Myths and superstitions

Like many common British butterflies, the Brimstone has a rich heritage of myths, legends and folklore. The first butterfly of the spring is supposed to indicate good or bad luck, and the yellow shade of the male Brimstone is supposed to bring good fortune to the lucky observer for the whole year to come. There is also a widely-held belief that the word butterfly comes from the male Brimstone’s yellow colour, as in butter-coloured fly. While this may sound plausible, the word butterfly actually derives from the fact that these insects are attracted by the smell of butter when it is being churned, a tendency widely observed by our ancestors. Over the centuries, the Brimstone has also had several alternative names, from Pale Brimstone in the late 17th century and Straw Butterfly in the early 18th century, to Primrose in the 1830s and Sulphur in the 1920s. In some ways, it is a pity that one of these earlier names did not prevail, as it would have prevented the confusion seen today with the similarly coloured but much smaller Brimstone moth.