THE COMMA BUTTERFLY 
1 77 
Those of the first pair are the largest and compressed. A 
brilliant coppery-gold streak ornaments the anterior portion 
of the third and fourth segments. 
Normal specimens have the ground colour a pinkish-buff, 
very delicately reticulated with black. Crossing the wing are 
two dark olive-green bands, one apical, the other median ; 
down the abdomen are three bands of similar colour ; 
the dorsal surface of the abdomen is also blotched with 
olive and bears a pale pink central line. The thorax is 
streaked with pale pink. The outline of the hind margin 
of the wing-case is most dissimilar and disconnected from 
that of the true wing with its deep angular margin, which 
in the wing-case forms a simple curve. Some specimens 
are more uniformly coloured and the markings are ill-defined, 
especially on the wing, and 
are usually more metallic, 
appearing lightly washed 
with gold-bronze ; in some 
the ground colour is deep 
pink. The pupa is sus¬ 
pended by the cremastral 
hooks to a small dense pad 
of silk, spun by the larva 
upon the stalk or midrib of 
a leaf, or upon the stem of 
the plant. 
The pupal state lasts from ten to twenty days, the time 
being regulated entirely by temperature. 
Imago. The sexual difference is distinct. The males have 
the outer margins of both wings more acutely angulated and 
the projections longer than in the females. The sexes greatly 
differ on the under side. Also there are two distinct types of 
variation, both as regards colouring and also in respect to 
the formation of the outer margins. 
The expanse of the wings in the male averages 55 mm. ; 
in the female, 60 mm. The jagged and strongly-angulated 
outline of the wings at once distinguishes this butterfly from 
all other British species. 
( Upper Side.) The normal type has the ground colour a 
rich, deep fulvous, blotched and spotted with rich chocolate- 
The Comma (Male ah. captured at 
Symond's Yat, 14.7.1905. IV.A. 
Cope coll.). 
