WHITE ADMIRAL. 131 



Even in its estate of caterpillar, the Apatura Iris is a distin- 

 guished insect, distinguished by a pair of horns, and by the 

 oblique stripes of yellow which lace his green doublet. By 

 good luck, or good looking for, we may light upon him, in 

 the month of May, in feeding " for the Purple," either on his 

 own royal oak, or on the broad-leaved sallow. 



We have extolled already the glories of that beautiful 

 Vanessa, called the "Admiral of the Ked;" nor must we over- 

 pass entirely the less showy endowments of the " Admiral of 

 the White,"* standing alone, we believe, in another division. 

 He displays no gorgeous colours none more brilliant than 

 bars, and spots of white and sable, in a field of brown ; nor 

 has he gained celebrity in fight, though, for his sailing flights 

 his graceful evolutions on the ocean of air he has been 

 pronounced without a rival. 



It is related by Mr. Haworth, that an old aurelian of Lon- 

 don was so enraptured with the elegance of this butterfly's 

 mode of flight, that long after he was able to pursue it he used 

 to go to the woods, and sit down on a stile, for the sole pur- 

 pose of feasting his eyes on its fascinating movements. The 

 caterpillar is a feeder on the honeysuckle. 



In the genus known to naturalists as that of Hipparchia, we 

 have another of the butterfly tribes, more distinguished for 



* Limemtes CamiMa, 



VOL. II. 9. 



