White Admiral
Here is another White Admiral that I took in Rutland last weekend, but this time showing the upperwings. The earliest recorded name (by James Petiver in 1703) was White Leghorn Admiral. The name White Leghorn is the name of a pure white breed of chicken, named after the cock's leg spur, though I'm not sure why the butterfly was named after a chicken. The name Admiral was first used for the related Red Admiral, though the two are not especially similar. I remember being told that Admiral was a corruption of "Admirable", but this is wrong as Admiral was named first, with admirable being used for a brief period some decades later. Its scientific name is Limenitis camilla, and both names are of classical origin. Limenitis was a name applied to deities who protected harbours, while Camilla was a Volscian princess mentioned by Virgil in The Aeneid.
White Admiral
Here is another White Admiral that I took in Rutland last weekend, but this time showing the upperwings. The earliest recorded name (by James Petiver in 1703) was White Leghorn Admiral. The name White Leghorn is the name of a pure white breed of chicken, named after the cock's leg spur, though I'm not sure why the butterfly was named after a chicken. The name Admiral was first used for the related Red Admiral, though the two are not especially similar. I remember being told that Admiral was a corruption of "Admirable", but this is wrong as Admiral was named first, with admirable being used for a brief period some decades later. Its scientific name is Limenitis camilla, and both names are of classical origin. Limenitis was a name applied to deities who protected harbours, while Camilla was a Volscian princess mentioned by Virgil in The Aeneid.