WITH the retreat of the sun's warmth 

 as November draws near, our 

 insect friends daily decrease in 

 numbers, and the tyro who, throughout 

 the summer months, has been diligently 

 endeavouring to understand their curious, 

 fascinating, and often extraordinary habits, 

 becomes sorely puzzled as to what has 

 become of them. 

 That they must still 

 be in existence is 

 obvious, for he knows 

 that in the following 

 season the}^ will ap- 

 pear again in their 

 own particular en- 

 vironment, and carr\^ 

 on their activities 

 just as if no interval 

 had occurred. 



In this concluding 

 chapter of the present 

 series, I propose, 

 therefore, to consider 

 some winter aspects 

 of insect life, dealing 

 more particularly 

 with the insects al- 

 ready considered in 

 their summer stages. 



Regarding the butterflies illustrated in 

 this work, I have pre\-iously mentioned 

 that the Small Tortoise-shell, the Brim- 

 stone, and the Peacock spend their winter 

 hibernating as winged butterflies (see pp. 

 49, 216, and 494), their frail forms en- 

 during cold and frost until the arrival of 

 more congenial temj^eratures. The Green- 

 veined White Butterfly (see pp. 211 to 

 213) behaves quite differently, howexer, 

 during the winter months. Just before 

 winter the full-fed caterpillar climbs the 



80 629 



angles 



TWO CHRYSALIDES OF THE ORANGE- 

 TIP BUTTERFLY. 



Showing how they resemble the seed pods. 



garden wall, or a wooden fence ; in the 

 former case it usually comes to rest in the 

 groove of the coj^ing-stones, moulting its 

 skin and so changing into its chrysalis 

 stage, and there resting sheltered from 

 rain and cold winds until better days 

 again come. A search round the garden 

 wall will nearly always reveal a few chrj'S- 



alides of this species, 

 and still more often 

 those of the Small 

 \\'hite and the Large 

 White butterflies, 

 which select similar 

 places for their winter 

 quarters. When 

 a wooden fence is 

 selected the chrysal- 

 ides are usually found 

 between the 

 of the palings. 



The Orange - Tip 

 Butterfly, in its cater- 

 pillar stage, as we 

 lia\e previously seen 

 (p. 47), largely re- 

 sembles the seed pods 

 on which it feeds, 

 and, probably be- 

 cause this mimicry 

 ])ro\-es so efl'ectual, the insect finds 

 it profitable to carry this same device 

 into its chrysalis stage. On this page 

 two chrysalides of this insect are shown 

 attached amongst the seed pods, and the 

 jihotograph will make clear how closely 

 tliey resemble their surroundings. At 

 first they are green, but as the seed pods 

 become brown the chrysalides also assume 

 that colour. In this way they retain the 

 closest resemblance to the plant, and in 

 spite of tlie heavy snows and rains and 



