The chrysalis, which may be found on the same trees, suspended to the under side of a leaf, is shown at Fig. 22, [Plate I]. and is of a light green colour.
The butterfly appears in July, and is found in oak woods in many localities of the South. The following are a few of these:—Near Colchester, extremely abundant, Epping, Great and Little Stour Woods; Kettering, Barnwell Wold, Northamptonshire; Bourne, Lincoln; Leicester; Reading, Newbury, Berks; Herefordshire; Forest of Dean, Monmouthshire; Warwickshire; Suffolk; Monkswood, Hunts; Clapham Park Wood, Beds; Darenth Wood, Chatham, Tenterden; Ticehurst, Balcombe, Tilgate Forest, Arundel, near Brighton; Lyndhurst; Stowmarket; Isle of Wight.
THE PAINTED LADY. (Cynthia Cardui.)
([Plate VII]. fig. 3.)
We now come to a very natural group of butterflies, rich, and often gorgeous, in their colouring, and having, both in their perfect and preparatory states, many characteristics in common, in point of habits, as well as of appearance and construction. The caterpillars are all thorny, and the chrysalides are adorned with brilliant metallic (generally golden) spots, from which appearance was derived the name "chrysalis,"[[11]] since applied, but somewhat improperly, to the pupæ of all butterflies. This golden effect is produced by a brilliant white membrane underlying the transparent yellow outer skin of the chrysalis, and it may be imitated, as discovered by Lister many years ago, "by putting a small piece of black gall in a strong decoction of nettles; this produces a scum which, when left on cap-paper, will exquisitely gild it, without the application of the real metal."
The present species is a highly elegant insect, well named the Painted Lady, and in France the "Belle Dame."
The colouring of the upper surface is composed of black and very dark brown, with irregular markings of an orange red, tinged partially with a rosy hue. Near the tip of the front wings are several pure white spots.