Insects at home; being a popular account of insects, their structure, habits and transformations . mmon, while in others it is neverfound. The first specimen that I ever took I saw in thewindow of a grocers shop at Oxford, one of the very last placeswhere one might have expected such a Butterfly to be was quite plentiful in Bagley Wood, ^here any numbercould have been taken, and had evidently been blown into thestreets and then attracted by the sugar in the window. It is common in Kent. C. J. Cox, who has givengreat attention to this insect, told me an anecdote of the mode
Insects at home; being a popular account of insects, their structure, habits and transformations . mmon, while in others it is neverfound. The first specimen that I ever took I saw in thewindow of a grocers shop at Oxford, one of the very last placeswhere one might have expected such a Butterfly to be was quite plentiful in Bagley Wood, ^here any numbercould have been taken, and had evidently been blown into thestreets and then attracted by the sugar in the window. It is common in Kent. C. J. Cox, who has givengreat attention to this insect, told me an anecdote of the modein which it deposits its eggs. He watched a female deposit anegg or two on a leaf, and, wishing to rear the insect from theegg, he cut off the branch and removed it. The Butterfly,however, continued to fly up and down near the spot, andrefused to leave it, evidently searching for the leaf on which PLATE 1. Vanessa polychloros. 2. Vanessa Atalanta. 3. Vanessa cardui. Plants :— Meadow Cranes Bill (Geranium pratense). Above, on (Manunculus hulbosus). In THE TORTOISESHELL AND ATALANTA. 399 she had deposited her eggs. The branch was then restored to itsplace in the tree, as nearly as could be done. The Butterfly atonce saw and recognised it, proceeded to the same leaf, anddeposited more eggs upon it. The Small Toutoiseshell, or Common Tortoiseshell (Vor-nessa urticce), is coloured much like the preceding insect, butthe hues are rather brighter, and the whole pattern of thewings defined more clearly, and looking more compressed. Itis too familiar to need any detailed description. The cater-pillar feeds on the common stinging-nettle, and may be found ingreat numbers upon it, sometimes being so numerous as toblacken it with the caterpillars clustering upon the leaves,which are drawn together with the silken threads spun by thelarvce. The pupa is suspended by the tail, and is very colour is brown, mottled and spotted with black, a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1
