So THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



dumping-ground of this surplus stock. Our own islands are 



frequently favoured in this way, and it is most likely that if 



this were not so, this pretty butterfly would not be so common 



throughout Great Britain as it is in some years. The natural 



habit of the species is to go on reproducing its kind throughout 



the year, and those individuals that arrive here most certainly 



endeavour to do this in their new home. Unfortunately our 



climate is not, as a rule, a suitable one for those caterpillars 



which hatch from the egg late in the season, and although 



some may complete their growth, and even attain the perfect 



state, the butterfly, so far as is known, does not hibernate as 



do the Tortoiseshells and the Peacock. It may therefore be 



& % assumed that the specimens seen in May or June of any year 



\^* are not native born, but early immigrants, and that it is from 



f i tt*A s uch aliens that the caterpillars and butterflies observed later , 



fjL f in the year are descende d^ 



\ t^ A curious habit of the Painted Lady, and also of the Red 



*g Admiral, is that of continuing on the wing long after other 



^u kinds of butterfly have retired to their resting-places for the 



fa night. Both have been seen flying about at dusk, and have 



been recorded as attracted by light on more than one occasion. 



It has been noted that these butterflies, in early summer, 



usually occur singly, and seem to become attached to some 



short stretch of ground, over which they career to and fro with 



almost mechanical regularity. They may be struck at with the 



net again and again, but do not desert their beat. Even if 



caught and released again they appear to be undismayed, and 



resume their interrupted patrol either at once or very shortly 



afterwards. The later butterflies also are not afraid of the net, 



and will repeatedly return to some favourite perch after being 



struck at and missed. 



Although the butterfly has been observed, sometimes in 

 abundance, in every part of the British Islands, even to the 

 Shetlands, its occurrence in any given locality is always 



6- j jo /j*. 



