292 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



eggs and die* Others pass tlirougli tlie frost and snow as 

 pupse, bursting their cerements in tlie sunshine, to live their 

 brief life and perpetuate their race; others eke out a half 

 dormant existence as minute larvae, others pass the winter 

 in the egg state. In fact, each species has its idiosyncrasy. 



The swallow-tail butterfly, first on some British lists, must 

 be sought for in the fens of Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, and 

 Northamptonshire. It is a strong flyer, and requires running 

 down, unless when settled on the head of one of the various 

 umbelliferous plants it delights in. The clouded yellow is 

 usually a lover of the sea- coast during the months of August 

 and September — though in that year of strange climatic changes 

 (1877) it appeared in considerable numbers from the beginning 

 of June, whether hybernated, or an early brood evolved from 

 pupse lying dormant throughout the last summer, is an open 

 question. 



The Purple Emperor, now one of our rarest insects (I have not 

 seen it alive since the time when I was a boy, and saw it around 

 the oaks of Darenth Wood), was formerly captured by the aid 

 of a net fixed to a pole 30ft. or 40ft, long. But accident or 

 science discovered, however, that this wearer of Imperial purple 

 possessed a very degraded taste, descending, in fact, from the 

 tops of the highest oaks to sip the juices from any decaying or 

 excremental matter. Now, therefore, the recognised bait is a 

 dead dog or cat in a severe state of " highness." The " game- 

 keeper's museum " in the few places where Iris now resorts may 

 be searched with advantage, yielding also a plentiful supply of 

 beetles of various sorts. The " Holly Blue " I have noticed to 

 have a similar degraded taste. 



Mud holes also in hot weather attract many butterflies, as 

 do the sweet exudations from various trees, or from fallen or 

 over-i'ipe fiTiit. 



* Here, perhars. I mar explode that myth and "enoraious gooseberry" of th*^ mild 

 ■winter or early sprinj,', headed in the newsnaper every year as "Extraordinary Mildne.-^s 

 of the Season " : " We are credibly informed that, owing to the mildness of the past week, 

 Mr. William Smith, of Dullto\\-n, Blankshire, captured a splendid specimen of abutterHy, 

 M hich a scientific gentleman to whom it was sent pronounced to be the small tortoiseshe 1 

 ^'(na'ssll, ice." Now the fact is, that Urticae merely came out for an airing, awakene 1 

 from its winter sleep by the extraordinary warmth of the dav, and it might just as liiiely 

 have been " shook up " on the preceding Guy Faux or Christmas-day; all the Vanessiilii', 

 and many others, being hybernators. Far ditferent, however, is it when any of the 

 '•^^'hites"—P(>m/rp— are seen or caught. They, indeed, do herald the coming sprinar, as, 

 Ij-ing in the chrysal'S state throughout the late autumn and foUawing winter, some degree 

 of continuous warmth must take place 'ere they can emerge. 



