56 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



warm and sunny for it to indulge in a few hours' flight. The 

 fine condition of some of the specimens that are seen in May or 

 June has suggested the possibility of such specimens having 

 remained in the chrysalis during the winter, but it is not at all 

 probable that they do so. It may be seen any sunny day from 

 March, or even February, to June in almost every English and 

 Welsh county where its food-plant grows, and locally in Ireland. 

 The best time to take specimens is in the autumn, when they 

 are often to be seen in numbers flying along the rides in or on 

 the outskirts of woods, and also in clover fields. 



Distributed over the whole of temperate Europe, and extending 

 through Asia to the far east and to North Africa. 



The thirty butterflies now to be considered belong to the 

 Nymphalidae, which has a larger membership than any other 

 family of butterflies. It is divided into several sub-families, 

 but only four of these concern us ; these are Apaturinse (i 

 species), Nymphalinas (17 species), Danainae (1 species), and 

 Satyrinae(u species). The next butterfly is our only repre- 

 sentative of Apaturinse. 



The Purple Emperor (Apatura iris). 



On account of its large size and the beautiful purple sheen 

 over its brownish-black velvety wings, this butterfly (Plate 

 29) is always counted a prize by the collector. It is, how- 

 ever, only the male that dons the purple, and he only when 

 seen from the proper angle. The female is without the purple 

 reflection and her wings are browner, but the white spots on the 

 fore wings and the white bands on the hind wings are rather 

 wider than those of the male. Above the anal angle of the hind 

 wings, in both sexes, there is a black spot, ringed with tawny 

 and sometimes centred with white, and a tawny mark on 

 veins 1 and 2. As will be seen on turning to the figures on 



