71 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
mens that have hibernated appear earlier ; the larva is 
black, sprinkled with minute dots with spines on its seg¬ 
ments. Like the larva of the Red Admiral, it feeds on 
the nettle. Though common in England, it is scarce in 
Scotland. 
The Tortoise-shells large and small (Vanessa polycldo- 
ros, and V. urticce ), the latter of which is extremely 
common everywhere, the former not being so abundant, 
belong to this family. All the species of the genus Va¬ 
nessa have more or less a ragged or scalloped outline. 
This is very conspicuous in the Comma Butterfly (G rapt a 
C-album ), so called from a central C-like mark on the 
hind wings. This species is scarce. 
But perhaps the greatest prizes in this family of the 
Nymphalidse are the Camberwell Beauty ( Vanessa An- 
tiopa) and Purple Emperor 'A pat nr a Iris). The former 
is capricious in its appearance, and few Entomologists 
indeed have ever seen it on the wing. The wings are 
purplish chocolate, margined with yellowish white, ad¬ 
joining w hich is a broad black band, with six or seven 
blue spots to each wing. It is the largest of the Va¬ 
nessas ; “ Longo post tempore venit ” is expressive of the 
appearance of this butterfly. When it has appeared it 
sometimes occurs in great numbers. About eighty years 
ago, after a long absence, it appeared somewhere in great 
number, and received the name of “ The Grand Sur¬ 
prise,” and its appearance at Camberwell some years 
ago caused it to be called the Camberwell Beaut}’, a 
name it still retains. 
The Purple Emperor is perhaps the most splendid 
of our native butterflies, the iridescent gloss of the 
wings in the male in certain lights equalling in bril- 
