4

PLATE XXXVfi.

tific will be ever ready to give it the first place as a British Papilio,’and to those a figure of the Caterpillar and Chrysalis will be an ac-ceptable acquisition. It derives the title of Purple High Flyer, asit very rarely descends to the ground; except in some few instances,’it has never been taken but in the most elevated situations, and ev|tithose instances have been after a strong wind, or heavy rain : The topsof the loftiest forest trees afford it an asylum, and in the Caterpillar and Chrysalis state, it is preserved from the wanton cruelty of man, bythe almost inaccessible height of its habitation. They feed on theSallow , salix caprea , and the Caterpillars are obtained by beating thebranches of the tree with a pole twenty or thirty feet in length ; itis then but a necessary precaution to cover the ground beneath withlarge sheets to a certain distance, or the insects which fall, will be lostamong the herbage.

It is in Caterpillar about May and 'June ; it pastes to the Chrysalis state, and in July or Augujl is a Papilio.

The great difficulty and trouble to rear the Caterpillars * when found;and greater difficulty to take the Fly, has stamped a valuable consi-deration on it, and particularly so when fine, and a high price is butesteemed an adequate compensation for it if in good preservation*The male is smaller, but more beautiful than the female; the upperside of the wings of the female not being enriched with that vividchange of purple which the male possesses in such an eminent degree jbut the underside of the female is far richer in the various teints ofcolour than the male : they are both beautifully spotted, mottled, andwaved with brown, black, white, and orange. The Chrysalis is of 3very delicate texture, much resembling thin white paper, and is tingedin several parts with a very lively purple hue which it borrows fromthe wings of the enclosed insect, and bears the characteristic mark•f a Papilio, by being suspended from the tail, with the head downward'

PLAT*