THE BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY. 183 



to await the spring, unless allured by the wintry sunshine to 

 pay us a few unseasonable, but ever welcome, visits. Among 

 these, the " little Tortoise-shell/' and the beautiful " Peacock," 

 of whom more by-and-bye, are the intrepid pair which most 

 often gladden and surprise us in the time of yellow aconites 

 and Christmas roses ; but after these, we may be on the watch, 

 towards the end of February, or on the first gentle mornings of 

 early March, for a flutterer more welcome still, as the herald 

 of a real and no fictitious spring. This is the " Brimstone 

 Butterfly," 1 which, gaily painted, 



" Soon 



Explores awhile the tepid noon, 

 And fondly trusts its tender dyes 

 To fickle suns and flattering skies." 



It has been supposed by some that this early visitant (also 

 a late one) is, like the above, a winter survivor ; but from the 

 trim of his yellow robes, usually so fresh and glossy, it would 

 seem more likely that, instead of being laid up not "in 

 lavender," but, perhaps in ivy they are of the newest spring 

 fashion. Be this as it may, he is the very pink, or, as he has 

 been more properly considered, the very primrose of Papillons, 

 sometimes to be seen, like a living shadow of the primrose's 

 self, fluttering beside it in the sunny hedgerow or the sheltered 

 copse. We may know him by the cut of his bright sulphur- 

 coloured pinions each, instead of being rounded, ending in a 

 smooth tail-like angle. 2 



Of all the wings of all the Butterflies, these bear, perhaps, 

 the closest similitude to floral productions, and on each, as if to 

 perfect the resemblance of their delicate flower-like colouring, 

 is a reddish spot, an exact copy of that often produced by decay 

 or accident, on the surface of a yellow petal. In the beautiful 

 raised veining of their reverse, the pinions of the " Brimstone" 



1 Gonopterix Rhamni. 



9 For figures of nearly all the Butterflies here mentioned, see Vignette. 



