THE LARGE TORTOISESHELL. 67 



fruit trees, especially cherry. Occasionally they have been found 

 on nettle, but the butterflies from these were small in size. 

 June is the best month for them. 



The chrysalis (Plate 34) is greyish, tinged with pink or 

 reddish, sprinkled with greenish, and shaded with brown and 

 black ; the back of the body nearest the thorax is adorned with 

 golden spots. I once obtained a number of these chrysalids 

 in July at Mill Hill ; they were found suspended by the tail 

 from the edges of boards that formed a rickety old cart-shed 

 standing at one end of a field and beneath an elm tree. 



Although this butterfly is often common in the caterpillar 

 state, the perfect insect, which emerges in July and August, is 

 more frequently seen in the spring after hibernation than 

 before that event. It probably establishes itself in suitable 

 quarters, in old trees, faggot stacks, barns, etc., for its long 

 rest during the winter, at an early period after emerging from 

 the chrysalis. 



No doubt large numbers are destroyed by their great enemies, 

 the parasitic flies, chiefly perhaps the Hymenopterous Aftanteles. 

 An observer states that from fifty chrysalids only one butterfly 

 resulted, all the others were found to be filled with parasites. 

 In another case of one hundred caterpillars, some collected 

 when quite small, only one was not " ichneumoned." 



These butterflies, in common with most other Vanessids, do 

 not pair until the spring, but Barrett cites an instance of cater- 

 pillars, from eggs laid by a female in early September, being 

 reared until about \ inch in length, when they apparently laid 

 up for hibernation. 



Lanes margined with trees, especially elms, or the verges of 

 woods, are the most likely places in which to find the butterfly. 

 At one time and another it has been observed in nearly every 

 county of England and Wales, and also in some parts of 

 Scotland, but not in Ireland. It appears to be more or less 

 common in all counties around London, extending to Somerset 



