72 Beautiful Butterflies. 



fur, making a mixture of colours something like the 

 wings of this noble fly. But what about Vanessa? 

 well, here again we are at fault ; we can find no name, 

 proper or common, no Greek or Latin root, at all like 

 it, except vanesco — to vanish — in the Latin tongue, and 

 therefore must give it up. 



Atalanta I could tell a long story about, did I wish 

 to entertain my young readers with old fables; she, 

 too, according to mythological story, was one of the 

 swift-footed, and did some very wonderful things, how 

 many hundred years ago I am afraid to say ; and now, 

 that her name may not be clean forgotten, which I 

 think it might just as well be, naturalists have bestowed 

 it upon this gorgeous insect, although it appears quite a 

 misnomer, as the Admiral is rather a heavy flyer for a 

 Butterfly, and the English name which he bears is that 

 of a gentleman, and not a lady. 



All the flies of the Vanessa genus are remarkable for 

 their robust bodies, and the thick texture of their wings ; 

 they are strong and handsome, rather than light and 

 elegant ; that is, comparatively speaking, for lightness 

 and elegance are inseparable from the whole race of 

 diurnal Lepidoptera. 



