26 Beautiful Butterflies. 



lia, from aurum, gold ; because the cases of some of the 

 pupa have a glittering appearance, as though they were 

 partly composed of that metal. You may have seen 

 one, that of the Tortoise-shell Butterfly, generally found 

 near a bed of nettles, on which the Caterpillar feeds ; 

 it is rugged, uneven, angular in shape, as is also that 

 of another common species, the Cabbage Butterfly; 

 this latter is of a greenish-yellow colour, marked with 

 black spots. 



Some Caterpillars, when about to change into chry- 

 salides, creep into holes and crevices, others bury them- 

 selves in the earth; some envelope themselves in a 

 tissue of fine silk, as the silkworm does ; this is called 

 a Cocoon, of the origin of which word we must confess 

 our ignorance ; my readers will do well to try and find 

 it out. Some of these chrysalides, again, suspend 

 themselves to a bough, or other convenient object, by 

 means of a silken cord, sometimes fastened round the 

 middle, sometimes to one end, of the oblong case, as 

 shown in this cut, designed by Thomas Hood to illus- 

 trate the popular ballad " I M be a Butterfly." Here 

 the part downwards is the head. A very interesting 

 account is given by a naturalist named Reaumar of 

 the way in which the Caterpillar proceeds to effect this 

 suspension, and change from the larva skin into the 

 nupa case; but it is too long for quotation here; by- 

 and-by you will, I hope, read it for youself in some 



