4 THE BUTTERFLY VIVARIUM. 



geously coloured Peacock Butterfly in its larva 

 sta"-e. Nor, if they observed suspended from one of 

 the nettle leaves a curiously angulated object- 

 something like a small model of a Gothic pinnacle, 

 such as might have been hanging up in a museum 

 as a specimen of mediaeval art — would they be able 

 to declare at once that it was the same creature in 

 its chrysalid stage. Even the resplendent metallic 

 specks on the little suspended object, looking like 

 the remains of former gilding nearly worn off, 

 would be no help, though such marks on the chry- 

 salis are well known to entomologists as a peculiar 

 characteristic of the genus Vanessa, to which the 

 Peacock Butterfly belongs, and respecting which 

 there are many other curious things to be told. 



All these, and a thousand other things connected 

 with the intricate history of insects, are but dimly 

 learnt from books — that is, by the general reader; and 

 when so learnt, they are soon forgotten. But when 

 the knowledge is acquired from actual observation, 

 then the impression is so vivid that it cannot be 

 easily effaced. It is to enable the student to make 

 these observations in his own study or drawing- 

 room, that I have devised the little structure which 

 I am about to describe in the present volume, as 

 well as the habits, instincts, and transformations of 



