‘ The next two hours were exciting ones indeed, for no soonerhad I pinned an insect than another was seen. Although ready to drop through the heavy chase just completed, off we dashed, disturbing from their nests and passing unheeded

whinchats, stonechats, whitethroats, and other sedge and grassloving birds. A swift foot soon brought the aerial object near ; then came the sudden switch and the simultaneous drop a sign that all was right. The fall into a sitting posture was the natuial, necessitous, and happily convenient move, for directly tlie capture was made our legs lost all power, and suggested a seat on the fen as the right position for pinning the prize ;

and so it was.

‘ Experience taught me these lessons in the capture of the Swallow-tail. W^hen in the neighbourhood of flowers, take it gently; move slowly up to the insect, and when within a couple of yards secure it with a dash. This is all easy enough ; but when forced into a smart chase over the fen, the following manoeuvre proved successful. 1 found that the pursued insect, after a long flight, generally branched off at a right angle ; so that if I kept a respectful distance behind, and when it altered its course turned at an acute angle in the same direction, I was fortunate enough to meet the object of my chase, so that the Butterfly and I formed a right-angled triangle. Intelligisne ? I think the description clear, though it may perhaps smell a little of the mathematical odour of the ’Varsity. We caught in the two hours thirty-five specimens, one of wliich I send herewith. Several, however, were much worn ; no doubt through creeping about in the herbage during the preceding unfavourable weather for flight. My brother obtained eleven larvse from the same spot last year. All the pupae have not yet disgorged their contents. An imago gladdens my eyes every now and then. Several of the specimens have slightly different markings. One, however, has the hind margins of the under wings lightly coloured with the same chestnut-red hue which composes the prevailing tint ip. the large spot close to the anal angle of each wing ; a unique variety, I believe.’

The egg of this insect is light green in colour and oval in shape. It may seem rather superfluous to say that an egg is oval in shape, but we shall presently see that many eggs of Butterflies are anything but oval in shape. Just before the egg is hatched, its colour darkens until it is nearly black, which in fact is the colour of the young caterpillar. As soon as the larva is hatched, it eats the shell of the egg in which it lias been develojied, and after every change of skin it eats in like

manner the garment which it has thrown off. The colour of this caterpillar is a beautiful leafy green, the interstices between the segments being velvet-black. Upon each of the twelve segments of the body there is a black bar, which in all the segments except the second is adorned with six orange spots. There are other markings, but these are the most characteristic.

This beautiful larva feeds on several plants, such as the hog’s-wort, or cow-parsnip {Heracleum sphondyHum), the marsh-parsley {Peucedanum palustre), and even on the leaves of the common carrot, when nothing better can be obtained. Larvae of this splendid Butterfly have been successfully reared upon carrot leaves.

When the caterpillar is full-fed, it quits its food-plant, crawls up the stem of a weed, and there assumes the pupal form, binding itself to the weed by a sort of belt, like that of the chrysalis shown in Woodcut XL. Fig. b. This belt may be almost called a cable, for it is very stout and strong, as well as elastic, and will sustain a considerable tension before it is snapped. There are many British Butterflies whose pupa; are thus girt to the object on which they undergo their transformation. Mr. Xewman gathers these together in a group, which he terms Sucdncti, or Gfirted Chrysalids. All these pupas have the head directed upwards.

The next family, the Pieridae, is distinguished by the fact that the hind wings form a sort of receptacle in which the abdomen lies. The larvae do not possess the nuchal horn, and are wider in the middle and narrower at the two ends. The insects which compose this family are the most familiar of our English Butterflies, and are popularly known as White Butterflies. There are, however, several White Butterflies that do not belong to this group, and several that belong to it which can scarcely be called white. However, the popular name is expressive, though not wholly accurate.

Common as they are, they have raised great controversy among entomologists, and have been shifted backwards and forwards into the various genera, until it is scarcely possible to reconcile the conflicting statements. ‘ Who shall decide when doctors disagree?’ So we will not attempt to decide upon

such a subject, but accept Doubleday’s system. In accordance with this principle we proceed to the best known of all our Butterflies, the IjAuge Cabhage Butteufly {Fieris brasaicce), which is drawn in Woodcut XL. Fig. 3. As to the colours of this insect, they are simply black and white, so that the illustration gives us a very g'ood idea of the colour as well as of the

Gonepteryx rhamiii. 2. Colias edusa, male. 3. Pieris brassicje. a. Pieris, larva.

pupa. c. Do., egg. e. Do., palpus. /. Do., head. g. Do., claw of foot. 6. Do., cl. Larva of Colias. insect. The specimen represented is a male ; the form of the being similarly coloured, but without the two large female spots on the fore wings. In its larval condition this is a black most destructive creature, and does great damage to the plant which it takes its name. It is, in fact, so destnictive that from keep kitchen gardens, or are interested in agriculthose who ture, should ruthlessly kill every Cabbage Butterfly that comes them. There is no cruelty in doing so, for no one has across

any scruple in killing the caterpillar, and it is surely better to kill one Euttertly than fifty or sixty caterpillars which it produces.

At Fig. G is shown the egg of this insect. The reader may remember that, when treating of the Swallow-tail Butterfly, I stated that all insect eggs were not oval. This egg is an example of a considerable departure frorn the oval shape. These eggs are deposited in small clusters, varying from two or three to twelve, and they all stand upright on their bases, just like a number of little bottles, being fixed to the leaf by a gummy secretion. The caterpillars are hatched in about a fortnight, and grow very rapidly. One of them is shown at fig.a. When full-fed they ascend some convenient object, and change into the pupa, which is fixed by its tail, and prevented from falling by a stout silken belt passed loosely round its body. This pupa is seen at Fig. h. Its colour is grey-white, with a slight dash of blue, diversified by a number of little black spots. The point of the head is yellow, and so is a line along the ridge of the back.

There are two broods of this destructive insect, the first in May and the second in August, so that, if its numbers were not kept down by the ichneumon flies, we should scarcely have a cabbage in England. I have dissected the larv£C of all our common Lepidoptera, and never found any to be so afflicted with the ichneumon as that of the Cabbag-e Butterfly. Indeed, the difficulty was to find one that Avas riot being slowly consumed by the tiny but fatal larvae of the Microgaster, which has been described on page 325.

Other details of this insect are given on Woodcut XL. Fig. e representing the palpus, / the head, and g the claw of the foot.

Tiibke are several other Butterflies which go by the popular name of Whites. There is, for example, the Black-veined White {Fievis cratcegi), which is without spots, but the neivures are black, dhis is, in consequence, an admirable insect for the study of the wings. It is a local and somewhat intermittent insect, and appears about Midsummer.

Then there is the Small White {Pieris rapm), a very variable Butterfly, in which the male is nearly white, except a clouding at the tips of the upper wings, and a rather indistinct

dark spot on the costal edge of the lower wings. The females are at once distinguished hy having two black spots on the disc of the upper wings. Tlie caterpillar is a pretty green larva, and is a very indiscriminate feeder. I have bred a long series of them from mignonette growing in a window-box. The Butterfly appears in the midst of summer.

The Gbeen-veined White {Pieria Napi) may be known by the peculiarity from which it takes its name. When inspected from below, the under surface of the lower wings is seen to be dull yellow, the nervures being edged with a greyish tint, which has the ejffect of green when contrasted with the, yellow. Tiie upper wings have much the same colouring, but not so strongly marked, except at the tips. It is a variable insect, and the varieties have been considered by some authors as being three distinct species, one of which they call by the specific name of Napi, another by that of Napece, and a third was called Sabellicce. Indeed, I find, on referring to my old cabinet, which I arranged according to Stephens’s system, these varieties under their different names. This caterpillar feeds on the watercress and one or two other plants.

Lastly, there is the Green Chequered White {Pieris Daplidice), which derives its name from the beautiful gi-een mottlings of the under surface of the lower wings. It is a very local insect, and is generally taken on the coast of Kent. Mr. E. Newman has ^ theory that, although a few specimens may be had in England, it is properly a French insect, and is blown across the Channel. This theory is strengthened by the fact that Butterflies have been seen to cross the Channel, settling on the water when tired, and taking to wing without difficulty. August is the best month for finding this insect.

There is also the little Wood White (Leucophaaia sinapis), a small, rather narrow-winged, slow-flying insect, with white wings clouded with black at the ends of the upper pair. Generally this spot, or cloud, is more or less squared.

Closely allied to the Whites is the beautiful Orange-tip (Anthocharia cardamines), so well known by the orange-tipped wings of the male, from which it derives its popular name. The female is without the orange hue, but both sexes have the

under side of the lower wings beautifully mottled with green.

Tlie insect is as plentiful as it is beautiful, and may be

captiu-ed in almost every meadow or lane in the early summer. It does not fly very fast, and generally keeps rather low, so that there is no difficulty in taking it. The caterpillar feeds on various cruciform plants, and its colour is opaque green.

On Woodcut XL. Fig. 1 may be seen a drawing of a very well-known insect, the Brimstone Butterfly {Gorv&pteryx O'hamni), the popular name being derived from the beautiful deep yellow of the male. The female is very much paler, as if the colour had been washed out of her, and in both sexes there is a little orange-red spot on each wing, the position and shape of which are indicated in the illustration. In this genus the wings are boldly angled at their tips, from which circumstance the name of Gonepteryx, or ‘ angle-winged,’ has been given to it. The antennae have a peculiar curve downwards, which can be seen by viewing the insect sideways.

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