**JL ' Jl 78 il/ THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



The Painted Lady (Pyrantels cardui). 



The usual colour of this butterfly is tawny -orange, but in some 

 specimens, especially fresh ones, there is a tinge of pink, or a 

 rosy flush ; the markings are black, and there are some white 

 spots towards the tips of the fore wings. The black markings 

 on the hind wings are subject to variation in size, and some- 

 times they run one into the other. Occasionally this union of 

 the spots is accompanied by blackish suffusion spreading more 

 or less over the entire surface of the wings, so that they appear 

 blackish with tawny-orange patches or clouds. A somewhat 



Fig. 24. 



peculiar variety of the species, kindly lent by Mr. J. A. Clark, 

 is shown on Plate 49. Specimens of this form, or some modi- 

 fication of it, have been obtained in England, but very rarely. 

 Similar examples have also been found in other parts of the 

 globe. Fig. 24 represents another interesting aberration of this 

 butterfly. 



The egg is at first green, and gradually becomes darker. It 

 is strongly ribbed from the base to the top, where the ribs 

 become finer and turn over towards the central hollow, at the 



