THE SMALL TORTOISESHELL 
153 
The pupa is attached by the cremastral hooks to a pad of 
silk spun on any object suitable ; occasionally it may be 
found suspended upon the food plant. Under ledges of walls, 
palings and other shelters it frequently occurs. The pupal 
stage lasts about twelve days. 
Imago. The average wing expanse in the male is 50 mm. ; 
in the female, 56 mm. The sexes are similar, excepting for 
the larger size of the female. The outer margins of the wings 
are slightly scalloped. There is a conical projection below 
the apex of the fore wing, and a larger one in the centre of 
The Small Tortoiseshell 
( Male ab. ichnusoides ; Female ab. nigra. P. Bright coll). 
the hind wing. The ground colour is usually of an orange or 
ochreous-red. Along the costa are three large, somewhat 
square black markings, with deep straw-yellow intervening 
spaces. Between the last blotch and the apex is a white spot 
sometimes tinged with bluish. There are two small black 
spots in the middle of the fore wing and a larger black blotch 
in the centre of the inner margin adjoining a straw-yellow 
blotch towards the anal angle. The outer marginal black 
bands of both fore and hind wings are intersected by two 
ochreous lines and a series of blue lunules. The hind wing has 
the basal half black, covered with golden-brown cilia, and 
bordered by a sub-marginal orange-red band with the upper 
end straw-yellow. The under surface is much the same as 
the upper in pattern, but chiefly brown and ochreous in 
colour, the lightest part being the central area of the fore 
wing. The apex is coloured like the hind wing and is likewise 
striated with brown. 
Life of Imago. The Small Tortoiseshell is one of the longest- 
