Volume 10, Plate XVII / Entomology (Insects)

Comma Butterfly & Great Tortoise-Shell

Vanessa C-album & V. polychloros

1. Comma Butterfly. Smallest of its genus in Britain, it has deeply scolloped, reddish-yellow wings spotted with black and bordered dark brown, the under hind wings bearing a short white mark like a reversed C that gives the name. Its red and white caterpillar feeds on elm, willow, currant, and nettle, and the butterfly, double-brooded, is local and does not extend far north.
2. Great Tortoise-Shell. Resembling the small tortoise-shell but much larger, sometimes above two inches and a half, it is dark orange with quadrate black spots on the fore wings and a black border set with crescents, blue on the hind pair. Its bluish, branch-spined caterpillars feed gregariously on willow, elm, and cherry; scarce in many districts, it occurs across southern England and as far north as Dunkeld.