ADMIRAL RED. 
171 
fed, one of which is united to the central band ; be- 
yond the latter are two irregular blue streaks, anil 
the extreme tip of the wing is of a tawny colour, in 
which are two of the smaller white spots surrounded 
with a dusky ring : the hinder wings are finely 
marbled with undulating lines and spots of black, 
brown, and yellowish-grey, the latter forming a large 
patcli near the middle of the anterior edge. The 
fringe of the wings is white, interrupted with black. 
The caterpillar is solitary, and feeds on the nettle. 
It prefers the seed of that plant to the leaves, and 
usually protects itself from the weather by drawing 
a few leaves around it, which it secures by silken 
threads. It is greenish, or nearly black, with a ma- 
cular line of yellow along each side. 
It is common in England, and occurs in some 
plenty apparently in all parts of Scotland. It is most 
frequently seen towards the end of autumn, and de- 
lights to alight on the flower of the dahlia, or some 
late flowering aster. It is found in all parts of Eu- 
rope, in the United States of America, and the coun- 
tries of Africa skirting the Mediterranean. In the 
East Indies, and in the island of Teneriffe, it is re- 
placed by a very closely allied insect, which beau- 
tifully exemplifies the nice and occasionally almost 
imperceptible gradations by which nature sometimes 
passes from one species to another. The latter is 
named V. vulcania, and the distinctive marks which 
it presents are so slight, that they might seem rather 
between those few days that intervene from the end 
