24 BUTTERFLIES 



PLATE XII 

 THE BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY (2) 



This very handsome insect is common in almost 

 all parts of the country, and is one of the very 

 first butterflies to be seen in the spring. On 

 warm, sunny days in March, or even in February, 

 you may often meet with it. For it is one of 

 those butterflies which " hibernate "—that is, it 

 comes out of the chrysalis in the summer or 

 early autumn, and then sleeps all through the 

 winter in some snug retreat, from which it is 

 always ready to come out for an hour or two 

 when the weather is a little warmer and finer 

 than usual. 



The male Brimstone is a good deal handsomer 

 than the female, for his wings are of a bright 

 daffodil colour, while those of his mate are pale 

 greenish-yellow. The caterpillar feeds on the 

 young leaves of buckthorn bushes, and is dull 

 green in colour, sprinkled all over with tiny 

 black spots, from each of which sprouts a slender 

 white bristle, and the chrysalis, which is fastened 

 by a silken belt round its body to a twig of the 

 food-plant, is bright apple-green marked with 

 yellow and purple-brown. 



