The Small Cabbage White Butterfly. 



The Brimstone Butterfly. 



BUTTERFLIES 



T 



HE diurnal habits, exquisite 

 beauty, and fascinatingly 

 strange life history of but- 

 terflies in their evolution 

 from the tiny egg to the 

 perfect imago appeal with 

 irresistible charm to all 

 lovers of the country-side. 

 One of the earliest to make its appear- 

 ance in the spring is the handsome 

 Small Tortoiseshell. It hibernates dur- 

 ing the winter months in old sheds, 

 barns, and disused rabbit - burrows, 

 from which retreats a fine sunny day 

 will easily tempt it forth even in Feb- 

 ruary. It appears to be very partial 

 to the nectar furnished by the blossom 

 of the lilac. 



The Brimstone Butterfly is a hardy 

 creature, gifted with a strong, buoyant 

 flight. It is very common in woods in 

 the south of England, and appears early 

 in the spring. I have frequently been 

 interested in noting how wonderfully 

 the male, which is yellower than the 

 female, harmonises at a little distance 

 with a primrose when resting upon it. 

 Many members of this species hibern- 

 ate, and I have found specimens at 



17 129 



Christmas clinging to the undersides 

 of bramble leaves. 



Large and small White Butterflies 

 are exceedingly common on the Surrey 

 hills, where it is not an unusual thing 

 during a hot summer's day to see ten 

 or a dozen of one species or the other 

 mounting the air in an excited cluster, 

 clattering together and battling in the 

 air over some momentous question in 

 the welfare of their giddy world as 

 they rise higher and higher. 



I have several large clumps of varie- 

 gated grass growing in my garden, and 

 notice that members of both these 

 species are very fond of roosting in it. 

 Whether they are conscious of any har- 

 monising effect or not it is impossible 

 to say, but it is certain that they 

 are very difficult to detect when resting 

 amongst the broad blades. 



Ringlets and Meadow Browns are 

 so abundant during July and August 

 in some parts of the country that 

 they rise from the grass on the edges 

 of woods and in meadows almost at 

 every other step, and upon occasion 

 several members of the latter species 

 may be seen clinging at the same 



