XXXII 



PRESBYTERIAN Scotland makes no festival of Easter, 



The therefore Easter Monday is not a bank 

 TortoisesheU 

 Butterfly holiday north of the Tweed ; yet, falling 



as it did in 1895 on April 15, it was not only accen- 

 tuated by unclouded sunshine, but also, in the 

 naturalist's calendar, by a profuse hatch of the 

 small tortoiseshell butterfly (Vanessa urticce). This 

 common species is indeed one of the most beauti- 

 ful of British lepidoptera. The gentle contrast of 

 cinnabar red, azure and velvety black, spread in 

 well-designed mosaic on the wings of this insect 

 when newly escaped from the chrysalis, is quite 

 as delightful as the more gorgeous display of the 

 exotic kinds. It is probably the hardiest of all 

 British butterflies. Sunny gleams in February and 

 March often call to life pale and tattered indivi- 

 duals of the foregoing autumn's brood, which have 

 slumbered through the winter under the eaves of 



