Larger Image
Pl. 43.
Camberwell Beauty.
A full record of this fine butterfly in the British Islands would occupy too much space, but the details given above will show something of its erratic occurrence since 1880. It visits Ireland occasionally, but there are no recent reports of its having been seen there.
Kane, in his Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Ireland, mentions a specimen taken in Co. Kerry, July 21, 1865; one from near Belfast [in 1875?]; and a third example seen by a friend "many years ago" near Trillick, Co. Tyrone. The latter was "settled on the roadside, but not captured, it being Sunday."
Distributed throughout the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, it is common in the Scandinavian Peninsula, whence probably our specimens came; also in Germany. In some parts of the Continent it is, however, almost as uncertain in its occurrence as in England.
The Painted Lady (Pyrameis cardui).
The usual colour of this butterfly is tawny-orange, but in some specimens, especially fresh ones, there is a tinge of pink, or a rosy flush; the markings are black, and there are some white spots towards the tips of the fore wings. The black markings on the hind wings are subject to variation in size, and sometimes they run one into the other. Occasionally this union of the spots is accompanied by blackish suffusion spreading more or less over the entire surface of the wings, so that they appear blackish with tawny-orange patches or clouds. A somewhat peculiar variety of the species, kindly lent by Mr. J.A. Clark, is shown on Plate [49.] Specimens of this form, or some modification of it, have been obtained in England, but very rarely. Similar examples have also been found in other parts of the globe. Fig. [24] represents another interesting aberration of this butterfly.