Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Foreign Butterflies.djvu/261

Rh it spins an oval cocoon of yellow silk, the meshes of which are so lax as to allow the inmate to be easily seen. The pupa is not at all angular. "The perfect butterfly," he adds, "is perfectly diurnal, and very swift in its flight. It is not found in the interior of the island, but it may be seen in plenty as far as two or even three leagues from the coast, sporting in the sun, and sucking the flowers of Cestrum diurnum, Ehretia tinifolia, and other odoriferous trees of small stature. In hot weather and about mid-day it flies particularly high, and may be even observed surmounting the tops of the highest members of the forest. In the afternoon I have often seen it sport about some capriciously chosen spot, such as a particular branch of Mango, where it would always return to alight on almost the same leaf, in a manner that has sometimes reminded me of a well known habit of the Musicapæ. Thus does our insect spend whole hours until sunset, when the bats usually terminate its diversion and its life. On the approach of winter it may be seen at times alighting on hedges, when specimens are more easily captured. The flight, however, of U. Fernandinæ is always strong, and it starts like the Fringillidæ. When it alights on a leaf, all the four wings are expanded horizontally; and rarely, if ever, take a vertical position, like those of the species of the Linnæan genus Papilio, when at rest ."