96 Natural History of the 



species is marked by a change sufficient perhaps to classify it as 

 a permanent variety, but not to authorise a distinct, specific ap- 

 pellation. It is wonderful that so delicate a thing as a butterfly 

 should be so widely distributed, and yet, another of our species, 

 " The Painted Lady," Crynthia Caqdui, occurs in England, France, 

 the Brazils, Africa, lona, and New South Wales.* The " Red 

 Admiral," Vanessa Atalanta, above mentioned, is another British 

 butterfly which abounds in this country, and there are many 

 others of which, it is to be hoped, some practical entomologist 

 will volunteer to give an account in this Journal. 



3. The Isabella Tiger Moth. (Arctia Isabella.) — Another 

 interesting little object was the caterpillar of the Isabella tiger 

 moth, easily recognised by its warm furry jacket, and by the pe- 

 culiar distribution of the colours of its body, black at both ends, 

 and red in the middle. When touched, it suddenly rolls itself up 

 into a rovind ball, and remains motionless until the danger is 

 past. Without understanding the wonderful transformations of 

 insect life, who could fancy that this little mass of fur, in shape 

 like a lady's boa, is destined in a few days to become a beautifully 

 painted moth, no longer creeping on the ground on 16 short legs; 

 but soaring through the air upon four delicate scale covered wings. 

 Yet nothing is more true than this, that every caterpillar begins 

 life as real bona fide caterpillar and ends it, provided the ordinary 

 course of nature is not interrupted by some accident, as a winged 

 insect. This moth is described by Professor Emmons in his 

 work upon the insects of New York, as having the " thorax tawny 

 and brownish : abdomen tawny, deeper colour beneath, and 

 marked with three rows of black spots, about six or seven in 

 each row, running on the back and middle of the sides. Fore- 

 wings tawny, and marked with a few black scattering spots ; 

 hind wings nearly transparent, slightly tawny, and marked with 

 six tawny spots ; legs black or dark brown." 



Professor Emmons says that the caterpillar feeds "upon sundry 

 kinds of herbs ;" but he does not inform us when it goes into the 

 chrysalis state, or when the moth makes its appearance, and as I 

 am unacquainted with the subject, I cannot, I am sorry to say, 

 give any further information upon this point. 

 ' The caterpillar of the Isabella tiger-moth, although itself a most 

 harmless little creature, is often made the victim of other insects 



* Wollaston on the Variation of Species, p. 32. 



