152 
THE SUBSTITUTE. 
very short time captured fifteen 
beautiful males. Now and then 
SybiUa swept over the bushes out 
of reach, and thoufrh they once or 
twice deigned to wheel round my 
head not one would alight. This 
was very trying, as I knew that 
had been a favourite place with 
them in former seasons, but it was 
plain they had chosen a fresh spot 
for their “ Metropolis.” However, 
I patiently waited ; and so quiet 
did I stand for an hour that a fox 
trotted past within forty yards of 
me, and a jay repeatedly fed her 
young in a tree over my head. At 
last I shifted mv quarters and 
forced my way through the wood, 
— no easy matter, as there are no 
glades or paths of any description, 
but only a small open space here 
and there; I reached the edge of 
the wood, and found the extreme 
border had been cleared of timber : 
this space was about half a dozen 
yards wide and the entire length 
of the wood, without trees, but 
overgrown with bramble, honey- 
suckle, and wild flowers of every 
description. What a scene was 
there for a naturalist! T gazed in 
wonder and delight. The noon, 
day sun was shining in all his 
glory ; not a sound was to be 
beard but the hum of insects that 
were there in hundreds! — in thou- 
sands! One long bright belt of in- 
sects and flowers lay before me : the 
beautiful SybWa floated grace- 
fully past, and fearlessly alighted 
on the bramble at my feet. 
Paphin, “ Silver Queen,” was on 
every knot of bloom ; Adippe, too, 
sported merrily round, chased from 
flower to flower by P. Sj/lvanm 
and Linca, that were there in 
swarms ; there flitted the quiet- 
looking Aihalia. Contemptuously 
snapping his wings at intruders 
sat the bright-winged Rhamni; 
UrliccB and Ili/pnanthus too were 
present in hundreds, while myriads 
of gaily-coloured flies and bees, 
and a strange ichneumon-looking 
thing as big as a hornet darted 
rapidly past me every moment. 
Driving furiously along was that 
Jehu of moths//. Quercua. There, 
too, on a sandly hillock lay ano- 
ther old acquaintance, a fine 
adder, neatly diamonded with 
umber and black, and coiled 
round like a watch-spring. In 
the dry ditch at my feet lay seve- 
ral large snakes, already disturbed 
by my presence, and slowly gliding 
away over the dry leaves ; one, in 
particular, was bright with yellow 
and green. A pretty lizard lay 
gasping in the sun on an old gate 
in front of me, the pathway to 
which was overgrown with pretty 
yellow flowers gaily studded with 
numbers of C. Phlceas. After 
watching the various things round 
me for some time, I went to work 
with my net, and succeeded in 
taking thirty fine specimens of 
Limenitis SybiUa, fifteen of 
Adippe, thirty-five of Paphia, five 
Athalia, and numbers of all the 
others I mentioned, filling every 
box and using every pin I had 
with me. Next morning at six 
o’clock I was on the road to ano- 
ther wood, about eight miles dis- 
tant, in search oi Apatura Iris. I 
arrived there about half-past eight 
o’clock, but the old keeper was 
dead, and I tried in vain to get 
leave from his successor to enter 
the wood. “ There was nothing 
there,” he said, “and it was no 
use trying ; besides he expected 
some gentlemen there to look at 
the timber, and he would have no 
