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It sometimes comes to sweets, and is more frequently seen in the spring of 

 the year after hibernation, than in the autumn. On the continent of Europe 

 it is widely spread, being wanting only in the Polar regions ; it is also found 

 over the greater part of Asia. In England, it is most plentiful in the 

 Southern counties, occurring less commonly in the Midlands, and very rarely 

 in the Northern counties ; where it is only an occasional visitor. Two speci- 

 mens only have been recorded from Scotland, and none from Ireland. In 

 America, it is replaced by a closely allied species V-album ; and there is 

 another still closer found in Eastern Europe, viz. Xamthomelas, generally 

 occurring near rivers, the caterpillers feeding on smooth-leaved willows. 



The first author in Britain to figure and describe it was Thomas Mouffett, 

 in 1633. 



John Kay, in his " Historia Insectorium," 1710, writes, " Eruca e qua 

 exit haec species non multum difTert ab Urticaria': hoc anno (1695) 

 plures salicis latifolise folia depaxcentes inveni." 



James Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britannise Icones," 1717, writes 

 " Papiiio Testudinarius major, Great Tortoise Shell Butterfly. A large fly. 

 I have observed them both in autumn and spring, they often settle on trees, 

 and commonly the elm." 



Eleazer Albin, in his " Natural History of English Insects," writes, " The 

 caterpillar was bluish spotted and bristled with yellow, the head and feet 

 black. It was taken on the elm the 10th of June. The caterpillars, when 

 young keep together, and when full-fed they ordinarily tie themselves up 

 by the tail under the cappings of walls, or some such shelter, and change into 

 chrysalis about the middle of June ; and in the beginning of July produce a 

 butterfly, commonly called the Great Tortoise-shell. From several of these 

 chrysalides came broods of small Ichneumon flies." 



Lewin, in 1795, writes, "They delight to settle on dry pathways, as also 

 on the trunks of trees, to sun themselves. They fly swift, and are not easily 

 taken, except in the morning, when they are feeding on the blossoms of 

 different plants, near the place where they are bred. Some few of the late 

 bred flies secrete themselves in the hollows of trees, or such places as will 

 protect them from the severity of the weather, and live through the winter. 

 The male is not so large as the female, but in colour and marks they perfectly 

 agree." 



Stephens, in his "Illustrations," published in 1828, writes, "This insect 

 is also one of those which occasionally appear in profusion : during the past 

 season it has been particularly abundant near London, occurring in plenty in 

 Copenhagen fields, and near Ripley, in Surrey, last July. I captured in 

 April last some faded specimens at the latter place, which had been produced 



