XXX 



thorax and the strength of the wing veins ; thus some of the nympha- 

 UdcB are more powerful fliers than the great Swallow Tails ; such, for 

 instance, is the case with the Painted Lady. Others — as the whites 

 and browns — fly with an undulating motion, whilst the Purple 

 Emperor sails over the topmost branches of the oak. Others — as the 

 Skippers — have a short, quick jerking kind of flight. The sexes, 

 though generally resembling each other, occasionally offer various dis- 

 tinctions, especially in colour, the males in such cases being almost 

 invariably the most gaily coloured, This is especially the case with the 

 Purple Emperor, the Blues, and the Coppers. In these the upper 

 surface alone offers this distinction ; the Orange tip, however, has tips 

 to the forewings coloured orange on the underside as well as on the 

 upper. In the purple hair-streak the individuals which have a bright 

 purple patch on the upper surface of the wings are the females, as is 

 also the case with the Brown Hair-streak, except that in this species 

 the patch is a dull orange. Some of the Fritillaries have black longi- 

 tudinal ribs on the forewings of the males, and Haworth describes the 

 female of the Red Admiral as differing from the male by possessing a 

 minute white dot on the central red fascia of the forewings. In the 

 genus Colias, or Clouded Yellows, the males exhibit a character gene- 

 rally overlooked by entomologists. It is a kind of glandular sac 

 placed upon the anterior edge of the hind wings near the base, It is 

 large in edits a, and entirely wanting in hyale. Edusa has a whitish 

 variety of the female, on which the name of helice has been bestowed; 

 and paphia has a dark greenish one, which is called vallezina. The 

 females of j 'antra, corydon, and adonis, occasionally, but very rarely, 

 appear with the coloration of the male. 



The variations in the colours and markings of the different species 

 are very numerous, still some general principles are evident. Thus, 

 the Pierida are almost uniformly white ; Colias and its allies, yellow ; 

 the Fritillaries, rich fulvous with black spots, and silvery ones on the 

 under side ; Satyrus and its allies are of various shades of brown with 

 eye-like spots ; the species of Chrysophanus are of a copper colour, and 

 of Polyommatus blue, with small eye-like spots on the under surface ; 

 whilst those of Thecla have hair-like streaks on the under sides. 

 Variations in colours may also be seen in individuals of the same 

 species ; thus, you may get a black variety of the White Admiral, a 

 brown variety of a Blue and White, or bleached variety of the 

 Meadow Brown. 



