purple emperor

Noun

purple emperor (plural purple emperors)

1. A large, dark brown and white (female), or purple and white (male) butterfly, Apatura iris, of the family Nymphalidae.
   • A simple method will often bring them down even in their most rapid flight, and has been successfully employed in taking the Purple Emperor butterfly, (Apatura Iris,) namely, to throw up a stonr or piece of tile before them, which they will often fly down with, and alight on the ground, and are...1827, Abel Ingpen, Instructions for Collecting, Rearing, and Preserving British Insects, page 36
   • The Nymphalidae are a very extensive group, of generally strong-winged and very bright-coloured butterflies, very abundant in the tropics, and represented in our own country by our Fritillaries, our Vanessas, and our Purple-emperor.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 438