AUGUST 133 



call her over the water is an inveterate wanderer, 

 migrating to all temperate parts of the globe, and laying 

 her eggs wherever thistles are to be found in Europe, 

 Asia, Africa, America, and even Australasia. It has 

 been recorded by an observer in India that in 1879 a 

 swarm of these butterflies took half a day to pass a 

 given point. A few years ago I saw about twenty of 

 them in Chelsea Physic Garden, practically in the heart 

 of London. Luckily, we need never fear having too 

 many Painted Ladies, seeing that the caterpillar feeds 

 only upon thistles, declining to be seduced to any more 

 succulent diet. All the genus Vanessa, which com- 

 prises the handsomest British butterflies, should be 

 inscribed on our list of friends, for the larvse of the Red 

 Admiral, the Peacock, the Small Tortoiseshell, and the 

 Comma all feed on nettles, and those of the extremely 

 rare Carnberwell Beauty and the Large Tortoiseshell 

 respectively on the willow and the elm. 



A specimen of the Painted Lady fresh from the 

 chrysalis, such as gladdened my eyes to-day, is a far 

 brighter object than the weather-beaten traveller one 

 usually meets with. The ruddy orange of the ground- 

 work of the upper surface of the wings had not faded 

 to tawny-buff; the snow-white spots which set off the 

 sable on the fore- wings were lustrous in purity ; while 

 the under-surface of the wings which the insect dis- 

 played when at rest, was even more fascinating, being 

 delicately marbled with cream-colour, pink, buff, yellow 

 and white. 



PS. in 1921. Never have I seen so many Painted 

 Ladies as I have during the present halcyon autumn. 



