172 
ADMIRAL RED. 
a casual modification of the characters of V. atalanta, 
than the indication of any specific difference ; yet tho 
two have a totally different range of geographical 
distribution.* “ This insect very rarely appears,” 
says a popular writer, speaking of V. atalanta, “ un- 
til late in September, and then so perfect and fresh 
in its plumage, as to manifest its recent production 
from the chrysalis. In some years they abound, and 
we may see twenty of these beautiful creatures ex- 
panding and closing their brilliant wings under the 
fruit trees on our walls, or basking upon the disc of 
some autumnal flower; and at another, perhaps, 
hardly a specimen is to be obtained ; nor do they 
seem, like the wasp, to be scarce or abundant ac- 
cording to the deficiency or plenty of the season, but 
influenced by other causes. Many of our butter- 
flies are produced by successive hatches, supplying 
the places of those which have been destroyed, and 
here it is difficult to mark the duration of an indivi- 
dual ; and others, as the nettle, peacock, and wood 
tortoise, in many instances survive the winter, hidden 
in some recess or sheltered apartment, appearing in 
the spring time-worn and shabby. But V. atalanta 
appears only in the autumn, not as a preserved crea- 
ture, but as a recent production ; and hence we can 
ascertain the duration of its life to be comprised only 
* A figure of V. Vutcania will be found in Loudon's Mag. 
of Nat. Hist., v. p. 752, where it is described by an intelli- 
gent observer as intermediate between V. Atalanta and C. 
Cardui. Both Cramer and Herbst have figured it as a va- 
riety of V. atalanta. 
