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It
is a curious point that, with the small tortoise-shell larva, exposure
to light from gilded surfaces produced pupae with a brilliant golden
lustre; and the explanation is supposed to be that mica abounded in the
original habitat of the species, and that the pupae thus obtained
protection when suspended against micaceous rock. Looking, however, at
the wide range of the species and the comparatively limited area in
which micaceous rocks occur, this seems a rather improbable explanation,
and the occurrence of this metallic appearance is still a difficulty. It
does not, however, commonly occur in this country in a natural state.
The two classes of variable colouring here discussed are evidently
exceptional, and can have little if any relation to the colours of those
more active creatures which are continually changing their position with
regard to surrounding objects, and whose colours and markings are nearly
constant throughout the life of the individual, and (with the exception
of sexual differences) in all the individuals of the species.


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