88 DUTTERFLY COLLECTOR'S 



/iilimt and C. C'an/ui. Tlicy are plentifiil all over tlip king- 

 dom in some years ; alter which / '. Anfiovu in particular, 

 will not be seen by any one for eight or ten or more years, 

 and then appear again as plcntifiiUy as before. To suppose 

 they come from the continent, is an idle conjecture, as it 

 must have been long known to the lepidopterist as a native 

 of Britain ; besides which, the English specimens are easily 

 distinguished from all others by the superior whiteness of 

 their borders. From its scarcity it received at first from 

 Harris the name of the "Grand Surprise," and afterwards 

 in his " Aurellan," that of the "Camherwell Heauty," 

 Perhaps their eggs, in this climate, like the seeds of some 

 vegetables, may occasionally lie dormant for several seasons 

 and not hatch, imtil some extraordinary but undiscovered 

 coincidence awake them into active life. 



VANESSA POLYCHLOROS, LARGE TORTOISESHELL 



Lcwhi pi. 2. Donovan v. 8, p. 278. Duncan, pi. 17, Jil{. 2. 



BuUerJIy. Wings of a dark orange. Primary with eight 

 black spot.«, two large and angular of the anterior margin, 

 two nearer the ba.se nearly coalescing into one, two in the 

 centre smaller than the rest, and two near the interior 

 margin. Posterior margin black, with a series ot pale 

 crescents. Base of the wiug with tawny hairs and scales. 

 Underneath the wing is black at the ba-se and jjosterior 

 margin with a paler broad posterior band, marbled with 

 brown, three pale equidistant spots at the anterior margin. 

 Secondary wings black at the base anteriorly, interiorly 

 covered with long tawny hairs and scales, a black band at 

 the posterior margin, with blue and i)ale crescents ; black 

 underneath witli a i)aler broad posterior uiarl)led band, 



