THE NETTLETORTOISE-SHELL BUTTERFLY. 325 



three small blades of grass across towards their top, 

 and fasten them together by means of their silk : 

 then hang themselves beneath the centre of these, 

 each having his own little canopy. By this means 

 they are not only hidden from the sight of birds, but 

 defended in a great measure from the damage they 

 might otherwise sustain from windy and boisterous 

 weather. They feed on the Devil's-bit Scabious 

 (Scabiosa succisa), and on various kinds of the maish 

 grasses; eating only the opening leaves as they come 

 up, which renders them sometimes difficult to find. 

 This they do also only while the sun shines ; for if, 

 in the very act, the sun becomes hidden by a cloud, 

 they immediately cease, but, on the return of the 

 sun-beams, they recommence their operations with 

 great voracity. 



If any person wishes to observe the operations and 

 change of these caterpillars at his own home, he has 

 nothing: more to do than to cut a turf from the 

 place where they are found, and they will feed as 

 readily there as in their former residence *. 



THE NETTLE TORTOISE-SHELL BUTTERFLY f. 



The upper wings of this well-known insect, one 

 of the most beautiful and common of the British 

 Butterflies, are red, and marked with alternate bands 

 of black and pale orange ; below these are three 



* Harris's Aurelian, p. lvii. tab. s8. — Levvin, p. xxxiv. tab. 15. 

 f Synonyms.— Papilio Urtica?. Z,j«>/.-»-Nettle Tortoise-shell. 

 Leiviti.— Tortoise- shell Fly. Havis, 



v 3 



