THE PEACOCK AND PURPLE EMPEROR. 403 



They s^ere all in splendid condition, and in a very short time 

 I had captured a sufficient number to fill my box. 



Wk must not complete our notice of this genus without a 

 brief mention of the beautiful Peacock Butterfly ( Vanessa 

 lo), so conspicuous on account of the ' eyes ' or circular marks 

 on both pairs of wings. The under surface of the insect is 

 brown-black, mottled in a most curious but almost indescrib- 

 able manner. Whether the sombre colouring be intended for 

 defence I cannot say, but there is no doubt that the insect 

 often owes its life to the contrast between the upper and 

 under surface. When a Peacock Butterfly is chased, it has a 

 way of flying round a tree trunk, and settling on it, closing 

 its wings at the same time, and bringing them together over 

 its back. In this attitude it looks wonderfully like a dead 

 leaf, and the change from a large, active, beautifully -coloured 

 butterfly, to a thin, black, shrivelled leaf, is so great and so 

 rapid that scarcely any eye but that of an entomplogist would 

 detect the insect. 



The larva is one of the nettle-feeders, and is mostly very 

 common, in some places quite as plentiful as that of the Tor- 

 toiseshell, while in others it has to be searched for carefully 

 before it can be found. The general colour of the caterpillar 

 is black, and the body is covered with a great number of long- 

 spines, which may, perhaps, defend it from the poisonous spikes 

 of the plant on which it feeds. The chrysalis is green in 

 colour, brighter when the change is first made, and darker 

 when the future Butterfly is nearly developed. 



On Woodcut XLII. Fig. 3, is shown one of our handsomest 

 Butterflies, the celebrated Purple Emperor, or Emperor op 

 Morocco (^Apatura Iris). This genus differs from Vanessa in 

 having the club of the antennae long instead of knobbed, as is 

 shown at Fig. b, and the club nearly straight. The eyes are 

 without hairs, the hind wings scalloped, and the first pair of 

 legs are not used for walking. At Fig. a is shown one of these 

 partially developed limbs. Those legs that are seen at Fig. 3 

 are the second pair, the first pair being tucked up under the 

 front of the thorax. Only one species inhabits England. 



Those of my readers who do not restrict their studies to 



n D 2 



