BKITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



CHAPTEE I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



WHAT IS A BUTTERFLY BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS BUTTERFLY- 

 LIFE THE EGG STAGE SCULPTURED CRADLES BUTTERFLY 

 BOTANY THE CATERPILLAR STAGE FEEDING UP COAT CHANG- 

 ING FORMS OF CATERPILLARS THE CHRYSALIS MEANING OF 

 PUPA, CHRYSALIS, AND AURELIA FORMS OF CHRYSALIDES 

 DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSFORMATION INFLUENCE OF TEMPERA- 

 TURE. 



OCCASIONALLY a missive arrives from some benevolent 

 friend, announcing the capture of a "splendid butterfly," 

 which, imprisoned under a tumbler, awaits one's accept- 

 ance as an addition to the cabinet. However, on going 

 to claim the proffered prize, the expected "butterfly" 

 turns out to be some bright-coloured moth (a Tiger moth 

 being the favourite victim of the misnomer), and one's 

 entomological propriety suffers a shock ; not so much 

 feeling the loss of the specimen, as concern for the 

 benighted state of an otherwise intelligent friend's 

 mind with regard to insect nomenclature. 



It is clearly therefore not so superfluous as it might 

 at first otherwise seem, to commence the subject by 

 defining even such a familiar object as a butterfly, and 

 more especially distinguishing it with certainty from a 

 moth, the only other creature with which it can well be 

 confounded- 



