Beautiful Butterflies. 101 



will not move from his settling-place until you quite 

 push him off; you may even tip the end of his wings, 

 and be suffered to strike him again." 



Here is the character of his majesty given with great 

 truth and freedom ; he is somewhat quarrelsome, it 

 appears, as kings are apt to be ; jealous of any intrusion 

 upon his own territories. A bold proud insect, this 

 Purple High-flier, as he is sometimes called, you see 

 him there in the picture the size of life, and very life- 

 like he looks, with the white patches beautifully re- 

 lieving the otherwise heavy richness of his dark velvety 

 wings, of which if you were to see the underside, a very 

 different view would be presented ; silvery grey, tawny 

 orange, white and black, are there the principal colours, 

 here fading off one into the other, there exhibiting 

 strong contrasts and striking changes of hue. The 

 Caterpillar and Chrysalis of this species are both green, 

 of a fresh vivid tint ; the former is marked with pale 

 yellow lines ; it swells considerably at the middle of the 

 body, and tapers off at the tail to a point; it is not 

 hairy, and the head is black, with a couple of projec 

 tions like horns sticking straight up, which gives it a 

 very singular appearance. It may be found about the 

 end of May, feeding on the broad-leaved sallow and 

 oak. 



The Purple Emperor is chiefly confined to the 

 southern counties of England; we do not hear of its 



