The wings in nearly all species have a dappled or speckled appearance, owing to the occurrence of blotches on the front margin and to the arrangement of the scales covering the veins in alternating light and dark patches (Austen).
In the daytime "the gorged females rest motionless on the walls and ceilings of rooms, choosing always the darkest situations for this purpose" (Austen).
Through his mother, a daughter of Nathaniel Austen, banker, of Ramsgate, he inherited Spanish blood.
After spending nearly six years in the office of his uncle, Benjamin Austen, a solicitor, he was tempted to leave England for Ceylon by the prospect of obtaining an appointment in the civil service, and he started in 1839 with the intention of making an overland journey across Asia.
The next summer, however, on Mr. Austen Chamberlain's resignation owing to the Mesopotamia report, he returned to the India Office as Secretary of State and began a tenure of that post which will always be memorable in Indian annals.