INTRODUCTORY. 



17 



children pass the next winter in the egg 

 state, and its children's children the next 

 following winter in the same state, and so on 

 for countless generations. Some doubt ap- 

 pears still to attach to the state in wliich some 

 of our English butterflies pass the winter 

 months; while others, on the contrary, are 

 ascertained beyond all possibility of doubt. 



EIGHT hybernate in the egg state Quercus, 

 W-album, Pruni, Betulce, B&tica, jEyon, 

 Agestis, Alexis. 



TWENTY-FIVE hybernate in the caterpillar 

 state : Paphia, A gluia, Niobe, A dippe, Lat/ionia, 

 Euphrosyne, Selene, Artemis, Cinxia, A tJialia, 

 Sibylla, Iris, Galathea, Epiphron, Medea, 

 jEgeria, Semele, Janira, Tithonus, Ilyper- 

 anthus, Davus, Pamphilus, Hippothoe, Pldceas, 

 and Cratcegi : the last named differs essentially 

 from the rest in being gregarious, and in pass- 

 ing the winter season under cover of a web. 



TEN hybernate in the chrysalis state : 

 Machaon, Sinapis, Srassicce, Napi, jRapce, 

 Daplidice, Cardamines, Lucina, Argiolus, and 

 A Iveolus. In the winter the chrysalids of these 

 butterflies maybe found braced up to the stems 

 of reeds, vetches, hedge-mustard, lady's-smock, 

 and other herbaceous plants, or against park 

 palings, barns, fences, and out-houses of all 

 kinds. In this state they appear to be per- 

 fectly indifferent to cold, and may be con- 

 verted into solid lumps of ice and yet retain 

 life, as is abundantly proved by their emer- 

 gence as perfect butterflies in May. I have 

 never known a winter so severe as to make 

 any difference in this respect. 



TEN hybernate in the perfect or butterfly 

 state : C-album, Antiopa, To, Polychloros, 

 UrticcByAtalanta, Cardui, Rhamni, Edusa, and 

 Hyale. Many of th ese retire to winter-quarters 

 almost immediately on leaving the chrysalis ; 

 some creep in to hollow trees; I once found more 

 than forty Peacock butterflies in a hollow oak; 

 some hide in barns, stables, churches, or out- 

 houses, always crawling up among the beams 

 and rafters : they especially delight in pig- 

 styes. It will be observed by anyone who is 

 familiar with the appearance of either of the 

 dark-coloured butterflies I have mentioned, 

 that its colour and appearance, when resting on 



rough, unplaned wood, with its wings erect 

 and closely pr. ssed together, back to back, 

 resemble so exactly that of the wood that the 

 most practised eye is required to detect it. 

 To this similarity it is often indebted for its 

 safety. When a warmer day than usual 

 occurs during the winter months, these hyber- 

 nating butterflies crawl out of their hiding- 

 places, slowly flap their wings, as if courting 

 the sunshine, and sometimes venture on a 

 fruitless flight in quest of flowers from which 

 to suck the honey. Every year some country 

 gentleman possessed of observing faculties and 

 a ready pen espies one of these butterflies 

 when out on an ill-advised excursion of this 

 kind, and he forthwith writes to the nearest 

 local p;tper, and reports the unwonted fact 

 to its delighted readers under the head: 

 " Singular occurrence ; unusual mildness of 

 the season." If the discovery falls to the lot 

 of a writing entomologist, he improves the 

 occasion in a different way, thus : " Singular 

 occurrence; unexpe tf-d evidence that Vanessa, 

 lo, or Gonepteryx Luamni " as the case may 

 be " is double-brooded. I have just taken, 

 this 25th of February, a fine and very perfect 

 specimen of Gonepteryx Rhamni : now as it is 

 impossible that the specimens which occurred 

 so abundantly last autumn should have sur- 

 vived through the inclement season just past, 

 it is certain that this February specimen must 

 be the descendant of an autumnal specimen, 

 and not one of the same generation." A 

 little more reflection might have induced the 

 query, " On what could the caterpillar have 

 fed during the winter months, seeing that the 

 buckthorn was leafless during the whole time 

 that it ought to have been feeding 1 " 



It is worthy of remark that these autumn- 

 disclosed butterflies, although the sexes occur 

 in equal numbers, rarely take the slightest 

 notice of each other until the return of spring. 



CLASSIFICATION. 



Having pointed out to the best of my 

 ability those stages in the life of a butterfly, 

 and those characters in the adult uutterfly, 

 the modifications and differences in which 



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