BRITISH BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 



already treated of, and together with the Brimstone, 

 Whites, and Peacock, is-the best known of all. It is one of 

 our commonest species, is not particular as to its haunt so 

 long as there is a supply of stinging nettles (the favourite 

 food-plant), and hibernated specimens are often on the 

 wing during the first two months of the year. It is 

 double-brooded, and the eggs are deposited on nettles in 

 May and July. Colonies of larvas may be discovered soon 

 afterwards, and it is interesting to watch these develop. 

 Every year I find the larvae of this insect in the 

 same nettle-bed, which seems to indicate that broods 

 hatched in a certain spot carry on the habit of their 

 ancestors season after season. If this is so, it opens 

 up a most interesting trait in insect-life about which more 

 careful research would probably reveal a great deal of 

 information. Green in the first instance, the egg at a 

 later stage, becomes yellow, and it is a beautiful object 

 under a microscope, a remark which applies to the eggs of 

 all these wonderful creatures. The larvae look black 

 all over, but closer examination will display other 

 colouration and marking. The branched hairs are a 

 feature worth noticing. As the old skins are shed, 

 quite a collection of empty and full bodies are to be 

 found congregated among nettles, but when the time 

 has arrived for pupation, a mystery-play is enacted as, 

 search how one will, it is well-nigh impossible to discover 

 the well-hidden pupa. There is often a beautiful 

 metallic lustre upon the inner side of the pupa, and if 

 this is examined under a glass one has apt evidence of 

 the hidden beauties of Nature. Seen for the first time 

 by the inexperienced in such objects, it is bound to excite 



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