126 FAN-WINGED BUTTERFLIES. 



England in woods and meadows, heaths and downs during 

 the months of June and July. Their caterpillars, which are 

 spiny, feed mostly on the dog-violet and raspberry. 



The Fritillaries have a distinctive though not peculiar 

 mark, in the shortness and seeming imperfection of their fore- 

 most pair of legs, which are not usable for walking. 



We come now to the fan- winged genus Vanessa, comprising 

 some of our commonest, but also most beautiful and richly- 

 coloured, Butterflies all, like the last, with the fore-legs im- 

 perfect. Among these is the little " Tortoise-shell,"* noticed 

 already as a survivor of, and occasional visiter in, winter. It 

 derives its name from its orange black-spotted wings, mar- 

 gined by a border of blue-crescents, and thickly furred at 

 



their base with golden hair, which also covering the body, 

 helps, doubtless, to protect it when exposed to frost. This 

 butterfly is among those which are called double-brooded, 

 one set of eggs being hatched in spring, the other towards 

 autumn, of which latter families are the winter survivors/ 



The caterpillars are greenish black, with yellow stripes, and 

 spiny, like the nettle on which they feed ; while young, in 

 large societies, which afterwards disperse. The " Great Tor- 

 toise-shell," or " Elm Butterfly," is much larger, and less com- 

 mon than the above. 



* Vanessa Urtica. 



