BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS IN AUTUMN 



IN a fine September English butterflies make almost their 

 most beautiful display. Gone, indeed, are the fritillaries 

 flashing like tawny streaks in the woods of June and July, 

 and the purple emperor soaring round the oaks. But the 

 equally beautiful white admiral has been known to have a 

 second brood in September after a very hot summer ; and 

 the gorgeous tribe of the Vanessae the peacock, red admiral, 

 and their kin is still almost at its best. Moreover, as 

 autumn begins to set in, and the number of wild flowers 

 considerably declines, butterflies and moths tend to con- 

 centrate in our gardens, and thus become more conspicuous. 

 It is a very beautiful and characteristic time in English 

 gardens when the ranks of grave autumn dahlias are bright 

 with peacocks and red admirals, the humming-bird hawk 

 moth comes whirring in the calm sunshine about the helio- 

 trope blossom, and the chestnut vapourer moth tosses across 

 the lawn and away in mad flight among the trees. 



All the Vanessae pass the winter in the perfect winged 

 form ; and a few of them retire to hibernate before September. 

 The large tortoiseshell is the chief member of this group 

 missing from the September garden, and from the sheets of 

 blue scabious in the dry sloping pastures which attract 

 swarms of butterflies at this time of year. But small tor- 

 toiseshells are never more abundant. This is a particularly 



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