1394.] 149 



butterfly was under the net that I knelt on the grass for nearly an 

 hour, holding the ring of the net tightly down the while, watching to 

 see if it would re-appear, then one by one I pulled away the ferns 

 and picked up every withered leaf, but never a glimpse of that leaf- 

 butterfly did I get. A charming bright bit of colour in small openings 

 of the Porest was Atella Bodenia, and there were a few localities, 

 generally the beginning of a foot track on the edge of the Forest, 

 where one was almost sure to find one or tw^o of them. They were 

 fond of the "fua f ua " trees, and would sit sunning themselves on a 

 bright green leaf just where a slender streak of sunshine could touch 

 them, but they were wary and alert and off at the slightest alarm, 

 circling round the tops of the trees, but generally returning to the 

 same branch, often to the same leaf. The famous " Hampstead " 

 butterfly, Junonia vellida* was common in gardens, and in the garden 

 of Mr. E. L. Stevenson, where Xenias of every shade and colour grew 

 profusely, it was always to be found during the hottest hours of the 

 day flying swiftly from flower to flower. 



In the different Colonies of Australia, in the Friendly Islands, 

 and in the Navigator Islands, one of the first butterflies to be noticed 

 is Danais Plexippus, and in Upolo it was very much at home, but was 

 decidedly more numerous at a few hundred feet above the sea. 



There was a cleared space of a few acres about 700 feet above sea 

 level, where a red-flowered cotton weed (Asclepias ?) grew, and here 

 Danais Plexippus might be found in all its stages. The greenish- 

 yellow egg on the under-side of the leaf, the brightly banded black 

 and yellow larva, the chrysalis (chartreuse-green with golden dots) 

 hanging from leaf or twig, and the grand butterfly himself skimming 

 with easy flight over the cotton weeds, sucking at the blossoms of 

 orange or lemon trees, and often chasing butterflies of other species 

 off his hunting grounds, for Danais Plexippus is, I fear, decidedly 

 aggressive. In all stages of its existence the same unpleasant odour 

 pervades it, probably one of the reasons why it is so abundant. When 

 freshly emerged from the chrysalis, and with the sun shining directly 

 down on it, a deep rich purple tint appears to be shot through the black 

 markings, this disappears very soon, and he continues his unmolested 

 career sometimes until his powerful wings are almost denuded of 

 scales, which is not to be wondered at, when his unbutterfly-like 

 disregard of weather is taken into consideration. 



31, Bloomsbury Street, Bedford Square : 

 May, 1894. 



* " Albin's Hampstead Eye" (Cynthia hampstediensis, Steph.). 



