoc amongst the cabbages, 

 and is not a pleasant-looking nor a nice-smelling insect. Its greenish 

 body, marked with three long yellow lines broken into here and 

 there by little black hairy tubercles, is only too familiar in the 

 kitchen garden. The caterpillars are not solitary in their habits, 

 but abound in swarms, eating their way into the hearts of the 

 cabbages and rendering them unfit for market. Fortunately for 



