LADY OF THE WOODS. 187 



likewise of the cabbage family. In its green youth it is a 

 feeder also upon rape , cabbage, and other cruciform plants ; 

 but this, while a eater-pillar, is no pillager of cates of culture, 

 preferring the vegetable in its wilder growth a taste more 

 accordant, certainly, with the habits of its maturity and the 

 favourite spots such as open glades, and lawns, and wood- 

 lands, whither it delights to fly, a-Maying. Though we are 

 accustomed to designate this darling of the summer as the 

 " Orange-Tip " and " The Lady of the Woods," these epithets, 

 applied in conjunction, or indifferently, are not by any means 

 of correct application, seeing that with these butterflies it is 

 the lord only of the lady, whose white pinions, besides bearing 

 a black crescent, are adorned by the patch of deep orange, 

 which makes the title of " Orange-Tip" befitting to him alone 

 in both himself and partner the wings on their reverse are 

 beautifully variegated in white and green. 



We come now to the fan-winged genus Vanessa, com- 

 prising some of our commonest, but also most beautiful and 

 richly-coloured, Butterflies all, like the last, with the fore- 

 legs imperfect. Among these is the little "Tortoise-shell," 1 

 noticed already as a survivor of, and occasional visitor in, 

 winter. 



The caterpillars are greenish black, with yellow stripes, and 

 spiny, like the nettle on which they feed ; while young, in 

 large societies, which afterwards disperse. The " Great Tor- 

 toise-shell," or "Elm Butterfly," is much larger, and less 

 common than the above. 



A glorious insect of the same tribe is the Vanessa Io, or 

 " Peacock's Eye." Its prevailing hue is a rich brown red, 

 inclining to purple, each wing being adorned by a large eye 

 or ocellus, with a dark pupil, margined by a crescent or semi- 

 circle of blue and yellow. 



The caterpillar, which is shining black, studded with white 



1 Vanessa TTrticce* 



