171 



The chrysalis, suspended by the tail from the underside of a leaf, is very 

 contorted in figure. The head is rather flat, and has two straight horns, 

 which are prolonged at the tips ; the back of the thorax rises up sharply to a 

 thin squared central projection, and then falls in again abruptly ; and the 

 wing cases are prominent. It varies in colour from dark to light brown, 

 with bright silvery blotches. In some places the chrysalides are known by 

 the name of " silver grubs." 



Two parasites, belonging to the Hymenoptera, have been bred from it, viz : 

 Pimpla flavonotata and Pteromalus jmparum. The caterpillar appears 

 to be less fastidious in its food than others of the genus. It is reported as 

 feeding on hop, elm, currant, gooseberry, and nettle. The second brood 

 would appear to prefer hop, but as that plant is scarcely in leaf when the first 

 brood are feeding, the early caterpillars must of necessity find other food. 



There are two broods in the year. The caterpillars may be found in May 

 or June, and the butterflies in June or early in July. Then when the hop- 

 picking season comes on, the caterpillars and also the chrysalides are found 

 in much larger numbers, producing butterflies in September, October or even 

 later. These undoubtedly hybernate, and re-appear in March or April, thus 

 remaining six or seven months in the perfect state ; whilst the summer brood 

 does not live a tenth part of the time. This, Mr. Robson suggests, would 

 account for the extra abundance of the autumn brood, as such a much larger 

 proportion of the summer butterflies are able to deposit their eggs. See 

 " Young Naturalist " Yol. II., p. 110. The butterflies which emerge in 

 June or July, are always of the pale form, and are produced from eggs laid 

 by the hybernated females. Vanessa c-album frequents woods, gardens, lanes, 

 and fields, being particularly fond of bramble blossom and fruit, and of plums 

 and apples when decaying. It occurs all over Europe, except in the Polar 

 Eegions, and in Greece and Turkey where it is replaced by Egea. It is 

 found also in Northern and Western Asia. In North America it is replaced 

 by many allied species ; one of which, Interrogationis, likewise feeds on the 

 common hop, to which it often does immense injury. In the summer of 

 1838, Mr. Edward Doubleday saw the hops in a garden at Ashville, North 

 Carolina, entirely destroyed by them ; and the roof of a long verandah was 

 hung with the chrysalides, suspended so closely together, that, the webs by 

 which they were attached being united, he was able to pull them down in 

 masses of thirty or forty at a time. A large portion was attacked by their 

 brilliant little, parasite, to which Dr. Harris has given the name of Pteromalus 

 vanessa. Vanessa c-album is a local insect in England and Wales, and does 

 not occur in either Scotland or Ireland. Only one specimen is recorded from 

 Northumberland, and only one locality has been reported from Cumberland, 



