74 Beautiful Butterflies. 



body, and in the lower, also near the tips and outer 

 margins ; these ocelli are much like the many-coloured 

 spots on the tail of the peacock, and hence the insect 

 has been named after the bird. 



Io was the name of a heathen goddess, about whom 

 there is told a cock-and-a-bull story, not worth repeat- 

 ing, more especially as we cannot learn that it has any 

 relation to the habits or appearance of the insect to 

 which the name is applied, and the under side of whose 

 wings are very different from the outer, being of a uni- 

 form dark brown colour, traversed by black waving 

 lines, which form a complete network, through which, 

 like stars through a mist, the blue and white spots on 

 the outer sides faintly peep. The body of this insect is 

 blackish, clothed with rust-coloured hairs, and the legs 

 are of a dull yellow colour. 



The Caterpillar is also black, or nearly so, with nu- 

 merous white points dispersed in rows across the 

 body, which is partially covered with hairs ; the legs 

 are a rusty red. Its habits are gregarious, that is, 

 numbers live and feed together; it feeds on two 

 very common species of stinging nettle, amid which 

 it may be found without much difficulty about 

 July. 



The chrysalis is, both in shape and colour, much like 

 that of the Red Admiral ; there is Something more of a 

 green tinge in it, and the indentations along the back 



