INTRODUCTION 



stinging nettles), which showed Httle or no variety, and 

 served no scientific, or other, purpose. 



Butterflies and moths both undergo the same trans- 

 formations from egg to perfect insect, and ahhough there 

 are wingless females among the latter, the butterflies, 

 and the great majority of the moths, all possess wings. 

 All the first-named, too, are day-fliers, and most of them 

 are sun-lovers. The Ringlet Butterfly, as a reverse 

 example, seems to prefer to fly in dull weather, when 

 others of its fellows would not care to venture out, and 

 there are certain kinds of moths which, unlike the rank 

 and file of their kindred, are found abroad during the day. 

 Moths, however, are mostly creatures of the night, and 

 this may be ascertained when a door or window is left 

 open in a lighted room of a Summer's evening, or if a 

 visit is paid under cover of darkness to one of the great 

 insect-banquets of the year. The attractions at these 

 banquets consist, in the order given, of the globular 

 heads of the sallow, or palm, in Spring; the sweet- 

 scented trumpets of honeysuckle and satin-like blossoms 

 of the bramble in Summer, and the honeyed flowers of 

 the evergreen ivy in Autumn. The diff"erent species of 

 these insects met with in a particular region varies 

 according to the soil and situation in which discovered, 

 and the type of plant-hfe that obtains. Thus, as well 

 search for some kinds of butterflies away from the chalk 

 as for a needle in a bundle of hay. On the other hand, 

 one would be unHkely to meet with any success in 

 searching for the scarce Swallow-tail Butterfly on the 

 slopes of the chalky Chilterns as this handsome species 

 is only found in England where a certain kind of wild 



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