common grasses, is of a bright
apple-green colour, with three darker green stripes bordered with a whitish
tint, the largest stripe being that on the back.

The _butterfly_ abounds all over the country, from June till September.

* * * * *

{112}

THE WHITE ADMIRAL. (_Limenitis Sybilla._)

(Plate VII. fig. 1.)

This elegant butterfly is one of those in which the choicest ornamentation
is bestowed upon the _under_ surface, to the comparative neglect of the
upper. Above, a dark sepia-brown tint, banded and spotted with white, is
all that greets the eye; but beneath there is a piece of the most
exquisitely harmonious colouring, though the hues that compose it are still
of a subdued and secondary nature;--silvery blue, and golden brown blended
with a cooler brown and black, are placed in vivacious contrast with bands
and spots of pure silvery white.

The _caterpillar_ (Plate I. fig. 4), which feeds on the Honeysuckle, is a
pretty and singular looking creature; general colour bright green, with
reddish branched spines, and white and brown side-stripes.

The _chrysalis_ (Plate I. fig. 21) is also a very beautiful and curious
object, very knobby and angular, of dark green general colour, and
ornamented with _bright silver_ spots and stripes.

The _butterfly_ is found from the end of June till the end of July; its
favourite resorts being oak-woods in the southern counties. {113}

Localities:--Colchester; Epping; Hartley Wood, near St. Osyth, Essex; near
Rye, and in other parts of Sussex; at several places in Kent; near
Winchester; and in Black Park, where Dr. Allchin informs me he took a large
number in one day.

The superlatively graceful motions of this butterfly on the wing, as it
comes floating and sailing through the wood openings, have long been
celebrated; and the story has been often quoted from Haworth, of the old
fly-fancier, who, long after he had become too feeble and stiff-jointed to
pursue or net a butterfly, used to go and sit on a stile which commanded a
well-known resort of his favourite _Sybilla_, and there, for hours
together, would he feast his eyes on the sight of her inimitably elegant
evolutions.

* * * * *

THE PURPLE EMPEROR. (_Apatura Iris._)

(Plate VII. fig. 2.)

By universal suffrage, the place of highest rank among the butterflies of
Britain has been accorded to this splendid insect, who merits his imperial
title by r