THE SMALL TORTOISESHELL 3 



Pearl-bordered Fritillary there are only nine 

 silvery spots on these wings, while in the small 

 pearl-bordered there are no fewer than seventeen. 

 This butterfly also lives in woods, and the two 

 may often be seen flying about together. 



PLATE II 

 THE SMALL TORTOISESHELL (1) 



This is one of the very commonest of all our 

 British butterflies, and you may see it in almost 

 any month of the year, for it first of all appears 

 early in July, and remains on the wing till about 

 the middle of October. Then it seeks some 

 retired nook, and falls fast asleep until April or 

 the beginning of May, when it leaves its retreat 

 and returns to active life for four or five weeks 

 more. And even in the middle of winter a 

 warmer day than usual will often wake it up 

 for an hour or two from its long slumber, and 

 you may see it flying about, and evidently enjoy- 

 ing the sunshine. 



If you want to find the caterpillars of this 

 pretty butterfly, you must look for them on nettle 

 leaves, where you may often see them feeding 

 together in batches of seventy or eighty. They 

 are grey in colour, with a black line running along 

 the back and brown and yellow stripes along 

 the sides, and are covered all over with short, 



