"See her bright robes the butterfly unfold,

Broke from her wintry tomb in prime of May."

LET us fill up our slight sketch of "Butterflies in general" by a few outlines of the chief among their tribes, which are native to our island.

In our winter's pursuit of "Life in Death," we have adverted already to the hardy few (survivors of the fugacious many), which are accustomed to resort in autumn to some snug recess, fold their wings, wrap round them their cloaks of torpor, and thus, "taking no note of time," to await the

THE BRIMSTONE BUTTERFLY.

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spring, unless allured by the wintry sunshine to pay us a few unseasonable, but ever welcome, visits. Among these, the little "Tortoise-shell," and the beautiful "Peacock," of whom more by and bye, are the intrepid pair which most often gladden and surprise us in the time of yellow aconites and Christmas roses; but after these, we may be on the watch, towards the end of February, or on the first gentle mornings of early March, for a flutterer more welcome still, as the herald of a real and no fictitious spring. This is the "Brimstone Butterfly," which, gaily painted,

Soon

Explores awhile the tepid noon,
And fondly trusts its tender dyes

To fickle suns and flattering skies."

It has been supposed by some that this early visitant (also a late one) is, like the above, a winter survivor; but from the trim of his yellow robes, usually so fresh and glossy, it would seem more likely that, instead of being laid up-not "in lavender," but, perhaps, in ivy-they are of the newest spring fashion. Be this as it may, he is the very pink, or, as he has been more properly considered, the very primrose of Papillons, sometimes to be seen, like a living shadow of the primrose's self, fluttering beside it in the sunny hedge-row or the sheltered copse. We may know him by the cut of his bright sulphurcoloured pinions—each, instead of being rounded, ending in a smooth tail-like angle.†

For figures of nearly all the Butterflies here mentioned, see Vignette, or Frontispiece to vol. i.

Of all the wings of all the butterflies, these bear, perhaps, the closest similitude to floral productions, and on each, as if to perfect the resemblance of their delicate flower-like colouring, is a reddish spot, an exact copy of that often produced by decay or accident, on the surface of a yellow petal. In the beautiful raised veining of their reverse, the pinions of the "Brimstone" are no less correspondent with the same; but those of the female which, instead of yellow, are of a greenish white, resemble, perhaps yet more nearly, the leaf of a poplar on its under side. The dye of the antennæ—that purplish pink, so frequent upon tender leaf and flower stems,—also the clothing of the body-a soft, satiny down, like that by which stalks and seed pods are so often invested, are all alike accordant with the floral character of this most elegant flutterer of the spring. This pretty butterfly comes of a pretty caterpillar, with a smooth, green coat, dotted or shagreened with black, and marked by a whitish line along the back and sides. It is said to feed usually on the leaves of buckthorn and alder.

The term Papilio, which was used by Linnæus to designate all diurnal or day-flying Lepidopteræ, has now become much restricted, including, amongst a company of brilliant foreigners, only one or two native species.

Of the latter is the "Swallow Tail," * a beautiful insect, approaching more nearly to some of the tropic butterflies, both in

*Papilio Machaon.

form and colouring, than any others which our island produces. Perhaps, in favour of its richer painting, we ought to have given it the precedence usually assigned it over our favourite Brimstone, with all its simple elegance; but besides being of later, it is also of more rare appearance, and we have a preference always for bespeaking attention to the beautiful things that are most common, rather than to those which cross our path less often. If, however, that path should lead us through the counties of Hampshire, Middlesex, Cambridge, or Norfolk, we are not unlikely, from May to August, to meet the Swallow Tail; and he is a Papilio, we can tell you, much too distinguished to pass by unrecognised, if we can possibly prevent his cutting, at once, the air and our acquaintance.

Compared with the Brimstone he is truly a magnificent bashaw; but then, in the place of four, he can only boast himself of a pair of tails, of a peculiar fashion, appended to his hinder wings, which are scalloped, and adorned each with a red, eye-like spot, their prevailing colours being, like the anterior ones, black and yellow—a fitting case for the enfolding, while latent, of so much beauty. The caterpillar of the Swallow Tail Butterfly is one of the handsomest of its race. It has a smooth skin, beautifully variegated with black and green, and carries, at the back of its head, a badge of distinction, not however always visible, in the shape of a flexible horn, forked like the letter Y, which, contrary to the usage of the snail, it is said to put forth on occasions of alarm. It is a feeder on

112

LOVERS OF THE LIGHT.

should otherwise, in mention of the adult Lepidoptera of the oak, have given honour due to the "Purple Emperor," that princely Butterfly, to whom the oak tree furnishes, successively, a nursery and a throne. As a green Caterpillar, dotted with black and distinguished by horns, he feeds upon the leaves, changes next into a green chrysalis, and, attaining in July to the winged glory of his regal purple, cleaves the air in flights high and rapid as a bird of prey; but ever and anon returns to his lofty throne on the summit of the paternal tree, there to rejoin his empress, who is accustomed-as becomes her— to abide at home in domestic dignity.

We have talked about the "Emperor's" royal purple; but when in his royal presence you may possibly declare that his robes are only brown. Now if, on these his robes or pinions, we chose to pin a disputation, the Chameleon's self, as fabled, could not have afforded a better theme. But rather than quarrel on our subject, suppose we turn it towards the light, and from it, and then we shall both agree that our Emperor's" wings are, in one position, of the darkest brown -in another, of the most resplendent purple.

Besides this monarch of English Butterflies, two other of our latest and handsomest, the Admiral* and Peacock's Eye†, are frequently found veiling their glories from the September sun on the trunk or branches of the oak, or sipping in October the honeyed blossoms of the ivy.