XXXII 



PRESBYTERIAN Scotland makes no festival of Easter, 

 therefore Easter Monday is not a bank holiday north 

 of the Tweed ; yet, falling as it did in 1895 on 

 Tortoisesheii April 15, it was not only accentuated by un- 

 Butterfly c i ou( j e( j sunshine, but also, in the naturalist's 

 calendar, by a profuse hatch of the small tortoiseshell 

 butterfly (Vanessa urticce). This common species is 

 indeed one of the most beautiful of British lepidoptera. 

 The gentle contrast of cinnabar red, azure and velvety 

 black, spread in well-designed mosaic on the wings of 

 this insect when newly escaped from the chrysalis, is 

 quite as delightful as the more gorgeous display of the 

 exotic kinds. It is probably the hardiest of all British 

 butterflies. Sunny gleams in February and March often 

 call to life pale and tattered individuals of the foregoing 

 autumn's brood, which have slumbered through the 

 winter under the eaves of some barn or behind the 

 shutters of a village school. The winter of 1895-6 was 

 so preternaturally mild that there was nothing very 

 surprising that, even in the rigorous climate of Caith- 

 ness, the small tortoiseshell should have hybernated 



