THE PURPLE EMPEROR. 129 



unmanageable leaves they yet manage not only to eat but also 

 to roll, as well as those of the nettle and other spiny vegetables. 



Of the following genus, Apatura, is the "Purple Emperor 

 of the Woods,"* well worthy of the title in favour of his regal 

 attire, as well as his soaring pride of station and of flight. 

 Though his reign in the south of England is not unfrequent, 

 he is rarely captured, because it is seldom that he lowers his 

 course sufficiently for the crossing of our humble paths. 

 Making at once a throne and footstool of the oak tree's 

 "leafy crown/' he thence laughs in scorn at the anxious up- 

 turned face of baffled entomologist. Then, taking to a rapid 

 bird-like flight, he soars disdainfully above the gauzy hand- 

 net, which, though attached sometimes to a handle of thirty 

 feet, expressly for his capture, is often lowered in despair, as 

 the free-born monarch of the woods rises in unheeding pro- 

 gress through the blaze of a July sun. When, however, he 

 is surprised, by accident, within our reach, he is equally dis- 

 tinguished by that bold and lofty bearing which becomes his 

 rank, and, from disdaining to show the alarm of meaner in- 

 sects, sometimes graces (a sacrifice to his own courage) the 

 triumph of the proud collector. 



We have spoken already of the Emperor's voluntary flights 

 towards the source of day, which, lowered with the descending 

 luminary, are said usually to carry him by four o'clock (p. m.) 



* Apatura, Iris. 



