Full text of "The history of our British butterflies containing - a full bibliographical note of each species, with copious extracts from the old authors; and full descriptions of all the British species, their eggs, caterpillars, chrysalides and varieties, with a notice of their habits, localities, frequency, &c., &c"

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LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA

BRITISH BUTTERFLIES,

BY C. W. DALE.

THE HISTORY

OF OUR

BRITISH BUTTERFLIES

CONTAINING—

A FULL BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF FACH SPECIES, WITH
COPIOUS EXTRACTS FROM THE OLD AUTHORS ; AND FULL
DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL THE BRITISH SPECIES, THEIR EGGS,
CATERPILLARS, CHRYSALIDES AND VARIETIES, WITH A
NOTICE OF THEIR HABITS, LOCALITIES, FREQUENCY, &c., &c.

C. W. ,Dale, F.E.S.

Uon&on :

JOHN KEMPSTER & Co.

HSECQIIQLOW

Ibarttepool :

B. T. ORD, PRINTER, 69, HIGH STREET.

Q l-SSS

INTRODUCTION.

THE early history of science informs us of peculiar acquirements by which
nations distinguished themselves from the rest of the world. Thus we are
told of the skill of the Egyptians in astronomy, to which they were peculiarly
led by their manner of reposing on open terraces under a cloudless sky. We
learn also from the Old Testament, which if it were merely a human work
would be the most venerable monument in the world, that Natural History
was very early one of the sciences in the highest estimation. The manner
in which Solomon's botanical knowledge is mentioned in the Bible, proves
that to have been in those days the most esteemed, perhaps, of all learning
whatever. Moses, moreover, appears to have possessed more than an
ordinary knowledge of insects, if we suppose, as the ingenious remarks of
Professor Lichtenstein render probable, that he distinguishes as clean insects
the Fabrician genera Gryllus, Locusta, Truxalit, and Ac ft eta, which a person
unobservant of these insects would have confounded together. Allusion is
oftentimes made in Holy Writ to insects of almost every one of the modern
orders, — the locust, bee, moth, fly, lice, &c. ; but not once to butterflies.
The Prophets frequently introduce them as symbols of enemies that lay waste
or oppress the church ; and Solomon did not deem insects, those " Little
things upon the earth/' unworthy of his attention. He even advised the
sluggard to go to the ant, to consider her ways, and be wise.

With Aristotle, however, begins the real history of science; and how much
soever he may have erred on particular points, the greatness of his conceptions
and the justness of his ideas on the whole, entitle him to our high veneration.
His labours in the investigation of the animal kingdom have laid the founda-
tion of the knowledge we now possess, and it cannot sufficiently be regretted
that we have only an imperfect account of his discoveries. Theophrastus,
the worthy disciple of Aristotle, has given us the first scientific views of the

MS5G1S3

11.

vegetable and mineral kingdoms. These two great men stand unrivalled as
the only philosophical naturalists of antiquity of whom we have any satis-
factory knowledge.

Several ages after came Pliny, who has transmitted to us, so far as he was
able, all that was known of natural history at the time in which he lived.
Apollodorus, as Pliny informs us, was the first monographer of insects, since
he wrote a treatise upon scorpions, and described nine species. ^Elian also,
amongst other animals, mentions insects. From him we learn incidently that
artificial flies were sometimes used by Grecian anglers.

From the time of Pliny and ^Elian, 1400 years rolled away, in which
scarcely anything was done or attempted for entomology or natural history in
general. During that long period the glimmer of only one luminary appeared
to make a short and feeble twilight. In the middle of the thirteenth century
Albertus Magnus devoted one out of twenty-one folio volumes to natural
history. He gives a very correct account of the pit-falls of the Ant Lion.
Insects he distinguishes by the name of Anulosa. He also calls them worms,
describing butterflies as flying worms*; and what is still more extraordinary,
the toad and the frog, which he includes amongst his Anulosa, he calls quad-
ruped-worms.

After the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in the middle of the
fifteenth century, the light of learning, kindled by those of its professors who
escaped from that ruin, appeared in the West. The Greek language then
began to be studied universally ; and in consequence of the coeval invention
of the art of printing, various editions of the Greek works of the ancients
were published : amongst the rest, those of the fathers of natural history.
From the perusal of those works, the love of the sciences of which they treated
revived in the West, and the attention of scientific men began to direct itself
to the consideration and study of the works of their Creator. In the latter
part of that century, a work entitled the " Book of Nature " appeared in the
German language, in which animals and plants were treated of and rudely
figured, as they were likewise most miserably in " Cuba's Ortus Sanitatis/'
published in 1485. In this work, insects and crabs were described under
the three different denominations of Animals, Birds, and Fishes. Conrad
Gesner, the greatest naturalist the world had ever seen since Aristotle, was
born at Zurich, in 1516, and died in 1565. He founded and supported a
botanic garden, kept a painter engraver in his service, had a very considerable
library, and, according to Haller, was the first who ever formed a museum
of natural history. Ulysses Aldromandus resembled Gesner in the indefatig-
able industry and zeal for the advancement of natural history. His memory

111.

has been much honoured at Bologna, where he died in 1605. The great
zoological work, which he left imperfect was finished after his death ; and the
first attempt at a separate and systematical arrangement of insects subsequent
to the times of Aristotle, was made in the ponderous volumes. From him
Linna3us borrowed the name Polychloros, which he bestowed on the Large
Tortoise-shell Butterfly. About the. same time botany began to be attended
to in our own country. Turner published his " Herbal" in 1551., and in
1597 was printed the first edition of Gerard's " Herbal."

The work that is usually called Mouffet's,"Theatrum Insectorum" was
produced in the seventeenth century, and was the fruit of the successive
labours of several men of talent. Dr. Edward Wotton and the celebrated
Conrad Gesner laid the foundation ; whose manuscripts falling into the hands
of Dr. Thomas Penery — an eminent physician and botanist of the Elizabethan
age, much devoted to the study of insects — he upon this foundation
meditated raising a superstructure which shonld include a complete history
of these animals, but in 1589 he was snatched away by an untimely death.
His unfinished manuscripts were purchased at a considerable price by Thomas
Mouffet, a contemporary physician of singular learning, who reduced them to
order, improved the style, added new matter and not less than 150 additional
figures, but before he could commit his labours to the press he also died.
The work remained buried in dust and obscurity till it fell into the hands of
Sir Theodore May erne, one of the court physicians in the time of Charles I.,
who at length published it in 1634; and it was so well received that in the
year 1658, Edward Topsel published an English translation of it. It is the
first entomological publication extant in the British Isles, and is embellished
with numerous wood engravings, accompanied by long, tedious, and some-
times superstitious descriptions of the articles they represent, which are
systematically divided into two books and forty-two caputs. The 14th
caput treats " De Papilionilibus," and occupies above twenty pages, in the
margins of which are inserted, in an indented manner, 112 woodcuts of the
rudest execution imaginable ; yet, for the most part, perfectly intelligible to
any person tolerably skilled in the science of entomology. In it the moths
are called nocturnal butterflies, and the butterflies diurnal butterflies.
Amongst the latter, one can recognise the following British species: —
Swallow-tail, Scarce Swallow-tail, Orange-tip, Brimstone, Green-veined White,
Clouded Yellow, Common Blue, Wall, Speckled Wood, Painted Lady, Eed
Admiral, Large Tortoise-shell, Small Tortoise-shell, Peacock, Silver Spotted
Fritillary, and the Silver Spotted Skipper.

One of the most remarkable works of the century we are upon was pub-

IV.

lished at Liguity in the year 1603, by Casper Schwenckfield, a physician of
Hieschberg, under the title of " Theriotrophium Silesise." This was probably
the first attempt at a fauna that ever was made. In it animals are divided
into quadrupeds, reptiles, birds, fishes, and insects.

In 1667, Christopher Merrett, M.D., one of the earliest Fellows of the
Koyal Society, published at London, his " Pinax rerum Naturalium Britanni-
carum, continens Vegitabilia, Animalia, et Fossilia, in hac Insula reperta
inchoatus." It is the first publication which gives any account of British
insects exclusively ; and contains among other things, a brief catalogue of
such as Dr. Merrett knew to be indigenous, each accompanied with a concise
descriptive sentence, by way of a name. There are twenty-two descriptive
sentences of butterflies ; which, according to Mr. Haworth in his " Review of
Entomology," published in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of
London, for the year 1812, belong to the following species : — Large White,
Black-veined White, Small White, Speckled Wood, Comma, Einglet, Brim-
stone, Wall, Green-veined White, Small Tortoise-shell, Marbled White,
Meadow Brown, Wood White, Purple-edged Copper, Green Hairstreak,
Common Blue, Large Heath, Brown Skipper, Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary,
Small Heath, and the Silver Spotted Skipper. Mr. Haworth goes on to say
" That Merrett should have been acquainted with the Purple-edged Copper
is indeed singular ; but his words, " Externis purpurascentibus," by which I
understand externis marginibus, &c., absolutely and pointed agree with it;
and as absolutely and pointedly disagree with every other known British
species."

At page 197 of the Pinax, we read exactly as follows: " Papilio, vel
diurnus, a Butterfly, vel nocturnus, a Miller, qui phalsena dicitur cujus species
sequuntur. Phalsene major ? Exigua argentea nigris maculis rotata, a Moth."
Amongst other insects Dr. Merrett mentions Staphylinus, the poisonous
caterpillar; Formica, Ant, Emet, or Pismire; Gryllus, Cricket; Locusta
Grasshopper ; and Cicindela, a Glowworm.

In 1662, Goedart published in Middelburg his "Metamorphosis et His-
toria Naturalis Insectorum," which was done into English and methodized
with the addition of notes by Martin Lister in ] 6c85. Goedart is stated to
have spent forty years of his life in attending to the proceedings of insects.
The improvement he effected in the drawing and engraving of them was great,
for his figures, though sometimes incorrect, were far superior to those of his
predecessors. He appears also to have been the first author who gave any
figures of the caterpillars and chrysalides. The British butterflies he figures
$re the Peacock, Large Tortoise-shell, Small Tortoise-shell, Painted Lady,

Large White, Small White, and Red Admiral. To the general work Martin
Lister added a short appendix on British spiders.

A very inferior book of nature belonging to this century is that by Hollar,
published in 1674. In it he gives figures of such fabulous animals as a
Flying Dragon and a Griffin. There is also a scanty mention of insects in
Nehemiah Grew's "Rarities of Gresham College/' published in 1681.

Science received a vast impetus by the establishment of the Royal Society,
which, from a small beginning at Oxford about the year 1645, made rapid
advances when removed to the metropolis in 1662. This learned body
bestowed great attention from the begining upon the physiological part of
natural history. The names of Boyle, Evelyn, Hook, and Needham are
among the first members of this society. Mr. Willoughby, also, was one of
the original fellows, although his friend Ray was not admitted till the year
1667. Dr. Lister, the great conch ologist, was very early associated with it,
as well as the vegetable physiologist, Dr. Grew.

Many similar institutions were set on foot throughout Europe, as the
Imperial Academy Naturae Curiosorum, begun in 1652. An academy was
instituted at Paris, in 1666, and another some years after at Montpellier,
very similar to the Royal Society of London, with which the greatest men in
Europe have always been proud to be associated.

One of the most important events of this century was the complete
exposure and refutation of the absurd doctrine of equivocal generation, which
had maintained its ground in the schools of philosophy from the time of
Aristotle. Our own immortal Harvey was the first who dared to controvert
this irrational theory : and his dictum — Omnia ex ovo — was copiously dis-
cussed and completely established by two of the ablest physiologists that
Italy has produced, Redi and Malpighi. The works of Swammerdam also
are full of curious information, and will sufficiently reward those whose
patience is not to be exhausted by his tedious heavy style.

Towards the end of the century appeared two great naturalists, our country-
men, Willoughby and the illustrious Ray.

John Ray, the son of a blacksmith, was born in 1628, at Black Netley, in
Essex. He was bred up to the Church, and finally became one of the
brightest ornaments in the history of our science. He was the author of
many invaluable works on divinity, morality, and botany. At the advanced
age of 75 he began his work on insects, the celebrated "Historia Insectorium/'
for which he had been accumulating materials from 1690 to 1700, but being
snatched away from his labours by the hand of death on the 17th of January,
1705, the work, which w^s nearly ready for the press, was published post-

VI.

humously by his friend Dr. Derham, at the command of the Royal Society,
in 1710. To it is subjoined " A.ppendia de Scarabseis Britannici, auctore M.
Lister, F.R.S., ex. M.S.S. Mussei Ashmoleani," It appears from Ray's
letters that his friend Willoughby drew up a history of insects and worms,
which probably formed the ground work of the " Historia Insectorium," con-
cerning which he says, " The work which 1 have now entered upon is indeed
too much for me, I rely chiefly on Mr. Willoughby 's discoveries and the con-
tributions of friends." The principal of these were Dale, to whom he
bequeathed his collection of insects ; Yernon, who in a letter from Mr. Brume
to Mr. Rawlins, June ]4th, 1735, in the Bodleian Collection, is stated to
have followed a butterfly nine miles before he caught him ; Petiver, Jezreel
Jones, Antrobus, and Dandridge. The descriptions given in the " Historia
Insectorium/' especially considering the dark ages of this science in which
they were written, are masterpieces of clearness and precision, and such as,
in general, render it tolerably easy to ascertain the articles they belong to ;
although unaccompanied with figures : but with respect to the arrangement
and distribution of its materials, the work is in both these essential points,
unquestionably very far inferior to that of Linnaeus ; and indeed, in some
particulars, is not much superior to its predecessors. For, like them, it also
incongruously blends the Linnsean class of Yermes with the genuine and
natural one of insects. He estimates the number of butterflies observed by
him and his friends in England to be fifty. The species he describes are : —
Swallow-tail, Scarce Swallow-tail, Brimstone, Clouded Yellow, Large Cabbage
White, Small Cabbage White, Green-veined White, Marbled White or naif-
Mourner, Bath White or Greenish-marbled Half-Mourner, Lesser Tortoise-
shell, Greater Tortoise-shell, Comma, Silver-streaked Fritillary, Greater Silver-
spotted Fritillary, Queen of Spain or Lesser Silver-spotted Fritillary, Light
Pearl-bordered or April Fritillary, Dark Pearl-bordered or May Fritillary,
Glanville Fritillary, Marsh Fritillary, Duke of Burgundy or Mr. Vernon's
Small Fritillary, Painted Lady, Peacock's Eye, Wall or Golden-marbled
Butterfly with black eyes, Meadow Brown, Hedge Brown, Small Heath, Small
Copper, Small Skipper, Red Admiral, Purple Emperor, White Admiral,
Speckled Wood, Black-eyed Marble, Ringlet, Purple Hair-streak, Brown
Hair-streak, Common Blue, Heath Blue, Chalk-hill Blue, Azure Blue,
Mazarine Blue, Brown Skipper, Spotted Skipper, and Green Hair-streak.
He also adds a few exotics found in the museums or cabinets of the curious
in and about London.

In a letter to Mr. Derham, bearing the date of 1703, Mr. Ray writes
" I have for some years together been a diligent searcher out of Papilios,

vu.

diurnal and nocturnal, and though I have found and described near upon
300 species, great and small, within the small compass of four or five miles ;
yet came I not to the end of them. Now, the genus of beetles is as numerous
as that of the Papilios, if not more. The flies (so at present I call all insects
that have naked and smooth, not farinaceous wings), both bipennes and quad-
ripennes, are in a manner infinite, nor has their history been with diligence
prosecuted by any man that I know of, except Mr. Willoughby ; whose
manuscript I hope to procure." In another letter he writes, "As for books
about insects, written in, or translated into Latin, I know none but Aldro-
mandus, Mouffet, Johnson, and Goedartius, except Malpighius de Bomlyce,
and Dr. Lister de Araneis. The best general history, or account of insects,
is that of Swammerdam, written in Low-Dutch, and translated into French."
One of his friends, James Petiver, published at London a variety of mis-
cellaneous zoological, botanical, and other treatises, illustrated by several
thousand figures, each of which is (like the items of Merrett's Pinax) explained
by a concise and descriptive sentence, which served as a name. He also was
the author of one work, entirely entomological, entitled "Papilionum Britan-
nia Icories, Nomina, &c.," of about eighty English butterflies, being all that
have hitherto been discovered in Britain, by James Petiver, F.R.8., London,
1717, folio. It is a valuable publication to the student in British lepidoptera,
the figures being (for these times) well executed.

The species are fifty iu number, viz : Black- veined White, Great Cabbage
White, Small Cabbage White, Green-veined White, Wood White, Brimstone,
Clouded Yellow or Saffron, Swallow-tail or .Royal William, Orange-tip or
White Marbled, Bath White or Vernon's Greenish Half-Mourner, Marbled
White or Common Half-Mourner, lied Admiral, White Admiral, Silver-
streaked Fritillary, Great Silver-spotted Fritillary, High Brown Fritillary,
Heath or Straw May Fritillary, Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Duke of
Burgundy or Vernoii's Small Fritillary, Light Pearl-bordered Fritillary,
Marsh or Dandridge's Black Fritillary, Queen of Spain or Lesser Spotted
Fritillary, Glanville or White Dullidge Fritillary, Great Tortoke -shell, Lesser
Tortoise-shell, Comma, Small Copper, Spotted Skipper or Brown Marsh
Fritillary, Brown Skipper or Handley's Small Brown Butterfly, Painted Lady,
Brown Hair-streak, Purple or Bay's Blue Hair-streak, Peacock, Albin's
Hampstead Eye, Black-eyed Marble or Tunbridge Grayling, Speckled Wood
or Enfield Eye, Wall or London Eye, Meadow Brown or Eye, Hedge Brown
or Eye, Binglet or Brown Eye, Small Heath or Silver-edged Heath Eye, Chalk-
hill Blue or Pale Blue Argus, Common Blue or Blue Argus, Heath Blue or
Silver-edged Blue Argus, Brown Argus, Azure or Blue Speckt Butterfly,

Vlll.

Green Hair-streak or Holly Butterfly, Small Skipper or Spotless Hog, and the
Large Skipper or Cloudy Hog.

The remaining thirty figured by Petiver, are varities or the other sex of
the above. One species, Albin's Hampstead Eye, is a native of Australia,
and must have been introduced by Petiver through a mistake. The additions
in his work to the list of British Butterflies are the High Brown Fritillary,
Heath Eritillary, Brown Argus, Large Skipper, and Small Skipper. Both
Petiver and Ray gave English names to many of the species, some of which
have been changed since their time.

The publications of Petiver have been of essential service to zoology and
botany, but they have become scarce, though a second edition of them,
entitled "Petiveri Opera/' was published in 1764. His museum after his
decease, which happened in April, 1718, was purchased by his worthy friend
Sir Hans Sloane, for no less than £4,000 ; a great sum in those days, which
at once proves the goodness of the Petiverian collection, and the affluence of
the Baronet. It eventually went, along with the vast stores of natural pro-
ductions amassed by Sir Hans Sloane, to form the basis of that national
institution, the British Museum.

Sir Hans Sloane, in the year 1725, published the second volume of his
"Natural History of Jamaica/' including the insects found in that Island.

In the year following was published in Holland, one of the most splendid
entomological works ever published, by Madame Marie Sibilla Merian, in the
"Transformations of the Insects of Surinam/' a large folio volume with
finely drawn and highly coloured plates of insects, plants, and reptiles.

The work which next nrrests our attention is that of Eleazar Albin,
a painter of no small ability, \vho in the year 1731, published at London, a
"Natural History of English Insects," illustrated with 100 copper-plates,
engraven from life; and of which a second edition appeared in 1749, with
large notes, and many curious observations by W. Dereham, D.D., Fellow of
the Eoyal Society. This is the first work with coloured illustrations of
English insects, and it contains principally, but not exclusively, such lepi-
dopterous insects as the author, or his friends, had reared from caterpillars ;
exhibiting them picturesquely feeding on their proper plants, and in all
phases, or mutations : the whole highly coloured, and accompanied by des-
criptions in the English language, but without names. This last I mention
as Guenee has unadvisedly given Albin as an author of names. The butter-
flies he figures are the Large Cabbage White, Black-veined White, Brim-
stone, Bed Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoise-shell, Brown Hairstreak, Green
Hairstreak, Painted Lady, Large Tortoise-shell, Comma, Meadow Brown,

IX.

Purple Hairstreak, Small Cabbage White, and the Green-veined White.
Albin dedicates the plates to various different persons (a custom which has
unfortunately fallen out of use in the present century), who bore the expense
of the plates ; and the entire work to her Royal Highness the Princess of
Wales.

In the preface he informs us that Mr. Dandridge employed him in paint-
ing caterpillars, and that he painted a lot of caterpillars and flies for Mr.
How, and likewise several things relating to natural history for Sir Hans
Sloane. Also that the Duchess Dowager of Beaufort employed him in the
same manner, and that she was the first to persuade him to undertake his
work, and encouraged him by procuring subscriptions from persons of the
first quality; amongst them Henry Bentinck, Earl of Portland, father-in-law
of the celebrated Duchess of Portland.

I may as well mention here that I have in my possession Albin's original
drawings.

He also published in 1736, a Natural History of Spiders, and other curious
insects, 200 in number.

In 1739, Professor Bradley published, at London, his "Philosophical
Account of the Works of Nature." At page 190 of his work, he informs
us that the following were very eminent collectors of insects : " the Duchess
of Beaufort, who has bred a greater variety of English insects than were ever
rightly observed by any one person in Europe ; Sir Hans Sloane ; Mr. Yin-
cent; Dr. Ruysch; and Mr. Sebra have surprising collections, where we may
observe many thousands of foreign insects ; and Mr. Dandridge, who has so
industriously collected the insects of our own country." Bradley gives a few
engravings of insects, but does not appear to have much advanced the science.

We are now arrived at that period in the history of Entomology, in which
it received that, with respect to its general outline, which has been preserved
ever since. Swamunerdam had altogether deserted the system of Aristotle,
and Ray mixed it with that of his predecessor. But two years after the
death of Ray was born the greatest naturalist the world has ever been graced
with, the immortal Linnaeus. This illustrious philosopher was born on the
24th of May, 1707, in the little village of Roeshult, in Sweden, and imbibed
a taste for entomology almost as early as botany. In the first edition of his
"Systema Naturae," published in 1735, and contained in only fourteen folio
pages, he began to arrange the three kingdoms of nature after his own con-
ceptions. But this initiatory sketch, as might be expected, was very imper-
fect ; and with respect to insects, was extremely inferior to what Ray had
effected; for he puts into one order, to which he gives the name of

Angioptera, the Lepidoptera, Neuroptera, Hymenoptera, and Diptera. In this
work, however, generic characters were first given. In successive editions he
continued to improve upon this outline : in the fourth, he finally settled the
the number and denominations of his orders, and also their limits. His
system, being founded upon the absence or presence and characters of the
organs for flight, is in some degree a republication of the Aristotelian, and
may be called the Alary system. The 2nd edition was published in 1740,
the" 3rd in 1740, the 4th in 1744, the 5th in 1747, the 6th in 1748, the 7th
in 1748, the 8th in 1753, the 9th in 1756, the 10th in 1758, the llth in
1760, the 12th in 1766.

Quite a new turn was given to the science of natural history by the publi-
cation of the "Systema and Fundameiita Botanica of Linnaeus'7 in 1735.
Nor were the learned world determined how they should receive these extra-
ordinary productions, when in 1737 the same author, without any other
support than his own transcendent merit, fixed the attention of all Europe
by his " Critica Botanica/' "Genera Plantarum," " Hortus Cliffortiariurn,"
" Flora Lapponica," and " Methodus Sexalis ; five works, the produce of
one year, each of which would alone have been sufficient to have immortalized
its author, and in the composition of which a man's whole life might have
been thought to have been usefully employed. But in no respect were the
labours of Linnaeus more beneficial to science and zoology in particular, than
when he undertook to describe the animals of his own country. His " Fauna
Suecica," published in 1746, is an admirable exemplar, which greatly stimu-
lated the zoologists of other countries to study their native productions.
The last public exertion of Linnaeus was a beautiful oration delivered before
the University of Upsala, when he resigned his office of Rector. This was
in the latter part of the year 1772, in the 65th year of his age, six years
before his death, which took place on the 10th January, 1778.

Before his death he was elected a member of twenty academies, including
the three of his own country, and in 1753 was dubbed a Knight of the Polar
Star by the King of Sweden's own hand. Linnaeus had many pupils, whom he
persuaded to travel all over the world ; he himself travelled over Lapland, all
Sweden, part of Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, France, and England,
in search of knowledge. The most useful of his works to the Entomologist
are the "Fauna Suecica" and the " Systema Naturae/' In the last edition
of the latter he has included more than 3000 species of insects, classed them,
divided them into genera and species, described them, marked the places
where 'they are to be found, the plants they feed on, their transformations,
and cited the authors who have treated of them.

±1.

Before the time of Linnaeus, names were given to insects somewhat indis-
criminately, and, not unfrequently, they were but brief descriptions. Thus,
Petiver, in 1717, called the Brimstone Butterfly " Papilio sulphureus ;3> Ray,
in 1710, called the Clouded Yellow "Papilio croceus,apicibus nigricantibus"
and the Bath White " Papilio leucomelanos Cantabrigiensis ; " Albin, iu
1731, called the Black-veined White "Papilio albus venis nigru" So, too,
in 1769, Wallis, in his "Antiquities and Natural History of Northumber-
land," called the Comma " The brown and gold butterfly with lacinated
wings." Linnaeus devised a system of nomenclature that needed but two
words for each species. The second of these was the specific, whilst the first
showed to what germs the particular species belonged. The Lepidoptera he
divided into only three genera : Papilio, Sphinx, and Phaleena. Instead of
giving in every instance a fresh set of names, he adopted many from the
ancients, such as Gryllo-talpa, from Aristotle, for the Mole-cricket; Cossus,
from Pliny, for the Goat Moth; and Polychlorus, from Aldrovandus, for the
Large Tortoise-shell Butterfly.

Between the 10th edition of the " Systema Naturae" and the 12th, appeared
the following, viz. : Nicole Poda's " Insecta Musei Graecensis, quae in ordine?*
genera et species juxta Systema Naturae Caroli Linnaei digessit," in 1761;
Sepp's " Nederlandsche Insecten," commenced in 1762, a beautiful work in
which not only the perfect insects, caterpillars, and chrysalides are figured, but
also the egj*s ; Scopoli's " Entomologia Carniolica Methoclo Linnaeana," in
1763, of which I possess a copy with plates; and Geoffrey's '''Historic Des
Insects," in 1764. Geoffroy is principally celebrated as the author of the
method generally adopted by modern entomologists, of dividing the Coleoptera
into primary sections, according to the number of the joints of their tarsi.
His work is further serviceable by indicating many genera not defined by
Linnaeus. Scopoli, under the name of Papilio macaronius, has figured and
described a Myrmelion, one of the Neuroptera. His specific names also are
heavy, and where altered from the Linnaean are mostly altered for the worse.
The liberty he has taken in changing names is unworthy of him, and injurious
to science. Under the heading of Papilio alexis, he appears to have grouped
together two or three distinct species, so that it is impossible to tell to which
the name belongs.

For these and other reasons, the 12th edition of the great work of Linnaeus,
the "Systema Naturae," was decided upon for the starting point of our
nomenclature. That this decision is wise there should be no doubt.
Linnaeus was an exceptionally able man. The binomial system of nomen-
clature was but an adjunct to the great scheme of arrangement and order

Xll.

with which he replaced the chaos of an earlier time. In giving names he
knew what he was about better than we can know, and when he thought it
better to alter a name he had adopted before, or that had been used by
others, we may be quite sure he had good reasons for the alteration. Surely
the carefully revised completion of a great work is a safer starting point than
an earlier and admittedly imperfect edition. It must be borne in mind that
I am referring exclusively to the science of entomology, for in the sister
science of botany, plants had been divided into species and genera long
before the time of Liunseus. For instance, Ray, in his " Catalogues Plant-
arum Angliae et Insulaeum Adjacentium/' published in 1677, divided the
perfect plants of our island* into 23 genera.

In a letter to Haller, bearing the date of June 8th, 1737, Linnaeus writes :
" Those who come after us, in the free republic of Botany, will never subscribe
to authorities sanctioned only by antiquity, if we retain such intractable names
as Monolasiocallenomenophyllum and Hypophyllocarpodendrium ; why should
we therefore retain barbarous or mule names, or names distinguished only by
tails. Witness : Alsine, Alsinoides of Ray, Alsinella of Dillenius, Alsinastrum
of Yaillant, Alsinastroides of Kramer, Alsinastriformis of Plukenet, Alsin-
anthemos of Bay, and Alsinanthemum of Kramer. I could not help laugh-
ing when I saw a certain Botanist establish a genus by its tail alone, calling
Convolvuloides, because it had an upright stem. Why does the termination
oides displease ? Because it is the asylum of ignorance. Botanists seem to
me never to have touched upon nomenclature as a subject of study, and
therefore this path of their science remains still unexplained."

If we turn to our own British Isles again we find that, in the year of our
Lord 1742, Benjamin Wilkes published at London twelve folio copperplates
of the more showy English lepidoptera, disposed in imitation of pictures ; with
an engraved emblematic title, highly ornamented, dedicating the work to the
Aurelian Society of that day. The English names of the insects, and often
the names of the plants on which they feed, together with the times and
places they are found in, are likewise engraved at the foot of each plate, but
no letterpress appears to accompany them. The butterflies are the Peacock,
White Admiral, Swallow-tail, Red Admiral, High Brown (or more properly)
Silver- spotted Fritillary, Large Tortoise-shell, Ultramarine or Common Blue,
Purple Hair-streak, Marmoris or Marbled White, Darkened Green or High
Brown Fritillary, Comma, Painted Lady, Rock Underwing or Black-eyed
Marble, Purple Emperor, Small Pearl-border or Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary,
Great or Silver-striped Fritillary, Clouded Yellow, Small Tortoise-shell, Lady
of the Woods or Orange-tip, and the Orange Field Butterfly or Hedge Brown.

Xlll.

This appears to be the only English entomological work during a period
of twenty years, the minds of the men of science being wholly occupied with
the theories and views of the celebrated Sir Isaac Newton.

We next arrive at a name memorable in the annals of British entomology,
that of Moses Harris, who has contributed more, perhaps, than all our
entomologists who preceeded him, towards 'the knowledge and natural history
of British insects. He was also one of the first who endeavoured to form an
Aurelian Society in this country, for the purpose of recording and diffusing
the knowledge he had acquired, and of which he was chosen to be the secretary.
The first of his works — " The Aurelian or a Collection of Butterflies and
Moths and the Plants on which they feed and are found, Delineated and
Coloured, with an Explanation thereof/' was published in folio, at London,
in the year of our Lord 1766.

The butterflies in the work are 21 in number, viz : The Comma, Small
Tortoise-shell, Purple Emperor, Red Admiral, Peacock, Black-veined White,
Purple Hair-streak, Painted Lady, Marmoris or Marbled White, Grand
Surprize or Camberwell Beauty, Glanville Fritillary, Little Gate-keeper,
Green Fly or Hair-streak, Dark Green or Silver-spotted Fritillary, Dishclout
or Greasy or Marsh Fritillary, High Brown Fritillary, Clouded Yellow, Wood
White, and White Admirable.

The Camberwell Beauty is an addition to the British Fauna.

> ow comes a very important period, that of the introduction of the Lin-
IIJEAII system into England, for in 1769, John Berkenhout, M.D., published
in English, in small octavo, the first volume of his " Outlines of the Natural
History of Great Britain/' containing the animal kingdom; and amongst
other things, as many insects as he could ascertain, arranged according to
the Linnsean system, amounting to about 600 species. The butterflies he
includes are as follows : — 1, Machaon, Eoyal William or Swallow-tail; 2,
Podalirius-, 3, Cratagi, White Butterfly, with black veins; 4, Brassica,
Great White Cabbage; 5, Rapes, Small White Cabbage; 6, Napi, White
Butterfly, with green veins ; 7, Cardamines, Orange-tip ; 8, Hyalc, Spanish
Butterfly, more properly Edusa, Clouded Yellow; 9, Rhamni, Brimstone;
10, Hyperantus, Brown-eyed or Kinglet; 11, lo, Peacock; 12, Mara,
Great Argus, more properly Megara, Wall; 13, JEgeria, Wood Argus or
Speckled Wood ; 14, Galatkea, Marble; 15, Semele, Black-eyed Marble;
16, Jurtina, Meadow Brown; 17, Cardui, Painted Lady; 18, Iris, Emperor
of the Woods or Purple High-flyer; 19, Antiopa, Willow Butterfly or
Camberwell Beauty; 20, Polychlorus, Great Tortoise-shell ; 21, Urtica,
Small Tortoise-shell; 2£. C-album, Comma; 23, Atalanta, Bed Admiral;

XIV.

24, Lucina, Small Fritillary or Duke of Burgundy ; 25, Maturna, Heath
Fritillary, more properly Athalia ; 26, Cinxia, Plantain or Glanville Fritil-
lary; 27, Paphia, Great or Silver-striped Fritillary; 28, Aglaia, Great
Fritillary with silver spots ; 29, Lathonia, Less Silver-spotted Fritillary or
Queen of Spain; 30, EupJirosyne, April or Light Pearl-bordered Fritillary;
31, Betula, Brown Hair-streak; 32, Quercus, Purple Hair-streak; 33,
Argus, Blue Argus, moie properly learns-, 34, Argiolus, Azure Blue; 35,
Pamphilus, Small Heath or Little Gate-keeper; 36, Rubi, Green Hair-streak ;
37, Phlaas, Small Golden Black-spotted Butterfly or Small Copper ; 38,
Comma, Chequered Hog or Pearl Skipper; 39, Malva, Grizzle or Brown
Marsh Fritillary, moro properly Alveolus or Spotted Skipper.

In 1770, the following year, John Eeinhold Forstei, published at Warring-
ton, a " Catalogue of British Insects." This was a mere catalogue of Latin
names, but the most extensive yet made, amounting to a thousand species.

In 1772, "The Naturalist and Traveller's Companion," by Dr. Lettsoin,
was published at London, giving directions how to collect and preserve all
sorts of natural productions, and is a very useful book especially to beginners.

We now come to a year fertile in the produce of entomological works, for
in 1773, Yeats, published at London, his "Institutions of Entomology,
being a translation of Linnseeus' ' Ordines et Genera Insectorum : " or
systematic arrangement of insects, collated with the different systems of
Geoffroy, Schaffer, and Scopoli." This is an excellent publication for its
time. Jn it, Yeats writes : The division of the butterflies into families, from
the circumstances chosen by Linnaeus, seems liable to many objections : the
family of the Plebeii, in particular, is very inaccurate, and contains insects
very different from one another. Scopoli and Geoffroy have divided this
genus into different families from the number of their feet; a method which
cannot easily be pursued in cabinets where exotic butterflies are admitted,
these parts being generally destroyed before such insects reach Europe. The
other circumstances from which Geoffroy has taken his divisions into families,
viz., the form of the caterpillars, is totally impracticable, except where the
collector admits no other butterflies into his cabinet, but such as he himself
possessed in the caterpillar state, Geoffroy has, besides changing the orders
of the Linnsean system, formed from the different families of Linnsean genera
many new genera, some of them very judiciously, others perhaps without
sufficient grounds. Schseffer, in his ' Element a Entomologise/ printed at
Ratisbon, in 1776, has followed Geoffrey with very few and inconsiderable
variations. I should have been glad to have given some account of the
system of Poda, a Jesuit, a work much praised by Scopoli, but have not

XV.

been able to procure it, nor learn how or in what he differs from Linnaeus/'

In 1773, appeared the splendid work of Benjamin Wilkes, entitled, "One
hundred and twenty plates of English Moths and Butterflies." The insects
are figured after the manner of Albin, but far more sumptuously: and are
accompanied by English descriptions of the caterpillars and chysalides, but
not of the perfect state; and are entirely destitute of Latin, generic, and
specific names, and references to the inestimable works of Linnaeus. The
butterflies figured are the Swallpw-tail, Brimstone, Black-veined White,
Small Garden White, Green- veined White, Large Garden White, Orange-tip
or Lady of the Woods, Marble White or Marmoris, Meadow Brown, Wall or
Great Argus, Speckled Wood or Wood Argus — a foreign species of Skipper
feeding on mallow, figured in mistake for the Grizzle or Spotted Skipper, Red
Admiral, Peacock, Painted Lady, Great Tortoise-shell, Small Tortoise-shell,
Comma, Great Silver -striped Fritillary, Glanville or Plantain, Heath Fritillary,
Willow or Camberwell Beauty, Small or Marsh Fritillary, Great Silver-spotted
Fritillary, Purple Hair-streak, Brown Hair-streak, Green Hair-streak, Com-
mon Blue, and the Purple High-flyer or Mmperor of the Woods.

Wilkes, in his " Preface," informs us that he has been greatly assisted by
that well-known and ingenious naturalist, Mr. Joseph Dandridge; to whose
noble collection he had free access to during his lifetime, and also the liberty
of making what use he thought fit of his curious remarks on those subjects,
which were the fruits of no less than forty years experience : and that he
must also acknowledge that he has made use of the drawings of some cater-
pillar and flies which were published in 1746, by ,1. A. Kosel, at Nuremburgh,
in Germany. Wilkes also has introduced a fresh system of classification built
upon the caterpillar state. The butterflies he has divided into four classes,
viz: 1, Smooth caterpillars; 2, Having little hair; 3, Armed with spikes
4, Shaped like wood-lice.

At the same period Dr. Drury published a beautiful work on " Ento-
mology," containing comprehensive descriptions in English and French, with
an index of Linnasan names at the end, and a great many coloured upper-
plates of such interesting exotic insects, as had not before been, or were
insufficiently figured. The icons were executed by Moses Harris in his best
style, and are far superior to any of their predecessors in Britain.

Mr. Drury 's cabinet was one of the most extensive hitherto made, and is
said to have contained, in species and varieties, the number of 11,000 specie?.
He spared no pains or cost in getting them together, and like Petivcr, sent
printed instructions, in various languages, all over the world for that purpose,
by captains of ships and others. Soon after his death, in 1810, his collection

XVI.

was sold by auction, and produced £650 : one single butterfly selling for no
less than twelve guineas.

The above mentioned Moses Harris has contributed more than all the
Entomologists who preceded him, towards the knowledge and natural history
of British insects.

In 1775, he published the " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," containing a
catalogue of four hundred English Moths and Butterflies, the food of their
respective caterpillars, the time of changing into chrysalides, appearance in
the winged state, and places were they are usually found, together with a
concise description of each, and their dimensions, in inches and quarters;
also the Linnean names in the last column with the number annexed to each
species, as it is numerically placed by Linnaeus in the 12th edition of the
" Systema Naturae." The Linnean names given are : Camilla, Atalanta,
Argiolus, Rhamni, Jurtina, Rubi, C. album, Virgaurea, Iris, Paphia, Adippe,
Aglaia, Euphrosyne, Maturna, Lathonia, Cinxia, Lucina, Semele, Megara,
Pamphilus, Cardui, Cardamines, Io, Hyperantus, PolycJiloros, Urticee, Comma,
Tages, Betula, Quercus, Antiopa, Machaon, Brassica, Rapes, Cratagi, Napi,
JEgeria, Galathea, Mara, and Hyale. Of these, Camilla, Virgaurea,
Maturna, and Mara, are not British, and are simply given in mistake for
Sibylla, Phlaas, Athalia, and Tithonus.

The English names stand in the first column, and are in alphabetical order,
thus : — Admirable White, Admirable, Blue Azure, Blue Common, Blue
Argus, Blue Clifden, Blue Chalkhill, Blue Silver-studded, Brimstone, Brown
Meadow, Bramble or Green Fly, Comma, Copper, Emperor Purple, Fritillaria
Silver-wash, Fritillaria High Brown, Fritillaria Dark Green, Fritillaria Pearl
Border, Fritillaria Pearl Border Likeness, Fritillaria Greasy, Fritillaria Queen
of Spain, Fritillaria Glanville, Fritillaria Duke of Burgundy, Fritillaria vmali
Pearl Border, Grayline, Gristle or Spotted Skipper, Keeper Large Gate,
Keeper Small, Lady Painted, Lady of the woods or Orange-tip, Peacock,
Einglett, Tortoise-shell Large, Tortoise-shell Small, Skipper Large, Skipper
Small, Skipper Dingy, Skipper Pearl, Streak Brown Hair, Surprise Grand,
Streak Dark Hair, Tail swallow, White Large Garden, White Small Garden,
White Green-veined, White Black-veined, White Wood, White Marbled,
Wood Speckled, Wall, Yellow Clouded, Yellow Pale Clouded : 53 in all.

In 1778, was published a second edition of "The Aurelian : or Natural
History of English insects, namely, Butterflies and Moths," with great ad-
ditions; and in 1782, Moses Harris published his "Exposition of English
Insects," which is illustrated by 51 copperplates, whereon are depicted about
500 figures of insects, of all the various orders, exclusive of butterflies. He

XV11.

was likewise the author of a little work, without a date, entitled " An Essay,
preceding a Supplement to the Aurelian, wherein are considered the tendons
and membranes of the wings of butterflies," in which he ingeniously gives
a method of arranging the Papiliones into natural families, from the differ-
ance of structure observable in the nerves of their wings.

In 1781, appeared, in English and French, "The Genera Insectorum of
Linnaeus," exemplified by various specimens of English insects, drawn from
nature. This was the first work which made known, by figures, the system
of Linnaeus on insects, and the various genera which it contained.

About this period, William Curtis, a celebrated botanist, published " An
Essay on the Brown-tail Moth," " Instructions for Collecting and Preserving
Insects," and a " Translation of the Fundamenta Entomologist of Linnaeus/''
illustrated with copperplates and additions, and to which is prefixed a chrono-
logical catalogue of entomological authors; this latter was published in 1772.
In 1785, Matthew Martyn published at Exeter, "The Aurelian's Vade
Mecum," containing an Knglish alphabetical and Linnaean systematical cata-
logues of plants affording nourishment to butterflies, hawk moths, and moths
in the caterpillar state, collected from various authors.

If we turn again to the Continent, we find that in 1766, flufnagel pub-
lished descriptions of butterflies and moths in a Berlin magazine ; but as they
are poor even for the age, they have been ignored by all the greatest entomo-
logists as being injurious to science and likely to be misunderstood. Pallis'
descriptions in 1771 are likewise bad. We next come to the celebrated De
Geer, who united in himself the highest merit of almost every department of
that science. Both as a systematist, an anatomist, and physiologist, and as the
observant historian of the manners and economy of insects, his " Memoires
pour servie it T Historic des Insectes " is above all praise. His system is
contained in a posthumous volume published in 1778.

We are now arrived, if its consequence be considered, at one of the most
important epochs of the science. Fabricius, a pupil of Linnseus, who highly
estimated his entomological acquirements, thinking that the system of his
master was not built upon a foundation sufficiently fixed and restricted, con-
ceived the idea of doing for Entomology what the latter had done for Botany.
As the learned and illustrious Swede had assumed the fructification for the
basis of his system in that science, so the emulous and highly gifted Dane,
observing how happily those organs were employed as character in extricating
the genera of vertebrate animals, assumed the instruments of mastication,
far more numerous and varied in insects, for the basis of a new system of
entomology, which from the maxillae being principally employed to charac-
terise th« order, may be called the Maxillary System.

XV111.

* The first outline of his system appeared in his " Systema Entomologise,"
published in 1775, and the last in his " Supplement to Entomologia
Systematica," in 1798. The -other works he published were the "Genera
Insectorum," which contained the natural definitions of the species, in 1776;
the "Philosophia Entomologica," in 1778; the "Species Insectorum," in
1782, which appeared in two volumes as a continuation of the " Systema
Entomologica " ; and the "Mantissa Insectorum," in 1787, in two volumes,
which contained more particularly the corrections and additions which he
obtained on his travels to Vienna and St. Petersburg. In his " Philosophia
Entomologica," drawn up on the plan of the " Philosophia Botanica," of
Linnaeus, he bequeathed to the science a standard work to be studied by
every entomologist. His incredible labour in depicting new genera, and
describing new species, with which view he travelled into various parts of
Europe, and seven times into Britain, have been of infinite service, and have
placed the science upon a footing much nearer to that of botany than it had
ever before attained.

The principal object of his tour to Vienna was to form an acquaintance
with the authors of " Lepidoptera of the vicinity of Yienna," the principal of
whom was Schiffermuller, whom the Emperor Joseph had appointed director
of the Northern Institute at Lenz. This Yienna Catalogue, or W.Y. as it
is usually called, was published in 1775, by Denis and SchifFermiiller, two
officers of the Austrian army.

Eabricius died in 1810, at the age of 63. Linnseus is reported thus to
have spoken of him : " When Fabricius asks me concerning an insect, I take
off my hat, and I say unto him, be thou my teacher."

Between the first of Fabricius' works which appeared in 1775, and the
last which appeared in 1798, were published the works of Porkhausen, in
1788; of Fourcroy, on the "Entomology of Paris," in 1785; of Christian
Miiller, in 1785; of Yon Rottenburg, in 1775, &c.

More confusion exists as to the names given between the years 1770 and
1790 than at any other period in the annals of entomological science.
Fabricius, following the example of his master, the illustrious Linnaeus,
attempted to combine in some degree Natural and Civil History, by attaching
the names of persons, illustrious in their day, to the butterflies, and consider-
ing the matter of a year or two of no importance, adopted the name of Adonis
given in the Yienna Catalogue of 1776, to that of the senseless name Bell-
argus, given in " Der Naturforscher," published in 1775. Likewise he gave
preference to that of Alsus, W.V., over that of the misleading name of
Minima, given by Fuessli in 1775. If entomologists of more modern times
only bowed to the wisdom and discretion of Fabricius, instead of following

XIX.

the stern and harsh rule of priority to too great an extent, much confusion
would be avoided. And, after all, are the publishers' dates of any
vital importance ? Is it of any real importance whether a certain name
was given in 1775 or 1776? Perhaps the work published in 1776 was
really written before that published in 1775, and delayed being given to
the world through some error on the part of the publisher.

If we turn to our own country again, we find that the Linnsean Society
was instituted in London in 1788, under the direction and presidency of
Dr. J. E. Smith. On the death of Charles Linnaeus, son of the great
Linnaeus, in 1783, the whole of the collections of both father and son; the
library, consisting of about 2,500 volumes ; and the manuscripts and corres-
pondence, were offered to Sir Joseph Banks, as the most liberal and wealthy
naturalist in Europe, for the sum of 1,000 guineas. Sir Joseph himself
declined the purchase, but recommended it to the consideration of his friend,
Dr. Smith. After some negociation the bargain was concluded, and these
inestimable treasures were sent to England in twenty-six large packages.

Two years previously, on the 24th of April, 1786, and thirty-seven follow-
ing days, was sold by public auction, the museum belonging to and founded
by the celebrated Duchess Dowager of Portland.

In 1789, the celebrated Gilbert White published the " Natural History
and Antiquities of Selborne; and in the following year was published the
" Naturalist's Miscellany," by Dr. Shaw and Fred. T. Nodder.

The next writer is Edward Donovan, who in 1792, began to publish, at
London, " The Natural History of British Insects," explaining them in their
various states, with the periods of their transformations, their food, economy,
as illustrated by coloured figures, designed and executed from living speci-
mens. It was regularly published in monthly numbers, until fourteen
volumes of twelve numbers each were completed, when it closed in 1810.
This work did much to forward the progress of entomology in Britain, as
did that of Lewin, entitled "The Insects of Great Britain, systematically
arranged, accurately engraved, and painted from nature, with the natural
history of each species, from a close application to the subject, and obser-
vations made in different counties of this kingdom ; as well as from breeding
numbers from the egg, as caterpillar, during the last thirty years. The
figures engraved from the subjects themselves by the author, William Lewin,
Fellow of the Linnsean Society, and printed under his immediate direction."
Vol. I., London, 1795.

This volume contains all the butterflies known in the British Isles, and is
a valuable publication. No others were published owing to the death of
the author. The species contained in the work are 62 in number, viz :—

XX.

Antiopa or Camberwell Beauty, Polychloros or Large Tortoise-shell, Urtica
or Small Tortoise-shell, lo or Peacock, C-album or Comma, Atalanta or Red
Admiral, Camilla or White Admiral (more properly Sibylla], Cardui or
Painted Lady, Paphia or Silver- washed Fritillary, Adippe or High Brown
Fritillary, Aglaia or Silver-spotted Fritillary, Laihonia or Queen of Spain
Fritillary, EupJirosyne or Light Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Euphrasia (more
properly Selene] or Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Cinxia or Glanville Fritil-
lary, Lictynna (more properly AtJtalia] or Heath Fritillary, Artemis or
Marsh Fritillary, Lucina or Duke of Burgundy, Iris or Purple Emperor,
Semele or Great Argus or Black-eyed Marble, Janira or Meadow Brown,
Nigeria or Speckled Wood, Hyperantus or Ringlet, Megara or Wall,
TitJwnus or Hedge Brown, Pamphilm or Small Gate-keeper, //£/•<? (more
properly Davus) or Manchester Argus, Galathea or Marbled White, Craiagi
or Black-veined White, Brassica or Large Garden White, /fajt?# or Small
Garden White, Napi or Green-veined White, Daplidice or Bath White,
Sinapis or Wood White, Cardamines or Orange-tip, Rhamni or Brimstone,
Electro, (more properly Edusa) or Clouded Yellow, Hyale or Pale Clouded
Yellow, Machaon or Swallow-tail, Podalirns or Scarce Swallow-tail (a doubt-
ful British species), Corydon or Chalk-hill Blue, Argiolus or Azure Blue,
Arion or Large Blue, Hyacinthus or Dorylas, (7 lossy or Dartford Blue (a
doubtful British species), Adonis or Clifden blue, C£«K0» or Acis, Dark or
Mazarine Blue, Icarus or Common Blue, Argus or $jgon or ISilver-studded
Blue, ^lifttt or Small Blue, Idas or Medoti or Brown Argus, Artaxerxes or
Brown White Spot (the Scotch variety of last), Illppothoe or Dupar or Large
Copper, Virgaurea or Scarce Copper (a doubtful British species), Phl&as or
Small Copper, Betula or Brown Hairstreak, Quercus or Purple Hairstreak,
Pruni (more properly W-album) or Dark Hairstreak, /fadi or Green Hair-
streak, Comma or Pearl Skipper, Tages or Brown Skipper, Thaumas or £i#e0
or Small Skipper, Sylvanus or Large Skipper, Malva or Spotted Skipper
(more properly Alveolus), and Fritillum, a variety of the last.

This brings to a close the eighteenth century, the latter half of which was
excessively productive of entomological literature. It will be observed that
Lewin, in 1795 was only acquainted with twelve species unknown to Petiver
in 1717, and of these, three are not now admitted as British. Since the
publication of Lewin's work, only eight species of butterflies have been added
to the British list, viz., Paniscus in 1798, Blandina in 1804, Cassiope in
1809, Pruni in 1828, Action in 1832, Bceticus in 1859, Plexippus in 1876,
and Ar glades in 1885.

The first entomological work of the present century is an English trans-
lation of the " Systema Naturae " of Linnaeus, by Wm. Turtoii, M.D., F.L.S.,

XXI.

published in the year 1800 ; and in 1803 appeared the first volume of the
" Lepidoptera Britannicse," by Alexander Hadrian Haworth, founder of the
Aurelian, afterwards Entomological Society of London. He includes all the
butterflies mentioned by Lewin, and in addition, Helice, the white female
variety of Edusa j Eurypome, not a British species at all ; Polydama and
Typhon, varieties of Davus ; Charlotta, a variety of Aglaia ; Eos, a variety of
Athalia ; Chryseis, a doubtful British species ; Paniscus ; Tessellata, a
variety of Athalia ; Hampstediensis, not a British species, but an inhabitant
of Australia ; and Apollo, as a doubtful native, in the preface.

The "Lepidoptera Britannica" was preceded in 1801, by the " Prodromus
Lepidopterorum Britannicaum" of the same anthor, but which was anony-
mously submitted to the inspection of the entomologial world. It was a
mere catalogue of names of lepidoptera, with their times and places of appear-
ance in the winged state. On the other hand, the " Lepidopoptera Britan-
nica " was the first work on British lepidoptera published upon a general
and scientific scale.

In 1802, was likewise published at Edinburgh, the second volume of
Stewart's "Elements of Natural History," containing the entomological
portion, which is more extensive concerning British insects than any previous
work, but no less than twenty very doubtful ones are included.

In 1806, was published " The British Miscellany/' by J. Sowerby, F.L.S.
The butterflies figured in it are Charlotta, Blandina, Ligea, and Chryseis.

In 1812, was published the first volume of the "Transactions of the
Entomological Society of London"; and in 1819, Samouelle's "Entomolo-
gist's Compendium." Two more important works shortly after appeared,
namely, " Illustrations of British Entomology," by Jas. F. Stephens, F.L.S.,
and " British Entomology/' by John Curtis, F.L.S. In the latter are figures
of the following butterflies, most admirably executed, viz. : — Podalirius,
Cratagi, Rhamni, Hyale, Daplidice, Hero (not a British species),
Arcanius (another foreigner), Antiopa, Iris, Camilla (more properly
Sibylla), Aglaia (a very dark variety), Selene, Lucina, Pruni, Dispar, and
Action. The former author, whilst considering it absurd to consider
Podalirius any longer to be a British species, yet figures and admits
Colias Philodice, a native of America.

The other most useful works of the present century are, viz. : — " Intro-
duction to Entomology," by Messrs. Kirby and Spence ; " An Introduction to
the Modern Classification of Insects," by J. O. Westwood, Professor of
Zoology to the University of Oxford, and the greatest of British entomo-
logists ; Miss Jermyn's " Entomologist's Vade Mecum " j " British Butter-
flies," by Messrs, Humphreys and Westwood, in 1841 ; Stainton's "Manual,"

XX11.

in 1857 i Rev. F. 0. Morris's " British Butterflies, in 1853 ; and Newman's
"British Butterflies/' in 1871. Besides these much valuable information
may be gathered from London's " Magazine of Natural History," commenced
in 1829; the " Zoologist " commenced in 1843; the " Entomologist " in
1840; the "Entomological Magazine" in 1833; the "Entomologist's
Monthly Magazine" in 1864 ; the "Entomologist's Annual" commenced
in 1855 and concluded in 1871 ; the "Young Naturalist," commenced in
1879; and various other works and periodicals, which it is needless to
mention.

List of the British Butterflies, with the year in which they were first captured
or made known as British, and the name of the first captor and of
the author and publication in which they are first brought forward as
British.

Merrett's Pinax.

Merrett's Pina,x.

Merrett's Pinax.

Merrett's Piiiax,

Merrett's Pinax.

Merrett's Pinax,

Merrett's Pinax.

See Eay's Historia Insectorum.

By Court man. See Ray's Historia Insectorum.

By Morton. See Ray's Historia Insectorum.

See Ray's Historia Insectorum.

1667.

Brassicce.

1667.
1667.
1667.
1667.
1667.

Cratagi.
Rapes.
Napi.
Sinapis.
Rhamni.

1667.

Galathea.

1667.
1667.
1667.
1667.

Megara.
JKgeria.
Hyperanthus.
Janira.

1667.

Tithonus.

1667.
1667.

Pamphilus.
C-album.

1667.

Urlica.

1667.

Selene.

1667.

EuU.

1667.
1667.

Chryseis.
Icarus.

1667.
1667.

Tages.
Comma.

1692.
1695.

Quercus.
Iris.

1695.
1695.

Sibylla.
Polychlom.

XX111.

1697.

Semele.

1710.

Machaon.

1710.

Podalirius.

1710.

Edusa.

1710.

Cardamines.

1710.
1710.
1710.
1710.

Daplidice.
Paphia.
Aglaia.
Euphrosyne.

1710.

Lathonia.

1710.

Athalia.

1710.

Cinxia.

1710.

Artemis.

1710.

Luciua.

1710.

Cardui.

1710.

lo.

1710.

Alalanta.

1710.

Phlaas.

1710.

Betulce.

1710.
1710.
1710.

Cory don.
jEgon.
Ads.

1710.

Argiolus.
Linea.

1710.

Alveolus.

1717.

Adippe.

1717.

Agestis.

1717.
1748.
1775.
1775.

Sylvanus.
Antiopa.
Hyale.
W-album.

1775.

Adonis.

1795.

Arion.

1795.
1795.

Dorylas.
Artaxerxes.

1795.

Alms.

1795,
1798.

Dispar.
Paniscus.

1804.

Medea.

1809.

Epiphron.

See Ray's Historia Insectoium.

Kay's Historia Insectorum.

Ray's Historia Insectorum.

Ray's Historia Insectornm.

Ray's Historia Insectorum.

Petiver's Papilionum Britannise.

Petiver's Papilionum Britanniae.

See Harris' Aurelian.

Harris' Aurelian's' Pocket Companion.

Harris' Aurelian's Pocket Companion.

Lewin's Insects of Great Britain.

By Dr. Abbott. See Linn. Trans., Vol. V.

By Dr. Walker. See Don. Nat. Hist. Vol. XII,

By T. S. Stotbard, R.A. See Ent. Trans. Vol. I.

XXIV.

1828. Pruni.
1832. Action.

By W. Seaman. See Curt. Brit. Ent.
By J. C. Dale, F.L.S. See Curt. Brit. Ent.

1859. Baticus.
1876. Plexippm.

1885. Argiades.

By W. Me Arthur. See Entomologist.
By J. T. Llewelyn. See Entomologist.
By Rev. O. P. Cambridge. See Entomologisl

Yarious kinds of butterflies are remarkable for their periodical or irregular
appearance. Of these, the species of Colias or Clouded Yellows, the Painted
Lady, and the Camberwell Beauty are pre-eminent; thus the last-named will
not be seen for eight, ten, or more years, according to Mr. Haworth, and
then will appear as plentifully as before, indeed in 1789 it occurred in such
profusion as to obtain the name of the " Grand Surprise ;; from the Aurelians
of that time. In 1872, it also occurred all over the country. 1877 will be
remembered as the great " Clouded Yellow year," and in 1879 the Painted
Lady absolutely swarmed. In the autumn of 1872, the Bath White and the
Queen of Spain were also taken freely on the Kentish coast.

None who live in the country can be ignorant of their existence. From
the first sunny days in February or March, when the Brimstone emerges
from its winter's retreat, to chilly November when we see the Red Admiral
feasting on the ivy bloom, they are always before us. In gardens we find
Brimstones and White, an occasional Meadow Brown, Peacocks, and Tor-
toise-shells, Painted Ladies and Red Admirals, Blues and Small Coppers.
In lanes we find, in addition to these, several species of Browns, and per-
haps the Fritillaries, Hair-streaks, and Skippers. The Purple Emperor,
White Admiral, and most of the Fritillaries require to be sought i'or in
woods ; and the Marble WThite, some of the Blues, and one of the Skippers
(Hesperia comma] on chalk downs. The Swallow-tail, although gone from
most parts of England, is still to be found in the fens of the Eastern
Counties. The Clouded Yellows frequent meadow, lucerne, and clover fields
on the South Coast in autumn ; and the Lulworth Skipper occurs on the
coasts of Dorset and Devonshire. If WQ visit the North of England and
Scotland, we shall find the two species of Erebia and Cononympka typhon on
the mountains and moors ; and the latter country enjoys almost the exclusive
privilege of supplying Lyccena Artaxerxes to our collections ; the variety
occurring occasionally with the type on the Durham coast also. Heaths are
frequented by Satyrus Semele and Lyccena <&Lgon. Although some of our
butterflies are exceedingly local, only six are very rare with us, viz. : — Pieris
Daplidice or Bath White, Argynnis Lathonia or Queen of Spain, Chryso-
pJianus Lispar or Large Copper (an extinct species), Polyomm,atus Ads or
Mazarine Blue, P. Argiades and P. Bceticus.

XXV

The distribution of Butterflies in the British Isles, as known
at the present time may be stated thus : —

Papilio machaon. England east, in the fens.

Aporia crataegi. England south.

Pieris brassicae. England, Ireland, Scotland, Hebrides,

Orkneys, Channel Islands.
P. rapae. England, Ireland, Scotland, Hebrides,

Orkneys, Channel Islands.

P. napi. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel Islands.
P. daplidice. England south east, Channel Islands.
Anthocaris cardamines. England, Ireland, Scotland,

Channel Islands.
Leucophasia sinapis. England, Ireland, Channel

Islands.
Gonopteryx rhamni. England, Ireland south,

Channel Islands.
Colias edusa. England, Ireland, Scotland, Orkneys,

Channel Islands ; erratic.

C. hyale. England, Ireland, Channel Islands ; erratic.
Thecla betulse. England, Ireland.
T. quercus. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.

T. vv-album. England, Channel Islands.
T. pruni. England east.

T. rubi. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel Islands.
Chrysophanus dispar. England east, in the Fens. Ex-
tinct since 1850.
C. phlseas. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.
Polyommatus bceticus. England south, Channel

Islands ; erratic.

P. argiades. England south, in Dorsetshire on heaths.
P. argiolus. England, Ireland, Channel Islands.

XXVI

P. arion. England, southern and midland counties.

P. acis. England, south ; probably extinct.

P. alsus. England, Ireland, Scotland.

P. corydon. England, on the chalk and limestone.

P. adonis. England south, on the chalk and limestone.

P. icartis. England, Ireland," Scotland, Hebrides,

Orkneys, Channel Islands.

P. agestis. England, Scotland, Channel Islands.
P. u-Egon. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.

Nemeobius lucina. England, Scotland south-west.
Melanargia galathea. England, on the chalk and

limestone.
Hipparchia aegeria. England, Ireland, Scotland,

Channel Islands.
H. megaera. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.
H. semele. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.
H. tithonus. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.
H. janira. England, Ireland, Scotland, Hebrides,

Channel Islands.
H. hyperanthus. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands ; in woods.

Coenonympha typhon. England north, Ireland, Scot-
land, Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetland ; on moors.
C. pamphilus. England, Ireland, Scotland, Hebrides,

St. Kilda, Channel Islands.
Erebia medea. England north, Scotland south and

central ; woods, moors, and mountains.
E. epiphron. England north-west, Ireland north-west,

Scotland central ; on high mountains.

xxvn

Danais plexippus. England south-west ; wanderer.

Apatura iris. England, in woods.

Limenitis sibylla. England, in woods.

Vanessa cardui. England, Ireland, Scotland, Orkneys,

Shetlands, Hebrides, Channel Islands ; erratic.
V. atalanta. England, Ireland, Scotland, Orkneys,

Shetlands, Hebrides, Channel Islands.
V. antiopa. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands ; erratic.

V. io. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel Islands.
V. urticse. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.

V. polychloros. England, Channel Islands.
V. c-album. England. Channel£Islands.
Argynnis paphia. England, Ireland, Scotland.
A. adippe. England, in woods.
A. aglaia. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.

A. lathonia. England east and south,! Ireland south-
west, Channel Islands.

A. euphrosyne. England, Scotland ; in woods.
A. selene. England, Ireland, Scotland.
Melitcea cinxia. England south-west, Channel Islands.
M. athalia. England south, Ireland south.
M. artemis. England, Ireland, Scotland.
Cyclopides paniscus. England.
Hesperia comma. England, on the chalk.
H. sylvanus. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel

Islands.

H. linea. England, Ireland, Channel Islands.
H. action. England, south-west coast.
Svricthus alveolus. England, Ireland, Scotland south-

XXVIII

west, Channel Islands.

Nisoniades tages. England, Ireland, Scotland, Channel
Islands.

Of the above 67 species, the whole have been taken in England ;
40 in Ireland ; 36 in Scotland ; 8 in the outer Hebrides ; 7 in the
Orkney Isles ; 3 in the Shetlands ; 39 in the Channel Islands ; and
only one solitary butterfly has been taken in the small and far-away
Isle of St. Kilda.

In Central Europe, or Germany, 186 species of Butterflies have
been observed ; the remaining 140 European species being peculiar to
Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, or Lapland.

Of the German species, just 100 occur in Belgium, but only 66 in
England, although we possess one species (Erebia epiphron) which does
not occur in Belgium.

One of our species appears to have a very restricted distribution.
This is the now extinct Chrysophanus dispar, which seems to have
been confined to England, though its variety rutilus inhabits Central
and Eastern Europe and North and West Africa.

Next we h&vecorydon, Incina, Sibylla, typJion, epipliron, and galatliea,
all of which seem to be confined to Europe proper, and in most cases
to Central Europe. None of them, except typhon, range very far
north, though probablv one or two reach Asia Minor.

The next lot occur in Europe and in North and West Asia, and
include sinapis, cratagi, betula, quercus, pruni, w -album, avion, ads,
alsus, iris, medea, semele, hyper ant hus, megara, polychloros, adippe,
cinxia, paniscus, and tages.

The 41 species which remain have a wider range.

Of these at least seven, viz., machaon, hyale, edusa, alexis, agestis,
phlaas, and lathonia, reach the Himalayas; while two others, brassicce
and argiolus have representative forms there. Three at least reach
Japan, namely, edusa, hyale, and io.

A rather large number occur on the south side of the Mediter-
ranean, and are recorded for North Africa, viz., machaon, daplidice,
rapce, brassicce, rhamni, edusa, hyale, argiolus, adonis, alexis, argiades,
agestis, bcetica, rubi, phltfas, atalanta, antiopa, lathonia, artemis, janira,
(egeria, pamphilus, tinea, and action. One (hyale) occurs in South
Africa, where edusa is represented by the closely-allied species electra.

In North America, but chiefly on the western side of that continent
several species are said to have been found. Of these machaon, autiopa,
atalanta, and pldaas seem certainly to occur ; while hyale, edusa, rhamni
comma, sylvanus, and linea have all been reported, and if they do not
actually occur they are represented by species very closely allied, as
also are c-album, aglaia, and argiolus. A supposed variety of rubi has
been found in California, and vapa has been introduced inio Canada,
&c,, in late years, and seems already to have developed a climatic
race.

Finally, cardui appears to occur nearly all over the world, except
in South America.

Of the species mentioned above, 21 have been found within or near
the Arctic Circle, namely, machaon, cardatnines. napi, alexis, ads, agestis,
tfgon, phi?:;, rubi, autiopa, urtic&t athalia, selene, euphrosyne, aglaia,
lathonia, tithonus, pampliilus, typhon, aloeolus, and comma.

Five of our butterflies hybernate — that is, pass the winter — in the
egg state, viz., quercus, w-album, pruni, betnlce, and agon.

Thirty-nine hybernate in the larva or caterpillar state — cratagi,
corydon, adonis, alexis, agestis, argiades, alsus, ads,arion, dispar, phlaas,
galatliea, se»iele, janira, tithonus, hyperanthns, (Bgeria, megcera, epiphron,
medea, davits, pamphilns, iris, sibylla, paphia, adippe, aglaia, lathonia,
euphrosyne, seleuc, artemis, cinxia, athalia, linea, action, sylvanus, comma,
paniscus and tagcs. The first named differs from the rest in being
gregarious in the larva state, and in passing the winter under cover of
a web.

Twelve hybernate in the pupa, or chrysalis state — machaon, edusa,
hyale, brassiccr, rapa, napi, daplidice, cardatnines, sinapis, lucina, and
alveolus.

Eight hybernate in the imago or perfect state — rhamni, to, antiopa,
polychloros, nrticce, c-album, atalanta, and cardui. Many of these creep
into hollow trees, others hide in houses or outhouses, and imagines of
urtica have been found in the crevices of chalk nearly a foot below the
surface.

All our British butterflies (with the exception of the Wood White
and the Speckled Wood) are true children of the sun. Their flight is
varied, and the skilful collector knows at a distance the flight of
different genera, and even occasionally that of different species ; thus,
my father could distinguish ads on the wing from the common icarus.
The power of flight depends considerably on the robustness of the

thorax and the strength of the wing veins ; thus some of the nyinpJia-
lida are more powerful fliers than the great Swallow Tails ; such, for
instance, is the case with the Painted Lady. Others — as the whites
and broavns — fly with an undulating motion, whilst the Purple
Emperor sails over the topmost branches of the oak. Others— as the
Skippers — have a short, quick jerking kind of flight. The sexes,
though generally resembling each other, occasionally offer various dis-
tinctions, especially in colour, the males in such cases being almost
invariably the most gaily coloured, This is especially the case with the
Purple Emperor, the Blues, and the Coppers. In these the upper
surface alone offers this distinction ; the Orange tip, however, has tips
to the forewings coloured orange on the underside as well as on the
upper. In the purple hair-streak the individuals which have a bright
purple patch on the upper surface of the wings are the females, as is
also the case with the Brown Hair-streak, except that in this species
the patch is a dull orange. Some of the Fritillaries have black longi-
tudinal ribs on the forewings of the males, and Haworth describes the
female of the Red Admiral as differing from the male by possessing a
minute white dot on the central red fascia of the forewings. In the
genus Colias, or Clouded Yellows, the males exhibit a character gene-
rally overlooked by entomologists. It is a kind of glandular sac
placed upon the anterior edge of the hind wings near the base, It is
large in edusa, and entirely wanting in liyale. Edusa has a whitish
variety of the female, on which the name of helice has been bestowed ;
and paphia has a dark greenish one, which is called vallezina. The
females of janira, corydon, and adonis, occasionally, but very rarely,
appear with the coloration of the male.

The variations in the colours and markings of the different species
are very numerous, still some general principles are evident. Thus,
the Pierida are almost uniformly white ; Colias and its allies, yellow ;
the Fritillaries, rich fulvous with black spots, and silvery ones on the
under side ; Satyrus and its allies are of various shades of brown with
eye-like spots ; the species of Chrysophamis are of a copper colour, and
of Polyommatus blue, with small eye-like spots on the under surface ;
whilst those of Thecla have hair-like streaks on the under sides.
Variations in colours may also be seen in individuals of the same
species ; thus, you may get a black variety of the White Admiral, a
brown variety of a Blue and White, or bleached variety of the
Meadow Brown.

XXXI

The eggs of butterflies differ very remarkably both in size and
shape. In some the surface is most beautifully ornamented as with
carved work, but a thousand times more delicate and fine than any
carving that human hands could execute. Some are exquisitely flu-
ted, others are ribbed, the ribs being from ten to thirty in number, and
these are connected by a great number of excessively minute trans-
verse raised lines ; some are entirely covered with a net-work of raised
lines, others have rows of minute warts, forty or fifty in number, all of
which converge to a point at the top of the egg ; others are perfectly
smooth and without markings of any kind ; and some few of them
have a lid at the top, which the young caterpillar gently lifts off when
he makes his first appearance in the world.

One of the most curious and striking facts, is the extreme differ-
ence in the eggs of some species which in the perfect state closely
resemble each other. Thus the egg of the Large Tortoise- Shell is
pear-shaped and smooth, while that of the Small Tortoise-shell is ob-
long, with eight very conspicuous ribs. The characters of each are,
however so constant in each species of butterfly, that any one who has
paid attention to the subject can immediately say to what butterfly
any particular egg belongs. Thus the egg of the Peacock is like a
polygonal jar, the egg of the Meadow brown is globular, that of the
Large white reminds us of some antique vessel, and that of the Queen
of Spain, simulates curious wicker-work baskets.

Our British Rhopalocera or butterflies are divisable into three
primary groups or tribes, and into eight families, thus : —
Tribe i. SUCCINTA. Pupa attached by the tail and by a belt of silk

round the body, head pointed upwards.
Family i. Papilionidae. Larva elongate, smooth or pubescent,

Imago with six feet in both sexes.

Family n. Lycaenidae. Larva short and thickset, in shape some-
thing like a woodlouse. Imago with six feet in both sexes.
Family in. Erycinidae. Larva short and thickset, in shape some-
thing like a woodlouse. Imago with four feet in the male and six
feet in the female.
Tribe n. PENDUL^:. Pupa attached only by the tail, and hangs

with head downwards. Imago with four feet in both sexes.
Family iv. Satyridae. Larva with a bifid tail, like a fish.
Family v. Danaidae. Larva with from one to five pair of fleshy
prolongations.

XXXII

Family vi. Apaturidae. Larva like a slug, with a pair of horns on

its head.
Family vn. Nymphalidae. Larva covered more or less with

spines.
Tribe in. INVOLUTE, Pupa enclosed in a more or less transparent

cocoon. Imago with six feet in both sexes.
Family vin. Hesperidae. Larva elongate, with a large head.

In the Satyridae, Danaidae, Apaturidae, and Nymphalidae, the per-
fect insects or imagines have the first pair of legs in a very rudimen-
tary state, and quite unfitted for walking, so that in ordinary language
they have only four legs. In the Erycinidae, the males have only
four useful legs, though the females have six. The other three families
have always six serviceable legs in both sexes.

These families are also readily distinguishable in the earlier states;
for the larva, or caterpillar, as they are more commonly called, of
the Papilionidae are elongate and of the ordinary form ; the larvae of
the Lycaenidae and of the Erycinidae are broad and short, and are
termed onisciform, that is shaped like a woodlouse ; the larvae of the
Satyridae are elongate and have two short projecting tails, and are
termed pisciform, that is shaped like a fish ; the larvae of the Apaturidae
have two projecting horns on the head and are termed Limaciform,
that is shaped like a slug; the larvae of the Nymphalidae are armed
with spines or bristly ha:rs ; and those of the Hesperidae have large
heads.

The pupa or chrysalides of the Papilionidae, Lycaenidae and Ery-
cinidae, are termed girted, that is, the caterpillars when changing to
the chrysalis state, attach themselves to a wall, bit of stick, or grass
stem, as the case may be, by their tails and with a girdle of silk
round the middle of the body, with the head pointed upwards ; whilst
those of the Satyridae, Danaidae, Apaturidae, and Nymphalinae, are
simply attached by the tail with the head pointed towards the ground.
On the other hand the caterpillars of the Hesperidae when entering the
pupa or chrysalis state, spin a more or less transparent cocoon, thus
resembling the habits of some moths more than any of the other
butterflies, if we except Hipparchia semele, and Doritis apollo.

The caterpillars of butterflies feed exclusively on the leaves and
flowers of plants, and plants of the same natural family are especially
liable to to the attacks of allied species of caterpillars, the affinities of
one confirming those of the other. Thus those of the genus Pieris,

XXXIII

or white butterflies feed on the Cruciferae, those of Colias in the her-
bacesus Leguminosae, of Argynnis on Violets, of Thecla on trees and
shrubs, of Melitaea on plantain and allied plants, of Satyrus and Hes-
peria on various species of grass. Two allied species of Vanessa, ur-
tica and polyrfUoros, feed respectively on the nettle and the elm
belonging two allied genera of plants.

The number of butterflies which have been described from various
parts of the earth is very great, equalling that of the birds, both being
over 7,700, but by far the greater number of butterflies come from the
East Indies, and tropical America. A single genus, Papilio, contains
over 500 species, but only 4 of these occur in Europe.

Some of these insects have afforded materials to several entomolo-
gists for the production of elaborate memoirs upon their anatomy.
Swammerdam especially, (in his History of Insects), investigates that
of the Large Cabbage-white and the Small Tortoise-shell. Herrald
has also studied the former species, tracing the variations which its
internal organs undergo during the process of transformation.

That weather has an immense influence upon insect life cannot be
denied, especially with regard to butterflies. Thus we find plenty of
them sporting about in all directions in fine hot weather, and enjoy-
ing the beneficial warmth of the genial sunshine. On the other hand
in cold wet summers we come across very few. There are of course
notable exceptions, for instance the remarkable swarms of Vanessa
card-id during the wet, sunless, and ungenial season of 1879. Another
species which was also abundant that year was Hipparchia ageria
This insect is remarkably fond of shade and moisture, the wet climate
of Dunegan in the Isle of Skye seeming to be well adapted to its re-
quirements. On the other hand a wet year is not necessary for an
abundance of Cardui, as it was excessively common in 1826 and 1884
years which had very fine summers and autumns.

The wettest years of the present century are : — 1815, 1836, 1848,
1852, 1860, 1872, 1879, and 1888. The wettest seven consecutive
years are those from 1879 to 1881, years bad alike to the farmer and
to the entomologist. No others are known. There are however twro
instances of five consecutive wet years — 1772 to 1776 and 1827 to 1831.
1772 to 1776 had a mean excess of 17 per cent, 1827 to 1831 of 9 per
cent, 1875 to 1881 of i3|-per cent. The dryest years of the present
century are : — 1800, 1808, 1826, 1834, 1844, l854, 1855, 1858, 1864,
1868, 1870, 1874, 1884, and l887'

XXXIV

In 1800 no rain fell for 74 days till the igth of August, when a
glorious rain came down. This record was however beaten by one of
a much earlier date, that of the year 1102, which was so hot and dry
that forests, and fields of standing corn took fire. The year 1826 is re-
corded as being the hottest year for 63 years, and that, as in 1768, the
hot summer was followed by an unusually mild and open winter and
spring. 1858 also was a year of extreme heat, every month with the
exception of October and November being above the average. On
7 days the thermometer stood above 90° December was also a re-
markable month, being one of the warmest, wettest, and most stormy
on record, with thunder storms almost daily. 1870 was another fine
year, but not so hot as 1868. 1887 had a remarkably fine summer,
lasting from the early part of June to the 27th of August. The re-
mainder of the year was however very wet, as were also the months
of April and May.

A remarkable contrast is afforded by the two successive years 1887
and 1888. In the two months of June and July, 1888, there were 507
hours of brilliant sunshine, whilst in June and July, 1888, there were
only 227 hours of sunshine at all. The year 1888 is more remarkable
for containing the two coldest days on record in July, the I3th and i4th.
The mean temperature on the former day was as low as 46*2" and on
the latter 48- 1", whilst the lowest records in July of any previous years
are 47*7" in July 2oth, 1836, and 48- in July 8th, 1856. The lowest
temperature reached on i3th July, 1888 was 42*8", and the highest
55*7". This unseasonable coldness was due to the frequent and heavy
rainfall, and the fact that heavy falls of snow took place in the moun-
tainous regions of Great Britain, and even in some central parts of
England. (In 1885 snow fell on i6th May). It will not be difficult
to find two days in the month of January of higher temperature than
these two in July, 1888.

The most severe winters of the present century are those of 1795-96,
1813-14, 1829-30, 1837-38, 1854-55, 1860-61, 1870-71, and 1880-81.
In the winter of 1813-14, the Thames was frozen over so hard that a
fire was lighted upon it and an ox roasted. It was frozen over also in
the winter of 1795-96, 1829-30, and 1880-81, The coldest March is
probably that of 1888. Cold springs with North-easterly winds, and
frosts in May, appear to have a more injurious effect upon insect life
than severe winters. Such for instance as that of 1861 when the oaks
which came put early, had all their leaves blackened and cut off by the

XXXV

frosts. Winds and gales have also an injurious effect upon insect life,
such as the heavy gale of April 29, 1882 which was the strongest since
1830. In that storm the wind was greatly impregnated with salt,
which irretrievably injured vegetation of all kinds, and even at
Chichester, 9 miles from the sea all the windows of the houses were
covered with salt spray. The year 1867 had a very cold and frosty
May ; there was a very short period between the latest spring, and
the earliest autumn frost ; the latest spring frost being on zgth May
and the earliest frost in autumn being on the 3ist August. It is
difficult to say what influences the abundance of particular species in
certain years, but it appears evident that fine sunny summers are
most productive of butterfly life, such as those of 1870 and 1887 for
the Blues, and a hot one as 1868 for Colias hyale ; 1877, the great year
for Colias edusa had a remarkably fine September. A long continuance
of easterly winds in the late summer and autumn of 1872 seems to
bring to our shores such rarities of ordinary years, as Antiopa,
Lathonia, and Daplidice. On the other hand, weather apparently has
very little effect on Cardui or Janira. However it is very evident that
the same season that is favourable for Antiopa, is likewise so for
Lathonia and Daplidice, whilst Cardui is generally accompanied by
Phisia gamma, and Edusa by Scopula fernigalis.

Another subject worth considering is the disappearance, or increas-
ing scarcity of certain species. Sometimes we have a cold summer
with rarely a glimpse of sun, and frequent chilly rains (preceded or
followed by a severe winter). In such a seasonjmtterflies are seldom
seen on the wing, and their chances of pairing and depositing their
eggs are few. Diurnal species become torpid on a dull day and a
continuance of dull days is fatal to them, and were it not for a wonder-
ful amount of recuperative power, and a few favourable seasons
coming together, we should have still fewer butterflies than we have
at the present time. But cold weather at the time that the perfect
insects should appear is not the only thing they suffer from. Open
winters, and mild weather in February and March, tempt hybernat-
ing caterpillars from their winter retreat, and after they have begun to
feed again, they are much less able to resist the frosts we sometimes
get afterwards in the months of April and May, such as we had in
1867, and 1885, in which latter year, snow fell on the i6th of May.
The salt storms also of April 29th, 1882 had a most disastrous effect
on the insect life of that year, many of the spring caterpillars being

XXXVI

starved to death for want of food. It has often been stated that
mild open winters, cold ungenial springs, and rainy and sunless
summers are the chief causes of the diminution of the numbers of our
butterflies. Facts tend to prove that it is due rather to a conjunction
of unusually severe winters, and wet sunless summers. The last
specimens of Machaon, Crattegi and C -album taken at Glanvilles
Wootton were in the year 1815 and 1816. Let us consider that
period. The winter of 1813-14 was so severe that an ox was roasted
on the Thames, and the author of the "Journal of a Naturalist" in-
forms us that the summers of 1815, 1816, and 1817 were unceasingly
cold and rainy. C-albwn used also to occur abundantly near Hert-
ford previous to 1813, and at Epping about 1817 or 1818. Machaon
also used to occur in Hampshire, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire,
Glamorganshire and Yorkshire previous to 1819. Another species,
Polyommatus aeis became very scarce at that period, but it got com-
mon again in 1819 and particularly so in 1825 and also in 1835. Then
1836 had a very wet and ungenial summer in which only one specimen
was seen at Glanvilles Wootton, this was followed by a severe winter ;
after which the records in my father's journal are, a few in 1837, none
in 1838, scarce in 1839 and 1840, and a pair in 1841 (being the last
ever seen alive in Dorsetshire), which was another very wet year.
Another species not observed at Glanvilles Wootton after that year
is Thecla betulce. Now we arrive at another disastrous period, that of
the seven consecutive wet years 1875-1881, including the excessively
wet summer of 1879, and the severe winter of 1 880-81. Since those
years no specimen of Acts has been seen in Britain, nor any of Avion
except a few in 1884. C-album also almost disappeared, but in-
creased again in the Welsh and neighbouring counties of England in
1886. Cratagi disappeared at that period, the only specimens taken
since, being a few in Kent during the fine summer of 1887.

The other two bad epochs, 1827-31, and 1860-63, appear to have
done nothing beyond thinning the ranks of various species. For in-
stance my father did not see one single specimen of Gonepteryx rhainni
during the whole year of 1861, and it was also scarce for two or three
years afterwards, as was also Phlaas.

Other records of the scarcity of particular species are those of Napi
in 1868, a fine hot summer ; of Atalanla in 1845 ; of Janira in 1867 ;
and of Megara in 1860-63, during which tne species disappeared en-
tirely from large districts in the North of England and Scotland, in

XXXVII

some of which it has never re-appeared. Years frequently occur in
which Edtisa, Hyale, Cardui, Antiopa, Lathonia, and Daplidicc, are
all, or many of them entirely absent.

The most favourable years for the production of insect life have
been 1794, 1798-1800, 1808-12, 1818-26, 1830-35, 1842-44, 1855-59,
1868-72, and 1887. Of these 1794, 1826, 1842, and 1870 were par-
ticularly good years ; indeed 1826 goes by the name of the " Annus
Mirabilis " of British Entomologists.

Before departing from this subject it must however be borne in
mind that atmospheric changes are not the sole cause of the scarcity
or disappearance of butterflies. The drainage of Whittlesea Mere, in
1851, caused the loss of Chrysophanxs dispar. An increase too of their
parasitic enemies among the Hymenoptera, and of the Dipterous family
Tabinidcz do much towards reducing their numbers. In 1853 and 1854
there was a plague of the caterpillars of Brassicce in Sussex. During
the latter season owing to the attentions of Apanteles glomeratus, the
number of fly-blown caterpillars was incredible, so much so that there
was almost a total cessation of the plague in 1855. An increase also
in the number of small birds does much towards reducing the number
of caterpillars, which form to a great extent their natural food. In
fact they may have had more to do with the disappearance of Cratagi,
than bad seasons.

It has been mooted that melanism is produced by atmospheric
conditions. Be this as it may, it is certain that more rain falls in the
North of England, where melanism is most frequent, than in the South.
On the average there are 350 days on which rain falls in the North and
West of England, against 150 days in the South and East. The Stye
Head in Cumberland is reckoned to be the wettest place in England,
and Cambridge to be the dryest. Let us take for instance the rainfall
of one year, that of 1881. At the Stye Head it amounted 172-56 in.
at Cambridge to 18-41 in. A quantity of rain also falls in the New
Forest, and in Ireland. On the other hand, brilliant and light colours
hold the sway in the sunny South, and especially on the South Downs,
the chalk soil of which absorbs a considerable amount of heat favourable
to the development of such species as Galathea, Cory don, and Adonis.
Lord Walsingham in an address to the readers of the Yorkshire
Naturalists' Union in 1885, argues that northern and mountain species
of Lepidoptera are dark, because dark colours absorb heat. Is such
the case ? I say no ! The dry chalk soils of the south absorb a greater

XXXVIII

amount of heat than the wet peaty soils of the north, and to that, in
in conjunction with the fact that there is more rain, and consequently
less sunshine in the north, is melanism entirely due. Why even in the
South of England darker varieties occur on cold wet lands than on
light dry soils, which absorb a greater amount of heat from the rays of
the sun. Extreme heat has also a tendency to produce white varieties
of the Blues, thus we find a white variety of Cory don in Andalusia
named Albicans. But it may well be asked what effect has heat on the
Whites ? The tendency is to produce yellow7 varieties, such as the
variety Nov-angli* of Pieris rapes.

Pieris nnpi affords another instance of the eftect of strong sun-
light. The spring brood which occurs in May is much darker and
more strongly marked than the summer brood which occurs in the
month of July, when the days are longer and the sun more powerful.
On the Alps a very dark variety of the female named Bryonia occurs.
Besides the fact that the brightest colours which exist in nature are
those which we see in insects and birds that are most exposed to the
direct rays of the sun ; the brightest parts of these birds and insects
are those which catch these rays in a greater degree than others .
hence the upper sides of butterflies are more highly coloured than the
under, a notable instance is found in Vanessa io.

The question of nomenclature is a very difficult one to decide.
The British Association adopted certain rules for Zoological nomencla-
ture. The most important of these rules was that the i2th Edition of
the Sy sterna Nature of Linnaeus should be taken as the starting point.
Surely the last and carefully revised edition of so great a work is a
safer starting point than an earlier, and admittedly imperfect edition.
Mr. Kirby in the supplement to his great Catalogue of Butterflies
goes back to the loth Edition. But if we go back at all, why not
go still further? Why not go back to the Fauna Suevica published in
1746. Surely if he goes back from 1767 to 1758, he may as wrell go to
1746. Then we shall have to adopt Ammiralis for Atalanta, and
Principissa for Lathonia, except indeed we go still further back to 1717
and call the latter Cantabridgensi, Petiver. And surely the descriptions
given by Petiver and by Linnaeus in his Fauna Suevica, are equal in
point of merit, if not superior to those of Huffnagle. When Guenee
and Doubleday prepared their lists they examined all the authorities
for themselves, and rejected for various reasons the works of authors
whose figures or descriptions were unsatisfactory. Now-a-days an

XXXIX

Entomologist finds in an old library, an unknown or rejected work, by
an obscure writer, with imperfect descriptions. He hastens to make
his discovery known to the entomological world, thinking to benefit
science by bringing forward prior names to those in general use. But
it is injurious to the cause of science to alter a name that is thoroughly
established and in general use, and adopted by all the great authors
of former days. The question is, as I have said above, a very difficult
one, and I have probably erred myself on the subject, but let all those
desirous to propose changes of well known names look carefully
through the earliest editions of all the old authors, and not fall into
such mistakes as Staudinger made in proposing the name of Sinon for
Podalirius, and Kirby in proposing Croceus for Edusa. Fabricius
bestowed the name of Edusa upon the clouded yellow in 1776, but
Kirby, on the supposition that he did not do so till 1787, gave pre-
ference to that of Croceus, given by a writer called Fourcroy in an old
forgotten work on the Entomology of Paris, published in 1785.

The origin of our British Lepidoptera is a subject of great
interest ; and in an article on the subject on the " Entomologist's
Monthly Magazine," Vol. VIII. p. 45, Dr. Jordan writes: "The
British Isles were, without doubt peopled with insects by migration
from the continent, and the junction of England to the continent was
probably on the eastern side, where the North Sea now rolls ; and if
the inter drainage of Europe were upon anything like its present
plan, the British Channel must have been a vast estuary, leading to
the mouth of the Rhine. Whilst England was then part of the con-
tinent, there must have been a -constant, steady migration from the
German side, of all the insects fitted to live in our island."

This is a very ingenious theory I admit, but can it be completely
borne out by facts. And again, why should there not have been
insects and plants in the British Isles at quite as ancient a date as in
Germany, Italy, or even Asia ?' I am quite willing to admit that
some have migrated and that others have been introduced through
the agency of man ; but that all have done so I cannot. If we take
Erebia epiphron as an illustration, it is evident that it could not have
reached our mountains from the Alps, or the Pyrenees. It is not
found in the Scandinavian peninsula, so we cannot suppose it to have
come from thence. It is a purely mountain species, and not simply
an inhabitant of colder regions ; so that a glacial epoch alone would
not be sufficient to explain its being amongst us, without there was a

chain of mountains connecting ours with the Alps and Pyrenees. It
is also curious why Vanessa lavana should be absent from our isles.
Its caterpillars live gregariously on nettles, and it has a second brood
which was described as a distinct species under the name of Prorsa.
It is a species which can well adapt itself to any climate. There are
also many insects common to England and America, but none that
are peculiar to the two. However amongst plants there are two,
Eriocaulon septangular*, which is found in the Island of Skye and the
West of England, and Spimnthes romanzoviana which grows in the
county of Cork, both of which occur in North America also and not
elsewhere. 1 know it has been suggested these have been accidentally
introduced, perhaps through the agency of birds. But why should
such be the case ? If we turn to the butterfly world again, we find
that one species — Colias chrysotheme — occurs only in a very limited
district of Central and South Eastern Europe, but in North America
it occurs over a very wide range. Another instance of local distri-
bution may be seen in a moth, Acidalia degenerarin, which occurs in
the islands of Portland and Corfu. Another moth, Bankia argentuln
occurs in the East of England and the West of Ireland but not in
the intervening districts. Which is most likely, that insects and
plants migrated from Europe to America, or from America to Europe ;
from Germany to Britain, or from Britain to Germany ? I think-
neither, but that the same natural causes which produced certain
species in Germany, produced the same in Britain ; and that the same
natural causes which produced Erehia epiphron on the Alps, also
produced it on the Pyrenees, and on the British mountains; and that
their occurrence at these places is not the result of migration. Mr.
Bates in " The Naturalist on the River Amazon " tells us he has dis-
covered intermediate forms to exist between the Heliconia melpomenc
of Linnaeus, and the H. thelxiope of Hubner, and consequently, that
we have here in the existence of a complete series of connecting links,
an actual example in recent times of transmutation of species. If a
tendency to variation were a circumstance of very rare occurrence
among the Lepidoptera, the discovery would certainly be very valu-
able as well as interesting, but we have also cases of climatal changes
in our English Lepidoptera. Take for instance Lycccna medon. In
specimens from the South of England the spot on the upper wings is
black, when it is the Agestis of Huber ; in Scotch specimens it is
white, and it is then Artaxerxes oi. Fabricius ; whilst in the county of

XLI

Durham intermediate forms, the Salmacis of Stephens are found. In
the case of Chortobius davits, the depth of colour varies considerably,
according as the specimen was from the mountainous districts of the
North of England, or the low marshy grounds near Manchester.
Melitaa artemis too, has its Irish and Scotch forms, in Hibernica of
Birchall, and Scotica of Buchanan White. Now can such cases be
taken as a transmutation of species, or is there any such thing in nature
as transmutation of species ? It is quite certain that climate, soil, and
food plant do produce varietal changes, and that hybrids can be pro-
duced such as the dog ; but I think it is equally certain that if it
were so, that such allied species as the rook and the crow would not
exist amongst birds, nor brassica and rapes amongst butterflies.
Neither would there be such allied species amongst moths as Peronea
cristana, with its thirty-five named varieties, and Peronea hastiana
with its twenty-one. Although both these species are closely allied,
and both vary very greatly, yet they have never been known to run,
the one into the other, or the one to produce the other.

In bringing this introduction to an end, I must remind my readers
that I do not lay much claim to originality, for I have borrowed most
largely from Buckler's Larvae, published by the Ray Society, from
the Young Naturalist, Newman's Butterflies, Stainton's Manual, and
from other authors acknowledged in the body of the work. There is
much more that might have been said on the earlier stages of butter-
flies, but as it may be read up in any work on British Butterflies, I
have no wish to enlarge the introduction to undue proportions, and
must conclude by thanking the Editor of the Young Naturalist for
his kindness and courtesy in allowing the History of our British
Butterflies to take up so large a portion of his magazine, and for
allowing it to be spread over so long a period.

C. W. DALE.
Glanvillfs Woolton, Dorset,
20th December, 1889.

ENGLISH INDEX.

Admiral, Red ... 148

Admiral, White ... 128

Argus, Brown ... 73

Argus, Durham ... 74

Argus, Scotch ... 74

Blue, Azure ... 54

Blue, Bloxworth ... 53

Blue, Chalk-hill ... 63

Blue, Clifden ... 66

Blue, Common ... 70

Blue, Dartford ... 69

Blue, Large ... 59

Blue, Longtailed ... 57

Blue, Mazarine ... 56

Blue, Silver Studded ... 79

Blue, Small ... 58

Brimstone ... 24

Brown, Hedge ... 96

Brown, Meadow ... 93

Camberwell Beauty ... 157

Comma ... 169

Copper, Large 45

Copper, Purple-edged ... 48

Copper, Small ... 49

Duke of Burgundy ... 81

Emperor, Purple ... 119

Fritillary, Dark Green ... 177

Fritillary, Glanville ... 193

Fritillary, Greasy ... 202

Fritillary, Heath ... 199

Fritillary, High Brown ... 179

Fritillary, Marsh ... 202
Fritillary, Pearl bordered

Dark 190

Fritillary, Pearl bordered

Light 1 88

Fritillary, Queen of England 177

Fritillary, Queen of Spain 182

Fritillary, Silverspotted ... 1 77

Fritillary, Silver striped 175

Fritillary, Silver washed 175

Fritillary, Weaver ... 192

Grayling ... 90

Hairstreak, Black ... 41

Hairstreak, Brown ... 38

Hairstreak, Dark ... 42

Hairstreak, Green ... 44

Hairstreak, Purple ... 40

Heath, Large ... 96

Heath, Small ... 105

Orange-tip ... 21

Painted Lady ... 137

Peacock ... 1 54

Ringlet, Manchester ... 102

Ringlet, Mountain ... no

Ringlet, Scotch ... 107

Ringlet, Wood, ... 98

Skipper, Brown ... 226

Skipper, Chequered

208

Skipper, Dingy

226

Skipper, Grizzled

222

Skipper, Large

213

Skipper, Lul worth

2I7

Skipper, Silver spotted . . .

211

Skipper, Spotted

222

Skipper, Small

215

Swallow-tail

Swallow-tail, Scarce

Tortoise shell, Large ...

165

Tortoise shell, Small

162 '

Wall

White, Bath
White, Black-veined
White, Green-veined
White, Large Garden
White, Marbled
White, Small Garden
Wrhite, Wood
Wood Speckled
Yellow, Clouded
Yellow, Pale Clouded

LATIN INDEX.

Acis, Polyommatus 56

Actaeon, Hesperia ... 217

Adippe, Argynnis ... 179

Adonis, Polyommatus ... 54

"^yEgon, Polyommatus ... 79

- Agestis, Polyommatus ... 74

*-»Aglaia, Argynnis ... 177

Alexis, —Agestis, Polyommatus 73

Alexis,— Icarus, Polyommatus 70

^•Alsus, Polyommatus ... 582

Alveolus, Syricthus ... 229

Antiopa, Vanessa ... 157

Apollo, Doritis ... 117

Argiades, Polyommatus . 53

v- Argiolus, Polyommatus ... 54

Argus— ^Egon, Polyommatus 79

Arion, Polyommatus ... 59

Artaxerxes, Polyommatus 74

Artemis, Melitaea ... 202

Atalanta, Vanessa ... 198

Athalia, Melitaea ... 199

Aurinia=Artemis, Melitaea 202

"•Betulse, Thecla ... 38

Blandina— Medea, Erebia 107

18
ii

84
15
23
87

27
33

Boetica, Polyommatus ... 51

Brassicae, Pieris ... 11

C-album, Vanessa ... 169

Cardamines, Anthocaris 21

Cardui, Vanessa ... 137

Cassiope— Epiphron, Erebia no

Charlotta, Argynnis ... 177

Cinxia, Melitaea ... 193

Cleodoxa, Argynnis 179

Chryseis, Chrysophanus 48

Comma, Hesperia ... 211

Corydon, Polyommatus 63

Crataegi, Aporia 7

Daplidice, Pieris 19
Davus=Typhon,

Coenonympha 101

Dispar, Chrysophanus ... 45

Edusa, Colias 27

Epiphron, Erebia ... no

Euphrosyne, Argynnis ... 188

Fritillum, Syricthus ... 222

Galathea, Melanargia ... 84

Helice, Colias 28

Hippothooc, Chrysophanus 48

Hyale, Colias 38

Hyperanthus, Hipparchia 98 j

Icarus, Polyommatus ... 70

Idas=Medon, Polyommatus 73

lo, Vanessa ... 150

Iris, Apatura ... 119

Janira, Hipparchia ... 93

Lathonia, Argynnis ... 182

Linea— Thaumas, Hesperia 215

Lucina, Nemeobius ... 81

Machaon, Papilio ... 2

Malva, Syricthus ... 222

Medea, Erebia ... 170

Medon, Polyommatus ... 73 i

Megaera, Hipparchia ... 88
Melampus=Epiphron, Erebia 1 10
Minima —Alsus, Polyommatus 58

Napi, Pieris ... 18

Niobe, Argynnis ... 181
Palaemon = Paniscus,

Cyclopides 208

Pamphilus, Coenonympha 105

Paniscus, Cyclopides ... 208

Paphia, Argynnis ... 175

Phlaeas, Chrysophanus ... 49

Philoxenus Coenonymplia 102

Plexippus, Danaus ... 115

Podalirius, Papilio ... 6

Polychloros, Vanessa ... 165

Pruni, Thecla ... 42

Quercus, Thecla ... 40

Rapa?, Pieris ... 15

Rhamni, Gonepteryx ... 24

Rothliebii, Coenonympha 102

Rubi, Thecla ... 44

Salmacis, Polyommatus 74

Selene, Argynnis ... 190

Semele, Hipparchia ... 90

Sibylla, Limenitis ... 128

Sinapis, Leucophasia ... 23

Sylvanus, Hesperia ... 213

Tages, Nisoniades 226

Thaumas — Linea, Hesperia 215

Tithonus, Hipparchia ... 96
Typhon — Davus,

Coanonympha 101

Urticae, Vanessa ... 162

Valezina, Argynnis ... 175

W -album, Thecla ... 41

•ftmrtlepool :—

B. T. ORD, PRINTER AND STATIONER, HIGH STREET.

THE HISTOEY

OF OUR

BRITISH BUTTERFLIES

Family PAPILIONID^E.

Who loves not the gay Butterfly, which flits

Before him in the ardent noon, array'd

In crimson, azure, emerald, and gold;

With more magnificence upon his wing —

The little wing — than ever grac'd the robe

Gorgeous of royalty ; is like the kine

That wander mid the flowers which gem the meadows,

Unconscious of their beauty.

CARRINGTON, Dartmoor.

This family belongs to the first division of the butterflies, which is called
SUCCINTA., because the chrysalides are supported by a silken belt or girdle
round the middle of their bodies. See Introduction, page xxxi.

The Papilionidae are pretty widely distributed over the earth, but are
especially abundant in the tropics, where they attain their maximum of size
and beauty, and the greatest variety of form and colouring. South America,
India, and the Malay Islands are the regions where these fine insects occur
in the greatest profusion, and where they actually form a not unimportant
feature in the scenery. In the Malay Islands in particular, the giant Orni-
thopterse may be frequently seen, their large size, stately flight, and gorgeous
colouring rendering them even more conspicuous than the generality of birds.
One species, Priamus, measures no less than eight inches across the wings.
The typical genus, Pajjilio, occurs in every country between the arctic and
antartic circles, inclusive of the various islands of the Pacific Ocean. Some
of the species are very local, such as Hospiton, which only occurs in the

islands of Corsica and Sardinia. The genus Parnassius inhabits the
mountains of Europe, Asia, and America. Thais and Loritis belong to
what may be termed the Mediterranean fauna, whilst one genus is purely
Australian, and three Asiatic.

GENUS L— PAPILIO.

Auctorum.

PAPILO — The Latin word for Butterfly.

Linnaeus included the whole of the butterflies under the generic name
Papilio, but he only knew 260 species, whereas 7695 are included in Kirby's
Catalogue of 1871. The name is now restricted to the Swallow-tails, which
having a larger number of species than any other — over 500 species, although
only four occur in Europe — and many of them being amongst the largest and
most beautiful of the butterflies, still give the name a deserved precedence.

The characters of the genus may be described thus : antennae rather long,
moderately thick; fore-wings long, with arched costa; hind-wings with the
margin toothed, and a prolonged tail.

PAPILIO MACHAON.

The Swallow-tailed Butterfly.

MACHAON, Linn., Macha'on. The hero of this name is mentioned by
Homer, 11., ii. 731. — The two sons of ./Esculapius, skilled in leechcraft,
Podalirius and Machaon.

There is no possibility of mistaking this noble insect for any other of our
native species, after a glance at its portrait. It superior size, conjoined with
the possession of a pair of long tails on the hind-wings, would at once mark
it distinctly, independently of the peculiar markings and colour.

In the colouring of the wings, which expand from three to four inches, a
broad simplicity prevails, the general ground tint being a clear creamy yellow,
with the veins and marginal bands of the deepest velvety black. The broad
bands of black on the front wings are powdered towards the centre with
yellow scales, and those on the hind wings with blue scales. The only other
colour on this side is a large eye-like spot of red, blue, and black, at the
anal angle of .the hind wings. The underside is very similar in colouring to
the upper, but the black markings are less decided and sharp, and there are
several red spots on the hind wings.

Yery few varieties have been found in England. There is one in the
British Museum, with the ground colour drab, instead of creamy yellow, and

others similar are in a few private collections. There is also a variety with

the veins of the hind wings obscured by the ground colour.

eye-spot at the anal angle, sometimes shows more or less between the veins

on the hind-margin. A variety named Sphyrns, which occurs in the , South

of Italy and in Algiers, has more black on the fore wings, and

the hind wings than the type.

'Hie e»" which is laid in June or July, is globular, of good size, and witl
an apparently smooth surface. When first laid it is of a greenish yellow
colour, quickly turning green, and soon after tinged with violet-brown, grad-
ually deepening to purple, and iaintly showing the embryo through the shell,
which in a day or two turns entirely purplish-black, a process of change simi-
lar to that shown by a ripening black currant. The shell next assumes
light pearly transparency, and the dark embryonic caterpillar coiled roi
within is plainly visible, and in a few hours hatched (Buckler).

The caterpillar, which is a very handsome creature, is found feeding
umbelliferous plants, among which its chief favourites in this country, appear
to be the wild carrot (Daucui carota], the March milk parsley (Pencedanum
palnstre], and the wood angelica (Angelica sylvestris). In colour it is bright
green with black velvet rings, which are spotted with yellow. When young
it is much darker. A distinguishing mark of this caterpillar is a reddish
coloured forked appendage just behind its head, which, when the creature i
alarmed, gives out a strongly scented fluid. Bonnet says : " When I pressed
this caterpillar near its anterior part, it darted forth its horn as if it meant 1
prick me with it, directing it towards my finger, but it withdrew it as soon
as I left off pressing it. This horn smelted strongly of fennel, and probably
is employed bv the insect, by means of its powerful scent, to drive away the
flies and ichneumons that attack it. This remarkable V shaped scent organ
is situated at the anterior margin at the back of the second segment, close
to the head, from which, at first view, it seems to proceed. At the
it is simple, but divided towards the middle, like the letter Y, into two forks
of a fleohy substance, which it can lengthen, as a snail does its horns, l<
five times their ordinary extent, or retract them within the stalk so as wholly
to conceal them. Sometimes it protrudes one fork, keeping the other re-
tracted; and often withdraws the whole apparatus for hours together undei
the skin, and its place is only marked by two tawny coloured dots, sc
ordinary spectator would not suspect the existence of such an instrument.

The chrysalis again is very pretty, especially when of its ordinary colour,
which is a lively green, shaded in some parts into bright yellow, but there is
a frequent variety marked only with various shades of brown and butt,
shape it is angular, with the head slightly bifid.

The first brood of the butterfly appears on the wing the middle of May,
according to Lewin. The female lays her eggs in ten or twelve days after,
and in a week's time the young caterpillars come forth. In six or seven days
they cast their first skin ; about the end of June they change their skin for
the fifth and last time ; and in six or seven days after this they arrive at full
growth. They then prepare for their approaching metamorphosis by fixing
themselves with a strong belt of silk round the middle of their body, and by
the tail. In a day's time the chrysalis is complete, and this superb butterfly
comes forth in July following. The caterpillars from the eggs of this brood
are bred about the first week in August. After the usual shifting of their
skins they become full fed at the end of September, and change to a chrysalis
in a short time. In this state they remain through the winter, and the
butterflies are produced the following May.

The chrysalides are most interesting objects to keep during the winter
months. As the spring advances, the colours of the butterfly begin to appear
faintly through their green envelope, and the pattern of the upper wings,
which only are visible, becomes at last distinctly perceptible, of course, in
miniature. This exit most frequently takes place in early morning, and his
wings being tiny things, hang limply from the comparatively ponderous body.
Their rapid growth is a matter of marvel, for in about an hour's time they
reach their full expanse, and ere many hours are over, they carry him with
most enviable celerity through the air.

Abroad, Machaon has a wide range, being found in the North and West
of Asia, and the Himalayian mountains ; in North Africa ; and in Western
North America. In Europe it is found everywhere, except in the extreme
North of the Continent.

In England it seems to have been formerly widely and plentifully dis-
tributed, but has never been recorded as an inhabitant of Ireland, Scotland,
or the Isle of Man.

This butterfly was figured and described in the first entomological publica-
tion extant in Britain, an extensive one in folio, written in the Latin language,
and published at London in the year of our Lord 1634, by Thomas Mouffet,
entitled "Insectorum sine minimorum Animalium Theatrum."

The next account of it we have is by John Bay, who, in his " Historia
Insectorum," published in 1710, mentions that he met with it in Sussex and
Essex, and also that he found the caterpillar in Sussex on Pimpinella saxifraga.

In 1717, Petifer gives it as being caught about London and divers counties
in England, yet rarely. He calls it the " Royal William," and adds " Its
size, beauty, and tail differs it from all others/'

Benjamin Wilkes writes, " The first brood appears in May, the second

towards the end of July. Being in a meadow near Cookham, in Kent, on
the 5th day of August, 1748, I observed a female Swallow-tail hovering over
certain plants, which I found to be the meadow saxifrage, and examining
them carefully, I discovered four eggs just laid by the fly, wherewith I was
highly pleased. On the 1 3th of the same month these eggs produced cater-
pillars. On the 22nd of September, the caterpillars were full-grown, and
fixed themselves in order to change into the chrysalis, which was produced
on the 26th of September, it which state it still remains (Jan. 20th, 1749).
I fed the caterpillar from its being first hatched, with the green leaves of the
common carrot, which it eats plentifully. This fine butterfly may be taken
in the meadows and clover fields, about Cookham, near Westrain, in Kent,
at the times above mentioned. It flies so swiftly that it is vain to follow it,
you must, therefore, wait till it settles, and then if you be near, be nimble,
and you may catch it without much difficulty."

" In 1776, Moses Harris writes of it : " By some Aurelians it is called the
" Royal William," probably as a compliment to His Eoyal Highness, William
Duke of Cumberland, who was popular for his defeat of the rebels in 1745,
about the time when this insect appears to have been first particularly noticed.
The caterpillar is large and beautiful, smooth and pale -green on the back,
being striped with black transverse lines, in the same manner as the stripes
of the zebra, on which lines are spots of fine crimson. It feeds principally
on wild fennel/'

In " White's Natural History of Selborne" is a comparative view of the
Calendar of Selborne, kept by the Rev. Gilbert White, at Selborne, in Hamp-
shire, and William Marwick, Esq., at Catsfield, near Battle, in Sussex. In
it we read : " Swallow-tailed butterfly appears August 2nd. — White ; April
20th, June 7th, last seen August 28th — Marwick."

In the end of June, 1798, several larvae were found by the Rev. Dr.
Abbott, at Windlesham, near Bagshot, in Surrey ; from these, in the follow-
ing August, he reared some splendid Swallow-tails.

In his " Lepidoptera Britanica," published in 1803, Haworth writes, "I
know that Mackaon breeds near Beverly, in Yorkshire yet, and my brother-
in-law, R. Scales, of Walworth, near London, possesses a specimen of it
which was taken there about seven years ago.

Between the years 1805 and 1815 several were taken in Dorsetshire; at
Hinton Mutel, by the Rev. D. Storey ; at Charminster, by Mr. Garland;
at Wimborne, Blandford, Hazlebury, and Glanvilles Wootton by my father,
the last being on the 17th of August, 1815. In August, 1808, at Glanvilles
Wootton, he took twelve specimens on three consecutive days. They used
to frequent chalk hills, and smelled very strongly of mint. About the same

time, the Eev. 0. Kingsley, L.L.D., met with it in great plenty in Cowslip
Meadow, near Lymington, and it was also taken at Eedlane, near Bristol, by
the Rev. W. Kay, and in Glamorganshire. The Eev. M. Newman also met
with it at West Camel, and the Eev. B,. Burney, at Kympton, in Somerset-
shire. Mr. W. Shrimshire took it in plenty at Wisbeaeh, in Cambridgeshire,
and his brother, Dr. F. Shrimshire, at Peterborough, in Northamptonshire, and
it was also taken in great plenty by my father, at Whittlesea Mere, in 1814.

Mr. J. F. Stephen's, in his " Illustrations of British Entomology/' pub-
lished in 1828, writes, "Machaon is not an uncommon English insect, es-
pecially in the fenny counties of Huntingdon and Cambridge, in some parts
of which it occurs in the utmost profusion ; it has sometimes been captured
also close to London, in Epping Forest, at Stepney, and near Peckham; and
it was formerly abundant at Westerham, in Kent. Mr. Dale has frequently
taken it at Glanvilles Wootton and in other parts of Dorsetshire. It also
occurs as far North as Beverley, in Yorkshire, and West as Eedlane, near
Bristol, in Somersetshire." In her " Butterfly Collector's Yade Mecum,"
published in 1827, Miss Jerrnyn only gives the following localities for
Machaon'. " Fenny places, Acle and Horning, Norfolk; Cherry-Hinton,
Madingley, Whittlesea, and Grandchester, Cambridgeshire/'

In 1841, three specimens of Machaon were taken by three different col-
lectors at Haverhill, Suffolk.

In 1856, George Austin writes in the " Entomologists' Weekly Intelli-
gencer," : " I have been accustomed to find the larvse of Machaon year after
year in the osier beds, behind Beaufroy's distillery in Battersea fields, but
never once detected it in the winged state."

In 1871, Newman, in his " British Butterflies," writes : " I have repeated-
ly found the caterpillar feeding on rue in a garden, on Tottenham Green ;
this was probably fifty years ago. It can now only be sought for, with any
prospect of success, in the counties of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire,
Norfolk, and perhaps Suffolk."

PAPIL10 PODALIEIUS.

Scarce Swallow-tailed Butterfly.

PODALIEIUS, Linn. Podalirius, brother to Machaon.

The wings are pale yellow, with black transverse bands, the intermediate
ones on the fore wings shorter ; hind wings with a black border marked
with several blue crescents. They have also a long tail, and the eye-like spot
at the anal angle of the hind wings is orange in front, and black, dusted with
blue, behind. They expand from 2| to 3£ inches.

The caterpillar is thick, shaped somewhat like a woodlouse, and contracted

behind. It is green, with yellow lines on the back and sides, and with yellow
transverse lines spotted with red. It feeds on almond, sloe, plum, apple,
pear, and oak.

The chrysalis is shorter than that of Machaon, and stouter in proportion,
more decidedly bifid at the head, and more pointed at the tail. In colour it
is ochreous, with darker streaks.

It is a common butterfly in Southern and Central Europe, North Africa,
and West Asia, as Persia and Altai; and is met with in open places near
woods, especially in hilly districts, in May and July.

It is said to have formerly inhabited England, but is now extinct.
(" Kirby's European Butterflies and Moths.")

Described by Mouffet in 1634.

In 1710, the " Historia Insectorum," by John Eay, was published in
London by Dr. Derham, and in it he writes of Fodalirius, " Prope Liburnum
Portum in Etruia invenimus, atque, ni male memini, etiam in Anglia."

In 1795, Dr. Berkenhout writes, " Eare, in woods."

In 1803, Haworth in his " Lepidoptera Britanuica " writes, "My friend,
the Eev. Dr. Abbott, of Bedford, has informed me that he took in May last,
near Clapham Park \Yood, in Bedfordshire, a specimen of Papilio podalirius is
the winged state. An ingenious and practical friend," probably Mr. Eippon
of York, " has informed me that he took two sorts of Swallow-tailed Papilios
near Beverley, in Yorkshire, five-and-twenty years ago, but no specimens of
them are now extant ; a fire which, unhappily, destroyed great part of his
property, having consumed them likewise."

In 1822, the Rev. F. W. Hope captured one in Shropshire.

In or about the yenr 1826, one was taken on the wing between Sough
and Datchet, Berkshire, by Mr. Eudston Eead, when a school-boy at Eton.

Family PIERIDJE.

GENUS II.— APOEIA.

Hubner.

Aporia, a figure in rhetoric, when the orator doubts what to do or say. —
Cic. Att. 7, 21.

The antenna are rather long and thick ; and the wings, especially in the
female, are semi-transparent.

APOEIA CEAT^EGI.

Black-veined While.

CIIAT^EGI, Linn. Cratse'gi, from the generic name of one of its food-plants
— Cratagus oxyacantha (Hawthorn.)

Of the white butterflies found in England, next to Daplidice, this is the
rarest. It is a delicate, and by no means inelegant insect, though altogether
plain in its appearance, and may readily be distinguished from the other
analogous species, by the extreme blackness of the veinings both of the upper
and lower wings. From being very sparingly coated with scales, the wings
are semi-transparent, differing much in this respect from the Large Cabbage
White, which it equals in size, and might be mistaken for on the wing. It
will be observed, that instead of the feathered fringe that surrounds the wings
of most butterflies, they are bordered in this species by a stout nervure, form-
ing a sharp outline, and giving a peculiarly chaste finish. The underside
differs in no mentionable respect from the upper, which is a very rare cir-
cumstance amongst the bntterflies. The female has a small smoke-coloured
marking at the disc of the fore wings, which are generally of a browner tint
than in the males.

The eggs are, according to Kollar, cylindrical, rather thinner at the ends
than in the middle, longitudinally ribbed, and of a shining yellow colour.
They lie exposed on the leaf, without being covered in any way, sometimes
lying in rows one against another, sometimes in an upright position, to the
number of one hundred and fifty. In a fortnight after being first laid, they
change to a silvery colour, and look more deeply ribbed, and as if covered
with beads at both ends.

The caterpillar feeds on the hawthorn, sloe, and various kinds of fruit trees.
When young it is black, but becomes afterwards thickly covered with whitish
hairs, and on the sides and underneath is of a dark grey colour, with two
longitudinal stripes of red or yellow.

That accurate observer of Nature, accomplished scholar, and highly pleas-
ing poet, the late Rev. Dr. Hurdis, has thus minutely described the birth and
habits of the caterpillar : —

" Hatch'd by the sunbeam from continuous cells,

Around the slender apple-twig combin'd

In circuit orderly, egg glued to egg,

Issue the caterpillar swarm minute.

There left, oviparous, her half-born brood,

Ere summer clos'd, the parent left and died.

There have they still endur'd, and still surviv'd

Sharp winter's tyranny ; the bitter frost

That slew the myrtle, and the lasting leaf

Of the screen'd laurel chang'd, no death to them :

Now busily convened, upon the bud

That crown their genial branch, they feast sublime,

And spread their muslin canopy around,

Pavillion'd richer than the proudest king.

Favorite Village, B. 4, p. 175.

According to Moses Harris, the female lays her eggs on the whitethorn,
about the latter end of June, and the young caterpillars, as soon as hatched
from the eggs, enclose themselves in a slight web, leaving a passage to come
out to feed, which they generally do morning and evening, retiring within their
web in the middle of the day, to avoid the heat of the sun ; in this manner
they feed the remaining part of the warm weather, extending their web as
they increase in size. At the approach of winter, they spin a strong web on
one of the twigs, wherein they remain without eating during the winter, and
come forth again early in the spring, feeding very greedily on the buds and
young tender leaves. In preparing for their transformation, they fasten their
tail to a twig by a strong white web, after which they carry a strong thread
over their back three or four times, near the head ; this is likewise made fast
to the twig on each side. In this position they retain the form of the cater-
pillar twenty-four hours, and the chrysalis appears, which is of a yellow
colour, beautifully streaked and spotted with black. They remain in the
chrysalis state twenty-one days.

This butterfly is unknown as an inhabitant of Ireland, Scotland, or the
Isle of Man, and does not occur in the North of England. It is common
over the whole of the Continent, and of Europe, penetrating even into the
the extreme North, Lapland only excepted. It also occurs in Western Asia,
and Siberia, where Pallas saw it flying in such abundance in the environs of
Winofka, that he took it at first for flakes of snow.

This very local English butterfly is briefly described by Dr. Merrett, in his
Pinax, 1667 ; by Ray, in 1710; and by Petiver, in 1717, who adds, " It is
found in meadows about June."

It was beautifully figured by Elezar Albin, who in the year 1731, pub-
lished at London, his " Insectorium Anglise Naturalis Historia Illustrata,"
and described it as follows : — " The caterpillar a in this plate is black and
orange colour on the back, the belly and holders of a pale green ash colour,
with a small black spot on each joint ; the head and fore-feet of a deep black.
They are commonly found feeding on the Whitethorn at the latter end of
April, on which I fed them till the 12th of May, at which time one of them
tied itself up by the tail, and cross the middle, and changed into a chrysalis
marked b in the copperplate, of a deep yellow marked with black, out of
which, the first of June, came Papilio albus venis nigris, the White Butterfly
with black veins."

Of this work, Mr. Haworth writes, in " Transactions of the Entomological
Society of London," 1812. " We recollect it to be the most elegant one of
its day, and to contain principally, but not exclusively, such lepidopterous
insects as the author, or his friends, had reared from the caterpillar state :

exhibiting them picturesquely feeding on their proper plants, and in all their
phases or mutations ; the whole highly coloured, and accompanied by descrip-
tions in the English language. Yet Albin's is a work but poor in science,
even for its time ; and his insects are sometimes depicted in tints more re-
markable for gaudiness than fidelity ; this, however, may probably be no more
than merely the fashion or error of its era." Albin, however, greatly bene-
fited science by figuring many ichneumons and flies he bred from several of
the lepidoptera.

Lewin in his "Insects of Great Britain " published in 1795, writes, " It
is not very common or easily taken on the wing, as it flies pretty quickly over
meadows and corn-fields." Haworth in 1803, adds, "It is frequently found
in gardens."

Curtis in his " British Entomology " writes, " Fortunately this butterfly is
seldom very abundant in England, and from the care taken of our gardens,
it seems to become annually more scarce."

J. F. Stephens, writes in 1828, "This elegant insect is somewhat periodical
in its appearance, at least near London, In June, 1810, I saw it in plenty
at Coombe Wood, and in the following year I captured several on Muswell
Hill, since which I have not seen any at large. Mr. Haworth informs me
that it used to occur constantly at Chelsea, but he has not seen any of late.
In the New Forest, near Brokenhurst, and near Herne Bay, in Kent, it
abounds, and, I believe regularly." Curtis adds, "It has been taken in
Norfolk, Suffolk, and Monk's Wood, near Cambridge ; and Mr. Dale has
captured it at Enborne, in Berkshire, and at Glanvilles Wootton, in Dorset-
shire." The last specimen at the latter place was taken on June 10th, LSI 5.
In 1858, Cratagi appeared in considerable numbers at Herne Bay, Kent,
and other parts of the Isle of Thanet; also near Cardiff, in South Wales,
where in the middle of April, the caterpillars were found feeding by thousands
upon insulated shrubs of Prnnus spinosa (Common Sloe) ; and several were
taken in the New Forest.

In addition to the localities previously mentioned, Crat&gi has been
recorded as occuring at Moreton, in Devonshire, at the Holm Bush
in Sussex, near Petersfield, and Waltham, in Hampshire, in the Isle of
Wight, at Barnwell Wold, in Northamptonshire, at Malvern, in Worcester-
shire, at Clevedon, in Somersetshire, and at Kimbolton, in Herefordshire.
In 1872, several were taken in the New Forest, in Kent, near Bristol,
and in Herefordshire.

In 1 882, a few specimens were taken near Festiniog, in North Wales.
It has now become a very rare butterfly, and has long been an extinct
species in the counties of Devonshire, Dorsetshire, the Isle of Wight, Suffolk,

Norfolk, Berkshire, and Northamptonshire. Perhaps the cause of it may be
explained thus : — Small birds, particularly the Titmice, devour the cater-
pillars soon after they are hatched, as well as in the following spring, when
they are dispersed upon the shoots. So eager are the birds, that they break
into their nests late in the autumn, to obtain them. — KOLLAR.

GENUS TIL PIERIS.
Schrank.

PIERIS, one of the daughters of Pierus, fabled to have been metamorphosed
into magpies, for challenging the Muses to sing better than themselves. —
Ovid.

Antennae long and slender ; wings white ; fore-wings rather pointed and
tipped with black, in the female always with a black spot near the anal angle ;
chrysalis angulated.

This is one of the largest genera of Butterflies, and its members are dis-
tributed over the whole world. As defined by Kirby, it numbers nearly 200
species, of which eight are recorded as occurring in Europe.

We have four British species, all of which, Napi perhaps excepted,
appear to be colonists, as are probably also the two species of Colias. Two
of them, BrassicfS and Rapa, as likely as not, were introduced into England
amongst the pot herbs of the Romans. The three species — Brassica, Rapes,
and Napi — are very prone to variation, and the late Mr. Stephens elevated
the different broods to the rank of species. The summer broods are much
darker in colour than the spring, and in very hot weather Rapa gets a yellow-
ish tinge ; of late years it has acclimatized itself in Canada. Rapa is the
first butterfly in the year to emerge from the chrysalis state, doing so, but
very rarely, as early as February ; and the caterpillars have been found feed-
as late as Christmas. The two species, Brassier and Rapce, are most fre-
quently found in gardens ; Napi more often in woods and lanes, and Dapli-
dice on the sea coast.

PIERIS BRAS8ICA

Large Cabbage White.

BRASSIC^E, Linn. Bras'sicae, from the generic name of its principal food*
plant, Brassica oleracea (cabbage.)

This is a very common butterfly in this country, occurring as far north as
the island of Hoy, one of the Orkneys ; and its caterpillar causes much dam-
age in gardens, especially in and near towns, in dry seasons, which are
favourable to their production.

It is very common throughout Europe, except the Polar regions, and also
in North and East of Asia, and in Northern Africa.

There is a very brief description of it in Merrett's Pinax, published in
1667, but there is a very lengthy one in Martin Lister's edition of Goedart,
published at London in 1685, giving a full account of its transformations.

The wings, which ordinarily expand from two and a half inches to two
inches and three-quarters, are white, with a black crescent- shaped band at
the tip of the fore-wings, and a black spot on the upper edge of the hind-
wings. The female differs from the male in having a couple of black spots
on each fore-wing, and also a black streak on the inner margin ; the band
across the tip is moreover much wider. The under surface of the hind-wings
is greenish yellow.

Var. b. is distinguished from the typical variety, by the band on the tip of
the wings not being jagged. It is generally rather smaller, but in other
respects is not different.

Var. c. (Chariclea, Steph.) differs from the preceding, in the black band
at the tip of the wings being paler. This variety is generally less than the
typical ones. I have one which only measures one inch and three-quarters
across the wings.

Var. d. is distinguished by having a black blotch at the base of all the
wings. It was taken at Leicester, in 1843, and figured in the " Zoologist."

Yar. e. Is distinguished by all the wings on both sides being of a dusky
black colour. It is a female, and was taken near Perth, in 1868, and re-
corded in the " Entomologist."

The first brood comes forth from the chrysalis in the very last few days of
April, or the beginning of May, and continues on the wing till June is nearly
over. The second emerges towards the end of July, and lasts out till the
middle of September.

The egg is a most graceful and interesting object. It reminds us of some
antique vessel, ribbed and fluted with consummate elegance and regularity.
The colour is dull yellow.

The caterpillar is bluish-green, with black dots and yellow streaks on the
back and sides, and is slightly hairy. It feeds on cabbage and other species
of critcifera in June, and also in September and October. " When about
to change into the chrysalis state, it commonly fixed itself to the under-side
of the coping of a wall, or some similar projection ; but as the ends of the
slender thread which serves for its girth will not adhere firmly to stone or
brick, it covers the space of about an inch long, and half-an-inch wide, with
a web of silk, to the base of which its girth can be securely fastened. This
butterfly disposes its eggs side by side, so as to resemble a close column of

soldiers, in consequence of which, on hatching, those caterpillars which pro-
ceed from the upper end, cannot disturb the adjoining eggs. These cater-
pillars scale walls and even glass windows without difficulty ; but in the last
instance, if the square upon which the creature is travelling, be examined
with a microscope, a visible tract like that of a snail may be seen. This con-
sists of little silken threads, which it has spun in a zig-zag direction, forming
a rope ladder, by which it can ascend a surface it could not otherwise adhere
to. These threads being of a gummy nature, harden in the air, and easily
attach themselves to the glass." — Miss Jermyn's " Vade Mecum."

The chrysalis is pale green, dotted with black. Bonnet states " that the
chrysalids exposed to a frost of 14° R. below zero (C. WE.) became lumps of
ice, and yet produced butterflies." There are two or three varieties of colour,
of which the above is the commonest, Another variety is bluish green all
over, with yellow ridges and spiracles, with the black spots much smaller and
fewer in number. Another variety is mottled with the green and white tints.

This species is very subject to the attack of a Hymeriopterous parasite —
Apanteles glomeratus — concerning which is an interesting note in the " Maga-
zine of Natural History," Yol. 3. :— " On the 28th of June, I put twenty
caterpillars of the large cabbage white butterfly, into a wire cage, they were
mostly full-sized, and continued to feed on cabbage leaves placed in the cage
with them. On the following day, five or six of the largest left the leaves,
and crawled about the sides of the cage during the rest of the day. The
next morning, June 30th, I found them resting on large clusters of minute
cocoons of an ovate form, the largest not exceeding two lines in length, and
about the thickness of a caraway seed. Each one was enveloped with a line
yellow silk, resembling that of the common silkworm. On these clusters the
caterpillars remained the whole day without moving. Fresh leaves were
given to the rest, but in the course of this day they all left off feeding,
crawled about the cage, but underwent no other change. The next day I
found they had ejected the parasitical progeny they had been impregnated
with, and like the preceeding, continued resting on the clusters they had
formed, and the last operation of these devoted caterpillars was to envelope
each cluster in a veil, formed of the most delicate web. Some of them ex-
ecuted the task, but the greater part were too feeble to complete it, and in
the course of three days more, they became motionless, and gradually one
after another fell to the bottom of the cage, exhausted and shrivelled. The
clusters of cocoons varied in their number, some contained upwards of a
hundred, others not more than sixty or seventy. On July 12th, the first-
formed cluster of cocoons evinced a state of maturity, and in the course of
the day, numbers of the perfect insect came forth. Their exclusion was

effected by forcing open a small circular lid at one end of the cocoon. The
insects as they came forth, were active and ready for flight." — T. H. 1829.

In Martin Lister's edition of " Goedart," 1685, is a very lengthy article
on the present species. In it he says — " that he bred several ichneumons
from the caterpillars, and also a species of two-winged carnivorus fly " and
adds — " it seems contrary to the usual course of nature, that from one and
the 'same animal an offspring of a different speciejs should be generated, and
that one and the same creature should procreate in three different way."

The fly is Mxorista vulgaris. Another parasite — Apanteles rubripes has
also been bred from it. Two other insects of the same order — Hemiteles
fulvipes and Mesochorus aciculatus are again parasitical on Apanteles glomera-
tus, thus illustrating the old rhyme —

" Little fleas have lesser fleas

Upon their backs to bite 'em,
And these again have lesser fleas,

And so ad infinitum.''

This and the next species are the only British butterflies that can be
charged with committing any appreciable amount of damage to human food
and property. In the winged state indeed they are perfectly harmless, but not
so the hungry caterpillars. Sometimes they are so abundant as to deserve the
title of a plague of caterpillars. One of these plagues occurred in 1853 and
1854, at Rottingdean, in the County of Sussex, concerning which is an in-
teresting note in the " Zoologist," vol. 13, by the Rev. Arthur Hussey : —
" For the last two years many of the gardens in this village have been infested
with caterpillars to such an extent that the cabbages have been utterly des-
troyed. When the time for changing to the chrysalis state arrived, the sur-
rounding buildings presented a curious appearance, being marked with long
lines of the creatures travelling up the walls in search of a suitable place of
shelter for undergoing their transformation. Among the myriads which
wandered in search of a resting place, very rarely one of them would stop
upon a wall exposed to the south or south-westerly winds. A great number
of them took refuge in a malt-house, from which they could not escape as
butterflies, the result being that for several weeks the malster swept up daily
many hundreds of the dead insects. Probably a very durable green die might
be obtained from the bodies of these cabbage-fed caterpillars, as years of wash-
ing have not effaced the stain of one crushed upon linen."

Besides the Ichneumons previously mentioned, birds do much towards
diminishing the numbers of these devastating caterpillars, and in his "Lepi-
doptera Britannica " Mr. Haworth writes thus, " I once observed a large tit
(Parus majos) take five or six large ones to its nest in a very lew minutes.
In enclosed gardens, seagulls with their wings cut are of infinite service. I

had one eight years, that lived entirely all the time upon the insects, slugs,
and worms which he found in the garden."

In the " Young Naturalist " for 1880, is a notice by the Editor on a
flight of Pieris brassictz at Hartlepool. " It was a fine hot day in June,
with scarcely any wind, when my attention was attracted by an unusual
number of them flying past. The butterflies rapidly increased in numbers,
many hundreds, nay, thousands were in sight. They kept passing in such
enormous numbers that Mr. Darwin's expression " snowing butterflies " is
the most appropriate that can be used. From the direction of their flight,
it was evident they came from the sea, and a fisherman told me, that he
noticed them some miles off the land in immense swarms, some alighting on
the boat, others appearing for a moment to settle on the surface of the ocean,
and then rise from it again, the sea at the time being perfectly smooth. They
seemed, he said, either to come from the open sea, or from the extreme end of
the high Yorkshire land, that bounds our view on the opposite side of the
Bay."

PIERIS RAP.E.

Small Cabbage White.

BAP^J, Linn. Ra'pee, from the name of one of its food-plants — Brassica
rapa (Uape).

This is a more abundant butterfly than the last, especially in the West of
England, and occurs probably all over the British Isles, although it has never
been recorded from the Shetlands, but I have taken it myself in the Isle of
Skye.

It occurs all over Europe except in the Polar regions, in North Africa,
Northern and Western Asia, and Japan.

In North America it has only been lately introduced, but is spreading
rapidly throughout Canada and the United States. The first specimen
appears to have been taken at Quebec in 1858. What is more remarkable
is, that a yellow variety (Novanglia, Scudd) scarcely known in Europe, has
appeared in America, and it will be interesting to see whether it will even-
tually become the dominant American form of the insect.

In the " Lepidoptera of Scotland " by Dr. Buchanan White, we read,
" There seems some reason to doubt whether this species and Brassica are
not introductions in the North, since they are probably never found at any
distance from cultivation, nor the larvae upon any but cultivated plants."

There is a very brief description of it in Merrett's Pinax, 1667 ; but a
longer one in Lister's edition of Goedart, 1685.

The wings, which ordinarily expand from one inch and a half to two inches
and a quarter, are white, with a black or triangular blotch at the tip of the
fore-wings, and a black spot on the upper edge of the hind-wings. The
male has one, the female two black spots on each fore-wing. The blotch at
the tip is larger in the female than in the male. The under surface of the
hind-wings is yellow.

Var. b. is distinguished from the typical variety by the upper surface of the
wings being of a cream colour. There is no difference in the black mark-
ings. It appears in very hot weather, or early in the spring when bred under
glass.

Tar. c. differs from the preceding in the black blotch at the tip of the
wings being paler, and the spots on the fore- wings being very indistinct.

Var. d. (Metra, Steph.) differs from the last variety by the spots on the
fore-wings being entirely obsolete, and the tips are merely shaded by a few
dark points. It generally appears in April.

Var. e. has all the wings above immaculate white, with the base black, and
the apex of the hind- wings very obscurely clouded.

Var./. is distinguished by having a deep black patch at the base of all
the wings. In other respects, like the type. It was bred by myself in 1869.

Var. g. (Novanglice, Scudd) is canary yellow. It is extremely rare in this
country, but not so in America.

There are apparently three broods in the course of the year, the first ap-
pearing in April or even earlier, and stragglers of the last may be observed
till past the middle of October; sometimes their third brood does not appear
when a late or dull season has retarded the developement.

The egg somewhat similar to that of the preceding species, is in shape
like a flask, with longitudinal ribs, coming up neatly and evenly to the apex,
and has delicate reticulation. It is at first of a pale greenish yellow, and
and afterwards becomes more yellow.

The caterpillar, very different to that of the preceding species, is of a
dull-green colour, with a yellow dorsal stripe, and yellow dots on the sides.
It differs also from Brassica, which only feeds on the outer leaves, by eating
into the very heart of the cabbage, and is often cooked. The caterpillar has
been observed late in December.

The chrysalis is either dusky-drab, rosy pink, or dull-green, and has three
narrow greenish -yellow longitudinal stripes.

Rapes, in a similar manner to Brassica, is very subject to the attack of
parasites, and the following have been bred from it — Apanteles glomeratus
and mlecula, Hemeteles fulvipes, Mesochorus aciculatus, Pteromalus puparuw,
and Eyorista vufyaris,

Both the Cabbage Whites, Brassica and Rapa have strong migratory pro-
pensities, and are most abundant in some years, and very scarce in others,
In 1868 particularly, they were very scarce all over Britian, although it was
a fine hot summer.

In 1818, these species abounded so greatly near the Metropolis, as to
attract the notice of the public journalists, and Mr. Stephens had a brood of
Brassica, which were scarcely seven complete days in the chrysalis state, the
thermometer during the period varying from 70° to 80°.

In 1842, a vast flight of white butterflies came over from the Continent
to the Kentish coast ; and Mr. Thorncroft published in the " Entomologist,"
the following interesting observations on the subject. " It was a still hot
day, with hardly a breath of air, and now and then the common Brassica and
Rapte would lazily fly in. The flood tide set in about 3 p.m. with a gentle
breeze, and then came a host of the above named butterflies with a few of
Napi. What surprised my friends and myself was their alighting or settling
on the sea with expanded wings, and the ease with which they rose again.
The shore was covered with a coarse sort of rye-grass, on which they were
resting when we returned home, and in walking through the tall grass, they
rose in myriads." " On Sunday, the 5th of July, 1 846, one of the largest
flights of butterflies ever seen in this country crossed the Channel from
France to England. Such was the density and extent of the cloud formed
by the living mass, that it completely obscured the sun from the people on
board of the Continental steamboats, and the decks were strewed with the
insects in all directions. The flight reached Dover about 12 o'clock, and
dispersed themselves along the shore and inland, darkening the air as they
went. During the sea passage of the butterflies, the weather was calm and
sunny with scarcely a puff of wind stirring ; but an hour or so it came on to
blow great guns from the South- West, the direction from which they came."
— Extracted from the " Canterbury Journal."

Rapce is a very thirsty butterfly, and fond of alighting on the wet mud at
the edges of ponds. In London, it may be observed following the water-
carts, and pitching on the recently sprinkled roads. More than once, in
going by the steamer from Weymouth to Lulworth, in hot and calm summer
weather, I have noticed a swarm of Pieris rapce, two hundred or more in
numbers, leave the land and fly out to sea. Sometimes the swarm would
remain apparently stationary for a while, and the individuals would disport
themselves somewhat after the manner of mayflies, evidently enjoying the
vapour arising from the briny ocean.

18
PIERIS NAPI.

Green-veined White.

NAPI, Linn. Na'pi, from the name of one of its food-plants — Bratsica
napus.

This also is a common butterfly, but it prefers woods and hedge-rows to
gardens, and is less often seen in towns than brassicce and rapce. It is
generally distributed over the British Isles, but is not known to occur "Korth
of Eosshire.

This is a very common species throughout Europe, and also in the North
and West of Asia, and Japan. Par north and also on the Alps, a suffused
variety of the female (Bryonia, Hub.) is met with.

It is very briefly described by Dr. Merrett, in his " Pinax," 1667, and by
Kay, in 1710.

frapi is easily distinguished from rapes, by the distinct greenish veinings,
branching over the disk of the under surface of the wings. On the upper
side, the fore-wings have dusky tips, and in the male there is a round black
spot in the middle, not very remote from the upper margin ; the female has
two such spots on the upper wings. The hind wings have a black spot on
the costa.

The expanse of the wings varies from one inch and four lines to two inches
and two lines.

Var. b. differs from the preceding in being spotless.

Yar. c. (Sabellicce, Steph.) allied to the typical variety, but dissimilar in
form, the wings being shorter and more rounded. The under side of the
wings are adorned with very broad dusky veinings. I have one almost as
dark as Bryonia.

Var. d. (Napaa Esp.) differs from the preceding by its larger size, by
having much larger sized spots, and also by having a much larger blotch at
the tip of the fore-wings. The hind-wings are rather pale, with the three
veinings above, green and dilated. The under surface of the hind-wings
have a yellowish tint, and the veinings are rather indistinct.

There are at least two broods in the year, the first appearing about the
middle of April or May, and the second in the end of July, and continues on
the wing to the beginning of October.

The egg is laid singly, on end, and is flask-shaped, with 14 longitudinal
ribs, not meeting very neatly, and with regular delicate transverse reticula-
tion. The colour is at first pale green, afterwards becoming more pale and
silvery ; thus, although much like the egg of rapa, it is longer, not so neat

at the apex, and always greener in colour. — From Appendix to " Buckler's
Larvae."

The caterpillar is much like that of rapa, but can be known from it by
its lighter green, by the absence of a yellow dorsal line, by the single yellow
spot in each segment enclosing the spiracle, and by the absence of black dots
below the spiracular line. It feeds on various species of the cress kind, in
June and in September.

The chrysalis is either of a very pale pink buff, or of a light green colour.

PIERIS DAPLIDICE.

Bath White.

DAPLIDICE, Linn. Daplidice, one of the twenty-nine daughters of Danaus,
King of Argos, who killed their husbands in obedience to their father's
orders.

This, one of the rarest of our British butterflies, varies in the expansion of
its wings from an inch and a half to a couple of inches. The wings are
white, with a shade of cream colour. The fore-wings, which are unusually
pointed, have a large black spot (very large in the female), a little above the
centre ; and a black band at the tip, in which are situated some white spots.
The underside of the hind-wings are irregularly mottled with green and
white.

The female differs from the male in having a black spot near the inner
margin of the fore-wings, and also by the hind-wings having some blackish
markings.

The egg is of a bright pinkish red, and in shape very much like a cupless
acorn.

The caterpillar is dull blue, striped with yellow and dotted with black, and
has a green head. It feeds on mignonette and weld in June, and also in
September.

The chrysalis is dark grey, with numerous black dots.

The late Mr. Buckler, proved by experimenting on the caterpillar, that it
is a species quite unsuited to our climate, and belongs to a warmer country.

The Chequered or Bath White is common over Central and Southern
Europe, especially 'along the shores of the Mediterranean, as well as on the
opposite coasts of Asia and Africa. It is mostly found in dry and sandy
situations, and I have seen it flying plentifully, in company with other
Whites, over the slopes of the Metropolis at Athens.

The first person to record it as a British species was Petiver, who in his

" Gazophylaci Naturse et Artis," published at London, in the year of our
Lord, 1702, wrote thus "Vernon's Half Mourner. Papilio Leucomelanus
Cantabrigiensis nobis. I do not know of any that has met with this in Eng-
land, but Mr. Vernon about Cambridge, and there very rare/7 He adds in
his "Papilionum Britanniae Icones," published in 1717, "This has also been
found about Hampstead in July or August."

In Ray's " Historia Insectorum," published in 1719, we read "A. D.
Vernon habui, qui in agro Cantabrigiense earn invenit. Eaindem D. Jezreel
Jones circa Lisbonam, observavit, referente D. Petiver." He calls it " The
Greenish Marbled Half Mourner/'

In his " Insects of Great Britain," published in 1795, Lewin informs us that
" It was named the Bath White, from a piece of needle work executed at
Bath by a young lady, from a specimen of this insect, said to have been taken
near that place. On my examining the insects purchased by J. T. Swainson,
Esq., at the sale of the late Duchess Dowager of Portland's subjects in
Natural History, I found this insect mixed with the female Orange-Tip ; and
it then appeared to me that some person collected this box of butterflies, and
sent them to the Duchess, and from the great resemblance of this to the
female Orange Tip, the difference of this rare species passed without being
noticed."

Donovan in his " Natural History of British Insects" published in 1796,
observes " That it is only found in the environs of Bath."

In the Preface to Haworth's " Lepidoptera Britannica," written in July,
1803, we read thus " Since the body of this work was printed, my friend, the
Rev. Dr. Abbott, of Bedford, has informed me that he took in May last, near
Clapham Park wood, in Bedfordshire, a specimen of Papilio podalirius in
the winged state ; and that he also took in June last, in White wood, near
Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire, the Papilio daplidice in a faded state, and
likewise Papilio lathonia. These are three extremely interesting species, and
there is not a British specimen of any of them extant, except the above."

Dr. Abbott died in 1817, and his insects were purchased after his death
by Mr. Dale.

The next specimen, a female, was taken by J. P. Stephens, Esq. on the
14th day of August, 1818, in the meadow behind Dover Castle. Another
was taken that same year, by Mr. Miller, at Keynstone, between Bath and
Bristol.

None appear to have been taken again till August, 1826, when it
was met with by Mr. Leplastrier, at Dover, and by him again in August,
1835, and 1842 : the latter specimen fortunately laid some eggs, from which
Mr. Leplastrier reared four fine females and one male the following May.

In 1836, a specimen was captured by Mr. R. Dawson, in Roseberry Wood,
near Exeter.

In 1852, one was taken near Whittlesea Mere, by Mr. Buxton.

In 1857, one was taken near Colchester.

In 1859, captures at Dover, Kingsdown, Brighton, and Tenterden, in
Kent, were made and recorded.

In 1868, specimens were taken at Margate and Dover.

In 1870, two specimens were captured at Portsmouth, and one at Brighton.

In 1871, specimens were taken at Folkestone, Sandgate, St. Margaret's
Bay, and Brighton.

In 1872, there were no less than four of Daplidice, nine of Lathonia, and
two of Antiopa, taken at Dover by different persons, all three species being
unusually common that year. Specimens of Daplidice were captured besides
at Christchurch, Portsmouth, Brighton, Folkestone, Eastbourne, Deal, and
Margate, Felixstow, and Newmarket.

In 1876, one specimen was taken at Southend, and another at Folkestone.

In 1884, a pair were taken at Dover.

In 1885, a couple were taken at Folkestone.

GENUS IV. ANTHOCHARIS.
Boisduval.

ANTHO'CHARIS. Anthos, a flower ; Chaireis, to delight in.

This genus is found throughout Europe, Asia, North Africa, and the
western part of North America. The males may be readily distinguished
from all butterflies by the orange tips of the fore-wings. The antennae are
slender and rather short, and the abdomen is slender. Another distinguish-
ing mark of this genus is the chrysalis, which is very peculiar, and looks like
a boat in miniature.

ANTHOCHAEIS CARDAMINE8.

Orange-tip.

CARDAMINES, Linn. Cardami'nes from the generic name of one of its
food-plants. Cardamines impatiens (Cuckoo flower.)

This truly exquisite and lovely little creature makes its appearance in April,
and continues to flit gaily along by hedgerow and woodside to the beginning
of July, charming vernal rambles in the country, whether entomological or
no, by its merry blossom-like appearance.

The male is well known and common, but the female is scarce, and much
resembles Pieris daplidice, from which, however, it may be distinguished
by the more rounded tips of the fore-wings, by its shorter antennae, and
by having a smaller luuule spot at the centre of the fore-wings. The ground
colour is white. The underside of the hind-wings is chequered with green
and white.

The expanse of the wings varies from one and a quarter to a couple of
inches.

Var. b. Both sexes with a black spot on the upper surface of the hind-
wings.

Var. c. Both sexes with the black spot on the fore-wings nearly
obliterated.

Var. d. Female with a V shaped greenish-yellow spot on the under surface
of the fore-wings, placed between the lunule spot and the inner margin.

Var. e. Male with a large and oblong lunule spot.

Var./. Differs from the type, by the patch on the fore-wings of the male
being yellow instead of orange.

Var. g. Male with a hardly discernible orange patch. This variety, which
was in Mr. Haworth's collection, is probably an hermaphrodite.

The egg, which is laid in May or June, is of a yellowish-white colour.

The caterpillar is green, slender, with a white lateral stripe, and covered
with raised dots bearing fine pubescence. It feeds on Cardamine impatiens
and other Cruciferse, in July and August.

The chrysalis is green, with a pink anal tip, and in shape greatly resembles
a canoe.

It has a wide distribution in Europe, and is found also in the North and
West of Asia.

In Britain, Forres appears to be its northernmost limit.

Mouffet figured and described it in 1635.

GENUS V. LEUCOPHASIA.

Stephens.

LEUCOPHASIA. Leukos, white ; phasis, appearance.

The fore- wings are long and narrow without any discoidal spot, the an-
tennse are slender and rather short, the abdomen is rather long and very
slender.

As yet only two species are known, and both are European.

LEUCOPHASIA SINAPIS.

Wood White.

SINAPIS, Linn. Sina'pis, named after the Mustard (Sinapis nigra), for-
merly supposed to be its food- plant.

The wings, which vary from one inch five lines, to one inch and seven lines
in expanse, are white, with an ash-coloured blotch at the tip of the fore-wings,
this blotch is of a much fainter shade in the female than in the male. The
underside of the hind-wings has some obscure dull-green markings.

Var. b. Has the blotch of a deep black colour.

Var. c. (Summer brood) differs from the type in being of a more creamy
white.

Var. d. (Diniensis, Boisd.) differs from the type in wanting the green
markings on the under surface of the hind-wings; and the blotch at the tip
of the fore-wings is smaller, and sometimes surrounded with white.

Var. e. (Erysimi, Bork.) of the female has the wings of an immaculate
white without the blotch.

This variety has occurred in the New Forest.

The egg is of a glistening yellowish-white colour, and resembles a cucum-
ber in shape.

The caterpillar, which feeds on the vetch ( Ficia cracca) and other Legumi-
nocas in June and July, and also in September, is of a lovely delicate green,
with a darker green dorsal line, and a distinct yellow spiracular line.

The chrysalis is very beautiful. In shape it is slender, very acutely pointed
at the head, but not so much so at the tail. It has a yellow streak on both
sides and white spots, otherwise it is green.

This is the most delicate butterfly we have, and the slenderness of its
abdomen reminds one of the exotic genus Leptalis. It has a wide range on
the Continent of Europe, being only wanting in the Polar regions. It also
occurs in the North-west of Asia. The first brood is on the wing in May
and the beginning of June, and the second in the end of July and in August.
On a wet day it may be found settled on the underside of a leaf, in a shady
lane, with its long wings pointed towards the ground.

Although found in most of the English and Welsh counties, and abundantly
at Galway and Killarney in Ireland ; it is a local species, frequenting the
shady pathways and outskirts of woods, and flitting along with an undulating
motion. Its extreme whiteness, combined with slow flight is as much an
emblem of purity and innocence, as an ordinary butterfly is of the human
soul. In 1865 and 1866 it occurred rather commonly in Dorsetshire and
Devonshire, but in some years it is very scarce.

It is described in Ray's " Historia Insectorium," 1710; and Petiver, in
1717, wrote "I have observed this in Hampstead and other woods in June.

GENUS VI. GONEPTEREX.
Leach.

GONEPTEREX. Gonos, angular ; Pteris, a wing.

This is also a small genus, possessing a little over a dozen species, only
two of which, Rhamni and Cleopatra^ occur in Europe. A distinguishing
feature is that the body, which is rather stout, is covered with long silky
down. All the wings possess an angular projection. The antennae are short,
rather thick, and of a red colour, hence Boisduval named the genus Rhodocera.

GONEPTEREX RHAMNI.

Brimstone Butterfly.

RHAMNI, Linn. Rham'ni, from Rhamnus the generic name of its food-
plants, the Buckthorns.

The general colour of the male is a clear brilliant yellow, much like that
of the Daffodil, its contemporary ; and in the centre of each wing is a small
spot of rich orange. As the male, from his colour, bears the name of "Brim-
stone " or " Sulphur," so the colour of his consort may be accurately com-
pared to the tint of another chemical preparation, called " Milk of Sulphur/'
On the wing she is often mistaken for the Large Cabbage White. The
expanse of the wings varies from two inches four lines to two inches and six
lines.

Var. b. Male with the wings clouded, and minutely dotted and streaked
with orange.

Var. c. Male with an orange patch on the fore-wings, somewhat resembling
Cleopatra.

The egg is laid singly, generally on a rib of the under side of a buckthorn
leaf in April or May. At first it is of a silvery-green, but afterwards turns
to a yellow. In shape it is cylindrical, and resembles a flask.

The caterpillar, which feeds on buckthorn and blackthorn, and also, accord-
ing to Lewin, on the wild rose, in June and the fore part of July, is of a dull
green colour, and has a white lateral streak. It is subject to the attack of
an hymenopterous parasite — Limneria vulgaru, which, according to Mr.
Bignell, forms its cocoon inside of the caterpillar, and so constructs it, that
the skin of the caterpillar is made to do duty for an extra protection,

The chrysalis is green, with several red dots ; it is very gibbous in the
middle, and attenuated like a boat in front ; it is attached to the tail on a
perpendicular branch, and fastened with a loose silken thread round the
middle of the body.

The duration of the three stages of egg, caterpillar, and chrysalis must be
limited to something less than two months ; as the remainder of the year is
passed in the perfect state.

The butterfly emerges from the chrysalis state at the end of July or in
August, continues on the wing till the cold weather sets in, and then retires
to its winter quarters. It does not, however, remain in them very long,
and may often be seen sporting about in some flowery nook in the first sunny
days of February and March, looking more like the petals of the primrose
over which it hovers, floating on the breeze, than a living creature —

"As if Flora's breath, by some transforming power,
Had changed a flower into a butterfly."

Sometimes this tenant of the garden and the flower bed, may be seen, like
infancy by the side of age, sporting on the front of some old grey rock, or
settling on the wild thyme, — or on the golden furze, — as its wings vibrate
with a quickness that will dazzle the sight.

" Behold again with saffron wing superb
The giddy Butterfly. Releas'd at length
From his warm winter cell, he mounts on high,
No longer reptile, but endowed with plumes,
And through the blue air wanders ; pert alights,
And seems to sleep, but from the treacherous hand
Snatches his beauties suddenly away,
And zigzag dances o'er the flowery dell."

Favourite Village.

Mouffet was the first English author to figure and describe it, which he
did in 1633.

Petiver in 1717, called it — " Papilio sulphureus" adding — "it is amongst
the first to appear in the spring and again in the autumn/' and of the female
says — " this being so nearly white often escapes as common."

Abroad it has an extended range, being found all over Europe and Asia,
in Worth Africa, and even in California.

It has not been observed in the Isle of Man, and but once in Scotland ; in
Ireland it is common at Killarney and in Connemara ; in England it is very
generally distributed and common, but is rather a southern than a northern
species, being restricted in its range by the food -plant, which does not extend
into the more northern counties. In 1861 my father did not see a specimen
the whole season, and it was also scarce for two or three years afterwards.

GENUS VII. COLIAS.
Fabridus.

COLIAS, Linn. Colias, a surname of Yenus, from a promontory of Attica,
at which she was worshipped.

This genus is met with in almost every part of the world except Australia,
New Zealand, the East and West Indian Islands, and perhaps Central Africa.
It occurs all over Europe. In Asia it is found from Nova Zembla and
Siberia to the Southern parts of India ; in Africa it occurs from Egypt and
Abyssinia to the Canary Islands and a£jain at the Cape of Good Hope ; in
America from Grinnel Land and Boothia Felix, to Tierra del Fuego ; and it
is also found in the Sandwich Islands. It is, however, very much confined to
the mountains in the inter-tropical countries. On the mountains of Europe,
some species are found almost up to the regions of perpetual snow ; and on
the Himalayas, one species occurs at the great elevation of 17,000 feet.

The prevalent colour of all the species is yellow or orange, sometimes
verging to white in the females, sometimes, as in the most northern species,
to a greenish hue. Near the centre of the hind wings is a deep orange spot.

The antennae are short and rather thick, and like those of Gonepterex,
of a reddish colour.

The males exhibit a character, often overlooked, which serves well to dis-
tinguish the species. It is a kind of a glandular sac placed upon the
anterior edge of the hind-wings near the base. It is large in Edusa, small
and lenticular in Myrmidone, and wanting in Eyale and Chrysothome.

About thirty species are known, nine of them occurring in Europe.

Our two British species are both noted for their periodic appearance.
These periods were supposed to be influenced by the eggs or chrysalids lying
dormant, but our knowledge of this genus will warrant us in considering all
these suggestions as arbitary, and unsupported by facts. It is possible, that the
females may occasionally forsake the ordinary habit of the species of flying
up and down one or two clover fields for hours or indeed for days together,
and fly, as they can do, swiftly across the country, re-enforced by a few
immigrants from the Continent, laying a few eggs here and a few eggs there,
in the various clover fields over which they pass ; and that the caterpillars
in a favourable summer feed up rapidly, escaping their worst enemy in this
climate, — mould; and so the perfect insects might be found, earlier or later,
according to the climate, some inland, and large numbers in those coast dis-
tricts, in which they usually occur.

Some species of the genus have been observed at great distances from land.
Mr. Charles Darwin names an instance worth quoting. " One evening, when

we were about ten miles from San Bias in California, vast numbers of butter-
flies, in flocks of countless myriads, extended as far as the eye could range.
Even by the aid of a glass it was not possible to see a space free from
butterflies. The seamen called out that it was snowing butterflies, and such,
in fact, was the appearance. More species than one were present, but the
main part belonged to a kind very similar to, but not identical with, the
common English Colias edusa. The day had been fine and calm, and the
one previous equally so, with bright variable airs ; hence, we cannot suppose
that the insects were blown off the land ; but we must conclude that they
voluntarily took flight."

The species was most probably Colias chrysotheme, which is found in a
limited district of Central and South -Eastern Europe, but in North America
occurs over a very wide range.

In his " Illustrations of British Entomology," James Francis Stephens
figured and described a North American species, Philodice as British, under
the name of JEuropome. Two others — Palano and Myrmidone — have also
been erroneously recorded as British.

COLIAS EDUSA.
Clouded Yellow.

EDUSA, Fab. Edu'sa a Koman divinity, worshipped as the protectress of
children, and supposed to bless their food.

The wings, which expand from one inch and eight lines in some examples,
to two inches and five lines in others, are of an exceedingly rich orange-yellow
or saffron colour ; and have a broad dark brown or nearly black border. This
border is marked in the male with thin yellow streaks, and in the female
with pale yellow spots. There is a beautiful rosy tinge in the fringe of the
wings and on their front edge. The underside of the wings is of a paler
yellow than the upper, taking a citron hue in some parts, and marked with
black and brown. In the centre of each hind- wing is a brown- circled
silvery spot.

In shape it varies considerably, especially in the hind margin of the fore-
wings, which is either rounded, straight, convex or concave, and curved ; the
inner margin also varies, as does the shape of the hind-wings.

The colour is also subject to much variation. The brilliant orange or
saffron varies in intensity, and there is the greenish- white variety of the female
called Helice ; intermediate shades between these two are to be met with,
and specimens have been taken with the fore-wings of Helice and the hind-

wings of Edusa, and again with one side Helice and the other side Edusa.
Some specimens are beautifully shot with blue or purple.

Yar. b. of the female (Helice, Hubner) differs from the type in being of a
greenish-white, in place of orange-yellow or saffron.

Yar. c. very small, with the hind -wings subfalcate, but coloured as in the
type.

Yar. d. (erroneously supposed to be Chrysothome by Mr. Stephens)
differs chiefly from the type in its smaller size, in the rotundity of the hind-
margin of the hind-wings, its paler colour, the dissimilar form of the marginal
fascia, the expanded duskiness of the base of the wings, and the black dis-
coidal spot on the under surface of the hind-wings being paler in the middle.
Yar. *. very much suffused with black. Suffusion is more or less common
to most species ; and the Canadian entomologist, Mr. W. H. Edwards, con-
siders the application of severe cold to the chrysalis as a cause.

The usual time for Edusa to be seen on the wing is from August to the
chilly month of November, but occasionally there is an earlier brood in May
and June. The variety Helice is liable to be mistaken on the wing for
Melanargia galathea, especially in chalk districts, which the latter frequents.
The eggs are oval, but very sharply pointed at each end, and are laid on
the upper surfaces of leaves in an upright position, standing on end. They
are shining, and at first whitish-yellow, but they rapidly turn to a darker
yellow, and afterwards to pink. — Buckler.

The caterpillar, when young, is of a pinkish-brown, but afterwards changes
to a velvety green. It has a yellow spiracular line, a red spot on each seg-
ment below the spiracles, and a white mark on the upper part. In general
appearance it is very like that of Pieris rapa, but the red marks at the
spiracles are a safe guide for distinguishing them. It feeds on various kinds
of Trifolium or clover, medick, melilot, and other Leguminosse in June and
July, and also in September and October.

The Chrysalis is moderately stout, but not so angular as those of the White
Butterflies. The colour of the back and body is a very pale yellowish-green,
with a pale yellow stripe on each side the wing-cases, which are long and well
developed, projecting below the abdomen. The head is sharply pointed, and
is of a dark olive-green above, and of a pale primrose yellow underneath.

It is a generally distributed species over Western, Central, and Southern
Europe ; the Azores ; North Africa, and Syria. At the Cape of Good Hope,
it is replaced by a closely allied species, the Electra of Linnseus ; and in
Lapland and Greenland by Hecla.

It may be found throughout the year on the Continent, even as early as
February at Malta, but it is raiely seen in England before August. It is a

much commoner butterfly than Hyale in the British Islands, though rarer on
the Continent, and is somewhat irregular in its appearances. It was par-
ticularly abundant in Britain, in 1877, but by no means so elsewhere.
Clover and lucerne fields are its favourite resorts, though flowery meadows,
grassy slopes near the sea, and the sides of railway banks are also the scenes
of its lively flight. It has also a marked preference for the South Coast,
though in 1877 it occurred all over Great Britain and Ireland, even as far
north as the Orkney Islands. In one season, perhaps, hardly a solitary
specimen will be seen, then in the very next, a swarm of them will spread
over the Southern Counties, delighting the collector, and puzzling the natura-
list to find a sufficient reason for this sudden burst oi insect life ; then for
three or four years together it will be very scarce again. None make a finer
show in the cabinet, and few tempt pursuit more strongly, than this richly
coloured and nimble- winged beauty ; therefore it has always been a favourite,
and captures of it have been more frequently recorded in the magazines and
newspapers than of any other species.

The first in England to figure and describe it was old Mouffet, in 1633.

In Ray's " Historia Insectorium," 1710, we read, "In Essexia non procul
a Bocking oppido in agro Lino fato invenimus, Eadem a D. Vernon in agro
Cantabrigiensi capta, 03 ad nos delata est Hsec, observante D. Willughby,
in Stiria frequens est. Unde Patet multas Papilionum species Anglise cum
reliqua Europa communes esse."

In Petiver's " Papilionum Britannise Icones," 1717, we read, " Papilio
crocea, limbo nigricante. The Saffron Butterfly seen about Deptford, Peck-
ham, &c., from June till September/'

In Harris* "Aurelian," 1775, we read, "This beautiful fly is taken in
meadows in the month of August, they fond of settling on the yellow lupins
and thistles. They have been taken flying in plenty in Epping Forest, but
as they seldom haunt one place for many successive seasons, I cannot venture
to mention it as a place where they are to be found. Where there is a brood,
the times of the day to find them are at eight in the morning and four in the
afternoon, but never in the middle of the day, when they conceal themselves
to rest. They fly very fast, therefore not easily taken, the male in particular
flies exceedingly fast." To this my father adds a note " I never saw them
fly but in the middle of the day."

In Donovan's "Natural History of British Insects," 1792, we read,
" With us it has ever been esteemed as a rare insect, though seen this season
in Kent in greater plenty than for several years ; but as they were probably
only an accidental brood, they may again disappear for a considerable time."

In Lewin's "Insect of Great Britain," 1795, we read, "This beautiful

species of butterfly is peculiar to rich meadow lands, and not common. It
is on the wing the latter end of August and the beginning of September.
I have met with it in many different places, but never have seen more than
two or three flying at a time. It is quick in flight, and not easily taken,
except about eight or nine o'clock in the morning, when feeding on the
flowers then in bloom/' A retrospect of the occurrence of Colias edusa, in
Britain, since the days of Lewin, may not be without interest.

In 1797, it occurred in great plenty at Wrentham in Suffolk.

In 1804, it was abundant at Clapham and other places near London, and
also in Dorsetshire, and the Isle of Wight.

It was also common in 1808, the year in which my father began his " En-
tomological Diary."

In 1809, Edusa was very scarce, but one of the white variety was seen at
Thetford, and plenty of Hyale at Horning, Norfolk, by Mr. Mack.

In 1810, I can find none recorded.

In 1811, it was very common, and several were taken in June.

In 1812, I can find none recorded, and very few for 1813 and 1814, and
none in 1815, 1816, or 1817. The winter of 1813-14 was so severe that
an ox was roasted on the Thames.

In 1818, a splendid year for butterflies and one with an unusually hot
summer, it occurred abundantly, and a few were taken in the month of July.

None were recorded in 1819, a good year for Antiopa, 1820 and 1821, a
good year for Hyale.

It was common again in 1822, but none were recorded in 1823 and 1824,
and but one in 1825.

It was common in 1826, the " Annus mirabilis" of English Entomologists,
and so were also Hyale, Cardui, Atalanta, and Phl&as.

None were recorded in 1827, 1828 and 1829; 1829 a year which had a
remarkably wet sunless summer, followed by one of the most severe winters
of the present century, there being, even at Florence in Italy, forty-eight days
of frost; nor in 1830.

It was plentiful in 1831, there being a considerable flight in the neigh-
bourhood of Dover, during the months of August and September.

Scarce in 1832, a year which had a cold backward spring, succeeding a
mild and open winter; 1833, though common in Jersey, and 1834.

It was common in 1835 (appearing in profusion at Killarney), as was also
Hyale, and it was also common in 1836.

It was scarce in 1837 and 1838, but common in ]839, many being taken
in June.

It was scarce in 1840, 1841 and 1842 ; 1842 a year which had a remarkably

fine hot summer, and one which produced Hyale in more than usual abun-
dance, and very favourable to the production of insect life. Of 1842, the
Rev. W. T. Bree writes, '• Mr. Le Plastrier informs me that they had no
Clouded Yellows last summer about Dover, except Hyale, where, in certain
seasons, they are to be seen in considerably plenty." The White butterflies
were particularly abundant that year.

In 1843, it was abundant again, and it was also very common in 1844, as
was also Hyale.

In 1845, it was particularly scarce, and none were recorded in 1846 a
good year for Antiopa.

It was scarce in 1847, but one was taken in the Isle of Arran (first in
Scotland), once recorded in 1848, none in 1849 and 1850, one in 1851,
scarce in 1852, and none recorded in 1853 and 1854.

It was common in 1855 and 1 856, very common in 1857, one being taken
as late as the 18th of November, and also very common in 1858, especially
in June, but still taken as late as November 7th.

In 1859, a year with a fine hot summer, it was very abundant all over
England, but Hyale, which was common in 1857 and 1858, was very scarce;
it was, however, a good year for the Sphingida or Hawk-moths.

It was very scarce in the cold sunless years of 1860, 1861, 1862, & 1863.

It was common in the fine seasons of 1864 and 1865.

Several were taken in 1867, 1868, a year with a particularly hot summer,
the great season for Hyale and the Sphingida, and in 1869.

It was very scarce in 1870, a fine year, and probably the driest of the
present century.

It was only once recorded in 1871, and was not common in 1872, the
great year for Antiopa.

In 1873, not a specimen appears to have been taken, and very few in 1874.

It was common again in 1875 and 1876.

Now comes its great year — 1877, in which it appeared in greater numbers
than it had ever been known to do before, occurring in many places where it
was previously unknown, as for instance the Orkney Isles. Several of the
white variety Helice, were also taken that season. Although so abundant in
Britain that year, it was very scarce on the Continent.

One of the grandest sights I ever saw in my life, was on a little undercliff
to the East of Lulworth Cove, on the 5th of September, 1877. On this
undercliff grows a mass of Inula Critkmoides, then in full bloom ; below is
the clear blue water of Weymouth Bay, unruffled by a ripple. Every one of
its yellow flowers was literally covered with one, two, or more of Coliaf
edusa, with its white variety Helice, Cardui, Atalanta, Rapa, lo, Phalas,

Janira, Corydon, Alexis, Agestis, Sylvanus, Linea, Actaon, and Galatkea.

The year 1877 began with an exceptionally mild wet winter, and a long,
chilly, disheartening spring, so writes C. Barrett, Esq. However, with the
beginning of June, the weather began to improve, and, on the 4th, our first
warm day, Colias edusa made its appearance. Two days later, I found
several more, and from that time until the 4th of July, they were to be found
in moderate numbers all over the country on every sunny day. It is a
curious circumstance, that along with Edusa there appeared an early
brood of Scapula ferrugalis in considerable numbers. By the end of the
first week in August, after a deal of wind and rain, the second brood of
Edusa appeared, again accompanied by Scopula ferrugalis, but not by Hyale.
September was a beautifully fine and warm month throughout, and Edusa
appeared in the greatest profusion, but gradually got scarcer and more worn
and feeble towards the end, so that the conclusion forced itself upon one's
mind, that hibernation in their case was impossible, as they would have in-
sufficient vitality.

In some sheltered situations in Kent, and other parts of the South Coast,
a third brood appeared in October, and continued on the wing till the second
week in November, when the chilly blasts of the coming winter became too
much for it.

On the 6th of August, 1877, the late Mr. William Buckler hearing that
the second brood of Colias edusa was flying in great profusion, induced a
friend to net him a few of the shabbiest females he could meet with. By the
evening one of these laid some eggs, which hatched in a few days. The
caterpillars continued to feed and grow, consuming a great deal of food, and
stripping bare the stems of plant after plant. On the appoach of cold frosty
nights, they remained stretched out still and passive, seeming to feed only by
day. On the 15th of October, one changed to a chrysalis, followed by two
more on the following day. On the 22nd, another assumed the chrysalis state^
and by the 27th, eight other caterpillars had spun themselves up in a
horizontal position, in a similar manner to those of the genus Pieris. It was
formerly supposed to hibernate in the perfect state, and it was first found to
do so in the chrysalis state by Mr. Dale, in the year 1867.

In 1878, after another mild winter, a few images of Edusa were seen in
April, May, and June, after which it was particularly scarce. One, however,
was taken on ivy bloom in the middle of December.

In 1879, the great year for Vanessa cardui and Plusia gamma, and one
which had the wettest and most disastrous summer of the present century,
it was abundant in Kent and Sussex during the month of September, but
apparently not so in other parts of England.

It was scarce in 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1884. The winters of
1880 and 1881 were very severe.

In 1885, a year with a fine late summer, it was fairly common, but very
scarce again in 1886.

COLIAS HYALE.

Pale Clouded Yellow.

HYALE, Linn. Hyale, a nymph in the train of Diana. Ovid, Met. III.
470.

The wings of this interesting butterfly are of a primrose yellow, and are
from two inches, to nearly two inches and a quarter in expanse.

The sexes are nearly alike in their markings, the chief difference being in
the paler ground tint of the females.

There is some risk to beginners of confounding this species with the white
variety of Edusa named Eelice, so it may be as well to point out the principal
distinction between the two. The dark border of the upper wings of Edusa,
is of nearly equal breadth along the whole of the outer margin, and at the
lower corner is continued inwards for a short distance ; whilst in Hyale this
border narrows rapidly, and disappears before reaching the lower corner of
the wing. The dark border of the hind- wings also is much broader in Edusa,
than in Hyale.

Var. b. differs from the type in the ground tint of the wings being almost
white. It is admirably figured in Lewin's " British Insects " and is the var.
pallida of Robson and Gardner's list.

Var. c. has the fore-wings suffused with black scales as far as the discordial
spot.

There are also other varieties : one has only a few black marks at the tip
of the forewings ; another has the border so broad that, but for the want of
it on the hind-wings, it might do duty for Uelice. One variety has been
named Sareplensis by Dr. Staudinger. It has the hind margin of the fore-
wings broadly black, and occurs on the southern Steppes of Russia.

The egg is apparently smooth, but really ribbed and of a pale canary-yellow,
reminding one of a canary seed in miniature. — Buckler.

The caterpillar is of a dull green colour, with a white or yellow spiracular
line, and the whole skin covered closely with short black spines or bristles.
It feeds on Trifolium repens and Medicago lupulina, Lucern, &c., in August
and also in October. In repose, it lies along the middle of the leafs superior
surface, so that at night when the leaf closes, as most, if not all, of the Tri-
folium tribe do, it is quite enclosed by its segments.

The Chrysalis is very similar to that of Edusa, green, with a yellow lateral
longitudinal line.

This interesting butterfly used to be considered a great rarity in England,
frequenting the South Eastern corner, but has been gradually extending its
range, along with the increasing cultivation of lucern and various other
species of the clover kind, on which the caterpillar feeds, and amongst the
seeds of which the eggs may possibly be introduced into fresh localities. It
is double-brooded, but is commonest in Central Europe in the autumn,
though in the South it may be found throughout the year, and has been
noticed in Malta as early as March.

Its range extends over the whole of Europe except the North, Western
and Central Asia, China, and lapan (where there is a very striking tempera-
ture form, measuring only one and three quarters of an inch in expanse,
and emerging in February) ; the Mauritius, and North Africa. It is generally
one of the very commonest autumn butterflies in fields and meadows on
the Continent of Europe ; and its flight is much less rapid than that of
Edusa.

This species appears to have been first observed in England by Lewin,
who in his "Insects of Great Britain" published in 1795, wrote thus,
" This is a very rare species of butterfly. In all my researches after insects 1
never met with it but in the Isle of Sheppey, and on a hilly pasture field
near Ospringe in Kent. I found it in different years in both places, and it
appeared to be locally attached to the spot. It is out in the winged state
the middle of August, and is not difficult to take on the wing, as it does not
ramble far or fly swift." Of the white variety he writes, " This species is
likewise very rare. I met with a brood of these butterflies in a gravelly
pasture field in Kent, and they were all of the same pale yellow colour, but
in every other character they perfectly agreed with the above described ;
and it is a doubt with me, whether this be a distinct species, or only a variety
in colour. This fly is likewise on the wing the middle of August."

In 1803, it was recorded as being very rare, by Mr. Haworth.

In 1809, it was seen in plenty at Horning, Norfolk, by Mr. Mack.

The next account of it we have is by Mr. J. F. Stephens in his " Illustrations
of British Entomology" published in 1828, as follows "I have seen very few
specimens, and until the last season, only three recent captures had come to
my knowledge. The first of these was found in August, 1811, at Wrentham
in Suffolk by the able artist (C. M. Curtis), to whose pencil I am indebted
for the figures with which this work is embellished, and is in his brother's
(John Curtis) collection. The second specimen was taken in Epping Forest,
in June, 1819, and the third subsequently at Brighton ; but last season many

specimens were captured near the last named place, by a person residing in
that town."

In 1829, John Curtis wrote in his "British Entomology:" "This rare
insect is generally found near the coast, especially of Suffolk, Kent, and
Sussex, from the beginning of August to the first week in September."

In 1831, the Rev. W. T. Bree writes in the " Magazine of Natural History "
" Colias hyale appears to be a maritime fly, occurring almost exclusively near
the sea coast. Mr. Le Plastrier possesses a beautiful series of specimens of
this rare insect, taken chiefly, if not entirely, near Dover.1'

In 1835, it was quite common in the South-Eastern counties, and a single
specimen was taken near Ross in Herefordshire, which appears to have been
the first observed west of Surrey. Edusa was also common in 1835.

In 1842, the Rev. W. T. Bree writes in the "Zoologist" : "The summer
of 1842 was one of the finest we have had for many years, and therefore
favourable to the production of insects ; but what strikes me as strange is,
that the same season which produced Hyale in more than usual numbers,
should not have been equally productive of the allied species, Edusa."

In 1842, Hyale occurred abundantly in the Eastern and Southern coun-
ties, and specimens were taken as far North as York, and as far West as
Wilton in Wiltshire, and the Isle of Wight.

In the "Entomologist" for 1842, J. F. Stephens writes, "Of Colias hyale,
which seems to prefer chalky districts, and to make its appearance after a
fine and hot summer; I saw seven specimens in a deep chalk -pit on the
Southern side of the down, near Guildford."

In the same volume, Mr. Thomas Desvignes writes, " You may safely state
that it only appears every seven years (perhaps one or two may be seen in
the interim.) Ever since I took them near Brighton in 1835, I foretold
that it would taken in 1842, which turns out to be true. The time of its
appearance is from the 15th of August, to the middle of September, but I
recollect seeing some specimens that were taken in June, by Le Plastrier at
Dover. They are very much pursued by Pieris brassica, which appear to be
continually tormenting them, seldom allowing them to settle; and should
they survive the day, the following day they are very much worn, and the
wings chipped. I have watched two males fighting and soaring in the air
till nearly out of sight. They invariably settle on the flower of the lucerne,
on which I should say they deposit their eggs, and which have been intro-
duced into this country with the seed orginally imported from Switzerland.
In 1835, I took fifty specimens in several fields near Brighton, and this year
twenty-two in fields in Northamptonshire, probably the most inland county
in England where Hyale has been captured."

In 1843 and 1844 several of Hyale were taken, but more of Edusa.

In 1847, both Hyale and Edusa were taken at Lyme Kegis in Dorsetshire.

In 1848, it was only once recorded, as was also Edusa.

In 1849, not more than twenty specimens were captured, which entirely
broke down the theory of its septennial appearance.

In 1850, it was only once recorded.

In 1855, it was rare but Edusa common.

In 1856, a couple were recorded.

In 1857, it was very common in South-Eastern counties as was also Edusa.

In 1858, it was again common and Edusa also.

In 1859, it was only once recorded but Edusa was very common.

In 1865, a few were taken.

In 1867, it was only once recorded.

Now comes the great year 1868, in which it appeared in greater numbers
than it has ever done before or since, and a few stragglers were found as far
North as Yorkshire and Lancashire, and others at Killarney and Howth, in
Ireland.

In the end of July and beginning of August, Hyale was the commonest
butterfly to be seen at Margate, where the specimens were flying by hundreds.
It was a lovely sight to see these handsome creatures settled on flowers, and
swaying to and fro in the wind : the rich gold colour of there under-side
contrasting beautifully with the purple flower of the lucerne.

11 On the gay bosom of some fragrant flower,
They idly fluttering, live their little hour,
Their life all pleasure, and their task all play,
All spring their age, and sunshine all their day."

Mrs. Barbauld.

Hyale Was abundant all over the Isle of Thanet, wherever a little patch of
lucerne was to be seen, it was sure to be there, even close to the houses. It
also appeared that year in great abundance at Gravesend, Colchester in
Essex, Cromer in Norfolk, the Isle of Wight, and all along the coasts of
Kent and Sussex. A few specimens were taken as late as the 24th Septem-
ber, between Faversham and Canterbury.

In 1869, one was taken in the New Forest, and in 1870 it was scarce, as
was also Edusa, although it was a fine dry year.

In 1872, the great year for Antiopa, Hyale occurred commonly on the
Sussex and Kentish coasts, but not Edusa.

In 1873 and 1874, it was very scarce.

In 1875, Hyale was very common again, and several were taken in May
and June, being apparently the first year in which the spring-brood has been
observed in England. Some specimens were taken as far inland as Binning-

ham. In Suffolk, Essex, and Kent, it appeared in greater abundance than it
has done since 1868. Edusa was also very common in 1875.

In 1876, both species were common again, and I took a specimen of Hyale
near Sherborne, being the only one I ever saw alive. This I record as
showing how scarce a species it is in the West of England.

In 1877, the year in which Edusa appeared in its greatest profusion; very
few specimens of Ilyale were seen, and since then only a couple have been
recorded, one in 1881, and the other in 1885.

Family LYCJENIDJE.

This is a very extensive family of small, but extremely beautiful butterflies,
the European representatives of which are known by the names of Hair
streaks, Coppers, and Blues ; the former from the peculiar slender hair-like
lines on the under surface of the wings ; the two latter from the prevailing
colour of the upper suface. It is divided into about forty genera, which in-
clude fully 1200 species, being nearly nearly twice the number known thirty
years ago. Many of the East Indian and American species, far outstript the
European in the brilliancy of their colours.

11 Dipt in the richest tincture of the skies,
Where light disports in ever mingling dyes,
While every beam new transient colour flings,
Colours that change when'er they wave their wings."

Pope.

In the chrysalis state, this family bears a close resemblance to the Papi-
lionida and Pierida, not only by being attached by the tail, but also by
being supported with a belt of silk, which passes round the middle of the
body, and is firmly fixed on each side.

The caterpillars somewhat resemble woodlice, and are termed onisciformes.

GENUS VIII. THECLA.
Fabridus.

Thec'la, a Virgin and Martyr. Butler's lives of the Saints, ix. 286.

Thecla is a genus of which between five and six hundred species are now
described. Its head-quarters appear to be America, where more than nine-
tenths of the species occur. In Brazil are some of the largest and most
brilliant species of the family. A few are found in Asia and Africa, nine
or ten in Europe, of which five are British. Most of the species possess
tails to the hind -wings, in that respect resembling those of the genus Papilio*

Many of them have one or more fine lines across the underside of the wings,
whence arises the name "Hair streaks." A curious characteristic of the
genus is, that the members of one sex often have a satin or plush-like patch
on the fore-wings, at the extremity of the discoidal cell. The caterpillars
appear to frequent trees and shrubs instead of herbaceous plants, as is the
custom with those of the allied genera ; and the perfect insects are enabled,
by their robust structure, to fly with great power over the -branches of even
the highest oaks and other forest trees.

Writers have divided this genus into two or three sub-genera. Dalman
separated those species in which the males have a velvety patch on the fore-
wings, under the name Zephyrw. This arrangement is followed by Kirb),
in his " Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera." Hubner, however, had made
the same division at an earlier date, and had still further divided the group.
These in which the males had a velvety patch on the fore-wings, he called
Bithys ; those without a patch, Strymon ; and the tail-less species he called
Lyons. To those who study British insects only, this sub-division may
appear unnecessary, but the advantage is very apparent when we consider
the large number of species. Each sub-genus has its British representative,
as will be seen.

SUB-GENUS BITHYS, Hubner.

ZEPHYRUS, Dalman.

[Females with a more or less velvety patch on the fore-wings.
ZEPHYRUS is a bad generic name, being the specific name of one of the
Polyommati.

THECLA BETUL.E.

Brown Hair-streak.

BETUL^E, Linn. Bet'ulse, from the generic name of one of its food-plants
the birch, Betula alba.

This is the largest species of the genus found in Europe, measuring some-
times an inch and two-thirds in expanse. The sexes differ considerably on
the upper side, the male being of a deep brown colour, slightly paler near the
centre of the fore-wings, whilst the female possesses on the front wings a
a large patch of clear orange. Both sexes have several orange marks upon
the lower angles of the hind-wings. On the underside the general colour is
a tawny orange with duller bauds, and marked with one white line on the
fore-wings and two parallel white lines on the hind-wings.

This butterfly is later on the wing than any other species of the genus.
The earliest specimens emerge in the end of July, and they continue to appear
for some time, remaining out till September or even October.

The eggs are white, and are somewhat like those of Quercus. They are
attached to the twigs of the food-plant, and do not hatch before the spring.

The caterpillar is of a bright apple-green, with pale yellow lines and two
rows of oblique streaks of the same colour. It feeds on blackthorn, birch,
and alder in May and June.

The chrysalis is short, obese, and of a clear red-brown colour.

Three species of Hymenopterus parasites, belonging to the family Ichneu-
monida3, have been bred from Thecla betula, viz. : Agrypon flaveolatum,
Campoplex pugillater, and Campoplex eurynotus.

Thecla betula has not a wide range, but occurs in Central Europe, and the
South of Russia. It also extends into the Southern parts of Siberia and the
valley of the Amoor.

It has not been noticed in the Isle of Man, nor in Scotland, but is very
common in the lanes and road-side hedges in the South and West of Ireland
in August, frequenting the flowers of the bramble, and settling the moment
the sun is obscured. It has not been observed in either Ulster or Leinster.
In England it is very widely distributed, being most common in the counties
of Devonshire, Lancashire, Essex, and Cambridgeshire. It appears to be
entirely absent in the North- Eastern portion, not occurring in Yorkshire,
Durham, nor Northumberland, and seems to have become extinct in the
counties of Dorsetshire and Norfolk.

The first specimen recorded in England appears to have been taken at
Croydon, by the Rev. John Ray, on August 31st, 1702.

Eleazer Albin, in 1720, writes thus, " The caterpillar is of a light sea green
colour. It was taken near Hornsey Wood, on the 8th of June; it tyed
itself up after the manner of the White Butterflies, and on the 16th of July
came forth the Hair-streak Butterfly. This caterpillar is very rare and scarce
to be met with."

Lewin, in 1795, writes, " This insect is very far from common, but the fly
may be taken on the tops of hedges, and particularly on the maple tree, on
which it delights to settle. The caterpillars are very singular in their form,
and at first sight appear like woodlice, lying flat on a leaf or twig, without
the least sign of feet ; and when they travel their motion is more like that of
a slug than that of a caterpillar."

Haworth, in 1803, records it as being rare.

Stephens, in 1828, writes "Coombe and Darenth Woods are its chief resi-
dences near London, but it cannot be esteemed a common species anywhere."

Curtis adds, " It has also been taken in Norfolk, Suffolk, Devon, Dorset,
&c."

None appear to have been taken in Dorsetshire since 1842.

THECLA QUERCUS.
Purple Hair-streak.

QUERCUS, Linn. Quer'cus, from the generic name of its food-plant, the
oak (Quercus Eobur.)

This species varies in the expanse of its wings from about an inch and a
quarter to an inch and a half. The sexes differ considerably on the upper
side, the male being entirely of a blackish brown above, with a purplish
gloss ; whilst the female possesses on the front wings a purplish blue blotch
towards the base. On the underside, the wings are of an ash colour, with a
distinct white line running across them, and with a couple of orange dots at
the inner corner of the hind wings.

The egg is of the shape common to the family, only larger than that of
any of our Blues. It is round in outline, flattened, and with the exception
of a central depression on the upper surface, covered with irregular oblong
reticulation, and the egg looks quite like a rough Echinus in miniature. The
shell under the reticulation apparently has a very pale pinkish brown tinge :
the lines of the reticulation are white (Rev. J. Hellins). The eggs are laid
on the twigs of the oak in August, and remain firmly glued to them
throughout the winter.

The caterpillar, which feeds on the oak in May and June, is reddish-
brown, covered with short hairs, and with several rows of dark greenish lines
or dots. It is short and obese, and in appearance resembles a woodlouse.

The chrysalis is ferruginous, with three dorsal rows of brown dots. In
changing to the chrysalis state, the caterpillar spins a few threads, making a
frail sort of cocoon just on or just below the surface of the eartk, or availing
itself of the shelter of a fallen leaf.

This is at once the commonest and the handsomest of the Hair-streaks,
being found in every part of England, where there is an oak wood, and look-
ing like a small Purple Emperor, with its rich gloss of the imperial purple.
It is also common in Ireland ; but in Scotland it is a very local species, riot
occurring in the Northern or North-eastern counties. On the Continent it
is generally distributed, except in the North and extreme South, and its
range extends into Asia Minor. The butterfly is seen in July and August,
flitting about in sportive groups round oak and ash trees, and occasionally
descending within reach of the net.

The Rev. John Ray, in his " Historia Insectorium," mentions that " he
took a pair sitting on nettles at Croydon, on the 8th of July, 1692, and that
the caterpillar is very similar to a woodlouse."

SUB-GENUS STEYMON.

Hubner.
Females with no velvety patch on the fore-wing.

THECLA W-ALBUM.

Black Hair-streak.

W-ALBUM, Knoch. W-al'bum, on account of the white W on the under-
wings.

This species averages about an inch and a half in the expansion of its
wings.

This is very much like the next in appearance. On the upper side
it is a very dark brown, almost black, with an orange spot at the anal
angle of the hind-wings, often very indistinct. On the under side it is of
an ashy brown, with a row of orange lunules at the hind margins, most
distinct at the anal angles. A white hair-like line crosses both wings, and
forms a W near the inner margin of each. This last character will at once
distinguish it from the next species, Pruni.

The eggs are laid on the twigs of the elm and wych elm in July and
August, and in shape are somewhat like an orange, but are more depressed
on the crown ; they are of a whitish colour, and remain firmly glued to the
rind of the twigs throughout the winter (Newman.)

The caterpillar is pale green, with short brownish oblique streaks on the
side, sometimes with two rows of red spots down the back, and a dull red
stripe on each side above the feet. The head is dark brown and retractile,
and the body is covered with soft delicate hair. It feeds on elm, wych elm,
and also blackthorn in May and June.

The chrysalis is short and obese, ferruginous, with three dorsal rows of
brown dots.

An ichneumon fly, viz. Perilitus scutellata had been bred from it.

The butterfly appears at the end of June or in July, and continues on the
wing till August.

It is found in Central and Southern Europe, and Northern and Western
Asia ; but seems to be everywhere confined to very restricted localities, and
to be of somewhat uncertain appearance.

It is unknown in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In England it
is widely but not generally distributed, and does not occur north of York-
shire ; nor is it found in Wales, or the South-western counties.

The first to record it as a British species appears to be Lewin, who in his
" Insects of Great Britain/' writes thus, " This butterfly is not common.

is first seen out on the wing about the middle of July, and is then sometimes
to be seen flying about the bramble blossoms, and frequently settling on them
to feed, when it may easily be taken."

In his " Illustrations of British Entomology," J. F. Stephens writes thus,
" This species is usually esteemed a scarce insect in the neighbourhood of
London, and previously to the last season I never saw it alive ; but the
boundless profusion with which the hedges, for miles, in the vicinity of Rip-
ley, were enlivened by the myriads that hovered over every flower and bramble
blossom, last July, exceeded anything of the kind I have ever witnessed.
Some notion of their numbers may be formed, when I mention that I cap-
tured, without moving from the spot, nearly 200 specimens in less than half-
an-hour, as they successively approached the bramble bush where I had taken
up my position. How to account for their prodigious numbers 1 am per-
fectly unable, as the same fields and hedges had been carefully explored by
me at the same and different periods of the year for several preceding seasons,
without the occurrence of a single specimen in either of its stages ; and it is
worthy of remark that the hedges to the north and north-west of the town
were perfectly free, although the brambles, &c., were in plenty. A few speci-
mens were also taken near Windsor, and in Cambridgeshire, and I believe,
near Ipswich, during the past season. The entomologists of this last town,
Mr. Kirby informs me, do not esteem it a scarce insect ; its usual time of
appearance is the end of June, and it continues till the middle of July." In
the " Zoologist " for 1847, Mr. Stephen adds, " Although 1 frequented the
same locality for thirteen years subsequently ; sometimes in the season, for a
month together, I have not seen a single specimen there; but in 1833, I
caught one specimen at Madingly Wood, near Cambridge."

"In 1829 or 1830," so writes the Rev. C. S. Bird, "this insect appeared
in the greatest profusion in my own garden, at Burghfield, near Heading."

It has also been obtained at Melton Wood, near Doncaster, in Yorkshire;
Ashton and Barn well Wolds, in Northamptonshire; Stilton, in Huntingdon-
shire; New Forest, Hampshire; Allesley, in Warwickshire; and in the
neighbourhood of Bristol.

In 1873, it appeared in great abundance in Savenoke Forest.

TH.ECLA PRUNI.

Dark HairstreaJc.

Pruni, Linn. Pru'ni, from the generic name of its food-plant, the Black-
thorn, Prunus spinosus.

This species averges about an inch and a quarter in the expansion of its
wings. On the upper side it is a very dark brown, sometimes almost black,
and has near the hinder edge of the hind- wing a few orange spots. This last
character will at once distinguish it from the previous species, W-album. On
the underside it is an ashy grey, and has a broad band of orange, with a
row of black spots on its inner edge, and a silvery blue line.

The caterpillar is green, with oblique yellow lines on the sides, and dark
marks down the back. It feeds on blackthorn in May.

The chrysalis is brown, obese, with lighter markings, and darker tubercles.

The butterfly emerges at the end of June or July, and frequents woods in
Central Europe, France, Italy, Scandinavia, Dalmatia, and the mountainous
districts of Western Siberia. In this country it is confined to very few
counties : Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Derby-
shire, and the extreme south of Yorkshire.

It was not known to be a British species until September 1828, when a
member of the Entomological Club, purchased a number of specimens from a
Mr. Seaman, then a well-known dealer in objects of natural history, and resident
at Ipswich. The purchase was made under the impression that the butter-
flies were the Black Hair-streak (W-album), then a desirable insect to obtain.
Seaman, unconscious of the value of his capture, had given the real and
familiar locality of Monk's Wood, in Huntingdonshire, as the habitat, but as
soon as it was known that the butterflies were not the Black Hair-streak at
all, but a species new to Britain, he determined to move the mine of wealth
to Yorkshire ; and Mr. Curtis, who shortly afterwards published the butterfly
under its correct name, gave Yorkshire as the county where it had been
found.

In an appendix to his " Illustrations of British Entomology/' 1834, Mr.
Stephens writes, " The insect occurs in profusion in Monk's Woods, Hunts.,
towards the end of June, at which period it was taken by C. C. Babington,
Esq., and in the beginning of July 1 had the pleasure of capturing it there
myself."

In 1832, several were taken by Mr. Henderson, in Melton Wood, near
Doncaster.

In 1837, my father met with it as late as the 17th of July; and in 1842,
Mr. Doubleday as early as the 18th of June.

In the Zoologist for 1852, the Rev. W. Bree writes, " Thecla pruni is very
uncertain in its appearance. In 1837, it literally swarmed in Barn well
and Ashton Wolds, Northamptonshire. I do not scruple to say that it would
have been possible to capture some hundreds of them, had one been so dis-
posed ; for the last few years it has appeared very sparingly indeed,"

In the " Weekly Intelligence" for 1858, Mr. Sturgess writes, " In a box of
insects captured within a few miles of Chesterfield I find this very local species."

In the " Entomologist " for 1874, Mr. Thompson writes. " Thecla pruni
in Buckinghamshire. On the 4th July, being at Linford Woods, I captured
several specimens of Thecla pruni, on flowers of the privet, mostly females."

SUB-GENUS LYCUS.
Eubner.

Species without the small tail on the hind-wings, and the streak on
the underside wanting or less distinct.

THECLA KUBI.
Green Hair-streak.

EUBI, Linn. Ru'bi, named after the bramble (Rubus fructucosus) , on which
it was formerly supposed to feed.

This may be easily distinguished from all other of our British butterflies
by the green colour of the underside ; and from the other Hair-streaks by
possessing no tails. The colour of the upperside is brown, and the wings
expand about an inch and a quarter. The female has occasionally a pale
whitish oval dot near the middle of the forewings towards the costa.

The caterpillar is of a yellowish green, with a brown dorsal stripe, and
oblique white stripes on the sides, and covered with minute raised points
bearing fine short bristles. It feeds on Genista tinctoria, and on Broom, in
June and July. When about to undergo its change, it enters the earth, but
only just beneath the surface.

The chyrsalis is short and obese, rather rounded, and of a dark, dull pur-
plish brown colour, covered with short dark brown bristles.

The butterfly appears on the wing in the end of April, and continues out till
June. Stray specimens are sometimes met with in July and even in August.

It occurs all over Europe except the Polar regions, North Africa, and
Northern and Western Asia, as far as Persia. In California there is a closely
allied species — Dunetaria, which is, perhaps, only a geographical variety,

It appears to frequent open places in woods, and bushy overgrown land,
lanes, &c., and to be generally distributed throughout the British Isles,
occurring as far north as Eosshire.

The first English author who appears to have known it was Dr. Merrett,
in 1667.

Petiver,in 1702, gives it as occurring in the West of England, Cambridge,
and about London.

taus IX. CHRYSOPHANUS.

Hubner.

CHRYSO'PHANUS, from Chryson — gold, and Phaino — to appear.

The relationship of this genus to the next is unquestionably very close,
but the splendid coppery colour of the upper surface of the wings, the naked
eyes, and the very spinose feet, seem to warrant their generic separation.
There has been a considerable diversity of opinion as to the employment of
the generic names of the two groups. Fabricius included both under the
name of LYCLENA. Latreiile employed the name POLYOMMATUS for the whole
of the species of the family LYCJENID^E, giving one of the Blues as an example
of the genus. Stephens employed the name of LYCLENA for the Coppers and
of POLYOMMATUS for the Blues. On the other hand, Boisduval employed the
name of POLYOMMATUS for the Coppers and that of LYCLENA for the Blues.
But Hubner's name CHRYSOPHANUS is far more applicable to the present
group, being'quite expressive of their splendid appearance.

The species of this genus are for the most part European ; a few species
are, however, scattered over most parts of the world. The species found in
Europe are about fifteen in number, only one of which is to be found in the
British Isles at the present day. Another formerly inhabited the fens of
Huntingdonshire, and three others have been recorded as British, but
apparently upon rather doubtful authority.

CHRYSOPHANUS DISPAR.
Large Copper.

DISPAR, Haworth. Dis'par, unlike ; on account of the disparity in appear-
ance of the sexes.

Some years ago, this was the pride of English entomologists, for we were
supposed to have a butterfly entirely to ourselves, it being unknown on the
Continent, whilst it literally swarmed in some of the fens of Huntingdonshire
and Cambridgeshire.

The two sexes differ very remarkably in the appearance of the upperside.
This in the male, is of an effulgent coppery colour, with a narrow black hind
margin. Above the centre of each fore- wing, are a larger and smaller black
spot. Above the centre of each hind-wing, is a black streak. The female
has two larger black spots above the centre of each fore-wing, and a row of
seven between the centre and the hind margin, which is broader than that of
the male. The hind -wings of the females are much suffused with black scales,
and have a band of coppery-red near the margin, extending also more or less

distinctly along the courses of the veins. On the underside both sexes are
nearly alike, the hind- wings being of a general light blue tint, with black
spots, and a red band near the margin ; and the fore- wings having a yellow-
ish tinge, with a row of seven black spots between the centre and the hind
margin, and another row of three between the middle and the fore margin .

The expanse across the wings varies from one inch and five lines to two
inches and two lines. Very few varieties are known. There is a female in
my own collection, which is almost entirely black, and a specimen in Mr.
Sidebotham's collection seems to approach the variety Schmidtii of P/ilceas,
having the forewings inclining to silvery towards the hind margin. On the
Continent occurs the variety Rutilus, which is smaller, and has smaller spots,
and is found in France, Germany, and Italy. It has been recorded as British
under the name of Hippothoe. Concerning this, my father wrote in " London's
Magazine/1 for 1834, " Mr. Haworth told me that they came out of an old
cabinet called the Kentish Cabinet, and were said to have been taken near
Faversham. I had a male and a female from the late Mr. Latham, which
were from Capt. Lindegren's cabinet, whence, probably, all the supposed
British specimens came/'

The caterpillar is somewhat hairy, bright green, with innumerable white
dots. It used to feed on the Great Water Dock (Rumex hydrolapathuni) ,
and was hatched from the egg in August or September, and hybernating
before growing much, reappeared in spring to feed up by May or June.

The chrysalis was at first green, then pale ash-coloured, with a dark dor-
sal line, and two abbreviated white ones on each side, and lastly sometimes
deep brown (Stephens). It was very obese, blunt at both extremities,
attached by minute hooks at the caudal extremities, and also by a belt of
of silk round the middle (Newman.)

The butterfly used to emerge from the chrysalis state in June and July,
the 25th of June being the earliest known date.

Some butterflies of this very rare species, so Lewin, in ] 793 informs us in
his " Insects of Great Britain," were met with by a gentleman in Hunting-
donshire, on a moorish piece of land, and were afterwards sent to Mr. Seymer,
P.L.S., of Dorsetshire, who presented them to the late Duchess Dowager of
of Portland.

Haworth, in 1803, informs us in his " Lepidoptera Britannica," that the
butterfly in July frequents the marshes of Cambridgeshire in certain but un-
determinable years. That it is a new and very beautiful species to England,
lately detected by himself and his very dear friends W. Skrimshire and "F.
Skrimshire, M.D., and formerly in Wales by the celebrated botanist Hudson;
but nowhere in Scotland, as Donovan hath said from erroneous information.

Mr. William Hudson, on the institution of the British Museum, in 1756,
was made one of the assistant librarians. He resigned this office, however,
in 1758, in order to pursue his profession as an apothecary. In 1762, he
published his well-known work " Flora Angiica," in which the indigenous
plants of England were arranged according to the Linnaean system, and he
was soon after made a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1778, was published a
second and improved edition.

The Messrs. Skrimshire first saw the Coppers as they going to Ely in a gig
in 1797 or 1798, but took little notice. On returning they saw one settle
on the road, and they knew it was not a common one.

The next specimens were taken at Whittlesea Mere, by Thomas Speechley,
an old boatman in my father's employ, in July, 1819, and subsequently by
my father himself and the Messrs. Standish. It appears to have occurred in
great plenty, as several hundreds were taken within the next ten years by the
London collectors, who visited Whittlesea and Yaxley Meres, during the
month of July, for the sole purpose of obtaining specimens. In 1827, Mr.
Haworth took fifty specimens in a single day in Bardolph Fen, Norfolk ; a
few also were taken at Benacre, in Suffolk.

In London's "Natural History" for 1834, is the following fact com-
municated to the Rev. W. T. Bree, by Mr. Haworth. "Some entomologists
once made an excursion into the fens, for the purpose of taking the beautiful
Lycana dispar or Large Copper butterfly, which it is well known frequents
low marshy grounds. The Coppers were captured in great abundance. It so
happened that the following winter proved to be a very wet one, and the
entire tract of land where the Coppers had been found was completely in-
undated, and actually lay under water for a considerable time. The entomo-
logists deemed that the flood would certainly destroy the Coppers, and that
the race would become extinct in that part of the country. The next summer,
however, the butterflies were found again on the very same spot, as plenti-
fully as before. Subsequently the tract of land was submitted to the action
of fire, and the whole surface burnt with a view to agricultural improvement.
After this operation, the Coppers were no longer met with in that particular
locality." The latest capture, consisting of five specimens, appears to have
been made at Holme Fen, by Mr. Stretton either in 1847 or 1848.

In 1851, Whittlesea Mere was drained, and what was once the home of
many a rare bird and insect, became first a dry surface of hardened mud,
cracked by the sun's heat into multitudinous fissures, and now scarce yields
to any land in England, in the weight of its golden harvest.

In the " Introduction to Entomology " by Kirby and Spence, published in
1826, is the following passage, " Morasses also have their peculiar insects.

In this kind of district in the Isle of Ely, has been taken that scarce and
beautiful butterfly Lycana virgaurea" by a Fellow of Trinity College, Cam-
bridge. Donovan also states one was taken in Cambridgeshire, and Papilio
virgaurea and Papilio hippothoe (meaning Dispar), have been frequently
confounded with each other ; but on a comparison, a material difference will
be discovered. Moses Harris has figured Phlaas under the name of Vir-
gaurea, but he was misled by Linnaeus, who referred a description of Bay's,
to Yirgaurea instead of Phlceas.

CHRYSOPHANUS HIPPOTHOE.
Purple-edged Copper.

HIPPOTHOE, Linn. Hippo'thoe, the mother of Taphius, of the race of
Perseus.

There has existed a certain amount of confusion, concerning the name of
the present species. Fabricius thinking Linnseus' description applied to
Dispar, named the present species Chryseis. But the specimen in the
Linnsean cabinet is not Dispar, but the Chryseis of Fabricius.

In the "Pinax rerum Naturalium Britannicarum " of Dr. Christopher
Merrett, published at London in 1667, is the following description of a
butterfly, " Cum externis coccineis externis purpurascentibus." Mr. Haworth
observes in his " Review of Entomology " published in the " Transactions of
the Entomological Society" for 1812, "That Merrett should have been
acquainted with Papilio chryseis, the Purple -edged Copper as British is
indeed singular, but his words ' externis purpurascentibus/ by which I
understood ' externis marginibus/ &c., absolutely and pointedly agree with it,
and as absolutely and pointedly disagree with every other known British
species."

" The next account of it we have is in " Sowerby's British Miscellany, pub-
lished in 1806, as follows, "This new British Papilio was caught by Mr.
Plasted, of Chelsea, in Ashdown Forest, Sussex."

It may perhaps be asked, What other species did Mr. Plasted take ? Why !
Satyrus hero and arcanius, in Ashdown Forest; Acontia catena, at Brixton;
and Acontia caloris, in the neighbourhood of London.

In his " British Entomology " Curtis wrote, " Chryseis was abundant in
August and September, 1818, at Woodside, near Epping."

In his " Illustrations of British Entomology " Stephens wrote, " Dr. Leach
received fine and recent specimens from the vicinity of Epping, for several
successive seasons." Probably they were from the same person, supposed to
be a dealer, who is said to have taken Calophasia tinaria in June, 1817,
at Woodside, near Epping.

It is a common species throughout a great part of Europe and Western
Asia, from June to August, though somewhat local, frequenting damp
meadows near woods, and in the mountains.

CHKYSOPHANUS PHLCEAS.

Small Copper.

PHLCEAS, Linn. Phlce'as, a surname of Venus, perhaps derived from /0s
bloom.

The sexes of this lively little representative of the genus resemble each
other closely, and also the female of Dispar on the upperside, the hind-wings
however, are much blacker, and there are three lilac dots on each. On the
underside, the hind-wings are of an ashy brown. The expanse varies from
eleven lines to one inch and four lines.

It is a very variable species, and the ground colour varies from the bright
copper of the type through paler yellow to perfectly pure silvery white, which
variety is called Schniidtii. In the other direction, it varies by the fore-wing
being suffused with dark scales until they nearly resemble the hind-wings.
Mr. Stephens in his "Illustrations" give the following varieties.

Yar. b. has the fore-wings of a deep dusky copper, with very large nearly
confluent spots ; the hind- wings with a very narrow waved band.

Yar. c. has the forewings of a pale rufous copper, with the spots very small,
and several of the inner ones obliterated.

Yar. d. has the hindwings more or less spotted with blue towards the
coppery band.

Yar. e. has the hind- wings with faint radiating coppery lines, as in the
female of Dispar.

Yar../. has the hind-wings wholly of a dusky colour, without the cupreus
marginal fascia.

Yar. g. has the disc of the wings pure white ; but the wings are spotted
and bordered as in the type.

The Southern variety Tineus, Cranes, is very much darker than the type,
and has short tails to the hind-wings.

Other named varieties are Chinensis, occurring at Shanghai ; Pseudop&Zteas,
from Abyssinia; Americana, from Massachuchets, and Hypophlaas, from
California.

The egg is large for the size of the butterfly. It is circular, rather flattened,
of a light cream colour, and very coarsely reticulated with whitish raised net
work. — Buckler.

The caterpillar is green, and has a deep red dorsal stripe and a pale red
mark along the side, where it projects over the legs. Sometimes it is paler
and without the red markings. It feeds on various species of dock and
sorrel (Rumex.)

The chysalis is of a light brown, very much freckled with darker brown.
It is very thick and dumpy, much resembling that of Lycana.

There appears to be three broods of this resplendent little butterfly in the
year. It appears first on the wing in April or May ; the eggs then deposited
hatch in about ten days, and the caterpillars feed up in about three weeks ; they
remain ten or twelve days in the chrysalis state, and the butterfly is on the
wing again by the end of June. The same relative periods may be taken
with the third brood, the butterflies of which appear in September, and con-
tinue on the wing sometimes as late as the 8th of November, flashing about
in the sunshine, or settling on the yellow flowers of the Inula or Ragwort, or
on the lilac blossoms of the Scabious, whose soft tones set off to the best
advantage the metallic effulgence of this little gem. The caterpillars from
this last brood hybernate when small, and reappear early the following spring.

Phlceas has a very extensive range, and is abundant throughout Europe, ex-
cept the extreme North, in North Africa from the Canary Islands to Abyssinia,
Northern and Western Asia to the Himalayas, and even over the greater part
of North America, one form of it extending as far South as Venezuela.

It is also an abundant species throughout the British Isles, except the
extreme North.

It is described in Bay's "Historia Insectorium," 1710.

GENUS X. POLYOMMATUS.

Latreille.

POLYOM'MATUS, many eyed, in allusion to the numerous eye-like spots on
the under surface of the wings.

This is a very large genus, embracing between three and four hundred
species, distributed all over the world, but least numerous in South America.
One species, Parrhasioides, is as yet the only butterfly known from the
Galapagos Islands, and another, FranJclinii, is found high up in the Arctic
Regions. One species, Trochilius, is the smallest of our European butterflies,
measuring not more than half-an-inch across the wings. Small as all the
European Blues are, few of the tropical ones surpass them in size or in beauty ;
and the largest known species, Pyreri, a native of Japan, is not more than a
couple of inches across the wings, being thus only slightly larger than our

English species Arion; About 50 species inhabit Europe, of which ten have
been taken in Britain.

The characters of the genus may be thus described : Antennae slender, club
thick, not gradually formed like that of Thecla; palpi rather long; eyes
sometimes hairy, sometimes naked ; wings very seldom with tails, those of the
male generally blue ; those of female generally brown.

The caterpillars of all our British species, with the exception of Argiolus,
feed on papilionaceous, and various other low plants.

Dr. Horsfield in the " Lepidoptera Javanica," divided the genus Polyom-
matus into two sub-genera, the first named P&taxgM, from the peculiar
aspect of the chrysalis. This sub-genus is represented in the British Fauna
by T. alsus. The sub-genus Polyommatus, is characterised by Dr. Horsfield
as having the margins of the hind-wings with the anal extremity angular,
and produced to a short, rounded point. Mr. Stephens, in his catalogue,
adopts these two sub-genera as sections, giving Argiolus and Acis, as well as
Alsus, as belonging to Pithecops. Dr. Horsfield, however, gives Alsus ex-
pressly as the European type of Pithecops, which he characterises by the
comparative narrowness of the wings, and it also possesses a peculiarity in the
arrangement of the veins of the fore- wings. Argiolus , on the contrary, has
broader wings than any other European species, and of a stronger texture.
Ochsenheimer divided the genus artificially into two sections, according to the
presence or want of a row of fulvous spots within the hind-margin of the
hind-wings.

A few species have pale transverse lines on the underside ; these and one
or two others, have short and slender tails to the hind-wings. These
Hiibner placed in his genus Lampides.

SUB-GENUS— LAMPIDES.

Hubner.

Hind-wings with short and slender tails.

Most of the species of this sub-genus are found in Asia and the Asiatic
Islands, and only four in Europe.

POLYOMMATUS BCETICUS.
Long-tailed Blue*

B(Eiicus, Linn. Boe'ticus, from Bcetica, as the Southern portion of Spain
was called in the days of the Roman Empire.

This little stranger somewhat resembles the Common Blue on the upperside,
but may at once be recognized by the long, tail-like appendages to the hind-
wings. The underside is totally distinct from that of any of our native Blues,
being of a plain brown with numerous nearly straight white streaks, and two
spots of glittering metallic green, reminding one on a small scale, of the
" eye " of a peacock's feather. On the upperside the male is of a violet blue,
with two black spots at the anal angle of the hind- wings ; but the female is
blue only at the base of the fore-wings, and the inner margin of the hind-
wings, the prevailing colour being brown.

The expansion of the wings varies from one inch and a line to an inch
and four lines.

The caterpillar feeds on the common pea, and other of the Leguminosse in
June and July, but has not yet been detected in Britain. It is of a green
or of a reddish-brown colour, with a dark dorsal streak, and has a lateral line
and oblique streaks, of a paler shade than the ground colour.

The chrysalis is attached by a belt of silk round the middle of its body to
the stem of its food plant. It is obese and rounded at both extremities ; the
colour is testaceous yellow or dull red, with brown dots and black spiracles.

The butterfly is on the wing from August to October. It has long been
known as a Southern species, with a very wide range of distribution, abound-
ing everywhere in Europe south of the Alps, and all over Africa, Western
Asia and the East Indies. It is also found in the Mauritius and the Canary
Islands, and in the Island of St. Helena it is the commonest butterfly, being
especially fond of a rather high altitude. On the other hand it is scarcely
ever found north of the Alps, except in France ; though it occasionally
extends its range as far as the Channel Islands, where it appeared abundantly
in 1859, and has even been met with once or twice on the South coast of
England, and three times in Belgium.

It was first taken in this country in the above mentioned year, 1859; one
specimen on the 4th August, near Christchurch, Hampshire, by Mr. Latour.
Another on the same day at Brighton, by Mr. McArthur, on the downs near
the sea, where a third specimen was taken the next day by the same collector.
The next specimen was taken at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight, by Mr.
Snell, on the 23rd of August, 1878.

In 1880, Mr. Durham writes to the " Entomologist "" On September
12th, while at Aldwich, near Bognor, Sussex, I went into the garden, shortly
after breakfast. I almost immediately saw a specimen of this rare butterfly
at rest on a geranium. Having obtained my net, I succeeded in taking it/'

In 1882, a specimen was taken at Bournemouth by Miss Staples, on the
2nd October.

POLYOMMATUS ARGIADES.
Bloxworth Blue.

ARGIADES, Pall. Argia'des, perhaps from Argia, wife of Polynices,
daughter of Adrastus, King of Argos.

The wings of this — the most recent addition to our by no means large list
of British Butterflies, expand a little over an inch. It somewhat resembles
jEgon, but may be recognized by the little tail-like appendages to the hind-
wings. On the upperside, the male is of a lilac blue, with narrow brown
borders to all the wings. The female is brown, and has two orange spots at
the anal angle of the hind-wings. The underside is of a whitish grey, with
a few black spots and two orange spots at the anal angle of the hind-
wings.

The caterpiUar is of a pale green, with a dark line along the back, and
brown and white spots. It feeds on Lotus corniculatus, and various species
of Trifolium, hybernating small and feeding up in the spring.

The discovery of a new butterfly in Britain is an event of considerable
interest. Mr. Stainton in 1857, considered that new species of British
butterflies were more likely to occur in the genus Erebia, than in any other.
Events have proved him wrong. As far as we know at the present time,
only five specimens of Argiades have been taken in England ; two by the
Rev. 0. P. Cambridge, or rather by his sons. These were taken on Blox-
worth Heath, near Wareham, in Dorsetshire, on the 19th and 20th of August,
1885. A specimen was also taken near Bournemouth, the same month by
Mr. Philip Tudor. Two others have been detected by the Kev. J. S. St. John,
of Whatley Rectory, Frome, Somersetshire. These, it appears, were taken
eleven years ago, 1874, close by a small quarry not two miles from the
Rectory. As it has a co-extensive range with Adonis and Cory don on the
Continent, it is probable that it occupies other exceedingly small holdings
in our South- Western counties, than those to which reference has been
made.

Abroad it appears to be, generally speaking, a common species, frequenting
open flowery places in woods, and mountain meadows in May, and again in
August. The spring brood, Polysperchon, in much smaller than the summer,
and there is a variety, Corelas, which has no orange spots.

It is found throughout Central and Southern Europe, except Spain, North-
Western Asia, the South of Siberia, and Amurland.

SUB-GENUS— NOMIADES.
Uubner.

The species of this sub-genus differ from the next by the absence of any
red or fulvous spots on the underside.

In Britain we possess four species, one of which, Alsus, belongs to the
sub-genus Pithecops, of Dr. Horsfield.

POLYOMMATUS ARGIOLUS.
Azure Blue.

ARGIOLUS, Linn. Argi'olus, dimmintive of Argos, a city of Greece.

This Blue has wings of a stronger texture than any other of the European
species, and is of entirely different habits, flying over the tops of, and settling
on, holly bushes, evergreen oaks, and ivy covered walls and trees, instead of
low growing plants, in meadows and on chalk downs.

The male is of a pale blue on the upperside, slightly margined with black.
The spring brood of the female much resembles the male, but it has a broad
black hind-margin to the fore-wings, and black marginal dots on the hind-
wings. The summer brood has the hind-margins of the fore-wings still
broader ; and the costa of the hind- wings also is broadly black. The under-
side is of a very silvery blue, with numerous black dots. The width across
the wings varies from one inch to one inch and a quarter.

In Persia and the Island of Cyprus a variety, Hypoleuca, occurs, which
has no spots on the underside.

There are two broods of the butterfly in the year. The first is on the wing
the middle of April, to the middle of May; sometimes earlier, as the Rev.
W. Bree in "London's Magazine "for 1831, mentions having seen it on
the wing as early as March 28th. The caterpillars from this are hatched
from the egg in the end of May, and feed on the flowers and young leaves of
holly, or young ivy leaves throughout the month of June.

The second brood of butterflies appear in the end of July and in August.
The second brood of caterpillars feed in September and October, on the
flower buds and young leaves of the ivy ; and the winter is passed in the
chrysalis state.

The egg is very much like that of the Common Blue, except that it is
rather larger, the shell is of a pale bluish green, and its whole surface, with
the exception of a central spot, is overlaid with raised white reticulations,
having little knobs at the angles.

The caterpillar escapes from it by eating a hole near the centre of the
upper suface, and is plump and hairy, with a greenish-white body and dark
head ; it is very slow in its movements. In about five weeks it is full-fed,
and then reaches the length of three-eighths of an inch, covered with un-
usually long, whitish, soft, silky hair. There appear to be several varieties
in colour. One is of a bright yellowish-green, with paler lines ; another is
of an olive green, strongly marked with crimson on the dorsal region, and
along the sides ; another is of a dark dull satiny green, with a dark green
line along the back ; another is of an olivaceous pink or mouse colour. It
feeds on the flower buds and young leaves of the holly, ivy, evergreen oak,
dogwood, spindle tree, and buckthorn. About four or five days before
changing to the chysalis state, it spins a fine layer of silk as a foothold, and
fastens itself to a stalk of its food -plant, by a stout thread of silk round the
middle of the body, and two short ones on each side, joining which it forms
triple moorings. — Buckler.

The chrysalis is short and obese, smooth, of a green or pale ochreous
colour, with brown markings, and a dark dorsal line.

Argiolus is a common but seldom abundant species, in open woods and
gardens, throughout Europe except the extreme North, Northern and Western
Asia, and North Africa ; and very closely allied species are found in the
Himalayas and North America.

It is generally distributed throughout England and Ireland, but is ap-
parently absent from Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Eay, in his " Historia Insectorium," published in 1710, gives it as having
taken by Petiver in a garden at Enfield. This appears to be the first
account of it being taken in England.

Lewin writes in 1795, "They are inhabitants of our woodlands, but are
far from being numerous. Flying slowly up and down the avenues of the
woods they may be easily taken."

In 1809 and 1810, my father met with it in great plenty at Enborne in
Berkshire, during the months of May and June.

In 1835 and 1836, it was very abundant in Suffolk, but in 1841 only a
couple were seen.

In 1856, immense quantities were taken in Sutton Park, Warwickshire.

In 1870, several were seen in Dorsetshire, previously only one had been
seen at Glanvilles Wootton, and that on the 28th of April, 1827.

In 1882, Argiolus was again very common.

In the "Entomologist" for 1886, Mr. Harwood of Colchester writes,
" I collected for years in this district without meeting with a single specimen ;

it then became common for several seasons, but has been comparatively
scarce during the past three or four years."

Although Argiolus is double-brooded in the South of England, it appears
to be only single-brooded in the North, as in his " Lepidoptera of North-
umberland and Durham" Mr. "Wailes only records it as occurring in the
spring of the year; and the Kev. W. T. Bree writing to "London's Maga-
zine for 1836, states, that he took a specimen on the 28th of August, in his
garden at Allesley, near Coventry, in Warwickshire, and that, although the
species is for the most part only single-brooded in his part of the country, it
it does nevertheless, occasionally, though rarely, produce a second brood
during the same season.

POLYOMMATUS AOIS.
Mazarine Blue.

Acis, W. V. A'cis a young Prince of Sicily, who was in love with the
beautiful Galathea, and in despair threw himself into the river, which from
that time has borne his name. This species appears to have had the name of
Semiargus given to it in " Des Naturforscher " a Zoological Miscellany,
published at Halle, in 1775. The name of Acis was given in the Vienna
Catalogue, published in 1776.

Lewin, however, in 1795, called it Cimon, giving Linnaeus as an authority
for the name.

The male is of a dull dark blue, with very narrow blackish-brown hind
margin to the wings.

The female is of a dark brown, with a bluish tinge at the base of the wings.
The under-side of both sexes are similar, being of a pale greyish-drab, tinged
at the base with greenish-blue, and with black spots in white rings.

The width across the wings varies from one inch to one inch and a half.

Five named varieties occur on the mountains of Asia Minor, Mount Par-
nassus and other Greek mountains. One of them, Befoi, has red spots on
the underside, and another, Antiochena, a form of the female, has a reddish
band on the upperside of all the wings.

When flying, Acis much resembles Alexis, but is darker in colour, of
slower flight, and flies more heavily, and at Glanvilles Wootton was formerly
the most common.

The caterpillar has never been discovered in England. It is covered with
fine yellowish-green hair, and has stripes of a darker shade on the back and
sides ; the head and feet being of a dark brown. It feeds on Anthyllis vulner-
aria in August and September. (Kirby.)

The butterfly is found from May to August, and inhabits meadows through-
out Europe except the extreme North, and its range extends into the
Western parts of Asia, as far as Persia.

It has never been met with in Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man or the
Channel Islands, and in England is an almost, if not quite, extinct species.

The first account we have of its occurrence in England, is in Ray's " His-
toria Insectorum " published in 1710, as follows. " Alse supinse ad exortum
ccerulescunt ; inferius e fusco albicant. Ocelli sex septemne in singulis alis.
A. D. Dale capta nobisque ostensa est."

In 1795, Lewin in his "Insects of Great Britain " writes, " This is a very
rare butterfly with us, and therefore it will be readily supposed our know-
ledge of its natural history is very much confined. The caterpillar is un-
known. The last week in August, 1793, I took two or three of the
butterflies, flying in a pasture field at the bottom of a hill near Bath. They
were much wasted in colour and appeared to have been long on the wing ;
whence we may safely conclude, that they were first out from the chrysalides
about the middle of July."

In 1803, Haworth in his "Lepidoptera Britannica" writes, "Habitat
Imago m. Mai. f. Jul. in Cretaceis, rarissima fere omnium nostratum
caruleorum ; at nuper capta, et ad me missa, in comitatu Ebor, amicissimo
meo P. W. Watson, et etiam in Norfolcia amicissimo meo J. Burrell, M.A."

In 1819, Samouelle in his " Entomologists' Useful Compendium " writes,
In Britain it is very local, but it is found near Sherborne in Dorset in great
abundance."

In 1828, Stephens in his "Illustrations of British Entomology" writes,
" A scarce, or rather local species ; found in chalky districts in Norfolk,
Cambridge, Yorkshire, and Dorsetshire ; also near Brokenhurst and Avesbury,
Hants ; and on Windlesham Heath, Surrey, towards the end of May and of
July." To these localities, Curtis adds Leicestershire, and Coleshill, War-
wickshire, and it has also been met with in Lincolnshire, Worcestershire and
Monmouthshire.

In London's Magazine for 1833, the Kev. W. T. Bree writes, " Acis was
at one time considered to be an insect of very great variety. In 1803,
Haworth spoke of it as the rarest, perhaps, of our British Blues. Since that
period, the species has turned up in a variety of situations. Though by no
means common, it appears to be widely distributed ; nor is it peculiar to
chalk districts ; but seems to delight in woody situations abounding in grass.
Probably it may be overlooked on the wing, and passed by for the Common
Blue."

It was common at Glanvilles Wootton, in Dorsetshire, in 1808, once re-
corded in 1811, once in 1812, common in 1813, 1814, 1815 (one being
taken as late as August 1st), and 1816, scarce in 1817 and 1818, common in
1819, 1820, and 1821, scarce in 1822 and 1823, common in 1825 twenty
specimens being taken by my father on the 13th June, scarce in 1828, 1830,
and 1831, common in 1834 and 1835, one only seen in 1836, a few in 1837,
none recorded in 1838, scarce in 1839 and 1840, and in 1841 a pair on the
19th June, being the last ever seen in Dorsetshire. Erom J. C. Dale's En-
tomological Journal.

In Cambridgeshire, the last specimen appears to have been taken on 28th
July, 1858, and in Gloucestershire, July, 1849. In Glamorganshire, it
could be. taken in plenty in 1835, 1836, and 1837 ; a few were also taken in
that county in 1871, 1874, and 1875, twelve specimens in 1876, and two in
1877. At Tenby, in Pembrokeshire, one was taken by Mr. Edwards, flying
over thyme, in 1883. This appears to be the last specimen taken in the
British Isles.

POLYOMMATUS ALSUS.
Little Blue.

ALSUS, W.V. AFsus, a Rutulian shepherd, Yirg. ^Eneid. xii. 304.

This was named Minima by Fuessli in 1775, but Fabricius recognizing
the absurdity of the name, adopted that of Alsws, given in the Vienna
Catalogue, published in 1776. Trochilius, not Alsus, is the smallest of the
Eureopean butterflies.

Both sexes are of a dull brown on the upperside, the male with, the female
without, a silvery blue tinge. The underside much resembles that of Ads.

The width across the wings varies from three-quarters of an inch to an inch.

Yery few varieties are known. I once saw an albino taken at Winchester,
and a variety, Lorquinii, which is sky blue on the upperside, is found on the
Continent.

The egg, as might be expected, is very small, round, but more flat than
globular, with a central depression on the upper surface ; the depression is
the only place where the pale green ground colour of the egg can be well seen,
because the rest of it is closely covered with a raised white network. It is
generally deposited low down on the calyx of the flowers of Anthf/llu vul-
neraria ; on the flowers and seeds of which plant the caterpillar feeds.

The caterpillar is a very tiny little fellow on emerging from the egg, and is
of a whitish-green colour with a black head. After a time the colour changes

(59

to a pinkish-brown or a chocolate, and finally to a greenish-yellow, with
reddish-brown dorsal and lateral streaks, the skin being covered with short
bristles of a darkish brown. When full grown it is about one-third of an
inch long, and may be compared to a very tiny tortoise, the head being very
small and retractile, and a lateral ridge running all round, and giving the
appearance of an upper shell.

The chrysalis is obese, of a brownish-yellow with three rows of black spots.
It does not appear to be suspended by the tail and by a girdle of silk, as is
the custom of the family, and when found on a chalky soil, can well be passed
over as a stony particle.

There appears to be two broods of the butterfly in the year, at least in the
South of England, one in May and June, and the others in August. Perhaps
the second brood does not always appear, as the Rev. J. Hellins writes to the
"Entomological Monthly Magazine," Vol. 10. thus, "Egg laid about middle
of J une ; caterpillar hatched within a week, full-fed, and fixed motionless
about the end of July, so continuing ten months till the beginning of next
June ; the chrysalis state then lasting some ten days or so, and the butterfly,
apparently, living but a short time to perpetuate the species. The long con-
tinuance in the caterpillar state, after being full-fed, seems very remarkable/'

This little butterfly is generally distributed over Europe except in the
extreme North, and occurs also in Siberia and Asia Minor. It is chiefly
confined to chalk and limestone districts, and rather local though occurring
in almost every county in England, and is common in many places in both
Ireland and Scotland, Forres being its northernmost limit.

Lewin appears to have been the first to have taken it in England, for in
his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, he writes thus, "This very small
butterfly passed unnoticed a number of years. Its flight is quick, and being
so very minute, it is lost to the sight in a moment. It is far from uncommon,
as I have taken it in various places flying the first week in June. It fre-
quents the sides of hedges on a chalky soil. The caterpillar is not likely to
be seen, as it must be very small ; and we may safely suppose, that it feeds
on grass. The male and female differ only in size."

Stephens in 1828, records it as "not a veiy abundant species."

POLYOMMATUS ARION.
Large Blue.

ARION, Linn, Ari'on, a Lyric poet of the Island of Lesbos, and a skilful
player upon the lute.

The upperside is of a deep dark blue, with black hind-margins, and granu-
lated with black scales, giving it a dull appearance. There is a black central
spot on the fore- wing, and four spots or more between it and the hind-
margin. The female differs from the male by having the spots of a larger size,
and wedge shape, instead of being round as are those of the male. The
underside is of silvery gray with a blue tinge near the base of the wings,
and has many black spots in white rings.

The expansion of the wings varies from one inch and five lines, to one inch
and eight lines.

Yar. 6. (Alcon, Steph.) is of a brownish ash colour on the underside, and
has the spots rather indistinct. Stephens records it as being in the collection
of Mr. Haworth, and that it was captured in Buckinghamshire, by Mr. Jones,
known by his paper on the neuration of the wings of the Linnsean Papilions.
After Mr. Haworth's death, it was bought at the sale of his effects, by Mr.
Dale. Other examples exist in various other collections.

Another variety, Cyanecula, occurs in North-Eastern Siberia.

The egg is round, smooth, and depressed on the top, and of a pale greenish-
blue colour. It is covered with fine raised transparent white reticulation.

The caterpillar is a stout little fellow, but tapering towards the head. At
first it is of a dull green colour, but afterwards turns to a pinkish-brown, the
body being sparingly clothed with light brown hair. When young it feeds
on the flowers of Thymus serpyllum, but in captivity always dies before chang-
ing to a chrysalis.

Arion is generally distributed over Europe, and the North and West of
Asia. In Germany it haunts the lofty fir forests, where the ground is clothed
with bilberry, moss, and straggling plants of wild thyme, and is to be met
with throughout the month of July. In Silesia, though, Professor Zeller
found it plentifully in the moist open meadows at the foot of Mount Hoch-
wald. It has never been met with in Ireland, Scotland, or the Isle of Man,
and in very few counties in England.

Donovan in his "Natural History of British Insects," published in 1796,
writes, " Papilio arion is a very scarce insect in this country, and it does not
appear to be much more common in any other part of Europe, as Eabricius
only says " Habitat in Europse Pratis. Mr. Lemon, a collector of eminence
some years since, met with it in England."

British specimens of Arion belonged to the celebrated Duchess of Portland,
and after her death, were sold at the sale of her Museum, in 1786.

In his "History of British Insects," 1795, Lewin writes, "This species
of butterfly is but rarely met with in Englr nd. It is out on the wing the
middle of July, on high chalky lands in afferent parts of the kingdom,

having been taken on Dover Cliffs, Marlborough Downs, the hills near Bath,
and near Cliefden in Buckinghamshire."

Mr. Haworth received this local species from Dr. Abbott, who took it in
1798, in the Mouse's Pasture, near Bedford, where Mr. Dale afterwards
took it in 1819.

It was also formerly taken on hills near Winchester, at Monk's Wood in
Huntingdonshire, near Hereford, and at Charmouth, in Dorsetshire. Its
metropolis appears to have been in South Devon, at the Bolt's Head, near
Plymouth. It has also been met in some abundance at Clonelly, in North
Devon, at Langport, in Somersetshire, and on the Cotswold Hills in Glou-
cestershire. From Gloucestershire we ascend to a Midland county, North-
amptonshire, in which county a considerable number have been taken at
Barnwell Wold, where it was discovered by the Eev. W. T. Bree, in July,
1837.

During the last five and twenty years, this fine species of Blue has been
gradually disappearing from its known localities in this country. It was
certainly extinct at Barnwell Wold, in 1865, and it has rarely, if ever, been
seen in the Wold since the wet summer of 1860.

The following passage is extracted from a communication made to the
"Entomologists' Monthly Magazine" for 1885, by Mr. Herbert Marsden : —
"It was on June 17th, 1866, that I first saw the species alive, when in the
course of a long ramble I captured it in a narrow valley amongst the Cots-
wold Hills. The early part of June, 1867, was dark and cold, and I only
secured some twelve or fifteen examples. The season, May and June, 1868,
was hot and brilliant, and Arion appeared on June 5th, which is the earliest
date I ever heard of the species being out; but although rather more plenti-
ful than the previous year, it was still rather scarce. In 1869, another fine
or partially fine season, it was more abundant, and I find from my diary that
on June 19th I took ten at rest about sunset. The year 1870, however, is
the one to be marked with a white stone by the lovers of Lycsenidse; and
Arion appeared much more widely distributed than in any other year I know
of, either before or since. It would, I am sure, have been possible for an
active collector to have caught a thousand specimens during the season, for
in a few visits I secured about an hundred and fifty, not netting half of those
seen, and turning many loose again. During the next few years Arion con-
tinued to appear, but very irregularly as regards numbers. The best seasons
since 1870 being those of 1876 and 1877, the latter especially, but on no
occasion has it been nearly so abundant as in 1870. Now come the dark days.
The latter part of June, 1877, was damp and broken, not at all the bright
warm weather which Arion loves. In dark, cloudy weather they are always

still, and, I believe, they will only deposit their eggs when the sun is warm and
bright. In 1878 the weather was worse, there being hardly a fine day in the
month, and less than a dozen were seen, mostly worn and weather-beaten,
for there was scarcely two consecutive fine days. In 1879 the weather was
still worse, and Arion scarcer than ever, while in 1880 only two were obtained
and two three more seen. Tor the four years 1881-4, not one has been seen
in the Gloucestershire district that I have been able to trace."

In the "Entomologist" for 1884, Mr. Bignell writes, "I feel quite
certain that the haunts of Lycana arion at Bolthead must be looked upon as
a thing of the past. I visited the old familiar spots twice this year, 28th
June and 5th July, without seeing a single specimen. On the 17th June,
1865, when I captured the above named species, the wild thyme was in full
bloom. Many females I watched that day, flitting about depositing their
eggs on the flowers of the thyme. But now all is changed, the fern, furze,
and thyme, which held full possession of the slopes towards the sea are com-
paratively gone. The farmer who rents the land has annually burnt, first
one spot and then another. I know Arion has been on the wing this year,
for I have had the pleasure of seeing nine specimens, taken during the first
week in July by a gentleman who had visited Bolthead, but gave it up in
disgust. Although the eggs are laid on the flowers of the thyme, and the
caterpillars feed upon them until the first moult, it is quite certain that it is
not their food-plant; but what the food -plant is I am not prepared to say,
but I strongly suspect it is one one small trefoils or vetches!3

The above mentioned nine specimens are the last that have been recorded
as being taken in England, and were probably taken on a rough piece of
ground near a village about ten miles from Kingsbridge, in South Devon,
where Newman in his " British Butterflies" published in 1871, records it
as being very abundant.

SUB-GENUS— AGRIADES.
Rubner.

All the species of this sub-genus or section possess a row of red or fulvous
spots on the under surface of all the wings, near the hind margin.

The females bear a close resemblance to each other ; indeed, Mr. Stainton
in his " Manual " observes of two of the species, Cory don and Adonis, " The
first real difficulty of the butterfly collector consists in the discrimination of
the females of these species ; the males can always be readily distinguished
by the great difference in the ground colour of the upper surface of the wings.

Adonis well deserves its name, and is the most splendid Blue we have.
Corydon, however, has a peculiar beauty of its own, it reminds one of the soft
silvery appearance of moonlight, whilst Adonis recalls the intense blue of
the sky on a hot summer's day. These gay colours are confined to the males,
the females are clothed in sober garbs of brown. Cory don boasts of a more
or less distinct spot on the upper surface of the hind-wings, this in Adonis
we seek for in vain ; and, besides, in Cory don we find the dark dashes in the
white fringes broader and more conspicious than in Adonis. A fainter point
of distinction is, that the black spots of the underside are more conspicuous in
Corydon than in Adonis" Corydon has, moreover, a more striking appear-
ance than Adonis, and is normally the larger insect of two. The scales, again,
with which each is sprinkled, are of the same tint as the respective males.

POLYMMATUS CORYDON.
Chalk Hill Blue.

CORYDON, Poda, Cor'ydon, a Roman shepherd. Virg. Eel. ii. 56.

This species varies in the expansion of its wings from an inch and a line to
an inch and three-quarters.

The male has the upper surface of the wings of a very light silvery blue
with dusky hind-margins, which near the anal angle of the hind-margins are
broken up into three or four spots. The female is brown, sprinkled with
scales of the male colour, and has a row of fulvous spots round the hind-
margin, most distinct on the hind- wings, which have also a less distinct
central spot. Both sexes have white fringes, through which the wing rays
form dark lines ; these lines are broader and more conspicuous than are those
of Adonis. The underside is of a brownish-grey or slate colour with distinct
black spots in white rings, these spots are larger than those of Adonis, and
give a bolder and a more striking appearance. A row of these spots round
the hind-margin has an orange lunule to each, on the side nearest the base,
forming a wavy orange line.

Many remarkable varieties of this species exist, especially on the underside.

Stephens in his "Illustrations" gives the following: —

Yar. 6. Above brown, with a blue disc, and a whitish discoidal dot with a
black pupil : beneath, the posterior wings have a discoidal white-cinctured
crescent, with a waved band of seven undulated spots towards the hinder
margin. This is the Calathys of Miss Jermyn.

Var. c. iMale with the hinder-margins of all the wings above with a very
deep blackish fimbria ; the ocelli on the posterior wings very strong.

Var. d. with the humeral spots beneath the anterior wings obliterated.

Var. e. all the wings beneath with the central discoidal spot alone; the
margins with faint rudiments of ocelli.

Var./! with the spots more or less confluent beneath, sometimes prolonged
into dashes ; the colour of the upper surface of the wings in both sexes varies
much ; the female has been found with the disc fine "rich blue.

There are a great many named varieties : —

Var. Albicans, H.8., as its name implies, is a white form found in Anda-
lusia.

Var. Appenina, Zell., is a very pale form found on the Italian mountains.

Var. Hispana, U.S., or Arragonensis, Gerh., is another pale form, with
spotted hind-margin, found in Spain.

Var. Corydonius, H.S., or Ossmar, Bis., is a violet-blue form, found on the
mountains of Asia Minor.

Var. Caucasica, Led., is a sky-blue form, from Armenia.

Var. Syngrapha, Kef. is a form of the female which resembles the male,
except that there is a brownish band of orange rings or lunules round the
hind-margin of all the wings. It occurs chiefly on the Swiss Alps, but I
have a specimen taken in the South of England, and it has also been met
with at Frankfort.

Var. Calathais, Jermyn, has a discoidal white-cinctured crescent on the
underside of the hind wings, below which, towards the posterior margin, is an
undulated band consisting of seven ocellated spots ; the forewings sometimes
have a central spot and sometimes more. I have both male and female of
of the variety, and also a specimen with only a central spot on the underside
of one of the ferewings and several on the other.

Var. Cinnus, Hubner, closely resembles the last, but the hind wings are of
a much darker brown, and the fore wings have seven black spots in white
rings on the underside.

Var. Parisiensis, Gerh., closely resembles the type with the exception of a
white streak on the underside of the hind wings.

Besides these there are other remarkable varieties. Mr. Welman has a
female taken at Croydon, with a small patch of the male colour on the fore
wings, and a larger patch on the hind wings ; and I have one which is chalky
white on the underside, and has only one black spot, and that in the centre
of each fore wing.

The caterpillar is very similar to that of Adonis, but is of a lighter and
and brighter green, and the hairs it is covered with are of a light brown. In
every other particular of form and ornamentation the two agree. It
feeds on Hippocrepris comow, Anthyllis vulneraria and other allied plants.

In the description of Papilio Machaon, it will be remembered that a dis-
tinguishing mark of the caterpillar, is a reddish coloured forked appendage
just behind its head, which, when the creature is alarmed, gives out a strongly
scented fluid. According to Dr. Hagen, a somewhat similar process exists
on the caterpillar of Corydon and its allies, but this seems attractive rather
than protective. Dr. Hagen writes, " You find on the penultimate segment
outside and behind the stigmata, two large white spots, each one of which
originates a white membranous tube, just like the finger of a glove, the top
of which is not entirely drawn out. On the ante-penultimate segment is a
large and transverse opening behind and between the stigmata, near the
apical border. It looks like a closed mouth with lips, but I have not seen
anything protruding from it. These were first, I believe, discovered by
Guenee, and the fact that ants hunted the caterpillars, and followed them for
the sake of the secretion was first remarked by Professor Zeller. This ant
companionship is detailed in a very interesting manner by Mr. Edwards, in
his ' Butterflies of North America/ under the head of Lycana Pseudo-argiolus,
from which much of the above is quoted/' — Extracted from Mr. Jordan's
" Eeview of Buckler's Larvae of British Butterflies," in Entomologists1
Monthly Magazine, Vol. 23.

The chrysalis is short and rounded, and of a pale greenish-brown colour.

The butterfly appears on the wing in the middle of July, and continues out
to the first week of September. In the wet year of 1879, I met with both it
and Adonis on the 2nd October, but it must be looked upon in the light of
a retarded emergence. The females appear later than the males, and are
much less frequent. They lay their eggs in August, and the caterpillars
being hatched in September, hybernate small, feed up in the spring, and turn
to the chrysalis state in June.

On the Continent it is found generally in the Central and Southern por-
tions of Europe, from Spain to the South of Russia, and it also occurs in the
West of Asia. Though called the Chalk Hill Blue, Corydon is much more
widely distributed in England than Adonis. It is most plentiful in the South,
but is not uncommon in some places in Lancashire in the West, though it is
not found in Yorkshire in the East. It is most plentiful on the chalk and
limestone, but is occasionally found elsewhere. It has never been met with
in either Scotland, Ireland, or the Isle of Man.

Petiver figured it in 1702, in his " Gazophylaci Naturae et Artis/'and Ray,
in his " Historia Insectorum," writes " Hanc in cellibus Banstedieiisibua
prope Epsam invenit D. Petiver; eumden etiam nuperriine observavit D.
Dale prope Newport oppidum in Essexia,"

POLYOMMATUS ADONIS.
Clifden Blue.

ADONIS, W.V. Ado'nis, a young shepherd beloved by Venus. Virg.
Aln. x. 18.

The name of Adonis was bestowed in the "Vienna Catalogue, published in
1776, and the name of Bellargus, in Der Naturforscher, published in 1775.

The former name was adopted by Fabricius, who attempted to combine in
some degree Natural and Civil History, by attaching the names of personages
illustrious in their day, to the butterflies ; thus following the example of the
illustrious Linnaeus. The only exception Linnaeus appears to have made to
this rule was in naming a few species after the plants on which their cater-
pillars feed.

Linnaeus is recorded as having said, " If Fabricius comes to me with a cer-
tain insect, and Zoega with a certain moss, then I pull off my hat and say,
' Be you my teachers.' " Unfortunately, some entomologists of the present
day, following the harsh and stern rule of priority to too great an extent, dis-
card the beautiful name of Adonis for that of Bellargus. Linnaeus laid down
a rule in his " Critica et Philosophia," that no adjective should be admitted
as a generic name. On this ground he expunged several names of other
authors. In a letter to Haller, written on June 8th, 1737, Linnaeus says,
" Those who come after us, in the free republic of Botany, will never sub-
scribe to authorites sanctioned only by antiquity, why, therefore, should we
retain barbarous or mule names, or names distinguished only by their tails?
If specific names require alteration, why may not false generic ones likewise
be changed ? "

The species varies in the expansion of its wings from an inch and a line to
an inch and a half.

The male has the upper surface of the wings of a lovely clear bright blue,
with a slender black line round the hind margins. The female is brown,
sprinkled with scales of the male colour, and has a row of fulvous spots,
brighter than those on Corydon, round the hind margin, most distinct on the
hind-wings. Both sexes have white fringes, through which the wing rays
form dark lines. The underside is of a brownish gray or slate colour, with
distinct black spots in while rings ; these spots are smaller than those on
Corydon. A row of these spots round the hind margins has an orange lunule
to each on the side nearest the base, forming a wavy orange line. The female
is slightly smaller than the female of Corydon.

Many remarkable varieties of this species exist, especially on the underside.
Stephens, in his "Illustrations/' gives the following :^-

Var. d. With the ocelli beneath more or less confluent.

Var. c. With the fulvous band on the hinder margin of all the wings
obliterated.

Var. d. With the humeral spots of the anterior wings beneath obliterated;

Var. e. With all the ocellated dots beneath very small, and several of them
deficient.

Var./. With the central discoidal spot alone remaining, the marginal
fascia merely indicated by a few indistinct dusky lunules.

The varieties in ocellation are endless : some have the ocelli nearly round,
others more or less elongate ; some very large, others extremely small ; the
white blotch on the posterior wings beneath, also varies much in size and
form.

A few named varieties exist.

Var. Ceronus, Esp., is a form of the female which is very much suffused
with blue on the hindwings, and the male has a marginal band of fulvous
spots on the upper surface of all the wings.

Var. Urania, Bischaff, is a form of the male found in Turkey, which is
black, suffused with blue ; this is perhaps the same as the Polona of Zeller,
which occurs on the mountains of Asia Minor.

Var. Cinnus, Hub., has the spots on the underside of the posterior wings
not ocellated. Besides these, there are other remarkable varieties. I have
a female of the same colour as the male, thus corresponding to the var.
Syngrapha of Corydon. Mr. Briggs has a female with dashes of the male
colour on the tip of one wing, and females are occasionally very much suffused
with blue. A very strange variety was taken at Folkestone in September,
1875, being very dark bluish-black on the upperside with a bluish-gray fringe,
and shot with coppery reflection on the underside. Mr. Briggs has a female
which is almost black on the underside, with the exception of a white central
ring on each wing, and the marginal row of fulvous spots ; and Mr. Stevens
has another which is unusually pale on both the upper and under sides.

The egg of Adonis is small, round, and of a light dull grey, with white
reticulation and knobs.

The Caterpillar is very similar to that of Corydon, but is of a deeper and
darker green, the hairs it is covered with are black. There is a double dorsal
row of eight humps or segments. The side spreads out to a rounded ridge
running round the body, and hiding the legs from view when the caterpillar
is at rest.

The chrysalis is obese, with some very small hairs scattered over it. The
colour is at first greenish on the wing-cases, greenish-brown on the rest of
the body, afterwards it is ochreous all over.

The butterfly appears on the wing in May or the beginning of June. The
egg is doubtless laid that month, and the caterpillar should be found feeding
,on Hippocrepis comosa (the Tufted Horseshoe Vetch), in June and July.

In August the second brood appears, the caterpillars from which, hyber-
nating when small, feed up the following spring, and enter the chrysalis state
in April or the beginning of May.

It is very common in many parts of Europe, North Africa, and Asia
Minor. In North- Eastern and North- Western Europe it is much more local
than in the South, being especially attached to the chalk and limestone.

It is unknown as an inhabitant of Scotland, Ireland, or the Isle of Man,
and in England is a more southern species than Corydon, not occuring north
of Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire.

The first account I can find of its occurrence in England is in the " Aure-
lian's Pocket Companion," by Moses Harris, published in 1775, as being
found on commons near Clifden.

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "This most beauti-
ful species of butterfly was first observed and caught at Clifden, in Bucking-
hamshire, and for that reason lias always retained the name of Clifden Blue;
however, it is pretty common in various parts of England, and is to be
taken on chalky pastures. The flies are on the wing the middle of June ;
and as they do not fly from the place where they are bred, and frequently
settle on the ground, they may be easily taken."

Haworth, in this "Lepidoptera Britannica," 1803, writes, "Adonis, being
by far the most lovely of the British Blues, is much sought after by our
inferior collectors, who make annual and distant pedestrian excursions, for
the sole purpose of obtaining its charming males to decorate their pictures
with ; a picture, consisting of numerous and beautiful lepidoptera, ornament-
ally and regularly disposed, being the ultimate object of the assiduous people
in the science of Entomology. These pictures are of various shapes and
sizes : I have even seen some which have contained 500 specimens."

Some of the Spitalfield collectors, after toiling at their weaving machines
all the week, used to start at 10 o'clock on Saturday night, in order to arrive
at Darenth and Birch Woods by daybreak, so as to collect the twilight-flying
moths. Daniel Bryder, one of the most industrious of these collectors, and
who was employed by Mr. Wilkin to collect for him in the New Forest, was
the first of the Spitalfield collectors who attempted to arrange his insects

scientifically. The feelings of this class of persons Crabbe thus records in
his " Borough " :—

" There is my friend the weaver ; strong desires

Reign in his heart, this beauty he admires.

See to the shady grove he wings his way

And feels in hope, the raptures of the day —

Eager he looks, and soon to glad his eyes

From the sweet bower by nature formed, arise

Bright troops of virgin moths and fresh-born butterflies

—He fears no bailiff's wrath, no baron's blame,

His is untax'd and undisputed game."

rOLYOMMATUS UOBYLAS.

Dartford Blue.

DORYLAS, W.V. Dor/las, one of the conspirators against Perseus, and
slain by him. Ovid Met. V. 130.

In Lewin's "Insects of Great Britain" published in 1875, figures are
given of a Polyommatus under the name of " Hyacinthus," of which he writes
" I met this new species of butterfly in the middle of July, flying on the side
of a chalk hill near Dartford, in Kent, and have no doubt but there was a
constant brood at that plnce, as I found them there for two successive years
on the wing, in the middle of the same month. The male is figured with the
wings expanded, at fig. 4 ; the female at fig. 5 ; and the under-parts at fig. 6."
Ochenheirier refers these figures to Dorylas, W.V. J. P. Stephens in his
" Illustrations/' doubtingly gives Lewin's insect as distinct from Adonis, and
in his last publication (the Museum catalogue), it stands as variety "a" of
that species. Henry Doubleday in the Zoologist, Vol. 21 writes, " I have
examined the specimens contained in the cabinet of the late J. F. Stevens.
They are certainly not Lewin's species, but merely ordinary specimens of
Adonis; and the same may be said of the specimens marked ' Ce*ronuit\ Hub./
which is a variety in which the female is of nearly as brilliant a hue as the
male. I do not know whether any of Lewin's specimens are now in existance,
but his figures most certainly represent the sexes of P. Dorylas, which is
distinguished from Adonis by its paler blue colour slightly tinged with green,
immaculate cilia, and the absence of the two transverse ocelli at the base of
the superior wings beneath." The female is of the same colour as the male;
but the fore-wings are broadly bordered with black, and the hind-wings have
a row of bright fulvous spots round the hind-margin.

The caterpillar is dark green, with yellow streaks and a black head ; and
lives on the flowers of Melilotus officinalis in Spring and Autumn, being

double brooded. It is found in May and August, in many parts of Europe,
but is local and not very common, frequenting grassy woods and hills, espec-
ially on a limestone soil. It is almost absent from the plains of Northern
Germany, and there is no trustworthy record of its occurrence in Britain since
the time of Lewin.

POLYOMMATUS ICARUS.
Common Blue.

ICARUS, Rott. Icarus, the son of Dsedalus, who flying with his father
from Crete with artificial wings, flew too high, whereby the sun melted his
wings, and he fell into the sea, which from him was called the Icarian Sea.

This species varies in the expansion of the wings from three quarters of an
inch to one inch and five lines.

The male has the upper surface of the wings of a lilac blue. The form of
the female most frequently met with is brown, much suffused with blue ; and
has a series of distinct fulvous crescent-shaped spots near the hind-margin of
all the wings, forming a wavy line. The fore-wings of the female have a
black discoidal spot, and the hind- wings have a marginal row of black spots
edged with white on one side, and having the fulvous spots on the other.
Both sexes have white fringes, but they are not intersected by the wing rays,
as in Corydon and Adonis. The underside is of a pale grey or pale brown
colour with distinct black spots in white rings, and a row of distinct fulvous
crescent-shaped spots round the hind-margin.

The varieties of this species are innumerable, both in size, form, and colour,
some of the females have the fore-wings very much rounded at the tip, others
somewhat acute ; the hind-margin of the fore-wings is frequently spotted with
white, and the disc sometimes has a round white dot with a central black spot.
some specimens are remarkably clear, and so transparent that the ocelli on
the underside of the wings are plainly observable on the upper. Some females
have the fringe entirely brown, and others quite white ; some have the upper
surface of the wings nearly as blue as that of the males, with a black central
spot ; whilst others are plain brown, without the least vestige of blue. The
number of ocelli also varies greatly. Specimens occur occasionally that are
true hermaphrodites, having the wings on one side male and on the other
female. A specimen is in Mr. Gregson's collection which has the fore-wings
male, and the hind-wings female. A very extraordinary one has the left side
male and the right side female, except that about two-thirds of the inner por-
tion of the fore-wing is of the male colour, leaving a stripe along the costa of
the usual colour of the female,

Var. b. (Icarinus Scriba.) Differs from the type by the absence of the
basal spots on the underside of the fore- wings.

Yar. c. (Labienus, Jermyn.) Wings pale pinkish-blue above, and without
the fulvous spots beneath.

Yar. d. (Lacon, Jermyn.) Has the disc of the wings on the underside
marked only with a triangular spot ; the hind-margin of the anterior with a
few indistinct dusky marks, and of the posterior with a fulvous band termi-
nated internally with a series of black wedge-shaped spots, and externally
with black dots on a white ground.

Yar. e. (Thestylis, Jermyn.) Is formed of a large specimen of the female,
in which the blue of the upper surface is much more extended than in the
type. The anterior wings beneath has a large kidney-shaped black spot
cinctured obscurely with white, the concave side turned towards the inner
margin ; the posterior wings with the spot next the costal margin kidney-
shaped, the concave side turned towards the disc.

Var.y. The anterior wings have a distinct marginal band of fulvous cres-
cents surmounted with black, and the central spot of the underside of the
posterior is obsolete.

Var. g. Like the preceeding, but in the band on the upperside of the hind-
wings, the posterior part of the iris is silvery.

Yar. h. (Iphis, Baumh.) A brown form of the female, without any blue.

Var. i. (Thersites, Baumh.) A blackish-brown form of the female, with a
row of small fulvous spots near the hind-margin of the hind-wings, but none
on the fore-wings.

Yar.y. (Ccerulea, Gar.) A lilac blue form of the feroale, with broadly
black hind-margin, otherwise like the type. This is probably the Icarius of
Miss Jermyn, and the Amandus of Hubner.

Yar. k. (Pusillus, Gerhard.) Appears to consist of very small blue males
and brown females.

Yar. I. (Eros, Steph.) The male above very pale greenish-blue, with a
narrow marginal black streak ; the posterior wings with a few blackish spots
on the margin ; on the underside is a faint yellowish band.

In addition to the above there are some very interesting varieties. Yiolet ;
blue shot with mauve ; and sky-blue males are known ; and the underside of
a very singular variety, taken near Cambridge, by the Rev. Rudston Read,
is figured in the "Entomological Transactions " for 1853. In this specimen
the usual ocelli were absent, but on each wing was a row of strong black
marks within the posterior margin, not extending outwardly beyond the red
spots on the lower wings, and similarly situated on the upper wings, but

there the red spots were wanting. Only part of the posterior ocelli were
represented by black dots.

A more extraordinary one still was taken by my father, in Dorsetshire, on
August 5th, 1826. The underside of this specimen is of a cream colour, the
usual ocelli are absent, but replaced on the fore- wings by two black streaks
near the centre, and on the hind-wings by a very few minute black dots ; the
fulvous band of spots same as in type, but the marginal row of black spots
wanting. I have a variety of Corydon almost identical with this, given me
by Mr. Ross.

The egg is circular, and of a greenish-white colour, covered with tiny hairs ;
it has a pale line above the projecting sides, and several pale oblique lines on
each side, and a small black head ; the segmental divisions and a sunk dorsal
line are of a darker green. When young, the colour is grey tinged with
purple, and it makes its exit from the egg by eating a large round hole in the
centre of the upper surface, leaving the rest of the shell untouched. For
some days its only method of feeding is by eating into the substance of a leaf
of the Bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) , either from the upper or lower
side, leaving the opposite skin as a white spot ; afterwards it feeds on the
flower as well as on the leaves. The Rest Harrow (Ononis arvensis) and
clover are also food-plants.

The chrysalis is dull green, with brownish markings, short and stout, nearly
as round at the anal extremity as at the head.

The butterfly appears on the wing in May, and soon becomes very plenti-
ful, continuing throughout June in great abundance. The caterpillars from
this brood feed up rather quickly, and even by July, the second brood of the
butterfly may be taken. Late in the season, September and October, dwarfed
specimens are found, which may be a third brood, but this appears to depend
very much on circumstances. When the weather is unsuitable, few of the
last brood appear, and it is probable that the caterpillars feed up and enter
the chrysalis state in the autumn, or hybernate, according to the season ; those
which hybernate producing the largest specimens of the butterfly. The most
northerly specimens are the largest and brightest, and perhaps the reason may
be found in the fact of their remaining the longest in the caterpillar state.

This is the commonest of all the Blues, abounding in meadows, on heaths
and downs, and not at all confined to chalky soils like its congeners, and
occurs all over the British Isles, from the Isle of Hoy, the most northerly of
the Shetlands, to the Lizard Point in Cornwall.

It is common all over Europe, Northern and Western Asia, as far as the
Himalayas, and North Africa.

The first English author to figure it was old Mouffet, in 1633, in his
"Jnsectorum sine minimorum Animalium Theatrura.."

Besides giving a figure of the upper and another of the underside, he gives
the following description, &c. —

" Leetiore adspectu prodit, alis oculatis, cyanum ccelestem atque incompara-
bilem spirantibus. Fecit illam Dedala rerum artifex natura totam oculeam,
adeo ut ilium in Mythologo Arctoris filium, non pavonis caudse infertum, sed
in hujus alis habitantem haud inepte fingeres ; quas quidem non minori
superbia adnerso sale expandit, atque ilia avis Junonia, quam, pree celesti
quo excellit colore, fere in ruborem dat."

It is also described in the " Pinax," of Dr. Merrett, published in 1667, as
follows : " Alis oculatis cyanum crelestem spirantibus."

It is also figured in Petiver's " Gazophylacii Naturae and Artis," in 1702,
under the name of " Papiunculus caruleus vulgatissimus, Blue Argus " ; very
common on heaths from June to August.

In his "Aurelian," published in 1775, Moses Harris writes: "They are
seen in plenty about the beginning of June. See Linn. Papil. Pleb. 232,
Argus. Perhaps this is designed for it."

Lewin writes in 1795, " There are at least two broods of these butterflies
annually ; or rather a constant succession of them from June to September.
They are very common, and are to be seen in almost every situation."

POLTOMMATUS ALEXIS.
Brown Argus.

ALLXIS, Scop. Alex'is, a Eoman Shepherd, Yirg. Eel. li. 1.

It cannot cause surprise that a butterfly which has caused so much dis-
cussion has had many names. Lewin, in 1795, called it Idas, which name
was also used in 1803, by Haworth, who transcribes Donovan's remarks in
his " Natural History of British Insects," vol. ix, published in 1800 : "This
insect must not be confounded with the Papilio idas of Linnaeus. The Lin-
nsean P. idas is evidently the female of P. argus ; a circumstance unknown
to that author, who considers them as distinct species, from their very dis-
similar appearance." Haworth goes on to say, " The above remarks are very
appropriate, and worthy my transcription : but they render it necessary to
keep in mind, that the Papilio argus of Donovan is not in either of the sexes,
the Papilio argus of Linnaeus or other authors ; its male being the Papilio
icarus of Lewin and of this work, and its female being the Papilio adonis of
Fabricius, &c. The genuine Argus of Linnaeus is not figured by Donovan
at all. What I have remarked relative to Idas being a distinct species with

Linnaeus, must be applied to his ' Fauna Suecica' alone; for in the 13th
edition of his { Sy sterna Naturae/ I find he makes the species Idas of the
fauna, the proper female of his Argus, thereby laudably and liberally correct-
ing in maturer years, this error of his youth."

Possibly Donovan was led into error by Moses Harris, who figures Icarus
in his "Aurelian," and in the letterpress writes, " See Linn. Papil. Pleb.
232, Argus. Perhaps this is designed for it."

The species varies in the expansion of its wings from an inch to an inch
and two lines. The upper surface of the wings of both sexes are brown,
with a row of bright orange spots at the hind-margin of all the wings, and
with narrow white fringes, and also with a black central spot. The under-
side is of a greyish-brown, with black spots in the white rings, none of which
are nearer the base of the fore- wing than the central spets, and with a row of
orange spots at the hind-margins. This is the; form found in the South of
England, and better known as Agestis, W.Y. It is also the form most fre-
quently found on the Continent of Europe.

Var. Allous, Hub. differs from the type by the absence of the row of
orange spots. I have a specimen of this form,, taken in Castle Eden Dene,
in company with Salmacis, by my father in August, 1837. In the South of
Europe, all the second brood are of this form.

Yar. Artaxerxes, Fab., Scotch Argus. This differs from the type by the
discoid al spot on the fore wings being white ii stead of black, by the row of
orange spots being partly, or in some specimen totally, absent on the upper-
side; and with the eye-like spots on the underside being entirely filled up
with white. This form is unknown on the Continent, and Fabricius received
it from Mr. Jones, of Chelsea. These speciu ens probably came from Dr.
Walker, who met with them at Rossyln Castle, in August, 1797.

Yar. Salmacis, Steph. Durham Argus, is ; n intermediate form, has the
orange spots less vivid than the type, a black discoidal spot, but the white
spots on the underside without black centres.

Yar. ^Estiva, Hub., is a brown variety of the underside.

Yarieties also occur in which the spots on the underside differ. One has
the central spot only, another is without it, and sometimes the spots are
elongated into streaks, a form of variety noticed in several species of the
genus.

The sexes of this species closely resemble each other, but in the female the
marginal band of orange spots is slightly broader.

The egg is of a pale greenish drab colour, covered with a coarse prominent
reticulation ; it is smaller than that of JEgon, t.iough very like it in form and
sculpture, being circular, and flat, with a central depression on the upper
surface. — Buckler,

The caterpillar is of a pale green, with a purplish brown dorsal line, and
two very pale oblique later? \ lines. It is short and thick, arched on the
back, covered with fine white hairs, and a black head. It feeds on the leaves
of the Sun Cistus (Helianthemum vulgare), and the Heron's Bill (Erodium
cicutarium.}

The chrysalis is smooth, rather thick in proportion, of a pale green colour
with a deep pink stripe at th ? sides, enclosing a central white one, and has
the head rounded and prominent.

It is found throughout Europe, North Africa, and Northern and Western
Asia to the Himalayas, from May to August, frequenting dry sunny places,
especially on chalk or limestcne. On the Alps it is found to the tree limit.
In the South of England the butterfly appears at the latter end of May, or in
June, at the end of which month it may be found in more Northern localities.
The caterpillars are to be found in June or July, in the South, and the
butterfly is again on the wing in August. The caterpillars of this brood
hybernate to reappear in April or May. In Scotland there is but one brood,
the caterpillars of which pass the winter quite small, to feed up in the spring.

The white spotted variety Artaxerxes seems to be entirely confined to
Britain, ranging from Richmond (54J" N.L.) to Kincardineshire (57" N.L.),
and in Scotland from sea to sea. Throughout all this district it appears
only once in the season. Tht black spotted variety Agestis has a wide Euro-
pean range, from Gibraltar in the South (36" N.L.) to Upsala in the North
(60" N.L.) ; and from England on the West to the Ural Mountains on the
East. In England as far INoith as London and Bristol, it seems to be double
brooded ; whilst at Liverpool and so Northwards only single, making its
appearance simultaneously with the Artaxerxes form.

The Southern form Agestls was figured by James Petiver in his " Gazophy-
laci Naturae et Artis," published at London, in 1702; and also in his
" Papilionum Britannia;/' 1717. It was also figured by Lewin in his " Insects
of Great Britain," published in 1795, as well as the Northern form Artaxerxes,
accompanied by the following letterpress — "Brown Blue Idas, Linnaeus.
This is a common butterfly with us, and to be taken in almost every dry
pasture field, or in the open parts of woods, ftying, the first insect in June,
when it first makes its appearance. There is also a later brood of this species
in August/'

"Brown White Spot, Artaxerxes. This new species of butterfly was
taken in Scotland, and is now in the collection of Mr. William Jones, of
Chelsea/'

In his "Lepidoptera Brit; nnicae/' 1803, Haworth records Artaxerxes as
being very rare in the fields of Scotland, but not in England, as Christian

Fabricius has said in error, and adds that his specimens were taken in Scot-
land, by his very dear friend Dr. F. Skrimshire.

In the XVI. Vol. of the "Natural History of British Insects/' published
in 1813, Donovan writes "To the great astonishment of our English collec-
tors of Natural History in the vicinity of the Metropolis, Papilio Artaxerxes,
an insect hitherto esteemed of the highest possible rarity, has been lately
found in no very inconsiderable plenty in Britain ; for this interesting dis-
covery we are indebted to the fortunate researches of our young and very
worthy friend, W. E. Leach, Esq., who met with it common on Arthur's
Seat, near Edinburgh, and also on the Pentland Hills. A discovery so in-
teresting in the annals of Entomology, because Papilio Artaxerxes, was not
merely esteemed rare in this country ; on the Continent it appears to be
totally unknown : there entomologists, till the time of Fabricius, have not
mentioned it, nor had Fabricius himself once seen an example of the species ;
he derived his information solely from a drawing by the hand of W. Jones,
of Chelsea. The extreme accuracy of that delineation, it must indeed be
allowed, would render it unnecessary for Fabricius to consult the insect from
which it was pourtrayed, but the circumstance is mentioned in order to prove
the rarity of the species as an European insect ; and we cannot, it is pre-
sumed, afford a more decisive testimony of its interest in this respect than in
stating Fabricius, its original describer, had never seen it. Papilio Artaxer-
xes is by no means striking in appearance ; it becomes important from the
general estimation of its scarcity, and its claim to consideration in this view
is indubitable. In the best of the English cabinets, with the exception of
that of our sincere friend, A. M'Leay, Esq., we have often lamented to observe
a deception intended to supply the deficiency of this species ; namely, a little
painting of the insect, carefully consigned on a pin, to the most obscure cor-
ner of the drawer, and which has oftentimes, we suspect, been mistaken for
the original : this we apprehend, should not be reprehended in terms of
unusual severity — yet we cannot think the custom wholly blameless. We
have alluded to the cabinet of Mr. M'Leay, and it will therefore be right to
add in explanation that his valuable and extensive collection contained a very
fine specimen of Papilio Artaxerxes, that had been taken in Scotland prev-
iously to the discovery made by Mr. Leach."

Curtis, in his " British Entomology/' writes, " Mr. Dale and myself took
specimens amongst grass in stony and barren places at the base of Arthur's
Seat, the end of June and in August, 1825."

Stephens in his "Illustrations," 1828, writes concerning Artaxerxes, "A
very local species, and hitherto supposed to be peculiar to Scotland, but it has
lately been taken in the North pf England." And in the following vol.,

1829, "I have recently obtained specimens of what seems to be a new species
of Polyommatus, intermediate between Agesiis and Artaxerxes, and which I
propose calling Salmacis" These were taken in Castle Eden Dene, by G.
Wailes, Esq. Mr. Waiies, concerning this, writes to the first volume of the
"Entomological Magazine" published in 1833, "I entirely coincide with
Mr. Stephens in considering this a distinct species. I must, however, state
that Mr. Stephens' description, in his invaluable Illustrations (Haust. Vol. III.
p. 235), is not quite correct; for I have observed, out of about 150 specimens
that the variety with the black spot forms two-thirds of the whole ; and that
neither sex possesses exclusively either the white or black spot, though the
majority of the former variety are males. It appears to be confined to the
sea banks, and I have never seen it above half-a-mile from the coast/'

In the same volume amongst the " Observations on the influence of locality,
time of apearances, &c., on species and varieties of Butterflies, by J . C. Dale,
Esq., M.A., F.L.S., &c." is the following, " Polyommatus salmacis is inter-
mediate between Agesiis and Arlaxerxes, in Scotland none of the Agestis are
be found, they are all Artaxerxes ; in the south none of the Artaxerxes are
to be found, they are all Agestis. At Newcastle, they appear to be mules or
hybrids, between the two species, partaking in some degree of the character
of both ; some of the varieties have a black spot inside the white one, or the
upper surface of the first wings."

This appears to have drawn forth from the pen of Mr. Edward Newman,
in the second volume of the same publication, p. 516, the following, "Prom
examining specimens of Polyommatus agestis from different localities, I have
arrived at a conclusion which will not, I fear be coincided with by many of
our Lepidopterists. On the South Downs of Sussex and Kent, Agestis
assumes what may be called the typical form. I have taken it at Eamsgate,
Dover, Hythe, Hastings, Brighton, Eye, Worthing, Little Hampton, Chiches-
ter, Portsmouth, in the Isle of Wight, in Dorsetshire, in Somersetshire, and
throughout this range it is very similar ; then going upwards, I have met
with it at Worcester, Birmingham, and Shrewsbury : here an evident change
has taken place, the band of rust coloured spots has become less bright; at
Manchester, these spots have left the upper wing entirely ; at Castle Eden
Dene, they are scarcely to be traced, and a black spot in the centre of the
upper wing becomes fringed with white, in some specimens it is quite white ;
the butterfly then changes its name to Salmacis. We proceed further north-
ward, and the black pupil leaves the eyes on the underside, until at Edin-
burgh they are quite gone ; then it is called Artaxerxes. The conclusion
I arrive at is this, that Agestis, Salmacis, and Artaxerxes are but one species.

Mr, Dale, in the " Naturalist/' Vol. I., page 16, says, " I have observed a

few of Arlaxerxes having a slight black pupil to the ocelli on the reverse
side ; and one I took at Duddington Lock has it more distinct than some of
those at Newcastle, where it assumes the name Salmacis, some resembling
the former, and others differing but little from one southern species or variety
Agestis, and which have been supposed by some persons to be hybrids. From
those who contend for three species, I would request opinions as to specimen
lately taken, near Langport, being evidently a remarkably fine female of
Agestis, having a more complete white spot with black pupil than any I have
seen from Newcastle ; and I have a specimen or two shewing a little white
cincture to the black spot. Surely it would be going too far to make a
fourth species, and yet it is better than Salmacis. I think this proves beyond
doubt that there is but one species. Mr. Bentley has a beautiful variety of
Agestis, totally destitute of black ocelli on the reverse side."

Mr. Sircom, writing to the " Zoologist/' Vol. IT., says, I have in my
small collection Salmacis, which I captured on Durdham Down, Bristol.
The cabinet of one of my friends contains a similar specimen, taken in the
Isle of Wight."

In his elaborate notice of Agestis, in his " Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of
Northumberland and Durham/' published in 1858, George Wailes concludes
with "I think I am justified in writing the three forms of this butterfly,
under the single name of Agestis," thus retracting his former opinion.

When Professor Zeller, in 1867, published his most interesting history of
this species in the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine " (Vol. 4, p. 73-77),
he stated it to be generally accepted that Polyommatus Artaxerxes is only a
variety of Agestis ; and yet it appeared to him extremely improbable that the
caterpillars of Agestis should habituate themselves to the food-plant of Arta-
xerxes. However, in Vol. 6 of the same periodical, he writes thus, " On the
8th May, this year, 1869, I received four caterpillars of Artaxerxes, sent ex-
pressly for me from Edinburgh. Three were full grown, so that one was a
chrysalis already on the 10th. The fourth was much smaller; and as the
Helianthemum vulgare does not grow in the vicinity of Stettin, I offered it
some young plants of Erodium cicutarium, and lo, it bored directly into a
flower bud, which on the following day I found eaten out." On the 3rd
June, 1877, Mr. Robson, of Hartlepool, whilst searching Helianthemum vul-
gare growing near the coast in his locality, found five caterpillars of a Polyom-
matus, which he at once forwarded to Mr. Buckler. These he fed upon Heli-
anthemum, and they in a short time entered the chrysalis state ; two of them
were, unfortunately, attacked with mould, but the other three disclosed three
differently marked butterflies, viz. on July 2nd, 5th, and 7th. These appear-
ed to be respectively Salmacis, Artaxerxes^ and Agestis,, but to partake most

of Salmacis on the underside. These larvae were all alike, and in no respect
distinguishable from larvae of Artaxerxes found at Arthur's Seat, and pre-
viously reared by Mr. Buckler.

POLYOMMATUS

Silver-studded Blue.

, W.Y. JE'gon, a Roman Shepherd, Yirg. Eel. iii. 2.

This species varies in the expansion of its wings from an inch to an inch
and two lines. The male has the upper surface of the wings of a deep pur-
plish blue, with dusky hind margins, and white fringes. The female is brown,
sometimes much suffused with blue, and has a row of orange lunules at the
hind-margin of the hind-wings, most distinct at the anal angle. The under-
side is bluish-grey in the male, greyish-brown with bluish base in the female,
and has a marginal band of fulvous spots, and three rows of black spots in
narrow white rings. On the underside of the hind-wings, near the edge, is
a row of metallic spots of a bluish tint, shining like polished silver, from
these Moses Harris named it the " Silver-studded Blue." Some striking
varieties of this species have been observed. In one, captured by Mr. Hat-
chett, at Coombe Wood, the upper surface of all the wings is of a pale fulvous
tawny colour, like that of Salyrus pamphilus. Mr. Briggs has an exceedingly
pale specimen, and I have one with the right wings male and the left wings
female. In another, taken by Mr. Haworth, in salt marshes near Holt, Nor-
folk, and thence named by him P. maritimust the ocelli on thfc disc of the
underside of the wings are elongated into those on the middle of the wing,
being almost confluent with the following row of spots. To a specimen of
this variety, the Eev. W. Kirby applied the manuscript name of Alcippe, but
Mr. Stephens applies that name to another, and apparently very distinct
variety, of smaller size, having the wings narrower, blue above, with a broad,
black margin to all the wings, the underside of the male of a deep greyish or
drab colour, the ocelli very distinct in the female, and the oblique series on
the posterior wing consisting of four. This is probably the Algidion of Ger-
hart. The variety Leodrus, Hub., is brown, and has the orange band very
distinct on the upper surface of all four wings. The variety Bella, H.S.,
found in Asia Minor, has the underside of the wings paler than the type, and
a row of marginal spots. I have a brown variety of the female which has the
marginal row of spots wanting, and replaced on the lower wings by a mar-
ginal row of white rings.

The egg is rather large in proportion to the size of the butterfly. It is
white in colour, of a circular form, flattened and depressed in the centre both

above and below, covered with raised white reticulation, all except the top. —
Buckler.

The caterpillar is of a bright yellow green, with black head and legs, a
blackish brown dorsal line edged with white, and yellowish green oblique
marks on the back and sides. It feeds on Ornithopm perpmillus, and prob-
ably on some of the lesser trefoils, as P. agon occurs in Portland, whereas
the QrnltJiopm perpusillus is not known there.

The chrysalis is less than half-an-inch in length,, and of a dull green colour
with a brown dorsal line, the wing cases being rather long in proportion.

The butterfly emerges from the chrysalis state at the end of June or July,
and continues on the wing for about two months. In 1877, 1 met with it
as late as the 17th September. The eggs do not hatch till spring, the dates
being from the end of February to about the end of March. The caterpillars
feed but slowly, changing their skin for the last time from llth to 15th June,
and turning into chrysalids by the 24th, remaining in that state about three
weeks. The chrysalides are generally slightly attached, after the usual man-
ner of the genus, viz. by a button at the tail and a belt of silk round the
middle, to a stem of the food-plant, at the very bottom and partly in the
earth : sometimes they are attached to large stones.

It appears to be generally distributed throughout Central and Southern
Europe and Asia Minor, frequenting heaths and stony pastures. In England
it is widely but not generally distributed ; but is scarce in Scotland, not be-
ing found north of Perthshire ; and it also occurs at Wicklow, in Ireland.

It was figured in 1717, .by James Petiver,in his " Papilionum Britannise,"
under the name Papiunculus plumbeus parvus, Small Lead Argus." Moses
Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," published in 1775, records
it as haunting commons. Lewin, in 1795, writes " This pretty little butter-
fly is very common. It is out on the wing the second week in June, and
flies mostly in low reedy meadows/'

Family ERYCINIDJE.

The only notable distinction between this and the last family is in the per-
fect insect, the males of which, in the Erycinidse have only four perfect legs,
while the females have six. Both sexes of the Lycsenidae have six perfect legs.

The Erycinidse are most numerous in Tropical America, but several are
found both in Asia and Africa, but only one in Europe, which occurs also in
Britain. They are of small size, and extremely varied in their forms. Thus

some of them resemble the tailed species of Papilionidae and Nymphalidse ;
others the long- winged Heliconidse ; others the blue and copper species of
Lycsenidae; and some the dusky and spotted Hesperidse. About 700 species
are included in Kirby's Catalogue of 1871. The curious Libylhea, included
by Kirby with the present group, has one European species, Celtu. It has
a caterpillar like those of the Pieridse, a chrysalis suspended by the tail only
like Nymphalidse, and the perfect insect has brush-like fore feet in the male
like the Erycinidse.

GENUS XL— NEMEOBIUS.

Stephens.

NEMEO'BIUS. — Nemos, a grove, and bios, life.

A genus of but a single species, which does not occur outside of Europe.
It is a very interesting insect, being our sole representative of this important
family. It is generically nearly allied to Zemeros, a genus found in various
parts of the East Indies, Java, and China ; but the elongated, acute, very
hairy palpi, the pilose eyes, the strongly clavate antennse, and the curious
arrangement of the veins of the hind wings, separate it from all the adjacent
genera. Looking at the scries of European, or still more restrictedly, at our
British butterflies, this species fills an important station between the butter-
flies with girted chrysalides, having fully developed feet in both sexes, and
those butterflies in which the fore feet of the males are brush-like, all of
which inhabiting Europe, have simple suspended chrysalides. This position
was assigned to the genus, with admirable tact, by Dennis and Schiffer-
muller, in the " Wiener Yerzeichniss," or Yienna Catalogue, more than a
century ago.

NEMEOBIUS LUCINA.
Duke of Burgundy FritiUary.

LUCINA, Linn. Luci'na, a goddess of women. Yirg. Eel. iv. 10.

Though this little butterfly bears the name of Eritillary at the end of its
lengthy and important title, it belongs to a very different family to that of
the true Fritillaries, and it has only shared their name on account of its
similarity in colour and markings to those of the genus Melitaa.

It is chequered on the upper surface with tawny, and dark brpwn or black.
The underside is reddish-brown, with black marginal dots, and two rows of
whitish spots on the hind wings. The width across the wings varies from an
inch to an inch and a quarter.

The egg is globular, shining, of a pinkish grey colour, and covered with
very delicate, black, diamond-shaped reticulations.

The caterpillar, instead of being long and spiny, like those of the true
Fritillaries, is short, thick, and of a woodlouse shape. Its colour is reddish-
brown, or a pale olive brown, with tufts of hair of the same colour and black
dots, black spiracles, and a greenish-yellow spiracular line. It feeds on the
leaves of the primrose and of the cowslip, from June to September, when it
then enters into the chrysalis state.

The chrysalis differs from that of the true Fritillaries as much as the cater-
pillar does, being attached by the tail, and with a belt of silk round the
middle, to the underside of a leaf of the food-plant. In that state it remains
over the winter. It is of a pale yellowish brown colour, with numerous
distinct black spots and marks ; it is short and stumpy, and covered with
hair in the same manner as the caterpillar.

Lucinais common in woods in many parts of Central and Southern Europe,
extending from the South of Sweden to the Northern parts of Greece and
and Turkey. It is generally distributed over England, but does not occur
in the two counties at the north-eastern boundary — Durham and Northum-
berland. On the other side, it has been met with in the counties of West-
moreland and Cumberland. It has not been found in Ireland or the Isle of
Man, and only in the extreme South-west of Scotland.

It was figured by James Petiver in his " Gazophylacii Naturse et Artis,"
in 1702; and also in his " Papiliorium Britannise," 1717. Of it he writes,
" Papilio Fritillaria minor. Yemen's small Fritillary. It's the least of all
the Fritillaries yet known. Found in several woods round London."

Moses Harris, in his <( Aurelian," published in 1775, writes "The Duke
of Burgundy Fritillary, commonly called the Burgundy, is one of the four
Fritillaries which want the silver spots, and is the least of them all. They
always fly in woods not very high above the grass. Their most plentiful
time of flight is about the middle of May. They are very nimble, yet I can-
not say they are difficult to take/'

In Ray's " Historia Insectorium," 1810, we read, " This was first observed
by Mr. Yernon, about Cambridge, afterwards in Horn&ea Wood, near Lon-
don, by Mr. Handley, and by Mr. Danbridge at Boxhill, and is pretty com-
mon about Dulwich."

Why this little butterfly was named the Duke of Burgundy must remain a
mystery, as the high sounding and sex-quipedalian name is by no means in
harmony with the diminutive size of the species, but " Parvum parva decent,"
says the proverb. The Rev. F. G. Morris, in his " History of British
Butterflies," informs entomologists generally " that it is not his province to

write a work on " Titles of Honour," nor to give any genealogical account of
the Duke of Burgundy Eritillary. " So far, however," he goes on to say, " the
name is appropriate in that dukes and these butterflies are alike somewhat
rare, and from his blazon of the plate it will be seen that the latter, as is
only ducal, have numerous quarterings."

This brings to a close the first division of the Butterflies, viz., " Suc-
cinctse," consisting of those which have girted chrysalides, so called because
the body is supported by a silken girth or belt.

The next division is called " Pendulse," so called because the chrysalides
are attached by the tail only, and swing in the air, with the head pointed
towards the ground.

Family SATYRID-ffi.

This family is of considerable extent, and almost universally dispersed over
the surface of the globe ; the number of species found in Europe is, in fact,
considerably greater than one-third of the whole of the European butterflies.
With the exception of one genus, Melanargia, which contains the species
known as Marbled Whites, the family consists of exceedingly dull coloured
butterflies of various shades of brown, the underside of the wings being
ornamented with eye-like spots.

So large a family has been divided into 60 genera, but as the differences are
often very slight, most of them may be considered in the light of sub-genera
or sections. A few species have been separated from Satyrus, and formed
into a genus (Pararge), on account of the eyes being hairy, and yet the
genus Polyommatus contains some species with hairy eyes and others with
naked eyes.

GENUS XII.— MELANARGIA.

MELANARGIA, from Melan — black, and Argoe — silvery.

The generic name Melanargia was bestowed in 1829. Hubner, in 1816,
named the genus Arge, but as Arge is the name of one of the species con-
tained in the genus, and also the name of a genus in the order Hymenoptera,
we cannot do better than adopt Meigen's name of Melanargia.

The species of this genus may be at once distinguished from all others of
the family by the ground colour of the wings, which is white, more or less
marbled with black. There are eight species, seven of them being European,
the warmer shores of the Mediterranean being the home of the genus. Two
or three are found in Asia, but only one, Meridionalis, is confined to that
Continent, Only one is British.

MELANABGIA GALATHEA.
Marbled White.

GALATHEA, Linn. Galate'a, a nymph beloved by Acis and the horrible
Polyphemus.

The wings of this, the only British representative of the genus, expand
from one inch and three-quarters in the male, to two inches and a quarter in
the female. The ground colour is a creamy white, much marbled with black.
On the underside, the pale tint very much preponderates, much of the black
masses of the upper side being reduced to mere lines. The male has the
underside of the hind-wings of a much whiter shade, and the female of yel-
lower shade. It may be readily distinguished from the other Whites by
having only four walking legs, instead of the six which all the rest have, and
also by the eye-like spots, most visible on the underside.

It is a variable species. Specimens have occurred almost perfectly white,
and others almost black, the latter are not common in Southern Europe, but
I have one taken at Dover, by Mr. Le Plastrier, and figured by the Rev.
T. Bree, in "Loudan's Magazine," for 1832. The upper wings are nearly
black above, except a large white spot near the base, and another tripartite
at the lower edge ; and beneath, both pairs are clouded with black, and
almost destitute of the usual angular tessellated markings.

1 have another which differs from the type in the ground colour being of
a yellowish buff, with pale yellowish brown markings in lieu of black. This
is the var. b. of J. F. Stephen's " Illustrations."

Specimens are also occasionally found in which the cream colour of the
wings is replaced by pure white.

On the Continent, a curious form of the female is found, which Esper
called Leucomelas. It has the underside of the hindwings without the black
markings. The almost black form is called Turcica. Another form from the
south-east of Europe is called Procida, and which Dr. Staudinger describes
as obscuria. A fourth named variety is Galera, which wants the eyed spots.
In the second volume of the " Zoologist," Mr. Thomas Marshall writes, " I
took last July, on the heights between Dover and Walmer, a male of a clear
milky white colour, and has neither on the upper or underside of the wings
the smallest speck of black. Its thorax, body, and palpi are also entirely
clothed with white. The specimen is in perfect condition."

The egg is large and ovate, and its shell looks like dull bone-white china,
being covered all over with very shallow rhomboidal network, with very tiny
knobs at the knots, and with a central patch of finer meshes on the top. —
Eev. J. Hellins,

The caterpillar is variable in colour, the most ordinary one being buff with
darker dorsal and lateral streaks. Another is of a yellowish green, with red
dorsal and lateral lines. It feeds on Phlewn pratense, Dactylis glomemta,
and other grasses ; it hibernates when very small, becomes full-fed in June,
and changes to a chrysalis without suspending itself in any way, or making a
cocoon.

The chrysalis is very stout and plump, and of a pale, putty white colour,
with a broadish yellow stripe down the middle, and the wing cases are freck-
led with pale brown.

M. Galathea is one of the most abundant butterflies in central and south-
ern Europe (but does not occur in Spain or Portugal, Scandinavia, or the
north of Russia), frequenting meadows and open places in woods, during the
months of July and August.

In the British Isles, it is entirely confined to England, and does not occur
at all in the more northerly counties, Yorkshire being the furthest north in
which it is found. In the midland and more southern counties it is common
enough where it occurs, but this is always very restricted. It has apparently
a great partiality for the chalk downs of the south coast; roughish ground
and broken pastures being also favourite habitats.

The first to record it as a British species appears to have been Dr. Chris-
topher Merratt, F.R.S., for in his "Pinax rerum Naturalim Britannicaeum,
continens vegitabilia, Animalia, et Fossilia, in hac Insula reperta inchoatus,"
he gives the following description of a butterfly : "Capite alisq, lacteis quibus
macula3 furcse et nigricantes."

In his "Historia Insectorum," published in 1710, John Ray thus records
it : " Mense Junio circa Festum S. Joannis Baptistse primo circumvolitantem
observari hoc anno (1690) in locis palustribus et humidis praecipue. Yerum
ver valde frigidum erat. Hanc speciem D. Petiver in Mus. cent. 1. Papi-
lionem leucomelanon appellat, Angl. Our Half- mourner. Apud nos circa
Braintriam in Essexia frequentissima, nee rarior, ut puto, alibi in Anglia."

In his "Insects of Great Britain" in 1795, Lewin writes: "This butter-
fly is to be met with. in dry meadows or pasture lands. It does not range
abroad, but is locally attached to the place where it was bred, so that it was
common to see fifty, sixty, or a hundred on the wing in one meadow, and in
the fields adjoining not one. Jt lays its eggs, scattering them about the
meadows, and as the eggs are not glutinous, they drop among the grass, and
rest in security, till the proper time for the caterpillars to make their appear-
ance. The caterpillars are bred from the egg the latter end of July, and feed
on meadow grass the remaining part of the summer. On the approach of
winter they conceal themselves in the ground, and abstain from food till the

86-

month of March, when they feed again on the young and tender shoots of
grass. In June they arrive at their full growth, and change to chrysalides
about the middle of the same month."

GENUS XIIL— HIPPABCHIA.

Fabricius.

HIPPAR'CHIA, from the Greek, signifying the command of the cavalry, pro-
bably given in consequence of the species being of the brown colour so
common amongst horses.

The name Hipparchia was bestowed upon the genus by Fabricius in 1807 ;
and the name Satyrus by Latreille in 1810. Saty'rus, a Satyr, a rustic deity,
half man, and half goat. Yirg. Eel. V. 73.

The species are of various shades of brown, and generally have eye-like
spots on one or both pair of wings. The caterpillars are pisciform, or some-
what like a fish, that is, attenuated behind, the tail ending in a small fork ;
in general they are pubescent but without spines : the head is more or less
rounded, and sometimes heart-shaped.

It cannot create surprise that such a very large genus has been split into
several. Kirby in his 1871 " Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera" gives sixty.
For our British species I shall retain three — Melanargia, Hipparchia, and
Erebia. Hipparchia though, I shall divide into five sub-genera or sections —
Lasiommata for the hairy-eyed species JEgeria and Megara ; Hipparchia for
the largest species, Semele; Satyrus for Janira, and Tithonus', Enodia for
Hyperanthus, and Ccenonympha for the light brown species — Typhon and
Pamphilus. The first corresponds to the section Vicicoles, of Al. Duponchel,
the second to his Rupicoles, the third to his Herbioles, the fourth to his
Ramicoles, the fifth to his Dumicoles. Melanargia corresponds to his Grami-
nicoles, and Erebia to his Alpicoles.

SUB-GENUS LASIOMMATA.

Westwood.

This sub-genus is at once distinguished from the rest by having the eyes
thickly clothed with hairs, in addition to which the palpi are very slender.
The antennae are straight, distinctly annulated with black and white, and
club pyriform. Sixteen species are known, two of them occurring in Britain.
All of them are confined to Europe, Asia, and the north of Africa. This
sub-genus corresponds with the first section of Hipparchia, of Curtis and
Stephens, and contains Hubner's two groups, Pararge and Djra,

HIPPAECHIA JEGERIA.

Speckled Wood

, Linn. ^Eger'ia, a nymph, who was supposed to have favoured
and instructed Nuina Pompilius, third King of Kome. Ovid, Vast. Ill, 275.

This and Leucophasia sinapis (the Wood White), differ greatly from all
our other British butterflies, in choosing shady habitations instead of the
open situations so suitable to true children of the sun.

The wings expand from one inch and three-quarters to a couple of inches,
and are of a dark brown, with creamy white patches of variable size, placed
irregularly ; the one nearest the tip of each forewing being ornamented with
a white pupilled black eye-like spot, and three of them near the hind margin
of the hindwings are ornamented in a similar manner. On the underside the
hindwings are varied with lighter and darker undulations, and have a row of
six white dots, varying in size, near the hinder margin. The females have
the larger and more numerous spots.

Very few varieties are known. I have one, however, which has the white-
centred black spots on the hindwings without the creamy white rings. A
named variety, Meone, Cramer, has the creamy white replaced by orange or a
lawny hue, and is the common form in Africa and the south of Europe.
Another, very closely allied, Ziphia, Faber, is the Maderian form. Another
with a bipupilled eye occurs in the Channel Islands.

The egg, which is deposited singly on blades of grass, is of a whitish-
green colour; its shape is ovate, with upright sides and round top, without
ribs, but with a very glossy shell, covered all over with fine irregular raised
network.

The caterpillar, which feeds on Lactylis glomerata, and other kinds of
grass, is of a dull brownish-green, with a darker dorsal and a paler spiracular
line, covered with short hairs, which gives it a soft velvet-like appearance.

The chrysalis, which is suspended by the tail, is short and dumpy, and of
a green or brownish-green, with markings of a darker shade.

There are apparently three broods of the butterfly during the year. The
first is generally on the wing bj the middle of April, sometimes earlier. In
1868, 1 captured it at large as early as March 25th, and it has been bred from
the chrysalis as early as March 7th. The eggs, being laid, soon hatch, and
the caterpillars become full-fed in June or July. By the end of the latter
month the butterfly is again on the wing. The second brood of caterpillars
may be found in August, and feeding up rapidly soon enter the chrysalis
state, the third brood of butterflies appearing in September and October ; in
1866, I met with it as late as November 2nd. The third brood of cater-

pillars hibernate when young, and feeding up in the spring, enter the chrysa-
lid state the beginnning of May. The April butterflies are probably produced
from some of the second brood of caterpillars, which hybernate when almost
full-fed, and enter the chrysalid state in March.

This is a common butterfly throughout the greater part of Europe, North
Africa, and Western Asia. In the British Isles it is distributed more or less
abundantly, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the extreme north of
Scotland, the Isle of Skye being its northernmost limit.

It frequents shady lanes and woods, and is particularly fond of stormy
weather, appearing in Dorsetshire in the wet summer of 1879, in the greatest
abundance, but very sparingly in the dry summers of 1870 and 1887. The
shady woods and wet climate of Dunegan, in the Isle of Skye, seems especi-
ally adapted to its requirements.

It was figured and described as long ago as 1 633, by old Moufet; and also
described in 1667, by Dr. Merrett in his '' Pinax." Petiver in 1717, figured
it in his " Papiliorium Britannise Icones," calling it the Enfield Eye, from
the place he first observed it in. Lewin in his " Insects of Great Britain "
writes, " This butterfly is peculiar to woods, and may be seen flying as early
as the middle of April. This brood is from the caterpillars that have lived
through the winter, and have changed to chrysalis at the end of March, in
which state they remain for about twenty days, when the flies are perfected.
The caterpillars feed on grass, and go through the different changes exceed-
ingly quick, so that there are not less than three distinct broods of the flies
in one summer."

HIPPARCHIA MEG^ERA.
The Wall.

MEGJERA, Linn. Megse'ra, one of the Furies. Virg. ,<En. XII. 846.

This is called the Wall Butterfly, from its fondness for settling on walls.
It has also a partiality for banks and roadways. It belongs to the section
Lira of Hubner.

The wings expand from one inch and three quarters to a couple of inches,
and are of a brownish colour with a very large patch of a fulvous yellow on
forewings, with transverse brown lines. Near the tip of each forewing is a
large eye-like spot with a white pupil ; and the hindwings have a row of from
three to five eye-like spots varying in size, the middle ones with white pupils.
The male has a broad oblique stripe on the forewings. The underside of the
hindwings is beautifully freckled with yellowish grey and brown. It is very
similar to Mara, Linn., which has been erroneously recorded as British ; and
I possess a variety taken by Mr. Pretor, in August, 1856, at Sandesfoot

Castle, near Weymouth, which appears to be somewhat intermediate, the
hindwings and the basal portions of the forewings being quite a pale brown,
almost drab. A very curious variety is in the collection of Mr. Bond : the
forewings are of the usual type, but have an extra small eyed spot close to the
top. The hindwings are semi-transparent, with eyed spots on a fulvous
band and slight fulvous marks nearer the base. Mr. Stephens, in his
" Illustrations/' describes a variety with the wings nearly transparent, the
scales being sparingly distributed over the surface, but all the usual markings
visible. Occasionally the characteristic dark band of the male is wider than
usual, making the specimens look very dark ; and I possess a specimen in
which paler portions of the wings are almost white. Examples with more than
three eyed spots on the hindwings are not uncommon. The underside has
generally six or seven, but there are seldom more than four on the upperside.
Sometimes the eye is bipupilled. The variety Lyssa, Boisd., from South-
eastern Europe and Asia Minor, has the hindwings of a grey colour on the
underside, somewhat like my specimen from Weymouth ; and the variety
Tigelius, Bon., from Corsica and Sardinia, is smaller and darker fulvous than
the typical Megara.

The egg, which is deposited singly on blades of grass, is of a pale green
colour at first, then whitish, at last dull greenish-white, with some dark pur-
plish spots on the top. In shape it is somewhat truncated and conical, with
rather a round top.

The caterpillar is of a dull green, with a darker dorsal and a lighter spir-
acular line, and covered with minute warts, each of which emits a short hair.
It feeds on Daclylis glomerata, and other kinds of grasses.

The chrysalis is suspended by the tail, and has two varieties of coloration,
green and a very dark brown. It has a short, stout, flattened, oval spike,
the tip of which is thickly set with pale, curled spines.

The butterfly appears in May, in which month or early in June, the eggs
are laid singly on grass stems. The caterpillar is full-fed by the middle or
end of July, and the species remains a month — sometimes less — in the chry-
salis state, the second brood appearing in August, and continuing to fly
almost to October. The eggs are generally laid in August, and hatch in a
few days, the caterpillars feeding during the autumn, and hibernating, enter
the chrysalid state at the end of March or middle of April. About the end
of March, 1881, the Eev. J. Hellins captured two caterpillars on grass;
about the middle of April these became chrysalides, and the butterflies
appeared on May 13th and 21st, these had come from eggs laid in the pre-
ceding July or August, and had hibernated as caterpillars. (See Buckler's
Larvse, appendix by Eev. J. Hellins).

It is found all over Europe, except in the polar regions, in Northern Asia,
and Asia Minor, also in the north of Africa. It is, or at least was, a com-
mon butterfly in all parts of England and Wales, but appears to have become
very scarce in the north of England, as Mr. Eobson has only seen a solitary
specimen since 1860 in the Durham district. Dr. Buchanan White makes the
same remark in reference to Perth, adding " The series of cold summers
following that year seem to have destroyed the species." In the south of
England it is still a very common butterfly, and also in Ireland. It occurs
in the Isle of Man, and is found in Scotland as far as Argyleshire.

The first English author who appears to have noticed it was Dr. Christo-
pher Merrett, who in his "Pinax," published at London in 1667, described
it thus, " Oculo nigro, pupilla Candida, alisq ; Dracontii modo varius," which
means that it is freckled after the manner of Dragon-wort. Ray informs us
" It is not unfrequently seen after midsummer/' and calls it " the Golden
Marbled Butterfly, with black eyes ; but Petiver calls it the ' London Eye/ "
Lewin informs us that it is very common in lanes, road sides, and barren
places in woods, and that it frequently settles on the trunks of trees.

SUB-GENUS HIPPAECHIA.

This sub-genus corresponds to the section Eumenis of Hubner and Rupi-
ciles of M. Duponchel ; and contains forty species or more, including the
largest of the family.

M. Marloy has published a short notice upon the caterpillars in the
"Annales" of the French Entomological Society for 1838, stating that the
chief cause why they are so seldom met with is that they conceal themselves
and remain inactive during the day, but come forth to feed by night, when
they may be found in great numbers with the help of a lamp. The cater-
pillars of Circe, Briseis, Fidia, and Semele form large cocoons underground,
composed of grains of earth fastened together with a little silk. Their chrysa-
lides are short, ovoid, glabrous, with the head obtuse and tail pointed.

Another point of distinction may be seen in the perfect insect, which has
the antennae with a short abrupt club.

HIPPARCHIA SEMELE.
Grayling or Black-eyed Marble.

SEMELE, Linn. Sem'ele, the mother of Bacchus, the God of wine.
This fine butterfly is the largest British species of the family, some of the
females measuring two inches and three-quarters in expanse. The males are

smaller, being as a rule half or quarter of an inch less across the wings
Though a powerful looking insect, its flight is by no means swift, and it is
captured without much difficulty. The upper surface of the wings is
of a dull brown, with a broad, wavy, creamy white band near the hind mar-
gin. In this band are a couple of white centred, black, eye-like spots on each
forewing, and a smaller one near the anal angle of each hindwing. The
female has the band very distinct, but it is very indistinct on the forewings
of the male, and on the hind wings a fulvous tinge. The underside of the
forewings is of a creamy white, with a fulvous tinge; the underside of the
hindwings is clouded with white, brown, and black, the base darkest. The
antennas are brown above, with the under part ochraceous. The intensity of
its colourings varies greatly. In some specimens the upper surface is nearly
black ; in others the marginal band is nearly flavescent, with a few brownish
clouds ; beneath, the anterior wings are frequently very deep brown at the
base, with a dusky bar across the centre, and the hind-margin of the same
colour; and the posterior wings are occasionally marked with a zig-zag,
irregular, central ochraceous band. The eye-like spots also vary very much
in size. Scotch specimens are larger and darker than those from the
South of England. Many Irish examples are much redder than the type,
and closely resemble those from Portugal and the north-west of Africa. A
variety, Aristaus, with the paler portion of the wings yellower than the type,
occurs in Corsica and Sardinia. Another, Mersira, has the underside of the
hindwings uniformly grey, instead of being marbled and mottled as in the
ordinary type, and is found in Cyprus and in Asia Minor.

The egg appears never to have been described.

The caterpillars, when young, are ochreous, with a black interrupted dorsal
line ; when full-grown they are an inch and a half in length, tapering much
to the anal forked extremity, and a little towards the head, which is globular.
It is of a delicately mottled drab colour, with darker stripes. The dorsal
line is olive-brown, and the spiracular line pale ochreous-browu, edged with
brownish-white both above and below. The head is brown, on it the princi-
pal stripes of the body are delicately marked with darker brown. The legs
are of a drab colour, and the spiracles are black. It feeds on Air a pracox
and caspitosa, and other kinds of grasses ; and is remarkable for changing to
the chrysalid state below the surface of the ground in a slight cocoon.

A captured caterpillar, which had been dug up by Mr. Buckler, on May
20th, 1864, from a waste piece of sandy ground near the sea, amongst early
hair grass (Air a pracox) and other small grasses, on being placed under a
glass in a pot, immediately burrowed in the sandy earth, and the few times it

was seen on the grass were always at night, and each morning brought evi-
dence of its doing well by the diminished grass.

The chrysalis, like most other subterranean chrysalides, is deep dark red in
colour, and smoother and more regular in shape than its congeners.

The butterfly emerges in the end of June, more frequently about the
middle of July, and continues on the wing till past the middle of September.
The eggs are generally laid in August, and are deposited singly on the food-
plant, and hatch in a few days. The caterpillar feeds very slowly in the
autumn, and hybernates when quite small. It feeds up in spring, and is not
difficult to find at dusk, or often dark with the aid of a lantern, as its pale
colour contrasts well with the grass stems. Lewin states that " it rarely
ventures out to feed, except in the evening, for fear of birds, which are always
searching for this kind of caterpillar." It becomes full-fed about the middle
of June, and remains nearly a month in the chrysalis state.

Hipparchia Semele is found throughout Europe except in the Polar regions.
It is also found in Asia Minor, and in Algeria and Morocco in Africa. It is
considered a local species in Britain ; but this is most likely only because the
country is so highly cultivated. In England it occurs in nearly all our
counties, and often abundantly. It is generally distributed throughout
Ireland and the Isle of Man. In Scotland it occurs as far North as Suther-
land, Scottish specimens being slightly larger and darker than English ones.
Although rather local in Perthshire, it is an abundant species where it does
occur. Its favourite haunts are warm rocks, such as Kinnoul and Moncrieffe
hills, and in such situations it is very common. It appear to be attached to
heaths and dry pastures, but is sometimes found in dry woodlands ; and is
easily taken, as it is not active in flight, and settles on the bare ground when
it possibly can. Sometimes it settles on the trunks of trees, or on rocks.

The .Rev. John Ray appears to have been the first to record it as a British
species. In his " Historia Insectorium" he writes thus, " Hsec a D. Tillema
Bobarts ad me transmissa est. Huic similis anno 1697, miki communicata
est ab ingeniosissimo viro D. Davide Kreig M.D. Annabergensi Saxone, in
collibus Gogmagog dictis agri Cantabrigiensis inventa, &c."

Petiver in his " Gazyophylacium," 1704, calls it "The Tunbridge Gray-
ling," and adds, " it is very rare about London."

Wilkes, in his "Aurelian," 1742, calls it "The Rock Underlying," and
informs that "it is taken near Coombe Wood, in July."

SUB-GENUS SATIRUS.

Boisduval*
SAT'YRUS, a rustic deity, half man and half goat. Virg. Eel. v. 73.

Contains the sections Epinephile and Pyronia of Hubner. Of the first, we
possess one British species, Janira ; and of the second likewise one, Tithonus.
According to Kirby's Catalogue, 26 species belong to this Sub-genus, from
various parts of the globe, five of them occuring in Europe.

The hind wings are slightly dentated, and the antennse are gradually clubbed.
The male has a broad black streak on the forewings, which distinguish it from
the next sub- genus. The underside is of a fulvous colour generally. The
caterpillars are spindle shaped, and covered with fine hair.

HIPPARCHIA JANIRA.

Meadow Brown.

JANIRA, Linn. Jani'ra, one of the Nereids.

This most abundant species varies in the expansion of its wings from one
and a half to two inches, the female being the larger. As its English name
implies, the prevailing colour of the wings on the upperside is brown, of a
very dark shade, especially in the males. Both sexes have a black eye-like
spot, with a white centre inside of a fulvous ring, near the tip of each fore-
wing ; and the female has, instead of the ring, a large fulvous patch, which
is sometimes also slightly visible in the males. The underside of the fore-
wings is fulvous ; of the hindwings greyish brown, with a paler band towards
the hind margins, which is marked with two black dots in the male. The
markings vary greatly in size, as well a? in colour ; and the eyed spot is
sometimes without any, and sometimes with two white dots, occasionally also
it is accompanied by a secondary eyed spot above, and a black spot or two
beneath. Linnaeus mistook the sexes of this butterfly for different species,
to which he gave the names of Janira and Jnrtina, but their specific identity
has long been established. In such cases the name given to the male speci-
mens is retained if that of the female. Although the female as a rule is very
distinct, yet it occasionally appears with all the coloration of the male.

This species is exceedingly subject io variation of a very peculiar kind,
namely, in the presence of large blotches, or sometimes of an entire wing,
having the appearance of being bleached, the usual brown colour being
absent in such blotches, and a kind of dingy white appearing in its stead.
Various suggestions have been made to account for these white varieties,
that most generally received being that the discolouration has been caused by
the rays of the sun, concentrated by a drop of dew. " I cannot see," writes
Mr. Robson, " that the explanation is satisfactory, for the bleaching is as
often on the hindwings as on the forewings, and as the one covers the other
in the chrysalis, the hindwing would not be bleached from this cause, with-

out that part above it being also affected. Besides if a dew drop could thus
concentrate the rays of the sun like a burning glass, the chrysalis would be
first affected, and the insect so injured as not to be likely to emerge." Mr.
Kobson has seen no other species marked in the same way, except one speci-
men of Erebia Blandina, in his own collection, which has the left wing so
affected ; but Mr. Mosley has figured a specimen of Thecla rubi, from Mr.
Gregson's collection, which may decidedly be called bleached. In the British
Museum is a singular specimen of this variety of Janira, which is remarkable
for the confluence of the discoidal patches on the forewings. The most
beautiful I have of these bleached examples is a male, which I captured at
Glanvilles Wootton, on June 28th, 1864. The specimen is apparently fresh
from the chrysalis, and what is left of the dark colour is of a very rich dark
brown indeed, being mostly at the base and round the margins. All the
wings are coloured in a similar manner, and on both the upper and under-
sides ; the eyed spot being almost hidden. Four other males I have of this
kind. One has the right wing white, other wings of the normal type. A
second has the two right-hand wings almost white. A third has a white
patch near the hind margin of both left-hand wings. A fourth has a slight
white patch on the two forewings. Females of this variety are more scarce,
but I have one which I took at Glanvilles Wootton, on July 2nd, 1872, with
the right-hand fore wing entirely white, and the eyed spot scarcely showing.
Mr. Tugwell has a very remarkable example with the right forewing quite
white, with the exception of the eyed spot, and a few yellowish streaks near
the centre. The hindwings on the same side have a yellowish-white band,
corresponding with the pale band of the underside. The wings on the
opposite side are very different, the forewing being marked more like the
ordinary female, but yellow instead of fulvous, while the hindwing resembles
that on the right side, except that the band is yellow instead of white. A
female I took at the Land's End, in August, 1864 (the great year for bleached
varieties), has the fulvous patch on the forewings replaced with yellowish-white.
Another very extraordinary form is what may be called the drab variety.
It has all the wings of a very pale brownish drab, with the eyed spot scarcely
showing. The finest specimen of this variety I captured at Glanvilles Woot-
ton, on June 20th, 1864 ; being singularly enough the first of the species I
saw in that season. Another very extraordinary form has all the wings of a
very pale ochraceous, except a fulvous patch, in which the eyed spot is
situated. It was taken by my father in the Isle of Arran, on July 29th,
1825. A female I took in the Isle of Harris, on July 29th, 1883, has a dis-
tinct fulvous band on the hindwings. The undersides of the males from that
locality are unusually dark. Perhaps these belong to the variety named in

the " Scottish Naturalist," as Splendida, by Dr. Buchanan White, who des-
cribes it as follows : " Larger and brighter coloured, the apical spot of the
front one with two white dots (mine has only one). Found by Mr. Davidson
in the Island of Longa, on the west coast of Rosshire, being the only form
occurring there." He goes on to say, " that it occurs occasionally in Aber-
deenshire ; and that he has taken it in the island of Capii, near Naples."
The South European variety, Hispulla, Hubner; is a large richly coloured
form, expanding nearly two inches and a half ; the black spot at the tip is
very large, the light markings of a deep orange tawny, and the veins broadly
black, the hindwings too have a distinct tawny band. It has been reported
as being taken in Hayling Island, but the specimen is more probably like my
female from the Isle of Harris. The Algerian form, Janiroides, which is
also said to occur in Spain, has a row of small brown dots in yellow rings on
the underside of the hmdwings. In the Corsican form, Nurag, the male is
brown with a fulvous blotch on each wing, and the eye spot surrounded with
fulvous ; and the female is fulvous, the underside of the hindwings is uni-
formly brown, without paler markings or black dots.

The egg is yellowish-white with brownish markings. It is globular, and
has lines on its surface like the rneridan lines on a geographical globe, and a
pretty scalloping at the top that gives a flower-like appearance to that portion.

The caterpillar is of an apple green colour, with a darker dorsal line, and a
yellowish white stripe on each side, and white anal points. It is covered
with roughish looking warts, which emit short hairs. It feeds on grasses of
various kinds, preferring the soft meadow grasses to the coarser species.

The chrysalis is suspended by the tail to a blade of grass, but often so
slightly that it falls to the ground. The shrivelled skin of the caterpillar re-
mains, enveloping the tail of the chrysalis, and supporting it. The chrysalis
is stout, with two little horns on the head ; the tail ends in a short, stout
sword spike, on the tip of which are a few straight feeble bristles. The
colour is green, with some brown spots and lines.

Two species of parasitic Hymenoptera have been bred from it, namely,
Ichneumon reptermis and Apanteles nothus.

This butterfly begins to emerge at the end of June, and continues on the
wing for some time. Specimens may be seen even as late as the middle of
September, and during the greater part of this time the female may be noticed
laying her eggs. Near the railway station at Yentnor, in the Isle of Wight,
I captured some specimens in 1866, on the llth of October, and at Dover
they have been seen as late as October 29th. They evidently belong to a
second brood, as the specimens are beautifully fresh. The eggs are laid
singly on the grass blades, and hatch in about a fortnight. The caterpillars

feed slowly for a short time, and then retire for hybernation. With the warm
weather of IVlay it comes from its retreat, and becomes full-fed by the end of
the month or early in June. It is seldom seen in the day, as it feeds by
night, when it may be easily found with the aid of a lighted lantern, or a
sweeping net. It remains in the chrysalis state three or four weeks.

Hipparchia janira abounds everywhere in grassy places throughout Europe
except in the Polar regions, in those portions of Asia bordering on Europe,
and in Northern Africa. It does not occur at any great elevation above
the sea.

It is the commonest of all our British butterflies, and is found everywhere,
except on high mountains, and the Orkneys and Shetland Isles, and perhaps
Caithness and some of the Hebrides. Mr. Knapp, the author of the pleasing
" Journal of a Naturalist," notices that it appears but little affected by the
diversity of seasons, being equally copious in damp and cheerless summers, as
in the driest and most arid ones. Indeed in 1826, which was exceedingly
parched, the number of these butterflies was so great as to attract the atten-
tion of different persons. In 1867, it was rare in the Kannoch district.

It has a peculiar habit, in a stormy summer, of forsaking the grass at even-
ing, and retiring to roost amongst the branches of oaks and other trees in
large numbers. The following morning it returns to the grass.

It was first described as a British species by Dr. Christopher Merrett, in
his "Pinax," 1667.

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes "The female lays
her eggs, not fixing them to any particular plant, but dropping them here
and there on the earth. The caterpillars conceal themselves at the bottom of
the grass when young, and there feed; as they advance in size, they venture
out in the evening, and feed more generally. I have no doubt but this
cautious manner of feeding is their great protection from their enemies — the
ichineumon fly and birds. This will in some measure account for the smooth
caterpillars, and those with little hair on them, being so seldom seen, as they
mostly conceal themselves in the day-time. Some of the caterpillars, which
have grown fast, and were produced from eggs laid early in the season, change
to chrysalis at the end of the summer, and will sometimes appear on the
wing late in the autumn."

HIPPARCHIA TITHONUS.

Hedge Brown.

TITHONUS, Linn. Titho'nus, the husband of Aurora, the fair and beautiful
messenger of the approaching sun, fabled to have been transformed by her
into a grasshopper.

The forewings are of a fulvous colour, with a dark brown border, the base
being also slightly clouded with brown, and near the tips is a black eye-like
spot, with a couple of white dots inside. The hindwings are of a dark brown
with a fulvous band across the middle, and a white centred black spot near
the anal angle. The underside of the hindwings is of a golden brown at the
base and margin, with an irregular waved greyish buff band running across
the middle, and a patch of the same colour near the outer angle, and a row
of white dots. The size of these dots, as well as their number, varies in
different specimens. The width across the wings varies from one and a half
to a couple of inches. The male is distinguishable from the female by its
slightly smaller size, more obscure colouring, and by having a broad brown
oblique patch, extending from the inner margin to beyond the middle of the
forewings.

Varieties are scarce, and none have been named. One of the most extra-
ordinary is in the collection of Mr. Stevens. It is a female, and of the usual
coloration, except that the dark border is replaced by one of pale drab, into
which the fulvous of the centre portion of the wing is gradually shaded.
Mr. Bond has a male, from the New Forest, with the fulvous portions of all
the wings changed to pale drab, and females of the same character are in a
few other collections.

The egg is cylindrical, standing on end, the top flat, the sides with sixteen
ribs separated by wide grooves. At first it is of a very pale yellow, but just
before the caterpillar is hatched, it becomes pale purplish with dark markings.

The caterpillar is of a bright green or else of a pale stone colour, with a
dark reddish dorsal line widening on the middle segments ; a white sub-
dorsal line interrupted at each segment; and a white spiracular line, bordered
above with brown and shading into the ground colour. The whole body,
head included, is closely set with fine short pale bristles ; the oval flap with
two short spines pointing backwards. It feeds on Poa annua, Dactylls
glomeratus, and other common grasses.

The Chrysalis is suspended by the tail to a blade of grass. It is short and
rather thick, and is of a very pale green, or of a pale drab colour, with num-
ous black lines and markings. The head ends squarely, whether looked at
sideways or from above ; viewed from below the corners are angulated almost
like two little horns ; the shoulders of the wing cases are also sharply angu-
lated.—(Rev. J. Hellins).

Two species of parasitic Hymenoptera have been bred from it, namely
Rhagas tristis and Apanteles nothrus.

The butterfly emerges from the chrysalis about the middle of J uly, and
continues on the wing for a couple of months.

The egg is laid on blades of grass in July or August. The young cater-
pillar emerges in about a fortnight, and feeds very slowly for a while, retiring
to hybernate among the grass stems near the ground. It may be found
again in May, or even in April, at dusk or after dark, by the aid of a lighted
lantern, and is full-fed in June, when it turns into a chrysalis, in which state
it continues for three or four weeks.

The little section Pyronia, to which TitJionus and a couple of other species
belong, is princpally located in South-western Europe. This species is the
commonest and most widely distributed over Europe and Western Asia, but
is absent from Scandinavia, as well as the greater part of Eastern Europe.
It is generally distributed throughout England, frequenting hedgerows and
bushy places, but not open fields like Janira. In Scotland it is local and
not common, being recorded from Kirkcudbright, Perthshire, and the west
coast of Rosshire. It apparently does not occur in the Isle of Man, and is
not generally distributed over Ireland.

Dr. Merrett briefly described it in his " Pinax, 1667."

James Petiver, in his " Papilionum Brittannise Icones," published in
1717, states "that it is seen about hedges in August."

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, informs us that " Titho-
nus, is a common species, and frequents the sides of hedges and the environs
of woods, when on the wing."

Haworth, in his " Lepidoptera Brittannise," describes it under the name of
Pilosella, Fabricius.

SUB-GENUS ENODIA.
Hubner.

This sub-genus or section was formed by Hubner for the reception of
Hyperanthus, which differs from the preceding by the hindwings not being
denticulated, and by having very hairy and elongated palpi. There is also
some difference in the situation of the second branch of the post-costal vein
of the forewings.

HIPPARCHIA HYPERANTHUS.
The Kinglet.

HYPERANTHUS, Linn. Hyperan'thus, probably a typographical error for
Hyperanthes, a son of Darius, who fell at Thermopylae.

This plain-coloured butterfly varies in the expanse of its wings from one
and a half to a couple of inches. The uppe surface of all the wings is a very
dark brown or almost black, without any si ade or markings, sometimes with

one or more ocellated spots, which are small and faint in the male, but larger
and more conspicuous in the female. On the underside, the ground colour
of the wings is rather paler, but uniform, and there is a row of white centred
black spots yellow rings, or ocelli, near the hind margin. The underside
varies greatly in the size and number of the ocelli.

In his " Illustrations of British Entomology/' J. F. Stephen's gives the
following varieties : —

Yar. d. Anterior wings beneath with three very large ocelli, posterior
with five ; several on all the wings sesquialterous, or having smaller ocelli
attached.

Yar. c. Wings ocellated as in type, but the ocelli large and conjoined.

Yar. d. Wings ocellated as in type, but the ocelli very minute.

Yar. e. Ocelli in number as before ; the smaller or hinder ocellus on the
anterior wings bipupillate, the inner one on the posterior wings nearly
obsolete.

Yar. f. Ocelli entirely obliterated ; in lieu thereof three snow-white spots
on the anterior wings beneath, and five on the posterior.

Yar. g. Anterior wings with three ocelli beneath, posterior with four, the
one at the anal angle being obliterated.

Yar. h. Anterior wings beneath with three ocelli ; posterior with four
white spots.

Yar. i. Anterior wings with three ocelli beneath ; posterior as in type.

Yar. j. Anterior wings as in the last ; posterior with four ocelli, the
inner one being obliterated.

Yar. k. Ocelli in number as in the last, the anterior costal one on the
posterior wings wanting.

Yar. I. Anterior wings with two ocelli beneath, posterior with three ; the
costal and anal ones wanting.

Yar. m. Ocelli obliterated ; anterior wings beneath with two white dots ;
posterior with four.

Yar. n. Anterior wings with a single ocellus beneath, posterior with five.

Yar. o. Anterior wings as in last ; posterior with four ocelli, the anal
one obliterated.

Yar. p. Anterior wings same as last two ; posterior with three ocelli as
in var. /.

Yar. q. Ocelli obliterated ; anterior wings with a single minute white dot
beneath, posterior with four.

Yar. r. Ocelli obliterated ; anterior wings immaculate ; posterior with
three minute white spots.

Exclusively of the above, there are numerous intermediate varieties in the

100

magnitude of the respective ocelli ; and the wings are frequently differently
ocellated on the left and right sides. Mr. Stephens goes on to add " that
the above are all that he possesses, and has had an opportunity of examining."
The form in which the eyed rings are represented only by the white dots
of the centres, is called Arete, Mull,, or else Polymeda, Hubner ; and in
Dr. Staudinger's large catalogue the only locality given for it is the Yalley of
the Ainoor, but it is met not uncommonly at Dover, and it also occurs in
Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Yorkshire, and other parts of England. Mr. Wailes
had a specimen without any spot whatever, taken in Durham, Mr. Robson has
another ; and Mr. Kirby has one, taken in Germany, in which the outer half
of the fore-wings, and the edges of the hind-wings, are grey instead of brown.
These varieties are extremely interesting, as showing how a character, for-
merly supposed to be of specific value, can be modified, and indeed entirely
lost, without inducing the slightest doubt as to the propriety of uniting all
these dissimilar individuals under one specific name.

The egg is of a yellowish white colour at first, but soon turns to a pale
brown, the shell remains clear and shining. It is dumpy, conical in shape,
with rounded top, and very faintly reticulated.

The caterpillar is of a pale straw colour, with a dark brown dorsal line,
which is broadest and most distinct at the anal segments, gradually narrowing
and becoming fainter as it approaches the head. It is spindle shaped, and
covered with roughish warts, which emit short white hairs. It feeds on
Triticum repens, and other common kinds of grasses.

The chrysalis is short and very obese, with a rather rounded head ; and of
a pale brown colour, with spots and markings of a darker shade. It is sus-
pended by the tail to the lower part of a blade of grass, but often so slightly
that it falls on to the ground, where it remains.

The butterfly emerges from the chysalis in the early part of July, and con-
tinues on the wing until August. The egg is laid singly on the grass stems,
and hatches in about fourteen days. The young caterpillars feed very slowly
during the autumn, and conceal themselves it the roots of the various
grasses on which they feed, but crawl ont again and recommence feeding very
early in the year, and by the end of March are often half-grown. They feed
during the night and cannot readily be found, unless diligent search be made
with a lantern, among the long grasses so commonly growing along the
hedgerows and ditches, more especially in the neighbourhood of woods.
Towards the end of June they attach themselves by the anal claspers to a
slight web, and hanging with the head downwards : are transformed into
chrysalides.

The Kinglet is common in woods throughout Europe, except the extreme

101

north. It occurs also in Asia, but only in some of the districts bordering on
Europe. It is widely distributed in the British Isles, but as it frequents
woods and wooded districts, is rather local, and has not been observed in the
Isle of Man. In Ireland it is very local, but occurs very abundantly in Gal-
way. In Scotland it does not occur in the more mountainous parts. Dun-
negan in the Isle of Skye, is the most northern locality in Britain at present
known for the species.

It is first described as a British species in " Merrett's Pinax," published
in 1667.

In his "Papilionum Britannise Icones," 1717, Petiver records it as rarely
appearing before August, and mostly near rivers.

In Lewin's "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, we read: "Caterpillars that
feed on the leaves of trees, shrubs, or bushes, are readily discovered by beat-
ing the boughs into a sheet ; but those that feed on herbs, or grasses, that
grow close to the surface of the earth, are not to be obtained but by the most
diligent search under the cover that the leaves or roots afford them ; and as
the caterpillars in this section do not keep together, but are dispersed, and
live in a solitary manner, they are but rarely to be met with. This is a com-
mon insect, frequenting the skirts of woods, and the sides of hedges/'

SUB-GEKUS CLENONYMPHA.
Hubner.

This genus or sub-genus includes between twenty and thirty species, the
greater part of which are European, two occurring in Great Britain.

They are all of a pale drab or tawny colour, and comprise the smallest of
the family. All the three nervures of the fore-wings are dilated at the base,
and the antennae are slender, with a long and fusiform club. The middle
pair of tibise are as long as the tarsi. The caterpillars differ from those of
the other sub-genera in being completely glabrous and shining. A couple of
species, Hero and Arcanius, have been erroneously recorded as British.

CCENONYMPHA TYPHON.

Large Ileath.

TYPHON, Rott. Ty'phon, last of the sons of Terra, a giant on whose
shoulders grew an hundred serpents' heads.

This is an exceedingly variable butterfly, especially on the underside, and
as may be supposed, two or three species have been made out of one ; per-
manent varieties seeming, as in the case of Polymmatus alexis, to belong to
particular localities.

102

The species varies in the expansion of its wings from an inch and a half
to an inch and three-quarters. The upper surface of the wings of both sexes
is of a brownish-white, the base being darker, and the fringe of a pale grey.
There are rudimentary eyed spots near the hind-margin of the hind-wings,
and also a rudimentary one near the tip of each fore-wing. The underside
of the fore-wings is somewhat similar to the upper, except that the eyed spot
is distinct, and that there is a distinct white bar near the spot. On the
underside the hind -wings are of a silvery grey, with an irregular interrupted
white bar across (the interruption forming the ground of the formerly sup-
posed specific distinction ; and there is a row of small eyed spots near the
hind-margin, varying in number from two, to six or even seven. Sometimes
there are as many as five on the fore-wings. The obliteration of the ocelli
also varies much, in some specimens they are replaced by pale fulvescent or
whitish spots, and in others they are almost obsolete. Again many specimens
have the upper surface bearing very distinct ocelli, which vary in number
from two to six. This form is the Laidion of Borkhousen, and is the same
as that called TypJion in Kirby's " European Butterflies/' arid Davus in
Newman's " British Butterflies" ; and is the one found in Ireland, and most
most generally distributed in Britain, and on the Continent of Europe.

Yar. Polydama, Haw. Differs from the preceding in the white bar across
the under surface of the hind-wings being continuous, instead of interrupted.
I have Haworth's original specimen, taken in Yorkshire by Mr. Watson.

Yar. ISM, Thunberg. It is of a very much lighter shade, with the ocelli
entirely wanting, or only traceable as pale dots, and the transverse bar is
little different from the ground colour. It is the Lapland form, but occurs
with the type in the Orkneys and the north of Scotland.

Yar. Philoxenus, Esp., Manchester Ringlet. Is of a much darker hue
Laidion, and the eyed spots are much larger and more distinct. The white
transverse bar is generally continuous like that of Polydama, but sometimes
interrupted like that of Laidion. Four, five, or even six distinct black, white
centred spots, in pale rings, are on the underside of the hind- wings, and two
or three on the fore-wings, and there is a like number on the upperside.
This form is the Philoxenus of Esper, is called Davus in Kirby's " European
Butterflies/' and Rothliebii, in Newman's " British Butterflies/' and occurs
commonly on Chat Moss, near M anchester, and other parts of Lancashire ;
Thorne Moor, in Yorkshire ; and other localities in the North of England.
Dr. Buchanan White gives Cloak Moss, near Dalbeattie, as the only Scottish
locality. It occurs on the Continent of Europe, but is probably only found
in low-lying districts, and the caterpillar feeds on Rkynchospora alba, a plant
which is often not a native of the localities frequented by Laidion, Some

103

specimens from Cumberland appear to be somewhat intermediate between
Laidion and Pkiloxenus.

Professor Westwood remarks on these different varieties, that in Davus
all the markings are complete, distinct, and unclouded; in Polydama they
are somewhat paler and less defined ; and in Typhon the broad band is divid-
ed into two irregular marks, while in further varieties some of the marks
disappear altogether, and all are fainter. Also that Davus has the little
rings always more or less defined on the upper surface, and is of a dull brown
colour, with a slight inclination to grey, the darker parts inclining to green.
Typhon and Polydama have the little rings very slight, and in some instances
altogether wanting on the upperside, whilst also the ground colour is some-
what paler, and inclining to tawny, and on the underside all the marking are
are paler and less distinct. The females are generally lighter than the males,
with the ocelli on the upper surface larger and more distinct, and have a pale
blotch on the upperface of the hind wings.

The egg is barrel shaped with the sides convex and delicately ribbed, and
is of a pale straw colour very faintly blotched with pale brown.

The caterpillar is of a bright green, with a dark bluish-green dorsal line
edged with pale lemon yellow, pale yellow sub-dorsal and spiracular lines, and
brown spiracles, the caudal fork being tipped with pink. When full grown,
it attains to an inch in length, the head being globular, and the body taper-
ing towards the anal forked extemity. It feeds on Rhynchospora alba, and
also on the various kinds of cotton grass, Eriop/wrum. The habits of the
caterpillars differ much from those of the allied genera in being particularly
active and lively, travelling much over their food-plant, an all-wise provision,
enabling them to escape the inundations to which they are liable. (Buckler's
larva of British Butterflies.)

The chrysalis is suspended by minute caudal hooks from a white silken
web spun on the edge of a leaf of the food-plant. At first it is of a bright
green, but, before the butterfly comes forth, changes to a dark brown.

The butterfly is on the wing from the end of June to the beginning of
September. The egg is generally laid in July, and the caterpillars, as is usual
with those of the family, hybernate. Ccenonympha typhon is common, though
somewhat local, on mosses and moors in Northern and Central Europe,
Northern Asia, and Northern America. It has not been observed in the
Isle of Man, but is extremely abundant in the South-west of Ireland, and in
bogs of Connemera. In Britain, it ranges from the Shetland Isles to Chartby
Moss, in Staffordshire. It is common at Eannoch, and in other Highland
districts, and occurs on the Scotch mountains at an elevation of upwards of
two thousand feet. It is also found in North Wales, and has been reported

104

from North Devon. The variety Philoxenus appears to be confined to the
mosses of Lancashire and the neighbouring counties. Both Laidion and
Philoxenus occurs in Yorkshire; for in the Entomologist for 1840-2, is the
following paragraph, " I took Hipparchia davns at Thome Moor, but wasted ;
and I had H. typJion given me from Cottingham, near Hull. In visiting the
locality I find it differs from Thome, where the original Davus occurs ;
Thorne Moor is mossy or spongy, but the Cottingham locality is reedy, as
are all the spots where I found Typhon in Scotland : I consider them only
local varieties."— J. C. Dale, August 13th, 1841.

The Cumberland specimens appear to be somewhat intermediate between
the two ; and in one of my specimens the white bar is wanting on the under-
side of the fore- wings, therefore resembling the next species, Pamphilus.

In the Linnsean cabinet were four or five specimens ticketed " Arcanius,"
the last of which is set on the reverse side, and to it is a ticket with " Angl.
Hudson, rariss " on it. It certainly is not Arcanius but Typhon ; dark brown
with scarcely any ocelli. It was probably taken in Wales by the celebrated
botanist Hudson.

The variety Philoxenus was first recorded as British in LewinY" Insects of
Great Britain, published in 1795, under the name of the Manchester Argus —
Hero, Linnaeus, — with the following paragraph : " This butterfly was scarcely
known in England till lately, when a gentleman found several in a moorish
or swampy situation near Manchester ; and from their local attachment to
the same place, he takes them on the wing every year in July. The fly I
have figured is from one in Mr. Francillon's magnificent collection of foreign
and British insects." Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects,"
vol. vi., published in 1797, records it as " a local species : it is very abun-
dant in some marshy parts of Lancashire ; but we have not learnt that it has
been taken in any other part of the kingdom. Many of the curious in Lon-
don are particularly indebted to Mr. Phillips, of Manchester, for enriching
their cabinets with Papilio hero, for though it is a plain insect, it is esteemed
for its rarity, few entomologists having travelled into that part of the country
to collect insects."

Both Hipparchia arcanius and hero are figured by Curtis, in his " British
Entomology," from specimens said to have been captured by Mr. Plasted, on
the borders of Ashdown Forest, Sussex ; but as he also stated that he took
Chrysojphanus chryseis in Ashdown Forest, and Acontia catena at Brixton,
Surrey, and also Acontia calorii in the neighbourhood of London, he cannot
be looked upon in the character of a trustworthy personage.

Haworth, in his " Lepidoptera Britannica," records Davus from the museum
of Jones, and as inhabiting the marches of Lancashire, near Manchester ; and

105

Polydama and Typhon on being taken in the county of Yorkshire, and sent
to him by P. W. Watson. Both / lydama and Typhon were taken on the
21st July, 1809, by the Rev. W. T Bree, on the moors between Bald and
Festiniog in North Wales ; and Curtis records Typhon as being taken plenti-
fully by himself and Mr. Dale in Jul , 1825, in the Isle of Arran.

CCENONYMPI:A PAMPHILUS.

Smai' Heath.

PAMPHILTJS, Linn. Pam'philus, n Athenian, who robbed the public
treasury.

The wings of this, our smallest Bi tish representative of the family, expand
from the width of from a little mor than one inch to nearly an inch and a
half. On the upperside they are of a fulvous, or pale tawny colour, with
brown margins, and a black spot near the tip of the fore-wings. In the
males, the dusty edging of the wings is more decided than in the females.
On the underside the fore- wing resembles the upperside, but the spot is much
more distinct, being white centred, and in a yellowish ring ; the hind-wings
resemble those of Typhon without the ocelli, having in their place minute
white dots. Varieties occur in which the ocelli on the underside are bipu-
pilled, and others in which they are entirely wanting, sometimes also tlie
upperside is without the spot. One, in my collection, taken by Mr. Paul,
at Langport, in Somersetshire, is of ;i whitish yellow tint, which makes the
dark border appear very distinct, Another I have, has the ground colour
very much darker than the type, similar to Philoxenus. In the large South
European variety Lyllus, Esper, there are faint traces of marginal eyed spots.
The egg is somewhat bucket shaped, with flattish base and top, and up-
right sides, broader at the base than above ; the sides with nearly fifty small
irregular ribs, and faint transverse reticulation, the top thimble-pitted all over,
the shell glossy, pale green at first, turning in a day or two to whitish, freck-
led and ringed with pale yellowish brown. (Rev. J. Hellins, in Appendix
to " Buckler's Larvae.")

The caterpillar is of a bright green colour, with dorsal line of a darker and
spiracular line of a lighter shade, and pink anal points. It feeds on Poa
annua, Cynosurus cristatus, and other kinds of grasses.

The chrysalis is suspended by the tail to a blade of grass. It is of a bright
green colour, with minute white spots, rather broad and blunt at the head.
At the end of the tail is a short, stout, rather flattened and curved spike, the
tip of which is thickly set with curled spines, well adapted for holding on to
the silk pad,

106

There appears to be two broods of this butterfly, the one appearing in May
and the other in August. Possibly there are three broods, as the butterflies
may be found from the end of April to the beginning of October. The
caterpillars seem to hybernate in various stages of growth, and might prob-
ably be found all the year round. The Rev. J. Hellins had some eggs laid
by captured females on May 28th, 1874. On August llth one caterpillar
had become a chrysalis. On August 22nd the butterfly appeared, whilst the
rest of the brood were still caterpillars, and just then passing through a
moult ; and these hibernated in the caterpillar state.

Ccenonympha pamphilus frequents all sorts of grassy places, heaths, railway
banks, dry pastures, grassy lanes, &c., and is distributed all over Europe,
except in the extreme north, and is found also in Asia and Northern Africa.
It is distributed all over the British Isles, except the Orkneys and Shetlands,
and is as yet the only species of butterfly reported from the small and far
away Isle of St. Kilda, —

" Whose lonely race
Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds."

St. Kilda is the most westerly of the Hebrides, being 80 miles west of the
Butt of Lewis.

Pamphilus was described as British as long ago as 1667, in the " Pinax"
of Dr. Merrett.

It is recorded in Ray's " Historia Insectorum," 1710, as being very fre-
quent in meadows through nearly the whole season.

GENUS XIV.— EREBIA.

EREB'IA, from Erebus, the region of darkness : in allusion to the dark,
colours of the butterflies contained in the genus.

The name generally adopted for the present genus was proposed by Dalman
for the whole of the Swedish species of Satyridae ; it is consequently a syno-
nym of Hijpparchia and Satyrus ; as such it was rejected by Professor West-
wood, who proposed the name of Oreina in its stead, in allusion to the
mountainous habits of the genus.

The species are very numerous, and are subject to great variations. They
are distinguished by having the principal veins of the fore-wings either not
swollen, or the costal vein alone slightly dilated at the base. The hind- wings
are generally entire in the smaller species, and slightly dentated in the larger.
The palpi are covered with long bristly hairs, and the antennae are slender,
with a rather long club. The caterpillars are covered with fine scattered
hairs, and in shape are pisciform, like the rest of the family. The genus con-

107

tains about 60 species, of which about half are European. They are found
almost exclusively in mountainous regions, and are rarely found on the plain,
except where the vegetation has an Alpine character. They do not occur on
the more northerly mountains of Europe, where they are replaced by the
species of Chwnobas; nor in the mountains of the southern parts of Spain,
Italy, and the Mediterranean islands. Boisduval enumerates no less than
seventeen species occurring on the Alps, and three species from Lapland.
The extra-European species inhabit the mountains of Asia, North America,
Chili, and South Africa; though, strange, to say, none are recorded from the
mountains of North Africa. Two species only occur in Britain, although
another, Ligea, was recorded as being taken by Sir Patrick Walker, in
the Isle of Arran, as long ago as 1804. Mr. Stainton, in 1857, gave as his
opinion in his " Manual " " that new species of British butterflies are more
likely to occur in this genus than in any other," so many parts of the Welsh,
Scottish, and Irish mountains having been unexplored. However it is in
the southern counties of England, and not in the northern parts of our
island, where new species have been turned up, and in the genus Polyommatus,
not Erebia. The species of Erebia constitute Duponchels' ninth and last
group, named, from their lofty habitations, Afyncicules- and may as that
author suggests, be divided into two groups, from the entire and denticulated
hind-wings, forming Stephen's divisions C and D of HipparcJiia, and Hubner's
sections of Epigea and Melampias.

SUB-GENUS EPIGEA.
Hubner.

The denticulated hind-wings distinguishes the species of this sub-genus
from those of the next.

EEEBIA MEDEA.

Scotch Rvnglet.

MEDEA, W.V., Me'dea, a wicked sorceress who married Jason.

Eabricius, in 1794, named this species Blandina, but it is the same as the
Medea of the Vienna Catalogue, published in 1776. Dr. Staudinger calls it
JEthwpSy Esp., and states that Medea, W.Y. is another butterfly. If so it
will be best to adopt the name of Blandina, Fab., for JEthiops is a bad name,
being neither the name of a historical personage, nor yet of a food-plant ;
besides it has been given to two or three different species of butterflies ; and
according to Jung, the Mhiops of Esper is identical with the Ligca of Lin-
nseus. The wings expand from an inch and three-quarters to a couple of

108

inches. They are of a rich dark brown, with a fulvous band, containing
several eye-like spot near the hind-margins. The female is paler in colour,
and has generally more and larger spots than the male. The underside is
paler in colour than the upper, and the fulvous band on the hind-wings is
replaced by a white one. Medea varies in the extent of the fulvous band,
and in the number and size of the eyed spots.

Stephens, in his " Illustrations," gives the following varieties : —

Var. b. Both sexes with the third ocellus from the apex of the anterior
wing, blind.

Yar. c. Both sexes with the third ocellus obliterated.

Var. d. Female with five ocelli on the band of the anterior wing.

Yar. e. Both sexes with the third ocellus from the apex of the anterior
wings blind, but the posterior wings with two ocelli only above.

Yar./. Posterior wings with only two ocelli.

Yar. g. Ocelli very small, the third one being obliterated ; the posterior
wings beneath with five very distinct bands. The first at the base, pale,
dusky ; the second, broad, bent, deep r -ddish brown ; the next attenuated
at each end, bluish-ash sprinkled with white, with three minute ocelli, and
terminating at the anal angle of the wini ; the hinder one occupying the pos-
terior margin, and bright rufous brown. This is the form most frequently
met with in Durham.

Yar. h. With white dots instead of .;celli.

The Swiss specimens are generally la ger than British, and their females
have an extra eyed spot on the fore-wim s. A named variety Mensina, H.S.,
has the fulvous band on the wings rathe • obscured.

The egg may be called large for the size of the butterfly, and is nearly
globular, though somewhat ovate in shape and laid on end ; the shell is glis-
tening, and ribbed, but not deeply, wii:i about thirty longitudinal ribs, and
with very shallow transverse reticulatio.is. At first, it is of a pale greenish
yellow colour, afterwards of a pale pinkish grey sprinkled with claret brown.
(Buckler's Larvae.)

The caterpillar is of a pale stone colour, the warts being pale whitish
brown; the dorsal stripe is blackish brown, most intense on the hinder seg-
ments, and enclosed by two lines of a paler shade than the ground colour,
and a broad sub-dorsal stripe. The skin is covered, though not very closely,
with short, stout, curved pellucid bristles.

The chrysalis is of a pale stone colour almost without markings, and very
stumpy. It is not suspended by the tail, but the caterpillar goes down
amongst the grass stems, and there changes. Before the butterfly emerges

109

the entire chrysalis becomes of a deep brown hue, the eyes being the first
portion to change in colour.

The butterfly emerges about the last week in July, and continues about a
month on the wing, but is soon worn. The eggs are attached singly to the
blades of grass. They hatch in about ten or eleven days, and the caterpillar
feeds a few weeks before hybernation ; it then creeps down the blades of
grass, which is generally Aira pracox, and hides in the thickest part of the
tufts. About May it begins to feed again, and is full-fed by the middle or
end of June.

Erelia medea inhabits the greater part of Central and Southern Europe,
and Northern and Western Asia, but is wanting in the northern plains of
Europe and in Silesia.

It appears to be generally distributed in Scotland, extending as far north
as Ross-shire. It is only known in five northern counties of England, viz. :
Durham, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire ; and not
at all in Ireland.

It is not so much a mountain species as others of the genus. In Scotland
it has been noticed that it does not range more than 800 or 1000 feet above
the sea level, while in Castle Eden Dene, Co. Durham, it is abundant at the
sea level, and within a few hundred yards of high water mark. It frequents
open grassy places among trees, but is sometimes extremely local. In one
wood near Castle Eden it is abundant close up to the turnpike road, which
passes through the wood, but it never occurs on the other side of the road;
At Strathglass, in Invernesshire, it sometimes occurs in all the open weedy
places in the woods, even coming into the gardens. From observation made
there, it appears that Erebia medea was scarcely seen above 800 feet, while
Ccenonympha typhon attained an elevation of np wards of 2000 feet ; the two
species being found together from 200 feet up to 800 feet above the level of
the sea.

It was first discovered to be a British species by Walker, who met with it
in the Isle of Arran, in the beginning of August, 1804.

Sowerby, in his "British Miscellany," published in 1806, informs us that
" This newly discovered species of Papilio, as a native of Britain, was caught
in the Isle of Arran, one of the Western Isles of Scotland."

Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects/' Vol. xii., published
in 1807, writes : "This very rare species of Papilio has been recently dis-
covered to be a native of the British Isles. About three or four specimens
of it were taken in the Isle of Arran by Major Walker, to whose politeness we
have an individual example at this time in our Museum. Another is preserved
in the collection of our friend A. M'Leay, Esq., and these, we have reason to

110

apprehend are the only specimens at present in any of the London cabinets.
Though but lately introduced to our attention as a native of Great Britain,
this interesting insect is by no means unknown to the Continental naturalists
as an inhabitant of Germany. It is the true Papilio blandina of the Fabri-
can system. This author likewise describes another Papilio under the same
name, but it is an East Indian species, and belongs to the Nymphales tribe,
and cannot be confounded with ours. He likewise describes another Papilio
under the specific name of Ligea. This latter is, however, sufficiently dis-
tinguished by having four ocellated black spots in the rufous band on the
upper wings instead of three, as in Blandina f and a white spot at the end of
the band on the underside of the posterior wings, which the other has not.
Papilio ligea was discovered in the Isle of Arran, by Major Walker, at the
time as Blandina"

Stephen's, in his " Illustrations/' writes of Blandina : " Discovered many
years since in the Isle of Arran by Dr. Walker, and subsequently taken there
by Sir Patrick Walker and Dr. Leach, and in profusion, in July, 1825, by
Messrs. Curtis and Dale, the latter of whom supplied me with a fine series of
both sexes. It has recently been found not uncommonly at Castle Eden,
Durham : but the English specimens appear to differ considerably from the
Scotch."

STJB-GKNUS MELAMPIAS.
Hubner.

The species of this Sub-genus differ from those of the preceding in having
the wings much more elongated, the hind pair being also entire and not
denticulated. All are essentially Alpine or mountain species.

EEEBIA EPIPHRON.

Mountain 'Ringlet.

EPIPHRON, Knoch. Epi'phron, perhaps a grammatical error for Ephron,
a Hittite, who sold to Abraham a plot of land to bury his wife in. Ephron
is a Hebrew word signifying dust.

The wings expand from an inch and a quarter to an inch and a third. On
the upperside they are of a rich dark brown colour, with a silky gloss ; the
fore-wings having an irregular tranverse bar, or rather a band-like series of
ferruginous markings running parallel to the outer margin of the wing, these
markings are five or six in number, of which the second, third, and fifth al-
ways include a white pupilled black spot, the fourth rarely has the spot of
equal size with the rest, it is generally reduced to a mere point and is often

Ill

entirely wanting. The hind-wings have three roundish ferruginous markings,
equidistant from the outer margin, and each of these have usually a black
central point, there is sometimes the trace of a fourth marking, but this is
without the central point. On the underside the forewings are of a redder
brown, with the red band marked with four black spots, whilst the hind ones
are ashy or coppery brown, with three black spots, each surrounded by a
slender red ring. Variations occur in the number and size of the spots as
well as of the band. The female appears to differ but slightly from the male,
it is, however, almost uniformly of larger size, and of less intense and rich
colour, a difference often observable among the Satyridae : the markings on
the hind-wings are also more distinct. This is the form described by Mr.
Newman, in the second volume of the " Zoologist," under the name of Erebia
melampus, Boisduval, and is the one most frequently met with on the moun-
tains of Scotland.

Var. CASSIOPE, Fab. Cas'siope, the mother of Andromeda.

On the upperside the wings are of a rich dark brown, with a silky gloss,
the fore-wings with a red fascia behind, in which are usually four obsoletely
sub-ocellated black spots. On the underside, the fore-wings are of a pale
metallic brown, with an irregular red band near the hind-margin attenuated
in the middle, and having four black spots ; the hind-wings are of a pale
coppery brown, with three black spots, obsoletely cinctured with fulvous,
placed opposite to the ocelli of the upperside. The cilia are brown above,
white beneath ; the body and antennae are dusky, the latter nearly white
underneath. This is the form most frequently met with on the mountains
of Cumberland.

Mr. J. F. Stephen's, in his " Illustrations," gives the following varieties :

Var. 6. The fascia on the anterior wings, above and below, with three
ocelli-form spots, the third being obliterated.

Var. c. The fascia on the anterior wings on both sides with two ocelli-
form spots, the third and fourth being obliterated.

Var. d. The fascia on the anterior wings with the apical ocellse spot only.

Var. e. The fascia on the anterior wings unspotted ; the posterior wings
with three circular red spots, the one at the anal angle with a black dot.

Var./. Anterior wings with four round red spots, with a black dot in
each ; the posterior with three, in lieu of the fascia.

Var. ff. Anterior wings with four minute red spots, posterior with two.
This is the Papilio mnemon of the Entomological Transactions, in which it
was described by Mr. Haworth, about 76 years ago.

Var. L Anterior wings with three very obsolete minute red spots, slightly
pupillated ; posterior with two.

Var. i. With the fascia of the anterior wings spreading towards the base,
and forming an irregular patch occuping the greater portion of the disc of
the wing ; posterior wings with three round red spots in lieu of the fascia.

I have a variety from Scotland, in which the fulvous band is entirely want-
ing ; and the fore-wings, in lieu of the red markings, have four black spots
in white rings.

Epiphron is supposed to be distinguished from Cassiope by the black spots
having white centres, but the Scotch specimens are as often without them as
with these white centres, which, according to Dr. Staudiuger, are found in
the female. The Scotch specimens are larger than the English, and darker
in colour. The fulvous markings are not so much of a band, but would be
better described as a series of fulvous spots, divided by the wing rays, and
having black middles, sometimes with white centres. Sometimes, however,
these marks do form a band, while English specimens occasionally have it
divided into spots. There are two other named varieties : Melampus, occur-
ring on the Alps, which has scarcely any black spots ; and Pyrenaria, occur-
ring on the Pyrenees, which is larger than type, and has larger ocelli.

The egg is laid singly, standing on end, on grass stems, and is in shape
cylindrical, being twice as long as it is wide, the sides with delicate and regu-
lar tranverse reticulations, and the shell is slightly glossy. When first laid,
it is of a bright yellow colour, but afterwards becomes duller, and is after-
wards blotched pretty evenly all over with circular patches of small pale
brown dots. (Rev. J. Hellins).

The newly-hatched caterpillars are flesh coloured, with ochreous flesh
coloured heads, a faint purplish-grey tinge showing through the skin of their
bodies. When older, they become of a grass- green colour, with numerous
darker green longitudinal lines shading into the ground colour, and with a
well-defined white line along each side in the region of the spiracles, which
are brown. It is short and stout, with the swelling in a curve ; the head is
globular, and the tail as two short spines. It feeds on Nardus stricta and
other grasses.

The chrysalis is little more than three-eighths of an inch in length, rather
thick in proportion, being less dumpy in form than Hyperanthus, but more
so than Blandina. The colour of the back of the thorax and wing cases is
of a light green, rather glaucous ; the rest of it is of a pale drab.

The butterfly is met with in June and July in swampy places at a con-
siderable height, varying with the locality, and the particular variety of the
species. The caterpillars, like those of the rest of the family, hybernate,
when small, at the roots of grasses, and feed up in the following spring.

It inhabits many of the mountain ranges of Central Europe, including

113

some of those in Scotland, the lake district of the North of England, Croagh
Patrick in Ireland, and the Pyrenees ; but from other ranges, such as the
Riesenebrige, Black Forest, and Jura, it is entirely absent ; and it does not
occur at all beyond Europe.

The first notice of the occurrence of this Alpine butterfly in England is
from the pen of Mr. Haworth, and is published in the first volume of the
" Transactions of the Entomological Society of London," in a brief account
of some rare insects announced at various times to the Society, or new to
Britain, and read on June 2nd, 1812. After describing it under the name
of Mnemon (the Small Ringlet), Mr. Haworth goes on to say, " In Mnsseo
Dom. Francillon, a captura L)om. Stoddart," and also informs us that it
inhabits Scotland.

Although it has, since Mr. Haworth's time been found in Scotland, yet the
specimens he alludes to, were taken, not in Scotland, but in the North of
England, on the mountains round Ambleside, by Thomas Stothard, Royal
Academician, on the llth of June, 1809.

In his "British Entomology," Vol. Y., published in 1828, John Curtis
writes, "The males in fro ward seasons have appeared as early as the llth of
June ; but last year, when Mr. Dale and myself visited Ambleside, they were
later, the first being taken the 18th of June, and they did not become plenti-
ful till the 25th. They are found amongst the coarse grass, that cover con-
siderable spaces abounding with springs, on the sides of mountains ; they
fly when the sun shines, and their flight is neither swift nor continued, for
they frequently alight amongst the grass, and falling down to the roots, their
sombre colour perfectly conceals them. The females are lighter, and have
even been taken in August. We found the males on Red Skrees, a moun-
tain near Ambleside ; and Mr. Marshall took them at Gable Hill and Stye-
head, between Wastwater and Borrowdale."

As it was formerly considered to be a very rare butterfly, the following
passage in Stephen's " Illustrations of British Insects," published in 1828,
will be read with considerable interest, as showing how long this insect was,
from its rarity, but a reputed British species. " It was described by Mr.
Haworth, about fifteen years ago, from specimens in the collection of the late
Mr. Francillon, to whom they were presented by T. Stothard, Esq., R.A.,
their captor and the reputed discoverer of the insect in Britain. From the cir-
cumstance of so many years having rolled on without other specimens of the
insect occurring, its native origin began to be questioned ; but the past sea-
son has undeniably set the question at rest, through the instrumentality
and industry of Mr. Dale, who was furnished with its locality from Mr. Sto-
thard, and accompanied by Mr. Curtis, procured many specimens of the male

114

from the grassy sides of the mountains in the vicinity of Ambleside. The
discovery, of the female is, however, due to an indefatigable collector — and
one who disposes of the insects he collects — Mr. Weaver, of Birmingham, who
found several of each sex, in different localities in the counties of Westmore-
land and Cumberland, during the month of July."

It was next turned up by Mr. Weaver, in 1844, on one of the Scottish
mountains near Eannoch, in Perthshire. The butterflies appeared confined
to a spot of level and rather marshy ground, about 150 yards in length and
50 yards in breadth; it was grassy but without heath, and although there
was heath all round the neighbourhood, Mr. Weaver did not see a single
specimen settle on it. The locality is among rocky mountains, some of which
attain an altitude of 4000 feet above the sea, and the spot where the butter-
flies were found is at least 3000 feet. — "Zoologist." It also occurs on Ben
Nevis and on Ben Lomond, but is not found at a less elevation than 1600
feet.

Mr. Birchall captured a fine series in June, 1854, on Croagh Patrick, near
Westport. in Ireland. The locality is about half-way up the mountain on the
Westport side, in a grassy hollow, where a little hut is erected for the shelter
of pilgrims.

Family DANAIDJE.

This cannot, strictly speaking.be called a British family at all, as only a few
wanderers of a single species, and that an American one, have been taken in
England. One other species, Danais chrysippus, occurs in the extreme
South-east of Europe.

The front pair of legs are rudimentary in both sexes ; and the caterpillars
possess one or more pairs of long, slender, fleshy filaments. .

Although representatives of the family are found on all the Continents, the
islands of the Indian Archidelago, and the Pacific Ocean, are most productive
of the species.

GENUS XV.— DANAIS.

Boisduval.

DANAIS, a King of the Argines, and brother of JBgyptus ; who sailed into
Greece, and having expelled King Sthenelus, fixed his habitation at Argos,
whence the Grecians were called Danai. — Virg. ^Bn. 2, 5.

All the species of this genus are large, and are generally of pale colours
(often fulvous), with black borders, which are often spotted with white. The
fore-wings are longer than the hind-wing, and the costa is arched. These

115

butterflies are distasteful to birds, their tissues being exceedingly tough and
elastic, and they are generally abundant wherever they occur. The Austra-
lian variety of Danais Limniace, was found by Captain King in countless
myriads, and is probably the same species as Captain Cook saw in far greater
profusion in the neighbourhood of Thirsty Sound, on the 29th of May,
1770, when he found a space of three or four acres covered with millions of
them on the wing, and every twig and branch loaded with almost equal num-
bers at rest. Herrera states " that on one day in June, 1494, there came
to the ships of Columbus, then off the coast of Cuba, innumerable butterflies,
so numerous that they obscured the sky, and continued passing until night,
when a sudden storm of rain destroyed them." These were probably Danais
plexippus, one of the commonest butterflies in North America, and known
to possess immense powers of flight. In the evening and in cloudy weather
they are found resting on the stems of herbaceous plants. They are never to
be found in the thick parts of the woods and forests, but are common in the
open spaces, and prefer meadows and plantations.

DANAIS PLEXIPPUS.

Anosia archippus.

PLEXIPPUS, Linn. Plexip'pus, one of the two uncles of Meleager, put to
death by him, for disputing with Atalanta the possession of the boar's skin,
which had been given to her.

All the wings have broad black margins, in which are situated two rows of
white spots ; and very conspicuous black veinings. The ground colour is
fulvous, with a rather brilliant reflection. The underside is very similar. It
may at once be known from any of our native butterflies by its superior size,
being four and a half inches across the wings ; and by the yellowish-white
spots on the thorax.

The egg is laid singly on the underside of the leaves of various species of
Asclepias. It is of a pale greenish yellow colour, and its form is compared
by Mr. J. J. Walter to one of the projectiles for modern rifled guns, known
as Palliser shot.

The full-grown caterpillar is about two inches in length, rather stout, and
nearly cylindrical in form. The body is regularly annulated with black,
opaque white, and bright gamboge yellow. On the dorsal surface of the
third segment is a pair of slender, fleshy, slightly mobile filaments, nearly
half-an-inch long, and a similar but somewhat smaller pair on the twelfth
segment. It is a handsome and conspicuous creature, feeding quite exposed,
and often stripping the Asclepias to the bare stalks.

116

The chrysalis is suspended by the tail among the leaves of its food-plant.
It is of a bright translucent emerald green, with minute tubercles of the
brightest golden hue. It is very short and dumpy, and abruptly truncate at
either end.

Both the caterpillar and the perfect insect emit a faint and peculiar odour,
which becomes strong and disagreeable when several caterpillars are shut up
in a close box. Like all the Danaidse, the insect in all its stages appears to
be distasteful to every living creature, and is very tenacious of life, being
known to exist in the butterfly state for fifteen months. In the United States,
however, the caterpillar is subject to the attack of a dipterous parasite, Max-
icera arc&ippivora, Biley.

The original home of Danais plexippus, as Mr. J. J. Walker, R.N., in-
forms us in the "Entomologists' Monthly Magazine/' for March, 1886, is
the American Continent, where it enjoys a very wide range, extending from
Moose Port, in Canada (lat. 50 20 N.), where snow lies on the ground for
eight months of the year, to the Amazon region and Bolivia, or (if we regard
Erippus, Cram., as a geographical variety merely), to the estuary of the Rio
de la Plal a. Nearly everywhere throughout this vast region it appears to be
abundant, and in Missouri the air is sometimes filled with the butterflies to a
height of 300 or 400 feet. These vast swarms usually appear in the autumn,
and some of them migrate southwards on the approach of winter.

Of late years this range, great as it is, has extended in a wonderfully steady
and rapid manner across the whole breadth of the Pacific Ocean, and far into
the Malay Archipelago. It is most abundant and firmly established in the
Sandwich Islands, where it was unobserved by the early voyagers. In the
Marquesas Islands, the first specimens appear to have been observed about
the year 1860. It is found throughout the Samoan, Friendly, and Fiji
Islands, being specially abundant in the latter group. It appears also to have
reached the North Island of New Zealand, as well as Norfolk Island. In
New Caledonia, where it has been long established, it became very abundant
some years ago, but is now comparatively scarce, owing perhaps to the de-
struction of nearly all the food-plant by the caterpillars. We first hear of its
occurrence in Australia in 1870, when Mr. Miskin ("Entomologists' Monthly
Magazine") recorded its appearance in Queensland in numbers. It also now
appears to be firmly established and common in the New Hebrides, Soloman
Islands, and New Guinea ; and has also been recorded from Celebes and Java.
Starting from the eastern coast of America, we find Danias plexippus through-
out the West Indies, in company with some curious local forms of the genus ;
and it has long been established in the Bermudas, 650 miles from the coast
of the United States.

117

The first record of the occurrence of Danais plexippus in Britain is in 1876
(E. M. M,, Vol. xiii. page 107), a specimen having been taken by Mr.
Llewelyn, at Neath, in South Wales, on September 6th, of that year.
Another was taken at Hay ward's Heath, Sussex, on October 17th, of the
same year. The recorder, the Rev. T. Crallan, in the " Entomologist " (Vol.
ix,, p. 264), states that for some two or three years there have been rumours
of the appearance of an unusual butterfly in his neighbourhood.

Possibly these were not the first specimens taken in Britain, as probably
those recorded by Newman, on the last page of his '' British Butterflies/'
under the name of Doritis apollo, belonged to this species, viz., Sir C. Lemon
wrote " that he had taken a specimen of Apollo in Cornwall, but suggested
that it might have been imported with plants in his hothouse/' " I beg to
inform you that I yesterday met a gentleman who assured me that he SBW
Apollo at Hanwell, about six years ago." — Henry Austin, in " Zoologist,"
for 1856. " I have been to-day to see the person who took Apollo. He
was lying on the cliff at Dover, in August or September, 1847 or 1848, when
the butterfly settled close to him, and not having his net, he captured it by
putting his hat over it. He had not the slightest idea what it was till he saw
it figured in some work afterwards." — G. B. Wollaston, in " Zoologist," for
1856, page 5001.

A specimen of Danais plexippus is recorded by Mr. Jenner Weir (" Ento-
mologist, vol. xix, p. 12), as having been taken near Snodland, Kent, on
September 21st, 1881 ; but the number seen and caught in 1885 far exceeds
all that have been previously noted. A round dozen, at least, have been re-
corded from our southern counties, Cornwall contributing quite half the
number, though Devon, Dorset, and the Isle of Wight have also been
favoured with the visits of the imposing stranger.

In 1886, a specimen of Plexippus was taken at the end of September in
Pembrokeshire, about two miles from the coast ; one at the Lizard ; one near
Swanage, in Dorsetshire ; and another at Bournemouth. One was also taken
on the 2nd of October in Guernsey.

Although upwards of twenty specimens of this butterfly are recorded as
having been captured in South Wales, Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire,
Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Kent, and Guernsey ; only three have
have been reported from the Continent of Europe, viz., one in La Vendee,
France, by Mons. Grassal, in September, 1877; one at Gibraltar, in October,
1886; and the other at Oporto, in Portugal, on September 29th, 1886; and
some appear to have been observed in the Madeira or Canary group of islands.

It is wonderful to what great distances butterflies and moths are blown
out to sea. Plexippus has often been seen flying at a great height more than

118

200 miles from the nearest land; and Danais chrysippus has been seen by
Mr. Walker, strong on the wing, 700 miles from the nearest land, the coast
of Africa. Mr. Jones records the arrival of a vast swarm of the small and
and feeble Terias lisa at Bermuda, which had evidently crossed more than
650 miles of stormy ocean, from the American coast ; and a swarm of Deio-
peia pulchella has been observed in Mid Atlantic, 960 miles from the Cape
Yerde Islands, the nearest land from which the moths could have come.
Many American birds, not so strong on the wing as Danais plexippus, find
their way from America to England, resting perhaps, crossing on one of
the numerous vessels crossing the Atlantic.

Family APATURID-ffi,

This family has been erected for the reception of a few genera, which have
been separated from the Nymphalidse, to some of which the perfect insects are
closely allied, by the peculiar shape of the caterpillar, which are without
spines and from their great resemblance to a slug are called Limaciform.

It was an Indian species of this family of which Lord Byron sings : —

" As rising on its purple wing,

The insect given of Eastern spring,

O'er emerald meadows of Kashmere,

Invites the young pursurer near,

And leads him on from flower to flower

A weary chase and wasted hour ;

Then leaves him, as it soars on high,

With panting heart and tearful eye."

* # * *

" The lovely toy so fiercely sought

Has lost its charm by being caught,

For every touch that wooed its stay

Has brushed its brightest hues away."

These lines may recall to our minds other lines also by Byron : —

" Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh give, me back my heart."

Moore, also, has introduced these insects amid the splendour of " The
Light of the Harem." —

" And they, before whose sleepy eyes,

In their own bright Kathair bowers,
Sparkle such rainbow butterflies ;

That they might fancy the rich flowers
That round them in the sun lay sighing,
Had been by magic all set flying."

119

GENUS XVI.— APATUKA.

Fabricius.

APA'TURA, a surname of Yenus, which she obtained from a trick she played
on some giants. — Strabo. xi. 757.

This is a genus of about some forty species, most of which are remarkable
for the splendid blue, or rather purple, gloss on the wings of the male. The
greatest number of species are South American, but some are found in Asia
and in the Malay Archipelago. Only two occur in Europe, and but one in
England. The tropical species rarely surpass our own either in size or
beauty, and are often much inferior to it in both respects. One other of the
family, Charaxes jasius, occurs in the South of Europe. The caterpillar
differs from that of Apatura, by having four horns on the head instead of
two ; and the hind-wings of the butterfly are furnished with two rather long
tails.

The body and antennae of Apatura are thick, the eyes smooth, and the
hind-margin of the fore- wings concave.

APATUEA IRIS.
Purple Emperor.

IRIS, Linn. I'ris, the Eainbow, personified in Greek Mythology, into the
messenger of Juno, a young woman dressed in a robe of many colours, so
admirably beautiful that she has been justly called the daughter of Thaomas,
a poetical personage, whose name is derived from a Greek word that imports
to admire, and what is more admirable than that Bow, which is formed by
drops of water in a cloud opposite to the sun.

The male butterfly above has that splendid glow of changing purple, which
gives him his name of the Purple Emperor. Both sexes are of a blackish-
brown on the upperside, and have a white band commencing at the middle of
the fore-wings, and crossing the hind-wings, at the inner margin. There is
also a curved row of white spots from the costa of the fore- wing to the anal
angle, and three smaller ones near the tip. Both wings have a few paler
mottlings, especially at the hind-margin, where they form a narrow irregular
band. There is a black eye-like spot in an orange ring near the anal angle
of the hind-wings. The underside is varied with different shades of grey,
brown, black, and tawny, the white markings the same as on the upperside ;
near the hinder angle of each wing is a black eye-like spot with a large blue
pupil in a tawny ring. The width across the wings varies from two inches
in the male, to three and a quarter inches in the female. This species varies

by having the white band more or less suffused and hidden by black scales.
When the band is altogether wanting the variety is called lole.

The egg is of great size, its shape cylindrical, of about equal height and
diameter, adhesively fixed in an upright position on its flat base, domed on
the top, its surface strongly ribbed, the ribs varying in number from twelve
to fourteen. When laid it is of a yellowish olive green, having near the base
a zone of purplish black, the green portion semi-transparent, the surface glis-
tening. Afterwards the lower portion changes to a paler green, and the upper
to a black. — Buckler.

The caterpillar when just hatched has a large rounded head, and two dis-
tinctly separated anal points ; its colour is a light dirty greenish-yellow, with
three faint darker lines down the back, the head of a dark chocolate brown.
When full-grown and stretched out, the caterpillar attains the length of two
inches, is rounded, and tapering towards both head and tail, the anal seg-
ment being prolonged into two points, instead of the usual claspers, and two
horn-like processes (not retractile) spring from the crown of the head. It is
covered with warts, and is of a pale green colour, with a yellow spiracular
line, and oblique yellow lines on the sides. It is totally different from any
other caterpillar we have, and its shape is very much like that of the common
black slug (Arion ater), but not so large. When full-fed, the caterpillar spins
a large quantity of silk on the underside of a leaf of willow or poplar, on
which it feeds, and then attaches itself to it by the anal pro-legs, and slightly
with the anterior pair of ventral ones, and remains motionless for about four
days, it then relaxes its hold by the ventral pro-legs and hangs down, sus-
pended only by the anal pair, and within an hour the transformation to a
chysalis is complete.

The chrysalis is of a very pale whitish-green, with whitish oblique lines on
the sides, also with nervures on the wing-cases and dorsal ridge. The form
of it is broad and flattened on the sides, the outline of the abdomen and wing-
cases nearly straight, while that of the back forms a very obtuse angle,
having a thin and rather sharp ridge, projecting to a point about half-way,
from which it slopes off to the anal point and to the head, which has a short,
pointed, flattened, forked pair of appendages. — Buckler's " Larvae of British
Butterflies."

The Purple Emperor is to be found on the wing in July, and the eggs are
laid the same month. They hatch in about ten days, and the caterpillars feed
slowly until they retire for the winter. They do not conceal themselves, but
remain exposed. In May or June they are full-fed, and remain about a
month in the chrysalis state. It is found in Central Europe, in France, Italy,
and Southern Russia, but does not seem to extend further. It is unknown

in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, and its range in England is re-
stricted to the oak woods of the midland, eastern, and southern counties,
coming up on the east coast as far as Lincolnshire, and extending as far
west as Torrington, in North Devon, and the Forest of Dean, in Mon-
mouthshire. In the counties of Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, Bedfordshire, Berk-
shire, and Middlesex, none have been seen for a great many years. This
beautiful butterfly is said to be only found in oak woods. Why this should
be so, when the caterpillar feeds on poplar and sallow, has not been explained.
It is fond of disporting itself on the tops of the loftiest trees, and the old
mode of capturing him was by a ring net, fixed at the end of a pole some
twenty or thirty feet long, and so sweeping him off as he sat on his leafy
throne, or in one of his evolutions, when he quitted his seat for a turn in the
air. As this method of capture proved rather unsuccessful, the length of the
implement making it rather an unwieldy one, both in use and for carriage to
the place of action ; other means have been tried with more or less success,
to induce the monarch to descend from his lofty throne. A sod, or some-
thing similar flung into the air, has sometimes brought him down, whether
from curiosity or indignation at the intrusion. Another plan is to take
advantage of his royal taste for game, and so potent is the attraction of the
haut-gout for the royal palate, that if any animal, or part of one, not too
recently slaughtered, be suspended near the well-known haunts of his majesty,
ten to one but its savour will bring him down to earth to taste the luxurious
morsel, .and so engrossed does he become, that he may be swept off with the
net without difficulty. Cowardice is not one of his attributes, and if he has
formed a preference for any special spot, he will risk loss of liberty and life
rather than forsake it.

The first account we have of the Purple Emperor being a British species
is in John Kay's " Historia Insector urn," published in 1710. He informs
us that it was taken in the month of July, in the neighbourhood of Heven-
ingham Castle, Essex, in the year 1695, by D. Courtman.

In his " English Moths and Butterflies," published in 1773, Benjamin
Wilkes writes, " The Purple Emperor, or Emperor of the Woods. Neither
the caterpillar nor chrysalis of this charming fly has yet been discovered, al-
though sought for with the utmost diligence several years past. The butterfly
appears at the end of June and beginning of July, and may be taken in
Coomb Wood in Surrey, about Westram in Kent, and in other places. It
flies like a hawk, delighting to soar aloft and skim in the air. When it
settles it is usually on some extreme part of the oak, hazel, or ash tree ; and
what is very singular, I myself have seen twenty of them taken on the same
branch, one after another, for although the fly seems to be extremely wile}

122

whilst on the wing, yet, when settled, you may lay your net over it with little
trouble/'

Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian," published in 1775, writes " On the 26th
of May, in the year 1758, Mr. Drury, an ingenious Aurelian, in searching
for caterpillars, beat four off the sallow near Brentwood, in Essex ; which in
their shape and motion differed from any hitherto discovered, being furnished
with two horns, of the same hard substance as their heads, resembling the
telescopes of a snail, and in their progressive motion seeming rather to glide
along like that animal, than crawl as most caterpillars do. Struck with the
oddity of their appearance, and knowing I was about a work of this kind, lie
was so obliging to give me one of them, which 1 fed on sallow, and found,
that excepting the above-mentioned particularities, it greatly resembled the
hawk tribe, having a point or horn in its tail, its body being green, beauti-
fully frosted with minute yellow specks, having likewise seven diagonal lines
of a pale yellow on its sides, and when at rest generally sitting in the posture
these caterpillars do. On the sixth of June, at night, it changed into a chry-
salis of a beautiful pea green, with a bloom of pearl colour on it, and what
is more remarkable, the diagonal lines, which crossed the sides of the cater-
pillar, are seen in this state, though the colour is fainter. This being the
chrysalis of one of the finest flies in this part of the world, Providence
seems to have taken peculiar care for its preservation in this defenceless
and tender state, by making its colour so like the leaf it hangs on to, that it
might escape the search of a very nice eye. In examining that part of the
chrysalis which contains the wings of the fly, I was confirmed in my opinion
of its being the Purple Emperor, by observing that the square points of the
under wings projected beyond the rounded extremity of the upper ones;
this conformation of the under wing being peculiar to that fly. On the 22nd,
at night, a few dark spots were visible on the wings, and the next day I
found more on different parts of the body, which spread gradually till the
whole fly appeared black through the transparent chrysalis, and about
eight in the evening, to my unspeakable pleasure, it produced the
male Purple Emperor. Here I hope 1 may be indulged in expressing my
gratitude to my generous and worthy friend Mr. Drury, for the discovery of
the caterpillar of one of the most beautiful flies in the Universe, and which
had hitherto eluded the search of the most skilful and industrious Aurelians.
The colour of this fly is changeable, according to the different lights it is
viewed in. For in one it appears of a sooty black, and in another the eye is
suddenly dazzled with a resplendent glow of fine purple; so that by fre-
quently turning the fly into different positions, the colours play and shift
through all the gradations, from a sooty black to a bright purple, in such a

123

manner as to entertain the eye with a delightful and amazing variety. The
female differs little from the male; being of a sooty black, but without the
least tint of purple. Mr. Nixon took a female, which laid five eggs on the 21st
July, three of which produced caterpillars the 6th of August. This gentle-
man endeavoured to raise them, and tried them with several sorts of growths,
but the sallow being omitted, they all perished. From this we may be cer-
tain, that they are in the caterpillar state during the winter. It is a very
difficult matter to catch them in their flight, for they generally hover like a
kite about very high oak and ash trees ; and though when they remove from
one high tree to another, they skim lower than at other times, they do it
with such rapidity, that the eye can scarce follow them. They delight to
settle on the oak and ash, creeping from one leaf to another to sip the dew, at
which time they may be easily caught. For this purpose you must be pro-
vided with a pole fifteen feet long, with a net at its upper end, the mouth of
which, when you have covered the fly, is drawn together by a string, as a
purse is. These flies are found in the greatest plenty at Coomb Wood, near
Kingston-upon-Thames."

In the first volume of his " Natural History of British Insects," published
in 1792, Donovan writes, "The Papilio iris is esteemed among the beautiful,
and placed with the rare, of the English Lepidoptera. It derives the title of
Purple High-flyer, as it very rarely descends to the ground ; except in some
few instances, and even those instances have been after a strong wind or
heavy rain. The tops of the loftiest forest trees afford it an asylum, and in
the caterpillar and chrysalis state, it is preserved from the wanton cruelty of
man, by the almost iuaccessable height of its habitation. They feed on the
sallow (Salix caprea), and the caterpillars are obtained by beating the branches
of the tree with a pole twenty or thirty feet in length ; it is then, but a neces-
sary precaution to cover the ground beneath with large sheets to a certain
distance, or the insects which fall, will be lost amongst the herbage. The
great difficulty and trouble to rear the caterpillars when found, and greater
difficulty to take the fly, has stamped a valuable consideration on it, and
particularly so when fine, and a high price is but esteemed an adequate com-
pensation for it, if in good preservation/'

Ha worth, in his " Lepidoptera Britannica," 1803, gives a very interesting
account. " This Purple Emperor of the British oaks is not undeservedly the
greatest favourite of our English Aurelians. In his manner likewise, as well
as in the varying lustre of his purple plumes, he possesses the strongest
claims to their particular attention. In the month of July he makes his
appearance in the winged state, and invariably fixes his throne upon the sum-
mit of a lofty oak, from the utmost sprigs of which, on sunny days, he per-

124

form his aerial excursions ; and in these, ascends to a much greater elevation
than any other insect I have ever seen, sometimes mounting higher than the
eye can follow, especially if he happens to quarrel with another Emperor, the
monarch of some neighbouring oak : they never meet without a battle, flying
upwards all the while, and combating with each other as much as possible ;
after which they will frequently return again to the identical sprigs from
whence they ascended. The wings of this fine species are of a stronger tex-
ture than those of any other in Britain, and more calculated for that gay and
powerful flight which is so much admired by entomologists. The Purple
Emperor commences his aerial movements from ten to twelve o'clock in the
morning, but does not perform his loftiest flights till noon, decreasing them
after this hour, until he quite ceases to fly, about four in the afternoon : thus
emulating the motions of that source of all his strength — the sun. The
females, like those of many other species, are very rarely seen on the wing :
the reason of which is both interesting and but little known. It is their
being destitute of a certain spiral socket, which the males possess near the
base of the main tendon of their upper wings ; which socket receives and
works a strong elastic spring, arising from the base of the underwings, thereby
enabling them to perform a stronger, longer, and more easy flight than it is
possible for the females to do. Moses Harris, I believe, was the first who
discovered and published figures of this socket and spring, in an ingenious
but little known work, called " An Essay preceding a Supplement to the
" Aurelian," wherein he tells us ' the females are not met with on the wing
so often as the males, some of which are very plentiful, but the females rare
to be seen, of which the Purple Emperor is one capital instance. 1 have
been informed Mr. Whitwortth caught thirteen in one day, and but one
female amongst them/ Harris, in the above essay, has divided the genus
Papilio ingeniously enough into sections or families, from the number and
position of the tendons in the wings, in a manner somewhat like that of
my friend Jones in the first volume of Linn. Transactions. In the same vol-
ume is a further and fuller account of the socket and spring, by Esprit
Giorna, of Turin.

In the first volume of the " Entomologist," published in 1 842, Mr. Hewit-
son writes, "During the months of June and July, 1839, which, though at
home very wet and unfavourable to Entomology, were on the Continent dry,
hot, and sunny; I spent most of my time in the forests, which border the
town of Kissingen in Bavaria, and had an excellent opportunity of observing
the habits of the butterflies, with which the woods abound. Amongst them
none were more conspicious, and few more abundant than the Purple Emperor.
At the end of a long and very rapid flight, at the outskirts of the wood, the

125

Emperors would enter its more shaded recesses, and settling wherever mois-
ture was to be met with, would protrude into it their long trunks, and were
soon heedless of my approach. I found a flat bagless net by far the best
when their wings were thus expanded, allowing them no room for motion.
Instead of employing their sunny hours in sipping sweets, and

" Gathering honey all the day
From every opening flower,"

their delight was to extract the juices of each swamp-hole, and the filthier the
puddle the more it seemed adapted to their taste. Seating myself near one
of these, I selected the finest specimens as they settled down, and watched
them till they closed their wings ; so intent were they on their occupation
that they would usually permit me to take them between my finger and thumb.
They were so numerous that I had no less than seven under a small net at
one time, and even showed but little anxiety to get away. Amongst them
were several with more of red than purple on their upper-wings, but I believe
these were only varieties. I was surprised to meet with so few butterflies
that were not well-known friends ; ten species only. The White Admiral,
so justly noted for its graceful flight, was there in great beauty and abun-
dance; the Queen of Spain and Arion Blue were not uncommon. Upon a
grassy bank of very limited extent in the centre of the forests, I saw thirty
fine species of our British butterflies. I again spent the same months of
1841 at Kissingen, and was sadly disappointed, when the weather would
permit me to visit my former haunts, to find them deserted by most of the
more brilliant butterflies; indeed, so wet was the season, that the Purple
Emperor, the White Admiral, and many others never appeared at all."

In the second volume of the " Entomologists' Weekly Intelligencer," Mr.
Sturgess writes thus, " You may judge how agreeably surprised I was to
learn, one scorching day in July, that the Purple Emperor had been caught
regaling himself upon the imperial delicacies of dead stoats, weasels, &c.,
laying upon some low bushes. 1 had the satisfaction of seeing within the
space of an hour three Emperors descend from their thrones to breakfast upon
the delicious viands." A few pages further on in the same journal Mr.
Sturgess again reports progress thus: "On the llth July three specimens,
on the 13th, six ; on the 14th, seventeen; on the 15th, twenty; on the 16th,
eight; on the 17th, six; on the 1 8th, fourteen ; on the 23rd, three; and on
the 24th, three; thus making a total of eighty specimens in nine days. The
experiment was not tried in the same place as last year, but in a wood of some
thirteen acres, where the Emperor appeared to be more plentiful : the keeper
kindly consented to nail a portion of rabbit skin and wing of a bird to the
end of a house, a similar bait was also placed on a lime heap about a dozen

126

yards distant. Here, Mr. Newman observers in his " British Butterflies/' is
sufficient evidence of the kind of delicacies best adapted to the imperial
palate ; an adaption which, however, I may regret, I am unable to dispute.
1 would gladly have depicted the Emperor of our insect world as banqueting
on ambrosia, an esculent of which, by the way, I have no clearly defined idea,
or quaffing the nectar of flowers, but this would not be truthful : in this, and
other cases of depraved appetite, we can only lament a fact as incontrovertible
as it is unsatisfactory, repeating the somewhat trite, but once sapient axiom,
de gustibus not est disputandum. I am able, however, to assign his imperial
majesty one instance of more refined taste — Dr. Knaggs records in the fourth
volume of the " Entomologists' Weekly Intelligencer/' that he succeeded in
decoying an Emperor by painting the trunk of a tree with sugar, and thus
secured him."

In the " Zoologist," for the year 1852, the Eev. W. Bree writes, " Early
in the morning, and on dark, gloomy days, I have several times seen to the
greatest advantage, the most splendid of all our butterflies at Harnwell and
Ashton Wolds, sailing along the ridings, and settling upon the ruts and other
moist and shady spots, often assailed by the impudent attack of Janira and
Galathea, which appear to be the foremost in attacking him, when he thus
condescends for a while to leave his lofty oak to visit the regions inhabited
by his less honourable kindred. The partiality which this insect exhibits for
individual sprigs of particular trees has often been remarked upon by ento-
mologists, and is certainly confirmed by the Emperor of this neighbourhood.
And it should seem as if this partiality were, if I may use the expression,
hereditary ; for upon a certain sprig of a small ash tree, by the side of one of
the ridings in Barwell Wold, Northamptonshire, I have each year since
1847 succeeded in capturing the Purple Emperor; and in all instances, upon
the capture of one, the identical sprig has in the course of a few days been
invariably occupied by another Emperor."

In the "Entomologist" for 1882, Mr. Anderson, writing from Chichester,
records a singular habit of this butterfly, thus : " It seems to be the invari-
able habit of Apatura iris, upon first emerging from the chrysalis, to cling to
the empty case with the head uppermost for five or six hours, and then to
reverse the position, and still clinging to the case remain with head down and
wings upwards for a similar time. For the first attitude it is easy to account,
for the wings could not well be developed in any other way, but why the
insect should turn round and continue so long in the second position I can-
not understand."

The Purple Emperor does not seem to be the only one of the genus which
has a fondness for puddles, for Mr. Goss, in the "Entomologist" for 1880,

records Apatura agathina, Craner, sent from Coerientes, and also from Para-
guay, in South America, as being accredited with a proclivity for stagnant
puddles and wet mud, like its imperial relative here in England.

In the same volume, Apatura iris is reputed as being less rare than usual
in the New Forest, and also in Sussex, the var. lole being amongst the
number taken.

In the "Entomologist" for 1881, Mr. Sabiue writes, "I have taken this
season, numerous specimens of Apatura iris in our county of Kent. Amongst
them is a large and beautiful example of the black variety Tola. I captured
another on the same ground four years ago."

It was figured by Petiner in 1702, under the name of Oculatus or Mr.
Dale's Purple eye.

Perhaps I cannot conclude this prolonged account of the most noble of
our British butterflies, better than by quoting some of the verses written on
Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society. Peter Pindar, the
ingenious author of the poem, introduces Sir Joseph Banks as in pursuit of
of butterflies in the following manner : —

SIR JOSEPH BANKS AND THE EMPEROR OF MOROCCO.

A President, in butterflies profound,
Of whom all Insectmongers sing the praises,
Went on a day to catch the game renown'd,
On violets, dunghills, nettletops, and daisies.

But first (so pious is Sir Joseph's nature),
He thus address'd the butterfly's Creator :

" O Thou, whose wisdom plann'd the skies,
And formed the wings of butterflies,
Attend my humble prayer ! "

• * f •'•

In rush'd Sir Joseph at the garden door,

Knock'd down the gard'ner, what could man do more,

And not content with feats like these,

He stumbl'd o'er a hive of bees,

Out came the swarm, wondering what

Had brought destruction to their very doors.

* * # *

" He's gone ! he's gone ! " Sir Joseph cried,
" Whose gone ?" the gard'ner enquired,
" The Emperor, I see him no more ! "

128
Family NYMPH ALIDJE.

Their wings with azure, green, and purple gloss'd,
Studded with colour'd, with gems embossed,
Inlaid with pearl, and marked with various stains
Of lively crimson through their dusky veins.

MRS. BARBAULD.

GENUS XVII.— LIMENIT1S.

Fabricius.

LIMENI'TIS, a Greek word signifying harbour keeping, an epithet applied
to several divinities, but especially to Diana.

A genus of about thirty species, some of which are of considerable size.
They are natives of Europe, Asia, the Indian Islands, and North America.
Three only occur in Europe, and but one in Britain.

Limcnilis somewhat resembles Apatura in appearance, but may be discrimi-
nated by the rotundity of the hinder margin of the fore-wings, and pubescence
of the eyes and palpi ; the club of the antennae is more slender than in Apa*
iura, and not arcuate and sub-compressed, as in Hipparchia \ and the males
are without that beautiful purple gloss so characteristic of those of Aptura.
The caterpillars are totally different, being elongate, with obtuse spines on
the back, and bundles of hair on the sides. The chrysalids are sub-angular,
with beaked head cases.

LTME'NITIS SIBYLLA.
White Admiral.

SIBYLLA, Fab. Sibyl'la, one of the Sibylls, divinely inspired women, who
composed the Sibylline verses, offered to Tarquin the Proud, King of Rome.

This elegant butterfly is one of those in which the choicest ornamentation
is bestowed upon the under surface. Above a dark black brown tint, banded
and spotted with white, is all that meets the eye ; but beneath there is a
piece of the most exquisitely harmonious colouring, though the hues that
compose it are still of a subdued and secondary nature — silvery blue, and
golden brown blended with a lighter brown and black, are placed in vavac-
ious contrast with bands and spots of pure silvery white.

The width across the wings varies from two inches in the male to two and
a half inches in the female.

This species has no named varieties, and is tolerably constant to the type,
except that the central band, like that of the variety lole of Aptura iris, is
more or less broken by the darker ground colour. A figure of this variety,
by the .Rev. W. Bree, is in the fifth volume of "Loudori's Natural History."

129

Mr. Bree observes, " The peculiarity consists in the wings above being en-
tirely of a sooty black ; and, consequently, destitute of the white markings,
and the elegant white band, which form so striking a character in the ordi-
nary specimens of Sibylla. A few lighter spots, however, are visible here and
there, both on the anterior and posterior wings ; just serving to trace out,
very faintly and obscurely, the mere rudiments, as it were, of the usual white
marks and fascia. The cilia are white, as in other specimens. On the under
surface of the wings the white fascia is also wanting, and the spots and
markings are far less numerous and distinct than usual. The colouring,
likewise, is less brilliant, the tints being blended together and softened into
each other, in a way which it is not very easy to describe in words.

In Mr. Bond's cabinet is a variety in which not a trace of the usual mark-
ings is to be found on the upperside, an uniform sooty black being diffused
over the whole surface. The underside is equally abnormal.

The egg is something the shape of an orange, only flatter at the poles, and
has been compared to those sea-urchins or sea-hedgehogs which are found
on the sea beach, and are to be seen in the window of every shell shop.

The caterpillar is of a pale delicate green, with numerous white dots, and
branched purplish red spines, two on each segment, except the second and
thirteenth; on the third, fourth, sixth, eleventh, and twelfth segments these
spines are long : on the fifth, seventh, eight, ninth, and tenth they are short ;
there are also four very short spines or bundles of hair on the thirteenth.
The colour of the caterpillar becomes lighter as it approaches the spiracles,
which are white encircled with black, and are placed just above a white spir-
acular line, in which, beneath each spiracle, is a bright yellow blotch ; above
the spiracles is a broad purple stripe; the head is pink, marked with brown,
covered with white dots, and surrounded with spines; the legs are of an
obscure brownish green, with claspers of a paler shade, and pink tips. — Wil-
son's " Larvae of British Lepidoptera."

The chrysalis is very angular, and its wing cases very projecting, the dor-
sal surface of the thorax rises to a prominent ridge, and a little beyond it is
a flat, round, and very projecting process on the back, and from thence to
the anal tip the abdomen is slightly sinuous, and therefore hangs a little
on one side; two flat- forked processes project from the head. Its colour at
first is a greenish white, but it gradually darkens, and in a few days the
thorax and wing-cases are deep olive green, the centre of the back of the
abdomen bright apple green, its tip and underside being dark brown, which
forms on the back a broad band, including the flat circular prominence at its
termination. The hare's ear-like projections at the head are also dark brown,
the nervures of the wings can be seen distinctly ; the portions that appeared

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at first quite white have now been transmuted into metallic adornments ; a
brilliant golden streak divides the brown colour from the green of the wings,
commencing on each side of the back of the thorax, and a golden spot is seen
on each side of the tip of the tail, these silvery spots decorate the underside
of the abdomen, and its prominences are embellished with similar spots and
streaks both above and beneath.—" Buckler's Larvse."

The butterfly emerges from the chrysalis at the end of June, and continues
on the wing during July. Mr. Newman, in his " British Butterflies," ob-
serves : " In July the female is seen hovering over the thickest parts of our
tallest copses, wherever the stems of the honeysuckle are imbedded, like
petrified snakes, in the upright stems of the hazels, and the foliage of that
sweet climber which has surmounted the hazel spray, and whose blossoms
are gaping wide in the sunshine diffusing their delicious fragrance through
the summer breezes. The actions and movements of a female butterfly when
engaged in the maternal duty of oviposition, are very different from her ordi-
nary gait when sailing over the opening blossoms of the bramble in company
with friends, lovers, and kinsfolk. It is evident to the eye of the naturalist
that she is now on weighty affairs of business ; there is no time lost, none of
those flirtations and love-chases so much admired and so glowingly described
by our predecessors in the study of entomology. Her flight is slow, flagging,
flapping, and only from leaf to leaf. She selects with unerring discrimination
the leaves of the honeysuckle, even when surrounded and apparently half-
smothered, with the foliage of the hazel, and lays a single egg on the upper
surface of a leaf; she then flutters off to another, then to another, never tir-
ing, never hesitating which leaf to choose, but always directed by an unfail-
ing instinct to the honeysuckle, and always avoids those leaves on which an
egg has been deposited."

" The little caterpillar comes out of the egg in about fourteen days after it
is laid, and toddles to the very tip of the leaf before it begins eating, and then
it nibbles away day after day, eating the green part, and leaving only the
mid rib sticking out like a bristle, and always after a good meal of leaf it
goes to the very point of this bristle, and there rests while its meal digests
and while it acquires strength for future attack on the same leaf. Day after
day the alternate processes of eating the leaf and resting on the tip of the
bristle-like mid rib continue, until three-quarters or more of the leaf has been
eaten, and then it knows that its devouring duties for the year are over. We
all know that the leaves of the honeysuckle are deciduous, and in the course
of nature would fall off before winter ; this, however, would not suit the re-
quirements of the juvenile caterpillar, which, having once fallen to the ground
with the fallen leaf, would inevitably perish. To prevent this falling is

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absolutely necessary to the existence of the caterpillar, and therefore to the
preservation of the species ; how then is this to be accomplished ? The cater-
pillar, by spinning a number of silken threads wound round and round the
twig, and round and round the leaf stalk, fastens the leaf stalk to the twig
to which it is still attached. The next process is to make a winter habitation
of that portion of leaf that still remains uneaten, the corners of this uneaten
portion are fastened tightly together, and then the edges are. united, these
operations being effected by means of silk spun from the mouth ; the work
is then finished, and the little caterpillar is laid up for winter quarters
inside his hammock, the bristle-like mid rib of the leaf curling over it
like a tail. Now the process of fastening the leaf to the twig by silken
cables has done nothing to prevent the natural dehiscence of the leaf stalk at
its base, so that this inevitable process takes place at the appointed
time, and then the little cot, instead of standing erect falls as far as the
cables will permit, always less than half-an-inch, and rocks to and fro all the
winter, lulling the infant caterpillar to sleep, and keeping him asleep for six
consecutive months ; rain, snow, ice, wind, and all the vicissitudes of our
winter, have no power to injure or even to awaken him ; hung aloft in his
little cradle he rocks in comfort and security, and rides out the roughest
storm without a thought of harm. In April he wakes up. The same in-
crease of temperature which poels tell us rouses ' the torpid sap detruded to
the roots ' — a very apocryphal doctrine, by the way, as the change of tempera-
ture is more likely to be felt in the air than on the earth : however, the same
change of temperature which compels the leaf buds to burst, also resuscitates
the little caterpillar; he wakes up, crawls out of his hammock, but goes no
further than to the upper side of the twig immediately above the aperture he
has just quitted." At this time he is about three lines long. His first pro-
ceeding, Mr Buckler tells us, is to cast off his winter's coat, and accordingly
he attaches himself to a spinning of silk on a twig, and by degrees crawls
out of his old skin, which is left adhering to the silk, not shrivelled up, but
looking still much like a caterpillar. He now no longer confines himself to
the tip of the leaf, but feeds away, with all the voracity which a winter's fast
may be supposed to have engendered, during nearly the whole of April and
May, and by the beginning of June is full fed. When full fed he spins a
silken web over the under surface of a leaf of the honeysuckle, thickened into
the form of a pad on the mid rib, and attaching himself to this by the anal
claspers, suspends himself in a curved position waiting for (he change to a
chrysalis. He remains motionless for three days, rapidly becoming paler. In
the course of the third day the creature seems to wake up, unbends his head,
swings himself to and fro a few times, then stretches himself downwards in a

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long and attenuated line, which causes a rupture of the skin close to the head ;
the skin then is seen slowly to ascend, exposing the bare and soft shining parts
below, from which a flat and forked pair of horns grow out perceptibly as
one beholds this wonderful process ; the skin continues to glide slowly up-
wards ; and as the soft parts become exposed they are seen to swell out
laterally, and assume the very singular projections of the chrysalis, the skin
of the old head, gliding up the body, marks the progress of the disclosure, as
the colour of the old and new surfaces are at this time alike, but the new is
rather more shining and semi-transparent ; occasionally, during the bulging
out of the soft parts, a kind of convulsive heave or two occurs, but otherwise
it remains still, until the creature is uncovered as far as the ninth or tenth
segment ; it then curves its anal extremity by a sudden twist laterally, and in
a moment dexterously withdraws the tip of the anal segment from the clasp-
ers by an opening on the back of the skin at that part. At this critical
moment one has time to see that the naked, shining point, is furnished with
black hooks, and to expect its fall, but in another moment it has forcibly
pressed the curved tip with its hooks against the stem, close to its previous
attachment of the anal claspers, which have proved strong enough for the
occasion. The creature now seems endowed with wonderful power and
vigour ; it swings boldly to and fro, and undulates itself as if to gain longer
swings, when presently the old skin that remains is seen to burst away and
fall off, the chrysalis gradully becoming quiescent. The entire metamorpho-
sis, from the first waking to the last movement, occupies nearly seven
minutes.

The White Admiral occurs throughout Central Europe, and is also found
in Northern Asia, but as it frequents woods is always local. It is unknown
in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, and its range is restricted to the
woods of the Eastern and Southern counties, coming up on the east coast as
far as Lincolnshire, but is not found west of Dorsetshire, and scarcely extends
to the Midlands. It is distinguished for its exceedingly graceful flight,
which is only excelled by that of the Purple Emperor.

The first account we have of the White Admiral, being a British species,
is in John Kay's " Historia Insectorum," published in 1710. He informs us
that it was taken in Essex, not far from the town of Tolesbury, by D. Mor-
ton, and sent to him on July llth, 1695.

In Petiver's "Papilionum Brittannise Icones," 1695, we read "White
Admiral. Found about Dullidge and Wickham, near Croyden, as also at
Henly-upon-Thames."

Wilkes, in his " Aureleian," informs us " That the White Admirable But-
terfly is to be taken about the 20th of June, in Coomb Wood."

133

Lewin, in his "British Insects/' 1795, writes "This insect appears on the
wing about the 24th of June, and is not uncommon. It frequents the south
sides of woods and lanes near them ; and may be readily taken as it is feed-
ing on the various flowers then in bloom, before nine o'clock in the morning,
after which time, as the sun grows hot, it sports and flys about with great
swiftness, frequently settling on the tops and sides of high trees. It is very
extraordinary, that, though this fly is an inhabitant of almost every patch of
wood in-Englaud, neither the greatest pains taken, nor accident, have yet
discovered the caterp'llar. A friend of mine once found two chrysalides, sus-
pended by the tail on different parts of a low honeysuckle bush, in a retired
part of a wood ; both of which produced fine specimens of this butterfly the
latter end of June. The chrysalis, as he described it, was hog-backed, with
the resemblance of two rows of knobs on the back, and of a reddish brown
colour/'

Donovan, in his "Natural History/' vol. 8., published in 1799, writes
" The White Admirable Butterfly feeds upon the honeysuckle, and is found
in the months of June and July, in the skirts of woods ; its habits is much
the same as that of the Red Admirable, but it is by no means common. This
has hitherto been deemed the PapUio Camilla of Linnaeus, though it differs
in a slight degree from the descriptions and figures of authors who describe
only German or Swedish specimen of it. In the late editions of the Systema
Naturae. Camilla is described with Sibylla, a Papilio nearly allied to it, but
which Linnaeus considered as a distinct species ; his description of Camilla
expressly saying ' angulis ani rubro.' The angulis ani of Sibylla not being
of a real colour, removes it from the English species. Fabricius is of a dif-
ferent opinion. We consider the English Admirable as the true Camilla^ and
that Sibylla not Camilla is the Austrian species ; it is much darker on the
upper surface, and has a row of shining blue spots all round the wings : the
base of the posterior wings, beneath silvery and without spots, as Fabricius
describes his Camilla. Our insect on the contrary has a row of blue spots
on the upper surface, but a red spot at the inner angle of posterior wings ;
the base of the lower wings are also silvery beneath, but has black spots upon
it. They differ in many other respects : these alone determine them to be
two species, and ours to be the Camilla of Linnaeus. We have inspected the
drawings of Mr. Jones, from which Fabricius describes most of his Papiliones,
and are confirmed in our opinion."

In his " Lepidoptera Britannica," published in 1803, Harworth writes,
" The graceful elegance displayed by this charming species when sailing on
the wing, is greater perhaps than can be found in any other we have in
Britain. There was an old Aurelian of London, so highly delighted at the

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inimitable flight of Camillia, that long after he was unable to pursue her, he
used to go to the woods, and sit down on a stile, for the sole purpose of
feasting his eyes with her fascinating evolutions."

Mr. Haworth goes on to say " The following admirable lines of Pope,
Virgil, and Dryden, although not all of them exactly necessary, to elucidate
this subject, 1 cannot refrain from transcribing in this place " : —

" These equal syllables alone require,

Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire,

While expletives their feeble aid do join,

And ten low words oft creep in one dull line,

Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows,

And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows ;

But when loud billows lash the sounding shore,

The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar ;

When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,

The line too labours, and the words move slow ;

Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,

Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along main."

POPE.
" Vel mare pejr medium fluctu suspensa tumenti,

Ferret iter, celeres nee tingeret sequare plantas."

VIRGIL.
" She swept the seas, and, as she skimm'd along,

Her flying feet unbathed on billows hung."

DRYDEN.

" In its beautiful flight/' observes the Rev. Revett Sheppard, M.A. (of
Wrabness,in Essex, a most intelligent and scientific naturalist, in Miss Jermyn's
" Butterfly Collectors' Vade Mecum," second edition, published in 1837),
" when it skims aloft it rivals the Purple Emperor, which it strongly re-
sembles in appearance. It seems, however, unlike the latter, to avoid the
sunbeams, for it frequents the glades of woods, where it rapidly insinuates
itself by the most beautiful evolutions and placid flight through the tall
underwood on each side the glades, appearing and disappearing like so
many little fairies."

Mr. Newman, in his " British Butterflies," 1871. observes that we are in-
debted to Mr. Hunter for the first description of the caterpillar and chrysalis
of the White Admiral from English specimens; it was published in the
"Zoologist," for 1851. The descriptions by Curtis and other British authors,
copied from Hubner, refer to another species (Camilla) not yet found in
Britain ; the error originated in the fact that Haworth applied the name
Camilla by mistake to our English insect. A second and much more detailed
description of the caterpillar, by M. de la Chaumettee, is published in the
same volume, and a description of the caterpillar of Camilla is given to show

135

the difference between the two species ; bat both descriptions are from Swiss
specimens.

Limenitis Camilla is, in Switzerland, by far the commoner species of the
two, and generally frequents gardens ; whilst L. Sibylla confines itself to open
places in woods and forests.

GENUS XVIIL— VANESSA.
Fadricius.

VANESSA, probably from Swift's poem " Cademus and Vanessa/' in which
the Dean (Decanus) tells the story of his love for Esther (Essa) Vanhom-
brugh. Sodoffsky proposes Phanessa, from Phanees, a Neo-platonic name
for the God of Love.

This genus contains the most vigorous and active of the British butterflies,
which are no less distinguished by their boldness than by their superior size,
and by the gaiety of their colour. Indeed one species, Antiopa, with its rich
chocolate coloured wings, bordered with white or yellow, offers a character
almost unique in the Diurnal Lepidoptera ; and the same may almost be said
of Io, which, its richly coloured wings, so aptly described by the poet
Spenser —

" The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie,
The silken down with whtch his backe is dight,
His broad outstretched horns, his hayris thies,
His glorious colours and his glistening eies,"

renders one of the most beautiful butterflies of the northern zone. Not far
behind, again, is Atalanta, in her scarlet robes of aldermanic dignity. It
also contains that singularly shaped species C-album, which the rugged and
jagged appearance of its wings sufficiently distinguishes from every other
British species : indeed wings indentated in this remarkable manner are rare-
ly seen in any insects, those from foreign countries not excepted.

Their geographical range is extensive, and the species of the Old World
are, to a certain extent, represented in the New World; and three species
Cardui, Alalanta, and Antiopa seem to be common to both hemispheres.
Antiopa, generally so rare in Britain, though it has sometimes appeared in
numbers is common almost throughout Europe, and, in America extends from
Hudson's Bay to the Rocky Mountains ; and southwards to the mountains
of Mexico. Cardui has, peihaps, a wider geographical range than any
other butterfly, being found throughout the whole of Europe, Asia, and
Africa; and in the New World has been met with from Hudson's Bay to
within ten or twelve degrees north of the Equator. It is also found in the

136

Polynesian Islands, Australia, and New Zealand, and apparently all over the
world, except in South America.

All the species hybernate, some in a dark corner of a house, others in hol-
low trees, and imagines of Urtica have been found in the crevices of chalk,
nearly a foot below the surface. It is curious to observe some of those which
appear in September, at once hiding themselves, and remaining motionless
until the spring, when they appear as perfect as though they had just emerged
from the chrysalis. Others fly much in the autumn, and then reappear in
the spring, worn and ragged. Most of them are very common ; and as they
are generally double-brooded, and the second brood passes the winter in the
perfect state, they may be found almost, if not entirely, throughout the year.
They are found in gardens, fields, and woods, and are very fond of sucking
the honey from thistles and other tall flowers, and also from ivy blossoms.
They may also be observed sucking the sap oozing from the trunks of trees,
or on fruit ; Alalanta specially being fond of an over ripe plum.

The species of this genus may be distinguished generally from the rest of
the family by having the eyes pubescent and the wings angulated, by which
latter character, as well as by the more sudden formation of the club, they
are separated from the terminal genera of the family. The antenna are
rather long, and terminated by an abruptly formed, short, somewhat cylin-
drical club. The body is very robust, and well formed for sustaining the
powerful flight of these butterflies.

The caterpillars are long, cylindrical, and covered with numerous bristly
spines, arranged in whorls round the body, each segment, except that im-
mediately following the head, having a whorl of these spines. They feed
principally on plants of the natural order Urticacece as formerly constituted,
containing the stinging nettles, hop, elms, &c.

The chrysalis is considerably angulated, with the head bi-tuberculated, and
is adorned with silvery and golden hues, hence the name Aurelia formerly
used for chrysalis, and Aureliaus for entomologists.

The insects of the present genus may be regarded as the pre-eminent type
of that great division of butterflies in which the chrysalis is simply suspended
by the tail, and not girt round the middle of the body by a slender skein of
silken thread, the forelegs also of the perfect insects being imperfect and un-
fitted for walking.

Vanessa has been divided into three sub-genera, namely, Pyrameis contain-
ing Cardui and Atalanta ; Vanessa containing Antiopat lo, Polychloros, arid
Urtica ; and Grapta containing C-album,

137

SUB-GENUS.— PYRAMEIS.
Hulner.

PYRAMEIS differs from Vanessa, in having the wings less angular, the palpi
less hairy and of somewhat different form, and in the club of the antennae
being rather more pointed. The caterpillars differ in a striking manner in
their habits, those of Pyrameis being solitary, and often, as in Atalanta, con-
cealing themselves by drawing the edges of a leaf together. On the other
hand those of Vanessa are gregarious, the eggs being laid in batches, and the
whole of the caterpillars from one batch remaining together throughout their
existence as such.

This sub-genus numbers only about a dozen species, divisable into
two sections of half-a-dozen species each. One of these sections containing
Atalanta, Professor Rennie formed into a genus, giving it the name of Ammi-
ralis. Mr. Doubleday, in " Doubleday and Westwood's Diurnal Lepi-
doptera " writes, " I have dwelt particularly on the geographical distribution
of this genus, so poor in species, yet so universally distributed, presenting
two distinct sections, species of which are known to co-exist in almost every
part of the world except the southern parts of Africa and America, never,
except in Australia, presenting more than two species in the same district,
and those generally of different sections. Thus Cardui has for its compatriot
in. Europe and North America, Atalanta ; further south, in the Old World,
Callirhoe ; in Java, Dejeanii ; in Australia, Itea, and an undescribed species ;
in New Zealand, Itea and the beautiful Gonerilla; in the Sandwich Islands,
Tammeamea. At the Cape of Good Hope and Sierra Leone it seems to be
the only species of the genus. As it dies out, if I may use the expression,
in the equatorial and southern parts of America, it is replaced first by one
species, then by another, and if these species co-exist, one is sure to be rare,
for the co- existence is only found on the very limits of their respective terri-
tories."

VANESSA CARDUI.
Painted Lady.

CARDUI, Linn. Car'dui, named from the thistle Carduus, on which the
caterpillars feed.

This is a highly elegant butterfly, well named, in France " la Belle Dame."

The colouring of the upper surface is composed of black and very dark

brown, with irregular markings of an orange red, tinged partially with a rosy

hue, those on the right fore-wings bear a tolerably good resemblance to a map

of England and Ireland, so writes Professor Westwood in " Humphrey and

138

Westwood's British Butterflies." Near the tip of the fore- wings are some
pure white spots, and the hind- wings have a row of blue-centred black spots.
On the underside the hind-wings are beautifully mottled with pale olive-brown,
yellowish-buff, and white, the veins being white ; near the hind-margin is a
row of slender blackish-blue marks, above which are four eye-like spots, the
two middle ones being smaller than the outer ones, which are circled with
black.

The width across the wings varies from two to three inches.

Yarieties are rare. A very beautiful one in Mr. Vaughan's cabinet is
figured in Mosley's "Illustrations of varieties of British Lepidoptera.'' A
similar one from Mr. Ingall's collection is figured in Newman's " British
Butterflies." Another in Mr. Steven's collection is figured in the " Entomo-
logist/' Vol. 6. In these, the black is confined to the costa and tip of the
fore-wing, and a row of paler rings appear on the hind-margin of the hind-
wings. A variety without the apical spots was in the collection of the late
Mr. Alfred Owen. A remarkable variety is figured in the " Entomologist,"
Vol. 13. In this specimen, the whole of the hind-margin of the fore- wings
is suffused with dark umber, almost black, in which the usual row of small
white circular spots near the apex, and the two white costal spots are replaced
by white fusiform blotches, and two white spots near the anal angle ; the two
large dark spots, which are usually on the disk, are wanting altogether.
The hind-wings are dark umber towards the base, and rust coloured, while
between each of the nervures, which are broad streaks of black, are large white
spots, forming a row parallel to the hind-margin. The markings are perfectly
symmetrical on all the wings. It was bred on September 3rd, 1879, from a
caterpillar taken in Clapton Park. Pale and dwarf specimens often occur,
and a variety, in which the spots are confluent, has been named Ely mi , an
Australian variety is also named Kershawii.

The egg is stoat, and barrel shaped, with sixteen sharp edged longitudinal
ribs coming over the edge of the top, in the centre of which is a large circular
plain spot; the transverse reticulation crosses the ribs and knobs them; the
colour of the shell is dark green, the ribs are pellucid. — (Rev. J. Hellins.)

The caterpillar varies from dark grey to black, young individuals being
generally the darkest. The spines are paler, but the tips and branches are
black. There are a number of warty spots of greyish-yellow, and scattered
hairs all over it. The head is black and the legs and claspers generally a
dull red. It feeds solitarily beneath a silken tissue on various kinds of
thistles, and also on the nettle, millfoil, mallow, and artichoke. The Rev. J.
Hellins describes two varieties of the caterpillar in " Larvae of British Butter-
flies " : " the darker having the ground colour black, slightly freckled on the

139

back with yellow; the dorsal line, which is interrupted by the dorsal
spines, is of a velvety black edged with sulphur yellow ; below the spiracles,
which are black ringed with yellow, is a clear broad yellow line ; the spines
on the third segment are black, all the others pale yellow, set with black
bristles, the other hairs pale ; legs reddish-brown. The paler variety had the
ground colour of a dull greyish-drab, the dorsal line of the ground colour on
a more yellowish band, the lateral lines more distinct, the spines pink with
white tips." In the same work, Mr. Buckler describes a more remarkable
variety sent him by the Rev. E. Horton, on the 25th September, Is68, and
which he found feeding on Malva sylvestris. Mr. Horton's attention was
arrested by the inixed-up appearance of certain of the leaves. On examination,
he found the edges of some were drawn together by threads into a kind of
purse, each containing a caterpillar ; and he noticed that in every case but
one, the caterpillar was eating away the upper surface of the leaf within the
purse. The youngest was an inch long, with seven rows of spines, all black
in colour, except those in the dorsal and sub-dorsal rows on the sixth, eighth,
and tenth segments, which were pale primrose yellow ; the head and upper
surface of the body black, with a double dorsal stripe of pale yellow, and a
stripe of the same colour above the legs : the underside and fore-legs deep
olive-brown. After moulting the change in appearance was very great, and
growth very rapid, the primrose yellow and black spines being replaced by
others' of a dirty greenish-yellow tint ; but the extraordinary and puzzling
feature now assumed was a dense covering of pale grey hairs, nearly as long
as the spines, and almost hiding them. The spiracles were greenish-grey
with black centres, the head black, and like the body covered with grey hairs.
Now arises the question, writes- Mr. Buckler, as to the how and why of the
caterpillar's hairy coat. Had these mallow eaters become hairy through eat-
ing the downy mallows, whilst those feeding on thistles are clothed with
spines alone ? Or were they a second brood, thus clothed with hair for pro-
tection* against possible cold weather in late autumn? On the 10th October,
the caterpillar above described, after first suspending itself to the top of its
dwelling, left its case and crawled to the gauze cover of its cage, and on the
llth suspended itself there, and became a chrysalis on the 13th.

The chrysalis is about an inch in length, and moderately stout ; the head
has a pair of very short blunt horns, and the anal spike is like a short curved
leaf stalk ending abruptly, and set round with a ring of hooked spines. The
Pev. J. Hellins had two varieties of coloration, the darker variety having the
back pale dusky brown, finely dotted with black, and an interrupted stripe
of pale pinkish grey glossed wu i gold down the middle, the sub-dorsal knobs
golden, and outside them on ti 3 abdomen a stripe of pinkish grey ; on the

140

underside the wing cases brownish, somewhat marked with the pinkish grey
tint; the paler variety had all these same markings, but the dusky portions
much less extensive, and the general colouring green with a golden gloss or
lustre. — Extracted from " Larvse of British Butterflies/'

Four different species of parasites, all belonging to the order Hyinenoptera,
have been bred from this butterfly, namely, Limneria exareolata, Pimpla
dilula, Bracon variata,su).d Apanteles emarginatus.

Vanessa cardui is most uncertain in its appearance. Sometimes it will be
scarcely seen at all, or will disappear from a locality for many' years. Then
it will come in such countless swarms that no satisfactory method of account-
ing for them has yet been discovered. In an ordinary way the butterfly
emerges in August or September, retires for the winter in October, to appear
again in the spring, when it pairs and deposits its eggs singly on the food-
plant. Occasionally there is an earlier brood in June, which mixes freely
with the hibernated specimens, and Mr. Buckler once bred a specimen in Feb-
ruary, and Mr. Wilkinson one on the 20th of November. It may be seen
on the wing at any time of year, even being enticed from winter quarters on
Christmas Day by an unusual warmth of the sun. Some lepidoptera remain
more than one winter in the chrysalis state, only a portion of a brood emerg-
ing, or the whole remaining over. When this occurs the insect does not
appear at an unusual time, but remains until its regular period of emergence
the following year. Some species, such as the Small Eggar (Eriogaster
laneslris], have been known io pass as many as ten years in the chrysalis
state. The cause of this curious habit is not known, but in species which
emerge in February, as does Eriogaster lanestris, it is easy to see that it is
necessary for the protection of the race. Mr. McLachlan (see Entomologists'
Monthly Magazine for July, 1879), records living chrysalides of the Clouded
Yellow (Colias edusa), the produce of eggs laid by the butterflies of 1877,
and thinks that its life in that state can be prolonged over several years. The
Goat Moth (Cossus ligniperda), again, passes three years, and sometimes
more, in the caterpillar state. A most wonderful instance of the instinct of
self-preservation is shown by Oeneis bore, Schu., a true hyperborean butter-
fly, which has never been found outside of the Arctic circle, and even there
only occurs in places which bear a truly Arctic stamp. The caterpillar of
Oenis bore hibernates below the surface of the ground, feeds and grows all
through the following summer, but does not succeed in attaining its full size,
it then hybernates a second time, and does not assume the chrysalis state till
the spring of the following year. It is also probable that Vanessa cardui
and other species, when the summers are unsuitable, or whatever other ad-
verse causes there may be, pass a longer time in the chrysalis or some other

state, and then, when the circumstances are favourable, they appear in large
numbers.

The caterpillars of the Painted Lady are almost as uncertain in their ap-
pearance as the butterflies. They have been found freely in July, and one
observer, Mr. West (see " Entomologist/' Vol. III., page 303), noticed that
none were to be seen between July 26th and September 16th, when they
again appeared freely. Another observer, Mr. Wilkinson «(see "Entomo-
logists' Monthly Magazine", Vol. XVII), records unusual numbers of the
caterpillars in the end of July, 1879, and again the beginning of October.
Most of the latter changed into chrysalides between the 18th and 20th of
of October, and one of them emerged as a perfect butterfly on November
20th, as fine in every respect as those bred in August. The rest failed in
the attempt to come to maturity. Mr. Gervais F. Matthew (see " Entomo-
logists' Monthly Magazine/' Vol. XVIII. , page 93), records the caterpillars
as being very plentiful in Turkey* throughout September, October, and
November, ] 87 8, between united leaves of mallow; and also at Malta, in
March, 1879. Albin, in 1749, records the finding of a caterpillar on the
22nd of June.

Vanessa cardui is a most cosmopolitan species. It occurs all over the
British Isles, inclusive of the Shetlands; and Mr. W. F. Kirby, in his
Diurnal Catalogue, gives the World as its range. Specimens from India and
South America can scarcely be distinguished from those occurring in this
country. On the American continent it enjoys a very wide range, extending
from the Hudson's Bay territory to Venezuela. In the Old World its range
extends from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope ; and it has also been re-
corded from such far distant lands as Australia, New Zealand, and the Sand-
wich islands. It appears to be little affected by climate, as it occurs both at
Sierra Leone (the hottest part of Africa), and at Moose Fort (lat. 50 20 N)
in North America, where snow lies on the ground for eight months of the
year, and during five mouths of which the thermometer does not rise above
freezing point, and sometimes sinks as low as 52° F. As it is a strong flyer,
and of a roving disposition, it may, like Danaus plexippus, have extended its
area in comparatively recent times.

Nearly everywhere it appears to be common, and in many places, especially
in the South of Europe, it is one of the most abundant butterflies. Here it
is sometimes observed in countless swarms, and the air is sometimes filled
with the butterflies. These vast swarms apparently appear in early summer,
and generally travel in a north-easterly direction. The year most remarkable
for these swarms was the wet, sunless, and ungenial year of 1879. In this
year, a winter of exceptional severity was followed by a sunless and chilly

spring, and then by a summer and early autumn remarkable for excess of
rain and deficiency of heat.

The first published notice in England of the extraordinary numbers on the
continent was that which appeared in the " Times," of the 13th June, 1879,
to the following effect : — " A strange occurrence is reported from the Wet-
zikon, Canton Zurich. On Saturday, the Commune was invaded by an
immense swarm of butterflies, a kilometre (five-eights of an English mile)
wide, and so long that the procession took two hours to pass. They were
of the kind known in Switzerland as Distelfalter, which feed on nettles
and thistles. They flew from two to ten metres above the ground, and went
off in a north-westerly direction."

A swarm, starting from North Africa, was observed at Algiers as early as
15th to 20th of April, travelling in a north-easterly direction ; it reached the
neighbourhoods of Valencia and Barcelona by April 26th to 30th ; spread
over Spain, touching the Balearic Isles from May 1st to 3rd, and crossed the
Eastern Pyrenees on May 26th and 27th. Another column crossed the
Mediterranean to Sicily, and spread itself northwards over Italy in June; it
then spread over south-eastern France, Switzerland, and Austria, and on
the morning of June 5th, thousands of living specimens were found on the
snow at the Hospice of St. Gothard. It then spread over France, Germany,
and Belgium, reaching Strasburgh as early as June 3rd to 9th, Bisheim in
Alsace on June 8th, Angers and Kennes on June 10. Paris and its environs
were not apparently reached till June 15th. In " Le Naturaliste," for July
1st, we read that at Sevres, near Paris, on June 15th, all day long, great
swarms appeared flying from S.S.E. towards N.N.W., the wind being S.S.W.
At Strasbourg, from the 3rd to the 9th of June, a similar occurrence was
observed, the insect flying rapidly in innumerable quantities towards the
north, and even in rainy weather. At Bisheim, on June 7th, and also at
Kehl, on the same day, myriads flew in the afternoon, at the former place from
the S.W., at the latter from the S.E., so that it is considered the columns
were not identical. At Angers a similar thing was observed on June 10th,
the direction being from E. to W., against the wind, which was not of much
force. It was estimated that the number passing along a single street in one
hour was from 40,000 to 50,000. From Montpellier, Albi, and other places
in the south, analogous cases are recorded. Near Geneva, the swarm is said
to have obscured the sun for several minutes. At Kennes, on June 10th,
incalculable numbers flew from S.' to N. with great rapidity; at 2 p.m.
on that day the wind changed, and the direction of flight was altered towards
the W. Sometimes from 20 to 30 passed in a minute, continuing for some
time at the same rate.

148

The "Entomologische Nachrichten," of July 15th, relates that "in Wiirt-
temburg, from the 1st to the 8th of June, an incessant migration from S.
and W. towards N.E. and E. was remarked. At Wetzikon, Canton Zurich,
on June 7th, an immense swarm moved from S.W. to N.E., principally from
3 to 5 p.m. ; their flight was persistently in one direction, only changing
temporarily to avoid houses and trees. At Wetswell, on. the same day, from
2 to 5 p.m., a swarm flew from W. to E., and it is calculated there were
1000 in the space of 10 metres, and that at least 11,000 flew past the
observer." The editor adds that no such swarms had occurred in the North
of Germany, but information had been received from Steyer, in Upper Austria,
"that on June llth, surprising numbers flew from S.W. to N.E. ceaselessly,
between 1 and 2 p.m., 90 to 110 per minute were counted in a breadth of
about 100 paces, and the swarm is estimated at above, rather than under,
1,000,000." In England, during May and June, the number of apparently
hybernated examples was unusually large, and these were probably re-enforced
in the middle of June by emigrants from the Continent. At Torquay, in
South Devon, Vanessa cardui and Plusia gamma ocpurred simultaneously on
June]10th, in the greatest profusion; and at Bournemouth, Hants, in August,
V. cardui was swarming in thousands and P. gamma in tens of thousands.
The former is even recorded as plentifully through the streets of Liverpool,
and the latter as being very abundant as far north as Pitlochrey in Perthshire.

Both species were most abundant during August at Ostend in Belgium,
Saxony, Switzerland, and other parts of Europe. Vanessa cardui, singularly
enough, appeared the same year, in considerable abundance, in the Sandwich
Islands (see " Knlomologists' Monthly Magazine," Vol. XVI., p. 161.), the
season being, probably, as much cloudier and more showery than usual, as in
Great Britain. An earlier flight is recorded in Loudon's "Magazine of
Natural History," Vol. I., p. 387, thus : " On the 8th or 10th of June, 1829,
Madame Wolff and her family, established during the summer in the district
of Grandson, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland, perceived with surprise an
immense flight of butterflies traversing the garden with great rapidity. All
these butterflies were of the species called the Painted Lady, the Belle Dame
of the French, the Papilio cardui of Linnaeus, and Vanessa cardui of the
present system. They were all flying closely together in the same direction,
from south to north, and were so little afraid when any one approached, that
they turned not to the right or left. The flight continued for two hours
without interruption, and the column was about ten or twelve feet broad.
They, did not stop to alight on flowers but flew onwards, low and equally."
The editor goes on to say " This fact is exceedingly singular, when it is con-
sidered that the caterpillars are not gregarious, but are solitary from the

144

moment they are hatched. Professor Bonelli, of Turin, however, observed a
similar flight of the same species in the March proceeding their appearance at
Grandson. Their flight was also directed from south to north, arid their
numbers immense. At night the flowers were literally covered with them.
Towards the 29th of March their numbers diminished, but even in June a few
still continued. They have been traced from Coni, Kaconni, Suse, &c. A
similar flight is recorded, as having taken place in the year 1741, in Italy, by
Mr. Locke, in the " Memoirs of the Academy of Turin." During the whole
season, those butterflies, as well as their caterpillars, were very abundant, and
more beautiful than usual/' A similar flight was observed in 1836, in the
Canton of Yaud, Switzerland. Another flight was witnessed by Colonel
Drummond Hay (see " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine/' Vol. IX., p. 149.)
and recorded thus : " It was, as far as I can recollect, in the early part of the
summer of 1842, while stationed in Video, a small island in the harbour of
Corfu, that an extraordinary flight of the Painted Lady butterfly took place.
The first part of the column reached the island about 9 o'clock in the morn-
ing, and continued steadily to advance in rolling masses of many thousands
for upwards of three hours. Though the density of the column was at no
time very great, yet it appeared to extend in breadth as far as one could see,
having the appearance of black drifting snow, if I may so call it. By one
o'clock, the flight had completely passed : the wind at the time was blowing
from the south-east. In the afternoon, on sailing up the channel of Corfu,
the traces of the passage of the flight were very evident, from the quantities
of dead butterflies which floated on the surface of the water ; and for days
afterwards, they were to be seen drifting into the various bays in the island
of Corfu. 1 did not hear whether (his flight had been observed on the Con-
tinent, but, as they appeared to be taking the direction of the coast of Italy,
they would, in all probability, strike the land in the vicinity of Otranto."

The first in England to figure and describe it was old Mouffet, in 1633.

In Kay's " Historia Insectorum," 1710, we are informed that the Painted
Lady occurs very frequently about Braintree, in Essex, and in other places. .

Petiver in 1717, informs us that Bella Donna, or Painted Lady, usually
settles on banks or dry ground.

Benjamin Wilkes, in his " English Moths and Butterflies/' 1773, informs
us that it spends fourteen days in the chrysalis state, and that it is not so
common as the Peacock butterfly.

Eleazer Albin, in his "Natural History of English Insects," 1749, informs
us that he found a caterpillar spun up in nettle leaves on the 22nd of June,
from which, on the 15th of July, he bred a most beautiful Painted Lady
butterfly.

145

In Harris* "Aurelian," 1775, we read "These flies are not very common,
the reason of which is, all weathers do not agree with them, yet there are
particular seasons when they are very plentiful, which happens once in about
ten or twelve years. They are then often seen in town flying in the streets.
There are various colours of the caterpillars, some appearing dark or nearly
black, and others brighter and more of a yellowish cast. They are found
covered with a thin spinning web on the upperside of the leaves, to secure
themselves from the weather and other accidents. Within this web the cater-
pillar feeds, leaving the thin membraneous part to support it in its habitation;
so that the leaf appears to be eaten but half-way through. It forsakes its
web when fit for its transformation, which happens about the middle of July,
and finding a convenient place in the shade, fastens itself by the tail with a
small but very strong web, and changes into a chrysalis, in which state the
male and female may be easily distinguished from each other. The male is
of a dark brown, embellished with gold. The female is rather brighter and
ornamented with silver. The fly appears in about fourteen days."

Lewin, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, informs us "that the female
lays her eggs about the middle of June, carefully depositing them singly on a
leaf, so that the stock of eggs the parent lays is sufficient for a number of
plants in various places/'

Donovan, in his "Natural History of British Insects," Vol. IX., writes,
" The Painted Lady Butterflies, in some seasons, appear in considerable num-
bers, and then again are not seen for several years. They were taken in
abundance in the summer of 1795, in many parts of the kingdom, and par-
ticularly in Manchester ; but since that time, few if any, have been met with."

Mr. J, F. Stephen's, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828,
writes, " Cardid is eminently conspicuous for the irregularity of its appear-
ance in particular districts of the country : in the metropolitan district it
occurs about every third or fourth year most copiously, breeding even in the
metropolis itself; during the season of 1826 it was very abundant, and a few
appeared last spring. Dr. Leach informed me that he used constantly to see
it in Devonshire, and Mr. Dale that he took it in the Isle of Bute, and on
Arthur's Seat near Edinburgh."

The author of the " Journal of a Naturalist," published 1829, mentions
some interesting instances of its irregular appearance, " owing to causes in-
finitely beyond the comprehension of the entomologist, seeming to require a
succession and variety of seasons, and their change, and their springing into
life we know not how. This was particularly obvious in the summer of 1815,
and the two following, which were almost unceasingly cold and rainy, scarcely
a moth or butterfly appeared, And in the early part of 1818, the season was

146

not less uncongenial; a few half-animated creatures alone struggled into
being : yet this Painted Lady was fostered into life, and became the com-
monest butterfly of the year. Some years ago, perhaps 1808, a year in which
both the Painted Lady and the Clouded Yellow occurred plentifully, he
noticed that a quantity of earth was raised in cutting a canal, and in the
ensuing summer, on the herbage that sprang up from this new soil on the
bank, this butterfly was found in abundance, where it had not been observed
for many years before."

A correspondent of the " Entomological Magazine " (see Vol. II., p. 114),
states " that on the 8th of October, 1833, the numbers of this butterfly, in
the neighbourhood of Tooting, Surrey, surpassed everything of the kind he
had ever witnessed. It was highly delightful to see those lovely insects sporting
from flower to flower — but the dahlia seemed to be their favourite. I can-
not but suspect that they migrated from some part of the country ; for, pre-
vious to that day, I had not seen a single specimen in the neighbourhood,
and but very few since : again it was evident, they must have been winging
their way for some time, as most of them were in a faded condition." The
same circumstances are more strongly confirmed in a communication from
Mr. Blyth, to the "Field Naturalist" (Vol. I., p. 470), who asserts that,
" for a single day the species appeared everywhere in abundance, and the day
after not one was anywhere to be seen."

The Kev. F. 0. Morris informs us in his " British Butterflies," published
in 1853, that the " Painted Lady was plentiful near Falinouth in 1849, but
scarce in 1850 and 1851 ; in 1850 not one was seen near Stoke-by-Nayland,
while in 1851 it was to be seen in extreme abundance there." In the same
year it was common in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Dorsetshire, and other parts
of England.

The Kev. J. Hellins (see " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine," Vol. II.,
p. 84), calls attention to the fact that Vanessa cardui was not only excessively
abundant in 1865, but also varied much in size. " The smallest specimens,"
he goes on to say, "we took at Exeter, expanded less than 1" 11"', whilst
the largest measured very nearly 3" in expanse. One of these giants is re-
markable, also, for a small white ocellus, edged with black, placed in the
largest yellowish blotch of the fore-wings." In the same volume, Mr. F.
Smith writes, "At the western extremity of ilfracombe stands a parish
church, passing behind which you enter a Devonshire lane ; its beauty will be
appreciated by every one who has visited Devon, and he will know how it
winds, and turns, and winds again, until you arrive at a gate at its extremity
that opens on to the breezy downs. The last fifty yards of the hedge, on the
right hand of the lane, is covered by a mantle of ivy, which on the 9th of

147

October, 1865, was in full blossom; but the flowers were about hidden from
sight by a countless multitude of butterflies and moths; it was one of the
most beautiful sights I ever beheld. The multitudinous host only comprised
two species of butterfly, Vanessa atalanta and cardui ; scores of the former,
but hundreds of the latter. The majority of them appeared to be over-
powered by imbibing the nectar of the ivy blossom, and I had no difficulty
in taking specimens between my fingers."

Vanessa Cardui was common all over England in 1868, and most abundant
in 1879, and was also very common in 1884. In referring to the last
mentioned year, Miss Hinchcliff (see "Young Naturalist," Yol. V., p. 263),
writes, " At Instow in North Devon, three insects have appeared this autumn,
in most uncommon proportions, viz. : V. atalanta, cardui, and P. gamma.
they swarm everywhere. V. cardui and P. gamma appeared together in
1879, in similar profusion and neither have been seen in any quantity since,
Cardui especially, has hardly appeared at all. Now what can be the reason
for two insects, apparently so dissimilar, suddenly re-appearing in large num-
bers, again in company, after a lapse of five years ! The two seasons have cer-
tainly not been alike, 1879 was very wet and this as dry. They are all freshly
hatched and very fine specimens." Another correspondent records Atalanta
as appearing in unprecedented abundance in the neighbourhood of Glasgow,
and Cardui as being also very plentiful. On reviewing the preceding pages we
find that Vanessa cardui was common in England in 1795 and 1808, abun-
dant in 1818, a cold and rainy season ; common in 1826, 1833, 1849, 1851,
and 1865, a fine hot year, most abundant in 1879, a cold wet year, and
common in 1884, a fine dry season. In certain years it is very scarce, in
1887 for instance, I never saw a single specimen, and only half-a-dozen of
Atalanta, whilst V. urtica occurred in profusion.

An allied species, Virginiensis, Drury, is sometimes included among the
British butterflies under the name of Huntera, Fabricius, or the Scarce
Painted Lady. It is very like Cardui, but the black markings are less exten-
sive, and the underside of the hind-wings is reticulated with brown or green,
with yellow lateral line and two dorsal lines formed alternately of white and
red points. It is a common species in North America and the Sandwich
Islands, appearing about once in five or six years in very great abundance,
and has become naturalised in the Azores and Madeira.

An instance of the capture of this butterfly in England is recorded in
London's "Magazine of Natural History," Yol. III., p. 332, thus, "I beg
to announce the capture of Vanessa Huntera, for the first time in Britain, by
Captain Blower, at Withybush, near Haverfordwest, South Wales, about ten
miles from a seaport, in July or August, 1828; which was, till, yery lately,

148

considered by him as a small and very odd variety of F. cardui, and which
he has very handsomely added to my cabinet." — J. C. Dale.

Another example is recorded in the " Entomologist," Vol. IX., p. 255, as
being taken by Miss Carew, on the 20th September, 1876, at Antony, near
Torpoint, South Devon. The editor adds, "The above notice is interesting,
as showing how insects from far distant localities frequently occur as foreign
visitors to this country. There are several previous records of the occurrence
of this butterfly in Britain, chiefly from our southern coast."

VANESSA ATALANTA.
Red Admiral.

ATALANTA, Linn. Atalan'ta, a celebrated beauty, native of Arcadia, who
made all her lovers race with her, on the penalty of death if they could not
catch her. Ovid, Met. X., 598.

In grand simplicity and vividness of colour, the Bed Admiral perhaps sus-
passes every other British butterfly, and reminds one forcibly of some of the
gorgeous denizens of the tropics. Intense black and brilliant scarlet in bands
and borders are the two chief elements of this splendour, relieved delightfully
by the pure white spots at the outer and upper corners, and by the pretty
blue spots at the inner and lower angles and near the margins. On the
underside the hind-wings are brown and beautifuHy mottled with black and
grey, with a large triangular pale spot in the middle of the costal margin, and
two transverse and wedge shaped discoidal black marks. Near the margin
of the wing is a row of four obscure eye-like patches. In some specimens the
red bar of the fore-wings bears a small white dot near its hinder extremity :
these are apparently the females. The width across' the wings varies from
two and a half to three inches.

Varieties are scarce. Two are figured in Mosley's " Varieties of British
Lepidoptera." One, bred by Mr. Eedle, has the scarlet bands replaced by
pale yellow shading to orange. The other, bred by Mr. Vaughan, has the
bands much paler than usual and abruptly shortened at the anal angle. One
in Mr. Robson's collection has deep orange bands, that on the hind margin
of the lower wings being without the usual black spots. The underside
varies still more than the upper, but is not easily described ; however, the
red band is much larger, and more of a blotch, the blue is more suffused, and
the hind-wings are without the usual mottling, and with the pale shade at the
hind margin much wider. In a specimen bred in 1867, and figured in the
" Entomologist," Vol. XI., the scarlet, markings of the upperside of the
anterior wings are partially suffused with yellow, and the white spots towards

149

the apex are very large. It is difficult, say the editors, to describe the varia-
tion of the underside, but the two conspicious blue spots are very remarkable.

The egg is oblong, with six sharp edged longitudinal ribs coming over the
edge of the top, in the centre of which lies a large circular plain spot; the
colour of the shell is a dark green, the ribs being pellucid.

The caterpillar is variable in colour, sometimes being almost black, and at
other times soft grey with buff coloured spines ; the general colour, however,
is grey freckled with yellowish green. The head and legs are black, and
claspers red. The body is set with seven rows of branched spines, longer
than those of Cardui, but not so long as those of lo. It feeds solitarily on
the leaves of the common sting-nettle, and also the pellitory of the wall
(Parietaria officinalis). The young caterpillar, after selecting a suitable leaf
draws it together by the edges, and lives within the retreat thus formed.
When it requires a larger domicile it leaves the old one and forms another,
but is never to be found feeding exposed; when removed from its retreat it
feigns death, bending its extremities together; all its movements are slow
and lethargic, and its only object, when exposed, appear to be again to con-
itself.

The chrysalis is long and stout, but somewhat rounded and much angu-
lated ; the colour is reddish grey, delicately reticulated and marbled with
black : it appears covered -with bloom, like that on a ripe plum, and is
adorned with very beautiful golden spots. Albin, in 1731, says he found
some of these chrysalides gilded all over, and that they produced a brood of
small but very beautiful Ichneumons. No less than half-a-dozen parasites,
belonging to the order Hymenoptera, have been bred from Vanassa Atalanta,
viz. : Amblyteles armatorius, Hemiteles fulvipes, Limneria cursitans, Meso-
chorus sylvarum, Mierogaster suficompletus, and Pteromalus puparum figured
by Albin ; Hesochorus sylvarum being a hyper-parasite on Microgaster sub-
completes.

The butterfly rarely emerges from the chrysalis before September, being
thus later in its appearance than its congeners. Jt remains on the wing till
the beginning of November, so long as the ivy is in bloom and the frosts not
too severe, when it hybernates. It does not emerge from its winter quarters
so early as other hybernating species, and is very seldom seen. The sexes do
not pair much before J.une, and then the female deposits her eggs singly on
the leaves of the common nettle. The caterpillars are to be found in June
and July ; the chrysalides in August.

Vanessa Atalantalws a very wide range. It occurs all over Europe except
in the extreme north. It is found in Asia Minor, in North Africa, and in the
Mauritius, and also in America from Hudson's Bay to Mexico. In more

150

southern latitudes it is replaced by CattirJioe, which has a range from Tene-
riffe to China. In New Zealand it is represented by the beautiful Gonerilla,
and in the Sandwich Islands by Tammeamea. Lejeanii supplies its place in
Java, as Itea does in Australia. It is common all over the British Isles,
inclusive of the Shetlands. Nettles are very much weeds of cultivated
ground, and especially are apt to be close to a farmhouse or the out-
buildings. It is in such places, therefore, that we should look for the
caterpillar or chrysalis, but the butterfly itself is so strong on the wing that
distance is little object to it. Indeed the name Atalanta is said to have been
selected for it by Linnaeus on account of its great speed on the wing and
powers of flight.

The first in England to figure and describe it was old Mouffet in 1633.

In Bay's " Historia Insectorum," 1710, we are informed that the Admiral
is frequently to be seen in Warwickshire among pear trees, and about Brain-
tree in Essex.

Petiver in 1717, records it as being often seen in fields and gardens.

Albin, in his " Natural History of English Insects/' published in 1749,
gives the following account : " The caterpillars feed on nettles, I found them
on the 17th of July in the leaves, folded or spun together; they shelter
themselves after this manner that they may be secured from the too great
heat of the sun, rain, birds, and a small Ichneumon fly, which often hinder
their coming to perfection. I fed them on nettles till the 24th of the same
month, at which time the caterpillar hanging itself up by the tail within the
folded leaves, changed into a chrysalis, out of which, on the 6th of August,
came a most beautiful fly called Papilio major nigricans, alls maculis rubris
and albis pulchra illustratis, the Admirable Butterfly. Some of the chrysalides
seemed as if gilded with burnished gold ; out of these came a brood of small,
but very beautiful Ichneumons."

Wilkes, in his "English Moths and Butterflies/' 1773, calls it the Ad-
mirable Butterfly, and informs us " that the caterpillar turns in August to a
chrysalis, hanging perpendicularly downwards by the tail. Fourteen days
after the chrysalis is formed, the fly appears. A small Ichneumon fly often,
hinders their coming to perfection, by laying its eggs therein, which eggs are
of such a glutenous nature, that they stick fast as soon as laid."

In Harris* "Aurelian," 1775, we read, "The female Admirable is seen
to lay her eggs about the latter end of June, disposing of her eggs singly
one on a leaf, and at such a distance from each other that sometimes her store
of eggs will be extended or distributed over two or three fields. This she
does for the more certain security of some of them ; and so careful is she for
the safety of her young brood, that I have often perceived her, when about to

151

lay an egg, -creep in among the nettles, which I imagine is not only to place
the egg from the heat of the sun, but likewise to see if any of those nettles
are frequented by ants, these creatures being very destructive to caterpillars.
When the caterpillars are full-fed, they generally fasten themselves up by the
tail within their spinnings, and change to the chrysalis, though they may
sometimes be found in that state hanging openly under a leaf or any other
place they find convenient. Why they change, thus naked and exposed, con-
trary to their nature of concealing themselves in this state as well as that of
the caterpillar, is what, with any certainty, cannot be accounted for : but
the reason that appears most likely to me is, the earwigs, which often, in
great numbers, get into their inclosures, oblige them to retire, and, being
near the time of their transformation, are too weak to make a fresh spinning ;
for I have often found, when in search of the caterpillar, their spinnings
crowded with these vermin. They lay in chrysalis twenty one days. The
female is larger than the male, and may be known by an additional white
spot which is situated in the red part of the upper wing."

Lewin, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, " The latter end
of May a few of these butterflies make their appearance* on the wing. In
June the female lays her eggs. As soon as the caterpillar comes from the
egg, he encloses himself in a leaf of the nettle, by drawing the edges together
with a fine silken thread, to protect him from the injuries of the weather, and
also from the Ichneumon fly ; which by injecting its eggs into the caterpillar,
prevents his coming to perfection, and most greviously torments the living
animal, as the caterpillars of the Ichneumon feed in him. The caterpillars are
full-grown the end of July, when they fasten themselves up by the tail, with-
in their webs, and change to chrysalides. Sometimes they may be found
hanging under the leaf, or any other convenient place. Why they change
thus exposed, in contradiction to their habit of concealing themselves, as well
in this state as that of the caterpillar, is what cannot be easily accounted for.
The reason that appears most likely to me is, that the earwigs and ants get
into their enclosures, and oblige them to retire, when they are near the
time of their transformation, and they are too weak to make a fresh spinning.
They lie in the chrysalis state near twenty days, when the butterfly comes
forth. What a change ! from a crawling caterpillar on the earth, to the
elegant and beautiful butterfly, sporting in the air, and feeding on the honey
juice of every fragrant flower."

Stephens, in his "Illustrations/* 1828, writes, "This common species is
one of the most splendid of the British butterflies ; the intense black of the
upper surface of the wings being beautifully relieved by the red fascia and
pure white spots, and beneath, the marmoratiori of the posterior wings defies

152

the efforts of the finest pencil. It frequents lanes where nettles abound,
throughout the southern part of Britain, appearing about the middle of
August. It is said to be very destructive to cherries and other fruits. Mr.
Haworth informs me that he once met with them so abundant, that above a
dozen might be taken within the compass of two or three square yards."

Mr. Lukis, in recording familiarities effected with butterflies in London's
" Magazine of Natural History," Yol. VI., writes, " I approached a plum
trees, where several individuals of Vanessa atalanta were busily employed in
feeding on the rich juice of the ripest fruit. Whilst watching their motions,
I perceived several wasps and flies hovering about the fruit, and attempting
to light on it. This was no sooner done than they were driven away by the
butterfly : any resistance manifested by the wasp exasperated the butterfly,
which would boldly approach the intruder, flap its wings at it, and again
become the sole possessor of the fruit : the action of the butterfly was very
similar to the flapping of the pigeon's wing when feeding in company with
others of its kind."

In 1845, Atalanta was recorded by Doubleday and others as being absent.

In the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine/' Vol. II., Mr. Frederick
Smith records a multitudinous host of butterflies, on the flowers of the ivy,
in a Devonshire lane, near Ifracombe, on the 9th of October, 1865. The
host consisted of only two species, Atalanta and Cardui, scores of the former
but hundreds of the latter.

Miss Hinchcliffe, in recording a similar instance at Instow, North Devon,
in the "Young Naturalist/' for 1884, adds "Atalanta, though always con-
sidered common, is not an insect that as a rule appears in any great abund-
ance ; one sees a few specimens every spring and autumn, but that is all, now
it is everywhere, — gardens, fields, hedgerows, &c., and not in twos and threes,
but in dozens, and all specimens just hatched. I caught ten in a few minutes
in one corner of our garden, where some rotten apples seemed rather an
attraction, and could have taken nearly double that number every day, some-
times there were five or six waiting to be taken — a truly lovely sight." In
the same magazine, Mr. McKay writes, " In this neighbourhood, Atalanta
has occurred in unprecedented abundance, and Cardui has also been very
plentiful. The appearance of Atalanta is looked upon in this locality as
something very unusual, but this year (1884) one collector alone has taken
as many as thirty specimens. I believe it is two or three years since Atalanta
was last seen near Glasgow."

It may be observing that although the three species, Atalanta, Cardui, and
Gamma were very common in 1884, still Atalanta was not abundant in 1879,
the year in which the two latter appeared in their greatest abundance.

153

SUB-GENUS VANESSA.

This differs from the last in having the wings more angulated, palpi more
hairy, in the club of the antennae being rather less pointed, and in the cater-
pillars having no spines on the head. There is also a difference in the habits,
the caterpillars of Vanessa being gregarious, those of Pyrameis being solitary.
The perfect insects differ from one another in some points of structure ; for
example, Vanessa lo has the anterior tarsus of the male nearly cylindiic,
whilst that of Urtica is, as it were, strangulated near the middle, and that of
Antiopa offers two strangulations. Again, the anterior tarsi of the females
differ in some slight degree : the articulations in lo being much more distinct
than they are in Polychloros or Urtica, and the proportions of the joints are
slightly different.

In Martin Lister's edition of " Goedart's Insects," published at London,
in 1685, we find the following account of the chrysalis of one of this genus :
" Sine Larva Papilionis, Gracie Chrysalis appelatur, sine res deaurata, ut ex
notatione Nominis patet. Latine non datur nomen (quod sciam), quo ex-
primatur: Ego transluli Aurelian. Ut cunque Latini Bruchum vocant
Erucam : Quod quidem vocabulum (ut ex loco quodam in vitruvio conjectoe)
veteri Tuscorum Lingua viride seris significans, inde transfectur ad Bruchum
designandum. Sunt enim Brucha quidam, quos ipse Languedocise agens
compexi, qui communi quodam Tithymalli genere pasti; colore coeruleo sine
cyaneo insignitur pinguntur. Adeoque sicut pancarum Chrysalidum deauratio,
unuversis nomenclarionem dedit, pari etiam ratione unius cujuspiam Erucae
color cserulens, cuvitas eodem nomine insignivit. Quod ad deaurationem
ipsam, nil aliud esse autumo, quam succi cujusdam, inter Erucse pelluculam,
et Chrysalidis restulam, quam regit, evaporati, spumam sine recrementum."

This sub-genus contains about two dozen species, which are inhabitants of
the northern temperate zone, extending probably round the world. Their
geographical range is extensive, and the species of the Old World are, to a
certain extent, represented in the New World ; and one species, Antiopa,
seems to be common to both. Vanessa Urtica of Europe, is represented in
America by Milberti ; and the V. album of Eastern Europe has its exact
counterpart in F. album of the Northern States of America. Six species are
European, four of them occurring in the British Isles.

Another species, Velleda, Fab., now referred to the genus Junonia, was
recorded as British by James Petiver, in his "Papilionum Brittanniae,
Icones, Nomina, &c.," published in 1717, as follows: "Papilio Oculatus
Hampstediensis, ex aureo fuscus. Albin's Hampstead Eye, where it was
caught by this curious person, and is the only one I have ever seen/'

154

The Eev. P. 0. Morris, in his " History of British Butterflies/' published in
1853, writes, " The only specimen of this insect that has ever been recorded,
was captured at Hampstead, near London, by Albin, and then first described
and figured by Petiver. It has since been continuously figured and described
by succeeding entomologists, who have faithfully copied the original picture."
Just after the publication of Mr. Morris* work, the following skit appeared
in a newspaper : " TOM. — ' Jack ! whereabouts is Amstid-am/ JACK.—
' Well, I can't say exackerly, but I know its somewhere near Ampstid-Eath.' "
Specimens of Velleda are in the British Museum, and other collections, from
the Isle of Amsterdam alias Australia, where it was taken by Sir Joseph
Banks, President of the Royal Society, who sailed round the world with
Captain Cook.

VANESSA 10.
The Peacock Butterfly.

lo, Linn. To, a Grecian heroine, famous for her beauty and misfortunes.
—Ovid Met. i. 588.

The ground colour of this beautiful butterfly is a dull deep red on the
upper side, and the hind margins are brown. On each fore-wing is one
small and one large black costal mark, beyond which is a large eye-like spot,
variously coloured with yellow, black, red, bluish lilac, rosy, and white : on
each of the hindwings also is a large black eye-like spot shaded with bluish
lilac, placed in a pale brown ring near the outer angle. The colour of the
underside is totally different, being composed of shades of funeral blacks and
browns ; thus exhibiting a strange effect when the butterfly, sitting on a
flower head, alternately opens and shuts its wings with a fanning motion,
according to its custom.

The width across the wings varies from two inches to three inches and a
half, the females, as is generally the rule, being the largest.

Varieties are rare, and hundreds of specimens may be examined without
any difference, being perceived except in size. I have a specimen, taken at
Hull in 1837, in which the eye-like spot on the hindwings is replaced by a
white blotch. A more curious one is figured in " Mosley's Varieties of British
Lepidoptera." In this the eyed-spots are wanting on all the wings : the
hind-wings being of a dark stone colour, with only a black spot on a lighter
shade, where the eyed spot should be. Similar specimens exist in collections,
and the variety has been called the " Blind Peacock." There is a splendid
variety in Mr. Bond's collection ; it has the costa, half down the hind-margin,
and a dash inside of the eyed-spot on hind-wing pure white. Sometimes the

155

wings are very thinly scaled, and the dull red changed into chocolate. Two
varieties have been named, loides, Ochs., and Sardoa, Staud,, Cat. The
first is smaller, and the latter, which occurs in Sardinia, larger than the type.

The egg, admirably figured by Sep., is oblong, with eight highly elevated
ribs, and is of a grass green colour with a black cover at the top.

The caterpillar is black and velvety, long, rather slender, and with well
marked segments ; the body is covered with long black branched spines, and
numerous white warts ; the head is large, black, and shining, having warts
sprinkled over it ; the legs are black, and the claspers flesh coloured. It
feeds on the common stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), in June and July. Mr.
Hellins says the caterpillars are irritable when disturbed, both walking
quickly and flinging about their heads, and ejecting from their mouths a dark
greenish fluid. They feed together in families.

The chrysalis is long, stout, and mostly cylindrical, though a little angu-
lated, the skin wrinkled. The head has two triangular diverging horns , the
back of the thorax rises in an abrupt curve, and has in the middle a short
spike, it falls in at the waist, whence the abdomen goes in a long qurve to
the tail and is set with sub-dorsal rows of spines, and the abdomen ends in a
long stem-like spike. There are two varieties of colour, one pale greenish
yellow, the other pale grey, but freckled all over with smoky black. There
is a metallic lustre, and the wing cases and antennae cases are marked out by
lines of freckles. According to Albin, it is subject to the attack of a Hymen-
opterous parasite, which appears to be Pteromalus puparum.

The butterfly emerges in August, and appears to hibernate earlier than the
Bed Admiral. It re-appears in spring.

Vanessa lo is common tliroughout the year in Central and Southern
Europe, and Western and Northern Asia as far as Japan. It is said to be
absent from Andalusia and Sicily, and is rare in Northern Europe, including
Scotland. It is generally distributed in England and Ireland, but most com-
mon in the South. In Scotland it is rare, and does not occur beyond the
Caledonian Canal.

It was figured by Thomas Moufet, in 1633, accompanied with the follow-
description : " Omnium Kegina dici potest ; nam extremis abi, veluti adaman-
tes quatuor in pala Hyacinthina radiantes, miras opulentias ostendunt, imo
fere adamanti Hyacintho oculum effodiunt. Lucent enim pulcherrime (ut
Stellae) Scintillasqne iricolores circumfundunt : his notis ita dignoscitur, ut
religuum corpus describere (licet varius pictum coloribus) supervacaneum
esset."

It is also figured and described in Martin Lister's edition of Goedart,
1685.

156

Petiver in his " Papilionum Brittannise, Icones, Nomina, &c," published in
1717, informs us that the Peacock's Eye often appears early and continues
long, and that it is pretty common both in gardens and fields.

Albin, in his "Natural History of English Insects/' 1749, informs us that
the caterpillar, when touched, lets fall from his mouth a drop or two of dark
green liquor, but for what reason he could not judge ; as it is not hurtful to
to any part of the shin where it falls ; and that it is subject to the same
production of Ichneumons as that of Atalanta.

Harris, in his "Aurelian," 1770, writes, "The female Peacock layeth her
eggs the latter end of April or the beginning of May, on the top part of the
nettle, placing them generally on the stalk close under the young budding
leaves, to preserve them from the too violent heat of the sun, where they are
hatched in a few days. The young caterpillars inclose themselves in a very
fine tender web, drawing at the same time the leaves to cover them as much
as they can, that they may receive the benefit of their shade : in the first skin
they are of a greenish-white, and appear naked and shining, which appearance
continues till they are in their fourth skin, at which time they become .quite
black. After the shifting of each skin they extend their web further, and
will sometimes divide themselves into two or three separate colonies. When
they are in their last skin they quite forsake their web, and feed separate.
When full-fed they hang themselves up by the tail, and in about twenty four
hours, the skin slips off as the chrysalis appears, which at first is green and
tender; but one hour is sufficient to harden the shell against the injuries it
might receive by the plants being shaken by the wind. In about nineteen
days the fly appears. They continue in the fly state during the winter, and
I have seen them flying in February, when the snow has been on the ground."

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, adds "The insects of this
species are very plentiful, and spread themselves everywhere."

Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, states that he once found
more than 40 Peacock butterflies inside of an old hollow oak ; and that it is
a common species in England and Ireland, but scarce in Scotland.

In the " Entomologist," Yol. .VI., it is recorded as being very common in
1873 and scarce in 1872, by Mr. Stevens, who goes on to say, " ol Atalanta
and Cardui I have not seen a specimen, and I have not heard of anyone tak-
ing Antiopa."

In the "Young Naturalist," for 1885, Mr. Eobson writes, "When I com-
menced to collect, the caterpillars of Vanessa To might be found on every
patch of nettles. I have not seen them for many years, and rarely observe
the perfect insect. The same remark applies to many other places."
It was fairly common in Dorsetshire in 1886.

157

VANESSA ANTIOPA.
The Camberwell Beauty.

ANTIOPA, Linn. Antio'pa, the mother of Amphion, who is said to have
built the walls of Thebes.

The arrangement of colours in this butterfly is most remarkable and un-.
usual, by reason of the sudden contrast between the whitish border, and the
velvet depth of the colours it encloses. The inner portion of all the wings is
of a rich purplish chocolate, then comes a band of black, containing six or
seven blue spots on each wing, and on the outside is a broad white or
yellowish white border : the fore wings have two whitish costal spots beyond
the middle. On the underside, the wings are ash brown, with a great many
slender transverse black lines, and white margins and spots on the upperside.
The width across the wings varies from a little under three inches to three
inches and a half. The form of this butterfly that usually occurs in Britain
has a whitish border to the wings. This is the variety llygiaa, Hdrch., the
type having an ochre yellow border. M. Wurzburger, however, writing to
the " Entomologist," "Vol. XX., p. 136, states that when the butterfly leaves
the chrysalis, in July, it has a yellow border ; in spring, after hybernation,
its border is paler, sometimes light yellow, often quite white : and that the
specimens of Antiopa which have sometimes been caught in England have
come from the Continent, and are hybernated specimens having white- borders.
It may be remarked that the borders of lo also occasionally fade white after
hybernatiou. The American variety, Lintueri, Eisch., differs only from the
European in the buff border being more irrorated with black dots..

The egg appears to be und escribed.

The caterpillar is black, with a brick red spot on each segment, from the
fourth to the eleventh, and black spines. The head and legs are black, clas-
pers dull red. It feeds on birch, poplar, and more commonly on willow,
especially the white willow (Salix alda), in June and July, but has very
seldom been seen in England.

The chrysalis hangs suspended by the tail. It is of a dark and dingy
blackish brown colour, speckled with blue and spotted with tawny ; in form
it closely resembles that of Polychloros, except that the spiky points are
longer and sharper.

The butterfly makes its appearance at the latter end of summer, and there
is more difficulty perhaps in understanding its irregularities than with any
other British species. Sometimes it shows itself in very large numbers as in
the years of 1789, 1846, 1872, and 1880, and occurs all over the country;
far inland as well as on the coast. Then it will disappear altogether for years,

158

or appear only singly. It is powerful enough on the wing to cross the North
Sea with a fair wind from almost aoy part of the Continent. It is seldom seen
in England in the spring, but a specimen in the collection of Mr. J. E.
Robson was taken on the 8th February, 1869, crawling out of some burning
underwood near Castle Eden Dene, County of Durham.

Vanessa Antwpa is common during most of the year in the greater part of
Europe, North Africa, Northern and Western Asia, and North America from
the Hudson Bay Territory to Venezuela. It is absent from the Steppes of
South Russia, and is very uncertain in its appearance in Britain, and in some
of the adjacent parts of Europe.

The first account of its occurrence in England is given by Benjamin
Wilkes in his " English Moths and Butterflies," published in \ 7 73, thus,
"The Willow Butterfly— about the middle of August, 1748, two of this
species of butterfly were taken near Camberwell, in Surrey. But in all my
practice I have never seen any of them in the fields ; so thej must be looked
upon as very great rarities. They are very common in Germany, and Mr.
Rosel tells us, the caterpillar feeds on willow, and may be found all the
summer."

Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian/; 1766, writes, "The Grand Surprise or
Camberwell Beauty. — This is one of the scarcest flies of any kind known in
England, nor do we know of above three or four that were ever found here,
the first two were taken in the month of August, 1748, in Cool Arbour Lane,
near Camberwell, the last in St. George's Fields, near Newiugton, the begin-
ning of that month ; but as these appeared very much faded and otherwise
abused, I conclude they appear from the chrysalis, with the Peacock, about
the middle of July, and being of that class it is reasonable to suppose they
live through the winter in the fly state, and lay their eggs in spring that pro-
duce flies the July following ; for in the same manner do all the flies of this
class, and as all that have been taken were found flying about willow trees, it
is the common opinion of Aurelians that their caterpillars feed thereon, but
their caterpillar and chrysalis, is to us entirely unknown, and the food a mere
conjecture. I intend to make a strict search concerning them, and should
I make any discoveries worthy note, I shall find a proper place and repeat it.
The fly in the plate was drawn and coloured from a beautiful large female
in the cabinet of Charles Belliard, Esq., which is the finest we have in
England."

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "Three of these
beautiful and rare insects were taken in the year 1748, near Camberwell, in
Surrey; from which time until the year 1789, we have no account of any
being seen in England, The middle of August, 1789, I was surprised with

159

the sight of two of these elegantflies, near Faversham, in Kent ; one of which
I thought it great good fortune to take, but in the course of that week I was
more agreeably surprised with seeing and taking numbers of them in the
most perfect condition. One of my sons found an old decoy pond of large
extent, surrounded with willow and sallow trees, and a great number
of these butterflies flying about and at rest on the trees, many of which
appearing to be just out of the chrysalis, left no room to doubt that this was
a place where they bred. In March, 1790, a number of these insects were
flying and soaring about for the space of twelve or fourteen days ; and then
as if with one consent, they migrated from us and were no more seen."

Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," Vol. III., published
in 1794, writes, "The Papilio antiopa is found in every part of Europe; in
Germany particularly it is very common, and is as frequent in America as in
Europe, and is esteemed as a rarity only in this country ; it is indeed, some-
times found in abundance with us, but as its appearance itf neither annual
nor periodical, it is generally valued by English collectors. There have been
several instances of its being found in different parts of this country in mild
seasons, as plenty as the Peacock, or Admiral Butterflies; in the summer of
1793, particularly, they were as numerous in some places as the Common
Garden White Butterfly is usually near London. But as a proof that its
appearance does not altogether depend on the temperature of the weather,
we need only adduce, that not a single specimen has been taken this season,
although it has been one of the most favourable for all kinds of insects that
can be recollected ; and many species of moths and butterflies, which have
not been seen for many years before, have been taken at Coombe Wood, Darn
Wood, and similar adjacent parts, during summer, in plenty. The English
specimens differ from those of other countries in the colour of the bright ex-
terior border of the wings ; in the former, that part is of a very pale yellow
brown, inclining to a dirty white ; in the latter, it is of a deep yellow, marked
and spotted with brown, Fabricius notices this difference, and says they are
varieties."

Haworth, in his "Lepidoptera Britannica," 1803, writes: — There is some-
thing very extraordinary in the' periodical but irregular appearance of this
species, Edusa and Cardui. They are plentiful all over the kingdom in some
years ; after which, Antiopa in particular, they will not be seen for eight, ten,
or more years, by any one, and then appear again as plentiful as before.
To suppose they come from the Continent is an idle conjecture, because the
English specimens are easily distinguished from all others by the superior
whiteness of their borders.' Perhaps their eggs, in this climate, like the seeds
of some vegetables, may occasionally lie dormant for several seasons, and not

160

hatch, until some extraordinary but undiscovered coincidences awake them
to active life."

John Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1825, writes : "Until four or
five years since, Antiopa had not been seen for nearly forty years, when it
was exceedingly abundant in different parts of the kingdom. In the year
1819, a few were taken in Suffolk, and Mr. Samouelle captured one the fol-
lowing spring that had lived through the winter, since which period it has
not been seen."

Stephens, in his "Illustrations," 1828, writes: "No insect is more re-
markable for the irregularity of its appearance than this. Till about the
middle of the last century, few specimens had been observed ; but about 60
years since it appeared in such prodigious numbers throughout the kingdom,
that the Entomologists of that day gave it the appellation of the ' Grand
Surprise/ Of late it has again become unfrequent ; the last times that it
appeared in plenty being 1789 and 1793, a few only having been captured
subsequently. At the present day it still appears to occur occasionally
throughout England, as Mr. Backhouse informs me that, about the year 1820,
he saw vast numbers strewing the sea shore at Seaton Carew, Durham, both
in a dead and living state, and also floating on the River Tees — and it has
also been taken in the counties of Suffolk, Worcestershire, Surrey, Norfolk,
Essex, Berkshire, Oxford, Kent, and Cambridgeshire, and I once saw one on
a willow near Hertford."

Mr. George Wailes, in his " Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Northumber-
land and Durham," published in 1858, writes, "About twenty years ago, I
enquired of a very intelligent friend, who had passed his early life at Stockton,
whether he had any recollection of ever having seen any such butterfly in his
vicinity, and his reply was, ' that he knew it well, and that it went by the
name of the " White Petticoat/ " Mr. Wailes goes on to say ' No one who
knows the insect can question the appropriateness of the name, or its appli-
cation to this species/ and adds 'It would seem that the South 'Eastern
corner of Durham has been rich in this fine insect."

The Rev. JP. O. Morris, in his " History of British Butterflies," published
in 1853, writes, "The neighbourhood of Kawmarsh, near Rotherham, York-
shire, is one of the most uniform localities for this rare insect I am aware of,"
and goes on to say " The year 1846 has been unusually productive of the
species."

Mr. Stain ton, in his " Manual," published in 1857, writes, "This insect is
extremely irregular in its appearance, and has hardly been seen since 1847."

Mr. Barrett, in his "Lepidoptera of Norfolk," published in 1874, writes
it Antiopa, "Usually a great rarity; but in August, 1872, it appeared in

161

all parts of the county, and was almost common in the North Eastern corner."

Vanessa antiopa was first taken in England in the year 1748, and was not
noticed again till 1789, when numbers were seen in Kent during the month of
August, and also in the spring of the following year after hibernation.

According to Donovan, it was very abundant in 1793, but curiously enough
the fact is ignored by Lewin. Donovan also mentions that not one was to
be seen in 1794, although it was a most favourable year for insect life gene-
rally, nor does any appear to have been met with again till 1819, when it was
common, especially in Durham and Suffolk.

A few were taken in 1820 and 1821, and one was recorded as being taken
in Hampshire in 1828, by the Rev. F. W. Hope; for 1833 there is one
record, and two for 1834, two were recorded in 1835, one in 1837, and two
in 1845. The year 1840 was unusually productive of the species, several
being taken in the counties of Yorkshire, .Norfolk, Suffolk, Es^ex, Ken(,
Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Bedford-
shire, Nottingham, and Ayrshire. 1846 was a remarkable year* with a mild
winter. All the rare Hawk Moths were unusually common, and so was the
Queen of Spain Fritillary. There was also a migration of Locusts and the
White Butterflies ; but very few Clouded Yellows.

It was scarce in 1847, and none appear to have been seen again till 1855,
when one was taken in North Wales; scarce in 1856, one record in 1857,
scarce in 1858 — one being taken at Rannoch in April: several were taken in
1859 and 1860, one in 1862, and one in 1864; a few were taken in 1865
including one at Killarney, in Ireland, one in 1867, and one in 1869; it
was scarce in 1870, and but one was taken in 1871.

Now comes its great year — 1872, in which it appeared in greater numbers
than it has ever been known to do before or since, especially in the North
Eastern counties of England ; and it was also abundant in Holland, from
which direction the migration probably took place. In 1872, we had a cold
backward spring and a rough stormy summer until the middle of August,
when three weeks of glorious weather, with continuous easterly winds, super-
vened, during which the best part of the year's work was effected. At this
period, so writes Dr. Knaggs, " the grand surprise " of the season was in
store for us ; three of our rarest butterflies — Daplidice, Latkonia, and Antiopa
turned up in such numbers as had never previously been heard of in Britain,
— at any rate in the present century. Antiopa especially, eclipsing all former
displays within the memory of living man, and throwing into the shade the
so-called " Great Antiopa \ears" of 1789 and 1846, for in those years the
captures were recorded by tens only, whilst in 1872 they were reckoned by
hundreds, mostly on the eastern coast from Dover, in Kent, to Forres, in

162

Morayshire ; thus apparently upholding Mr. Stainton's theory — that the
flight of Antiopa most probably came from Norway, especially as it was most
plentiful between the Humber and the Tyne.

Several were captured in 1873, mostly hibernated specimens, one being
taken in the month of January : a few only occurred in the autumn, the
yellow borders to the wings suggesting that they were bred in England, and
were the produce of the hibernated specimens of the previous autumn. In
1872, a single specimen only was taken in the spring — another proof that
the numerous specimens recorded in the autumn were invaders.

In 1874, only a single specimen was seen, and that at Newcastle : in 1875,
a few were recorded; in 1876, four specimens; in 1877, three only; and a
few in 1878.

In the wet season of 1879, the great year for Cardui, not a specimen of
Antiopa was recorded, although curiously enough it was common again in
1880. It was scarce again in 1881 ; in 1882, there is only one record, and
nonem 1883; it was also scarce in 1884, 1885, 1886, and 1887.

In the " Entomologist," Vol. XX, p. 156, Mr. Dingwell writes, "M.
Wurzburger, who stated that Antiopa was never found in England in the
caterpillar stage is wrong. I have an imago bred from one of the twenty
seven caterpillars found on a willow, and of course with the yellow border.
As the person who sent them gave them without even being asked, he would
have no object in deceiving me/' Mr. Capper also writes in the same maga-
zine, " I have three British specimens with borders quite as yellow as three
bred continental, which I have placed beside them for comparison."

VANESSA URTIOE.
Small Tortoise -shell.

URTICLE, Linn. Urti'cse, from the generic name of its food-plant, the
Stinging Nettle.

This is one of our most common butterflies, and therefore but little thought
of in comparison with others of greater rarity. It is, however, a handsome
species, and forces itself upon our attention by coming into our houses to
hibernate. In its general markings it much resembles the Large Tortoise-
shell, but the colouring is by far the richer and brighter.

It varies in the expanse of its wings from one inch and three-quarters to
two inches and a quarter, the female being the largest, but specimens have
been found which expand no more than one and a quarter inches across
the wings. The prevailing colour is bright reddish orange, there being
at the hind margins a dark band in which are situated semi-circular blue

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spots. There are three large black spots along the costa of the fore-
wings, and between the third and the tip of the wing is a white spot — one
character which distinguishes it from Polychloros. The basal portion
of the hind- wings is black, with tawny hairs. The underside is of an
ash colour, with a large cream-coloured patch on the fore-wings, and a
broad waved band on the hind- wings. Several varieties of this species are
named. One, Ichnusa, Bon., is a very striking form, occurring in the
isles of Corsica and Sardinia. The ground colour is much brighter in tone,
the black spot on the inner margin of the fore-wing is nearer the base,
and the two central spots are wanting. On the hind-wings, the dark basal
patch does not extend so far across. Some consider it to be a distinct species.
Mr. Newman figures a specimen taken at Hawkeshead, in Lancashire, and
said by Mr. Gregson to be this variety, but the specimen is like Icknusa only
in the absence of the central spots, the other characteristics being absent. Mr.
Newman's variety (3) is also without the central spots, but the two outer
black costal blotches are conjoined, and the whole of the hind -wings are dark
coloured. Mr. Eobson has a specimen with fore-wings exactly the same as
this figure, but the hind-wings are of the usual form. Mr. Newman's variety
(2) has the middle costal spot united with that on the hind margin. A dark
form with the spots united is named Polaris, and an intermediate form is
called Turcica \ the former inhabits the polar regions, the latter Turkey and
Asia Minor. This is believed to be the variety Ichnusoides, De Selys. Mr.
Kirby mentions another variety Raschmirensis, Yioll., an inhabitant of Nor-
thern India. Two very extraordinary varieties are figured in " Les Feuille
des Jeunes Naturalists/' for January, 1881. One of them was taken in
Ireland, and is called Osborni, Done. The other is in the collection of M.
Donchier, of Donceel, Liege, but it is not known where it was taken. It is
named Selijsi., Done. Where one specimen only is known it does not seem
worth while to give it a distinctive name. Mr. Mosley, in his " Illustrations,"
figures a specimen from the Rev. Harper Crewe's collection, in which the
ground colour is a deep mahogany brown, and another showing a strong
tendency to yellow. Specimens with a perfectly yellow ground colour are in
Mr. Gregson's and other collections. In Mr. Robson's collection are some
with the ground salmon colour, and another of a very rich bright hue. This
last he picked out from a number flying to thistle heads, its richer hue being
very conspicuous on the wing ; the costal spots also are extra large and the
yellow between them paler than usual. Yery many other forms might be
described from other collections if necessary.

The egg is somewhat pouch-shaped, being oblong and fuller at the base
than above; the base is not flattened, but rounded and smooth, and just

164

where it slopes into the sides, the ribs (seven,, eight, or nine in number) com-
mence; these continue over the top for about half its diameter and increase *
in prominence as the egg itself diminishes, until at last, they quite stand out
like clear glass beading ; the space between the ribs is boldly fluted ; the
colour is a pale yellowish green. — Kev. J. Hellins, in "Entomological
Monthly Magazine/' Yol. VIII. p. 53.

The caterpillar is yellowish grey, with a black dorsal blue, and spines
branched, and of a greenish colour. The general appearance of the skin is
velvety, the head has a shining skin, but is so studded with whitish grey bul-
bous based bristles that it looks greyish. The caterpillars at iirst are strictly
gregarious, feeding on the leaves of the common stinging nettle (Urtica
dioica), but, as they grow larger they wander away from each other, and do
not return to close company, though remaining on the same clump of nettles.

The chrysalis is of a brownish colour, mottled with black and spotted with
gold, particularly on the most prominent parts. It is much humped and
angulated ; and occasionally is very brilliant and apparently gilded all over,
but this appearance appears to be caused by the presence of parasites. It is
generally, but not always suspended from the underside of the stalks of the
food-plant.

The following Hymenopterous parasites have been bred from it, viz. Lim-
neria unicincta, Apenteles spurius, and Pteromalus puparum ; and, also a
Dipterus one, viz. Exorista vulgaris. Ichneumon luctaterins also has been
reared from it on the continent.

There are two broods of the butterfly in the year. The first appears on
the wing in June ; and the second in July or August, which hibernates to
reappear in spring, and then mingles freely with the freshly emerged speci-
mens of early summer. Caterpillars also have been found both in May and
July. A third brood has occasionally appeared.

Vanessa Urtica is common everywhere throughout Europe, Western and
Northern Asia, and North Africa. It is common in all parts of the British
Isles, except the Orkneys, Shetlands, and the Outer Hebrides, but, as the
food-plant is rather a weed of cultivated ground, than of waste or barren
land, the butterfly is more abundant among the habitations of men, than in
the wilder and more desolate parts of our islands. It is also a fearless and
sociable species, frequently coming into inhabited rooms for hibernation, and
has even been known to fly to lamp light at Christinas, when a room has
been made unusually hot. Three specimens which took, up their quarters on
the ceiling of my staircase in August, 1886, with their wings folded and
hanging downwards ; remained perfectly stationary till Good Friday, the 8th
of April, 1887, when they awoke from their winter's sleep, and took their

165

departure. In 1887, the June brood was unusually numerous, and individ-
uals came into my house as early as July, to enter into their long rest, and
were not even awakened by the hot weather of August. The summer brood
was particularly scarce, and after August was well in, I never saw a specimen
on the wing. Specimens, moreover, have been found hibernating in the
crevices of chalk, more than a foot below the surface.

The first author in Britain to figure and describe it was Thomas Mouffett,
in 1633.

Kay, in 1710, and Petiver in 1717, records it as being very common all
through the summer, and also in houses throughout the winter.

Albin, in 171<9, writes : " The caterpillar was taken on the 26th of May,
feeding on the nettle, and on the 7th June some of them tied themselves up
by the tail, and changed into a chrysalis ; out of which came in fourteen days
a fly called the lesser Tortoise Shell, from its wings representing the shell of
that animal. This butterfly lives all the winter, and hides himself in cottages,
old trees, and other places of refuge. The chrysalides are often found gilded,
from whence it was called aurelia or chrysalis, which is now become the com-
mon name of the cases in which flies live while in this state. These produced
a brood of small Ichneumons."

Wilkes, in 1773, writes : "The Small Tortoise Shell is very common and
breeds twice in the year. The first brood is towards the end of June, the
second about the end of August. The caterpillar may be taken full-fed about
the middle of June and the middle of August/'

The following interesting notice of a swarm of these butterflies in mid-
winter is recorded by Mr. Banning, in the Isle of Man, see " Zoologist/'
Vol. XIV. : " Whilst standing in my farmyard on the day following Christ-
mas Day, 1855, it being unusually fine and warm, I was suddenly astonished
by the fall of more than a hundred Vanessa urlicae. I commenced at once
collecting them, and succeeded in securing more than sixty. These I fed on
sugar spread over cabbage leaves and bran until now, arid, to all appearances,
those which still survive (more than forty in number) are thriving well, and
in good condition.

VANESSA POLYCHLOKOS.
Large Tortoise-shell.

POLYCHLOROS, Linn. Polychl'oros. Linnseus took this name from Aldro-
vandus, who says (Ins. III., 245), " Septimus Polychloros dici queat, propter
colorein diversitatem/' (The seventh may be called Polychloros on account
of its varied colours). He seems to have confounded the Latin color with
with the Greek chloros, pale, A,L.

166

This butterfly resembles the Small Tortoise-shell in its general markings,
but the colouring is much darker and duller, and it is a much rarer and
more local species. It varies in the expanse of its wings from two inches
and a quarter to three inches. Sometimes an unusually small individual may
be met with smaller than an unusually large one of Urtica. The prevailing
colour is a rusty brown, there being at the hind margins a dark band in
which are situated semi-circular blue spots. There are three large black
spots along the costa of the fore-wings. Near the lower corner of the front
wings is an extra black spot — one character which distinguishes it from
Urtica, — and on the basal portion of the hind-wings are tawny hairs. The
underside is of an ash colour, with a broad waved band across the wings. It
is the most constant of all our British butterflies in its markings, and the only
specimen at all approaching variation I have seen is one in my own cabinet,
in which the spots on the upper wings are rather suffused. A form on the
continent, with confluent spots is called Testudo, Esp., and another is called
Pyromela, Ere.

The egg resembles a short, squat barrel, ribbed with eight or nine longi-
tudinal even ridges, which extend over the flattened top, but appear to cease
on reaching the base ; the space between the ribs is transversely fluted, but
much more finely than in the egg of Urtica, although the latter is not
half its size ; the colour apparently is a dull green. The eggs appear to be
deposited in close, regular order, on a twig of elm, after the style of Clisio-
camjja neustria.

The caterpillar is bluish, but more or less sprinked with ochreous brown
freckles on the black, and is clothed with ochreous branching spines. Elm
appears to be its favourite food in this country, but many others appear to be
eaten occasionally, viz., cherry (the tree generally preferred in France), pear,
willow, aspen, wych elm, and white beam tree. It appears also that it will
eat nettle, as an occasional caterpillar has been found in company with those
of Urtica.

The chrysalis is similar to others of the genus in general appearance, but
the points at the head are more distinct than usual, being widely separated
and well pointed. The butterfly emerges in July, but retires early for hiber-
nation. They pair in April or May, and the eggs are laid in large batches
on the twigs of the selected plant. The caterpillar is full-fed by the end of
June. It does not remain more than a couple or three weeks in the chrysalis
state.

Ichneumon luctatorius has been reared from it on the continent.

Vanessa Polychloros is a butterfly that frequents the borders or outskirts
of large woods, or lanes well bordered with trees suitable for the caterpillars.

167

It sometimes comes to sweets, and is more frequently seen in the spring of
the year after hibernation, than in the autumn. On the continent of Europe
it is widely spread, being wanting only in the Polar regions ; it is also found
over the greater part of Asia. In England, it is most plentiful in the
Southern counties, occurring less commonly in the Midlands, and very rarely
in the Northern counties ; where it is only an occasional visitor. Two speci-
mens only have been recorded from Scotland, and none from Ireland. In
America, it is replaced by a closely allied species V-album ; and there is
another still closer found in Eastern Europe, viz. Xamthomelas, generally
occurring near rivers, the caterpillers feeding on smooth-leaved willows.

The first author in Britain to figure and describe it was Thomas Mouffett,
in 1633.

John Kay, in his " Historia Insectorium," 1710, writes, " Eruca e qua
exit haec species non multum differt ab Urticaria : hoc anno (1695)
plures salicis latifolise folia depaxcentes inveni."

James Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britamrise Icones," 1717, writes
" Papilio Testudinarius major, Great Tortoise Shell Butterfly. A large fly.
I have observed them both in autumn and spring, they often settle on trees,
and commonly the elm."

Eleazer Albin, in his " Natural History of English Insects," writes, " The
caterpillar was bluish spotted and bristled with yellow, the head and feet
black. It was taken on the elm the 10th of June. The caterpillars, when
young keep together, and when full-fed they ordinarily tie themselves up
by the tail under the cappings of walls, or some such shelter, and change into
chrysalis about the middle of June ; and in the beginning of July produce a
butterfly, commonly called the Great Tortoise-shell. From several of these
chrysalides came broods of small Ichneumon flies."

Lewin, in 1795, writes, "They delight to settle on dry pathways, as also
on the trunks of trees, to sun themselves. They fly swift, and are not easily
taken, except in the morning, when they are feeding on the blossoms of
different plants, near the place where they are bred. Some few of the late
bred flies secrete themselves in the hollows of trees, or such places as will
protect them from the severity of the weather, and live through the winter.
The male is not so large as the female, but in colour and marks they perfectly
agree."

Stephens, in his "Illustrations," published in 1828, writes, "This insect
is also one of those which occasionally appear in profusion : during the past
season it has been particularly abundant near London, occurring in plenty in
Copenhagen fields, and near Ripley, in Surrey, last July. I captured in
April last some faded specimens at the latter place, which had been produced

168

in the preceding year : near Ramsgate, Deal, and other parts of Kent, and
also in the vicinity of Hastings, and in the New Forest, it likewise occurred
during the past summer. There is but one brood, which appears about the
middle of July/'

Wailes, in his "Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Northumberland and
Durham," published in 1858, writes, <s The claim of this species to be ad-
mitted into our local fauna rests at present solely on the authority of Wallis :
In his "Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland," published in
1769, enumerates nine species of butterflies and ten of moths. It is some-
what singular that for one of the former, the large Tortoise-shell Butterfly,
he is as yet the only authority for its admission into our fauna. There is
certainly every probability that future researches will enable us to corroborate
his record of the species, though the paucity of the English elm in many
part of the two counties, certainly does not add to the chances of success."
Since this was published specimens have been recorded both in Northumber-
land and Durham, but not under circumstances to lead to the belief that the
species was a native of either county.

Barrett, in his " Lepidoptera of Norfolk," writes, " Formerly common, but
scarcer for some years, until the la§t summer, 1873, when it again appeared
commonly."

In the "Scottish Naturalist," Yol. L, published in 1872, a specimen of
Polychloros is recorded as being taken near Aberdeen, first in Scotland.

Newman, in his " British Butterflies," writes, " It is generally, although
sparingly, diffused throughout the midland and eastern counties of England :
its rarity in the north and west is very noticeable. The caterpillars were
plentiful on elms at Darenth Wood, Kent, in 1830, and the butterflies of very
frequent occurrence, at Lewisham, in the spring of 1856, after hybernation.
The caterpillars were plentiful at Tonbridge, in 1869. It was very common
round Colchester, in 1860, since rare. It is rather a feature in the history
of this insect that it so often occurs singly : in the very numerous records I
have received more than half speak of single specimens."

I have not seen a single specimen in Dorsetshire, since the wet summer
of 1879.

STJB-GENQS GRAPTA.

The species of this sub-genus may be easily recognised by the peculiar
shape of the wings, the inner margin of which is deeply emarginate ; the
caterpillars also may be distinguished by the tubercular processes on the
head.

169

All the known species have the upper surface more or less brightly ful-
vous, spotted with black. The lower wings have on the underside a more or
less angular silvery or pale golden mark, resembling sometimes the letter
L or C.

The geographical range of the genus is nearly confined to the temperate
regions of both the Old and New Worlds. Three species are found in the
United States of North America, one in Mexico, and one in California ; one
in China ; and two in Europe. Of our European species, one inhabits the
more northern and central portion, including England ; the other prefers the
shores of the Mediterranean, and I have seen it in profusion flying about and
settling on the walls of the Acropolis, at Athens : it is named Egea by
Cramer, and the caterpillar feeds on Parietaria officinalis.

VANESSA C-ALBUM.
The Comma.

C-ALBUM, Linn. C-al'bum, so called from the white C like mark on the
underside of the hind-wings.

The singularly jagged outline of this insect at once distinguishes it from
every other of our British butterflies, though it might be taken for stunted,
deformed, and torn specimens of some of our other species, so similar is it in
colour and the plan of its markings.

The wings expand from an inch and three-quarters to rather over two
inches. On the upperside they are of a bright fulvous with dark hindmargins
and base, and several dark brown spots and a few paler ones. On the
underside they are elegantly variegated with transverse streaks of rich brown,
whitish grey, grey, and metallic green, in which latter are small black specks.
The hindwings, as has already been mentioned, have a white C, or comma-like
mark in the centre.

Mr. Newman, in his " British Butterflies " observes, " There are three
very constant varieties in the colouring of the underside, the characteristics of
which may be described as repletion, variety, and depletion : in the first, the
brown is dark, dull, and uniform ; in the second, it is richly varied with
different shades of brown and metallic green ; and in the third, the colour
seems partially bleached, and assumes a tinge of fulvous yellow. Mr. Dale,
one of our best lepidopterists, regards the first and third of these varieties
as a first and second brood. Mrs. Hutchinson, who is better acquainted with
this butterfly than any other entomologist in the kingdom, considers the
uniformly dark brown specimens to be females, and the richly varied speci-
mens to be males. Accepting these views as correct, there remains a little

170

difficulty in the extreme uniformity of colouring in all the fulvous or vernal
specimens : they are certainly not all of one sex."

This difficulty may be met by stating that the underside of the male and
female of the autumn brood differs greatly. On the other hand, the summer
brood is so constant in its appearance, that Mr. Robson has called it Ilutch-
insoni, in compliment to that lady whose liberality has enriched so many
cabinets with specimens.

There is also an extraordinary variation in the outline of the wings. In
some specimens the incision in the outer margin of the fore-wings (extending
from the first branch of the median vein to the main branch of the post-costal
vein) is so deep that it forms nearly a semicircle, whilst in others it is scarcely
more than a sextant : the other indentations being equally varied. Mr.
Haworth alludes to this in his " Lepidoptera Britannica/' observing,
" Femina paullo pallidior et subinde minus laciniata,"

Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britannicse Icones," 1717, gives four kinds
of Comma, viz : —

" SuUm fusca. The Silver Comma."

" Subtus pallidior. The Pale Comma. This below is of an oker marble,
and paler than the last."

" Alls magis laceratis. Jagged winged Comma. These wings are deeper
cut and more vivid ; it is finely marbled underneath, with small greenish eyes,
speckt with black."

" Minor* Small Comma. It is very dark below, and in all parts less."

A variety occurs in Siberia with the spots confluent, as is the case with so
many boreal forms : this has been called F-album, by Esper. I have in my
own collection a singular variety taken near Doncaster, given to my father by
the Rev. F. O. Morris, in which all the black spots on the hind-wings are run
into one large patch ; and there is also a very dark specimen in Mr. Howard
Vaughan's collection.

The egg is somewhat elliptical, standing on end, the lower, which is the
largest, being flattened underneath : it has ten projecting ribs. It bears very
much the appearance of a miniature gooseberry ; and is of a bluish green
colour, the ribs being of a whitish green.

The caterpillar is of a dark brown on the underside ; on the upperside it is
fulvous to' the seventh segment, then white to the middle of the twelfth seg-
ment, which is so remarkably distinct that the caterpillar may be known by
this mark, which looks as if a drop of white paint had just fallen on it, and
was still wet and shining. The head is of a dark brown, and is distinguished
by two minute tubercles with small branched spines, looking like horns.
The whole of the body is covered with similar branched spines, which are of
a fulvous or whitish colour.

171

The chrysalis, suspended by the tail from the underside of a leaf, is very
contorted in figure. The head is rather flat, and has two straight horns,
which are prolonged at the tips ; the back of the thorax rises up sharply to a
thin squared central projection, and then falls in again abruptly ; and the
wing cases are prominent. It varies in colour from dark to light brown,
with bright silvery blotches. In some places the chrysalides are known by
the name of " silver grubs."

Two parasites, belonging to the Hymenoptera, have been bred from it, viz :
Pimpla flavonotata and Pteromalus puparum. The caterpillar appears
to be less fastidious in its food than others of the genus. It is reported as
feeding on hop, elm, currant, gooseberry, and nettle. The second brood
would appear to prefer hop, but as that plant is scarcely in leaf when the first
brood are feeding, the early caterpillars must of necessity find other food.

There are two broods in the year. The caterpillars may be found in May
or June, and the butterflies in June or early in July. Then when the hop-
picking season comes on, the caterpillars and also the chrysalides are found
in much larger numbers, producing butterflies in September, October or even
later. These undoubtedly hybernate, and re-appear in March or April, thus
remaining six or seven months in the perfect state ; whilst the summer brood
does not live a tenth part of the time. This, Mr. Robson suggests, would
account for the extra abundance of the autumn brood, as such a much larger
proportion of the summer butterflies are able to deposit their eggs. See
" Young Naturalist " Yol. II., p. 110. The butterflies which emerge in
June or July, are always of the pale form, and are produced from eggs laid
by the hybernated females. Vanessa c-album frequents woods, gardens, lanes,
and fields, being particularly fond of bramble blossom and fruit, and of plums
and apples when decaying. It occurs all over Europe, except in the Polar
Regions, and in Greece and Turkey where it is replaced by Egea. It is
found also in Northern and Western Asia. In North America it is replaced
by many allied species ; one of which, Inlerrogationis, likewise feeds on the
common hop, to which it often does immense injury. In the summer of>
1838, Mr. Edward Doubleday saw the hops in a garden at Ashville, North
Carolina, entirely destroyed by them ; and the roof of a long verandah was
hung with the chrysalides, suspended so closely together, that, the webs by
which they were attached being united, he was able to pull them down in
masses of thirty or forty at a time. A large portion was attacked by their
brilliant little parasite, to which Dr. Harris has given the name of Pteromalus
vanessce. Vanessa c-album is a local insect in England and AYales, and does
not occur in either Scotland or Ireland, Only one specimen is recorded from
Northumberland, and only one locality has been reported from Cumberland,

172

It has entirely disappeared from many places where it was formerly common.

The first English author to describe and figure it was Thomas Mouffet, in
his " Insectorum Sine Minimorum Animalium Theatrum " published in the
year 1633.

It is also briefly described by Dr. Christopher Merrett, E.R.S., in his
"Pinax rerum Naturaliam Brittaniarum," published in 1667, being the
first publication which gives any account of British insects exclusively.

It is described in Ray's " Historia Insectorum/' 1710, in the following
words, " Papilio ulmaria similis, seel minor > alie lacinatis interioribus lineola
alba increva notalis. Papilio lestudinarius alis laceralis, D. Petiver."

Moses Harris, in his '• Aurelian," 1770, writes, "The caterpillar of the
Comma Butterfly, which generally feeds on the leaves of the hop, but is
sometimes found on the nettle, is very slow of motions, and may be taken
from the latter end of July to the middle of August, about which time it
suspends itself by its tail to the branches, or underpart of the leaves of the
hop by a web, which, though very fine, is so strong that unless great care be
taken in separating them, you will pull the caterpillar asunder ; it hangs in
this manner about twenty-four hours, then changes to the chrysalis, in which
state it remains about fourteen days, and then produces the butterfly, called
Comma from a white mark on the underside of the under-wings, resembling
that stop in printing. The female is larger, her colour paler, and her wings
not so much indented as those of the male. This fly hides itself during all
the cold season, and appears again in the month of April, much faded in its
colour, when it lays its eggs on the young sprouts of the hop and nettle,
which are hatched about the middle of May, go through the same changes as
above, and produce a fly by the latter end of June, which lays the eggs that
produce the first mentioned caterpillar."

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes: "A few of this
species of butterfly, if the winter has proved mild, lie in the winged state
till the spring, and appear in April much wasted in colour, with their wings
broken at the edges. Others remain in chrysalis till that time, and may be
easily distinguished by their perfect shape, and the brightness of their colour.
It is an insect swift in flight, and difficult to take, except when feeding. It
flies in lanes, by the sides of banks, on hedges, frequently settling on dry
places, and against the bodies of trees/1

Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects, Vol. VI., published
in 1797, writes : In colour and markings the Comma Butterfly seems at first
allied to the Tortoise-shell, but the elegant scallops of the margins of the
wings sufficiently distinguishes it from every other British species, indeed
wings indented in this remarkable manner are rarely seen in any insects,

173

those from foreign countries not excepted. There is more than one brood in
the year ; the butterflies are generally found in June, the second brood late
in August. The caterpillars are sometimes found in February, but oftener in
July ; they remain about a fortnight in chrysalis."

Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," published in 1828?
writes : " This species has become somewhat scarce everywhere within these
few years. Prior to 1813, I used to find it very abundantly near Hertford,
but since that period I have not seen it. It has, however, occurred during
the last and present seasons in several parts of the country ; and it appears
to be generally distributed over the southern half of the kingdom, and Mr.
Backhouse informs me that it is abundant near York."

Miss Jermyn, in her " Butterfly Collector's Vade-Mecum," published in
1837, writes: "The Papilionaceous insects, in general, soon after their
emergence from the chrysalis, and commonly during their first flight, dis-
charge drops of red-coloured fluid, more or less intense in different species.
This circumstance is peculiarly worthy of attention from the explanation
which it affords of a phenomenon often considered, both in ancient and
modern times, in the light of a prodigy : viz. the descent of red drops from
the air, which has been called a shower of blood ; an event recorded by
several writers, and particularly by Ovid; among the prodigies which took
place before the death of Julius Csesar.

11 With threatening signs the lowering skies are filled,
And sanguine drops from murky clouds distilled."

This highly rational elucidation of a -phenomenon, at first view so inexplicable,
seems to have been discovered by the celebrated Pierese, at Aix, in Provence,
where a shower of this kind fell in 1608. The common people were terrified
with the apprehension of some great calamity ; but that intelligent Naturalist,
enquiring into the affair with minute attention, was fully convinced that these
drops were scattered by an innumerable swarm of Vanessa c~album, hovering
in the air ; he preserved several of their caterpillars in a glass, which after
transformation discharged these drops of blood. This discovery ruined two
hypotheses, which had been supported with equal ability, one, that it was the
work of evil spirits, the other, that these drops were formed from red exhala-
tions precipitated again in rain/'

Newman, in his " British Butterflies," 1871, writes : " A noticeable feature
in its distribution is its absence from what may be called maritime lists, as
those from Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Sussex, Isle of Wight, Dorsetshire,
Devonshire, and Cornwall; this absence from the lists is not sufficient
evidence of the butterfly's not occurring there, but certainly of its great
rarity. In the midland counties, on the contrary, it is of frequent occur-

174

rence, and in some of them absolutely abundant ; then again, the cultivation
of its food-plant, the hop, does not seem to exercise that influence on its
choice of localities that might be expected ; it abounds in the district where
the Worcester hops are grown — namely, Worcestershire and Herefordshire —
but it is rarely observed in the Earnham district — namely Surrey, or in the
Kent district."

It was very common in Dorset in 1807, but after 1816 none were seen
until 1877, when a specimen was taken near Dorchester. Prior to 1813,
J. E. Stephens used to find it very abundantly near Hertford, but none since
that year ; and Edward Doubleday met with it at Epping, in Essex, about
1817 or 1818. A few were taken in Norfolk as recently as 1861, and also
in Yorkshire and Durham ; but it appears to have almost deserted the
southern counties, and entirely the metropolitan. It occurred very abundantly
on the banks of the Wye in 1^58; and in Herefordshire in 1875, but the
wonderful abundance of 1875 was followed by a nearly total absence of the
species in 1876 and 1877, during which years Mrs. Hutchinson did not
obtain a single egg, caterpillar, or chrysalis, and but one butterfly only. In
1881 it was very abundant again, both in the caterpillar and chrysalis state,
and in 1883 it occurred rather freely at Llandudno, in North Wales. It
appears to have been very scarce in 1884 and 1885, but very plentiful again
in Herefordshire, in 1886 and 1887. In 1886, wild chrysalides were found
in July, August, September, and October, the last butterfly appearing on
October 27th; there apparently being three broods in that year.

GENUS XIX.— AEGYNNIS.

ARGN'NIS, a surname of Yenus, from the Temple erected in her honour by
Agamemnon, on the death of his favourite Argynnus. — Proper IV., 6., 22.

This is a genus of about one hundred species.

They inhabit northern and temperate climes, about one-third are European,
and nearly an equal number occur in Asia and North America. One is
found in Australia, and but few in South America. One only appears to
inhabit Africa, and few of the Asiatic species get so far south as India. Three
occur in Greenland and one as far north as Grinnel Land. Six species are
recognized as British, of which one is but an occasional visitor. The species
distinguished from those of the following by the underside of the hing- wings
being adorned with spots or stripes of the most brilliant silver. The colour
of the upperside a bright fulvous spotted with black. The English name of
Eritillaries appear to have bestowed on the species of this and the following
genus from the markings on the upperside resembling those on the old
fashioned chequered flowers termed " Eritillaries."

175

•

The costal margin of the fore-wings is arched, and the species have a bold
and graceful flight. The antennae are rather short, terminating in an abrupt
pyriform club.

The anterior legs of the males are fringed with long delicate hairs, and
those of the three first species have the median nervules clothed with hairs
and scales of a peculiar form. The caterpillars are long, cylindrical, and
clothed with numerous bristly spines, arranged in whorls round the body ;
each segment having a whorl of these spines. They feed entirely on the
different species of the genus Viola or Violets.

The genus has been divided into two sections. In the first of which the
second joint of the palpi is much swollen. In the second, which contains
two British -species, Euphrosyne and Selene, the second joint of the palpi is
not remarkably swollen.

ARGYNNIS PAPHIA.

Silver Striped Fritillary.

PAPHIA, Linn. Paph'ia, a surname of Venus, from the island of Paphos.

This Fritillary expands, in the width of its wings, from about two inches
and three quarters to three inches. On the upperside they are of a rich
fulvous with a greenish tinge towards the base with longitudinal black spots
and bars. The female is without the broad black borders to the veins of the
fore-wings which are so prominent in the male, and the black spots are
larger. On the underside the hind- wings are of a greenish shade, with silvery
hind -margins, and one long and two short silvery stripes : hence the English
name of silver striped is most appropriate.

A well known variety of the female is not uncommon in the New Forest,
and also in Dorsetshire, Sussex, and other southern counties of England. It
has the usual fulvous ground colour replaced by a dark smoky greenish
brown. It is spotted in the usual way, but near the tip there are a few light
patches : this is known as Valezina of Esper. A worn male in the collection
of Mr. Bond, is said to be the only known male of this variety. In one,
figured by Hubner, the wings on the right-hand side are of this variety, and
those on the left as in the ordinary specimens. A similar one to this was
taken in the New Forest, Hampshire, in 1879 : and I have a very extra-
ordinary hermaphrodite taken likewise in 1879, in the New Forest by Mr.
Charles Gulliver; in which the two wings on the left-hand side are male,
and on the right-hand side female. But the upper-edge of the fore- wing of
the latter side is of the usual fulvous colour, and one-third of the lower- wing
is so coloured ; so that, to use Mr, Jenner Weir's expression in the "En.-

176

tomologist," Vol. XII., p. 206., " in one insect both gynandromorphism
and dimorphism existed." Specimens are not very rare in which the black
spots are confluent : and stray specimens have occurred with a white spot on
every wing. Another very remarkable variety is figured in the " Entomo-
logist," Vol, XY. In this, the partial melanism of all the wings is correlated
with the obliteration of the silvery markings on the underside, with the
exception of a pearly patch at the base. A variety, without any silver stripes
on the underside of the hind-wings, occurrs in Southern Europe and
Western Asia, and is named Anargyra in Staudinger's catalogue.

The egg in shape is like a dumpy cone, laid erect on the flattened end and
rounded off at the top ; the shell with about twenty tolerably prominent
longitudinal ribs, some not reaching to the top. The colour is, at first, of a
pale greenish yellow and glistening, but it turns paler in about a week, with
a leaden grey patch near the top.

The young caterpillar, on hatching, breakfasts on the egg shell : it is short
and rather stout, and of an ochreous yellow with a shining blackish brown
head. On its first appearance in spring, the caterpillar is no more than one-
eight of an inch long, having apparently moulted but once before hibernation.
After another moult, some time between April 12th and 20th, the spines
appear, they are alike short and stumpy, pinkish brown in colour, with black
tips and branches. The head and body are now black, with double lines of
whitish violet on the back. When full grown, it measures from about one
and a half to one and five-eights of an inch in length, and is in proportion
rather stout. Down the whole length of the back are two stripes of brilliant
yellow separated by a black dorsal line ; these stripes are relieved by a black,
velvet-like borderings of markings. The spines are now of a reddish ochreous
colour, with their extreme tips and branches black. It feeds on the leaves
of the common violet, and changes into a chrysalis in the beginning of
June.

The chrysalis, about an inch long, when seen sideways is deepest across
near the end of the wing covers, and the largest projecting points. It is of
a pale brown colour, with gold spots on the back, and on the tips of the
prominences. On each side of the back is a row of obtuse, tapering, promi-
nent points ; a larger pair at the head are suggestive of ears.

Two Hymenopterous parasites, Ambly teles homocerus, Wesm., and Hemi-
teles melanarius, Gran., have been bred from it.

The butterfly is on the wing during the whole of the month of July and
August, and is rather difficult to capture owing to its partiality to the flowers
of the bramble.

It occurs all over Europe, except in the extreme north, in Western Asia,

177

Siberia; and China, where at Kingiang, all the females hitherto taken
strangely enough are of the variety Valezina. It is a frequenter of woods,
and may be found in open places, on the outskirts of almost every extensive
wood in England. It seems to be equally abundant in Ireland, but scarce
in Scotland, not occurring north of Perthshire.

It is first recorded as a British species in Ray's " Historia Insectorum,"
1710. He calls it "The greater Silver-stroaked Eritillary," and writes :
"Ostendit nobis D. Dale utrumque sexum."

Wilkes, in his " English Moths and Butterflies," 1773, informs us that it
is most commonly found in woods, and the fields adjacent to woods.

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain, 1795, writes: "The caterpillar
of this superb butterfly is not yet discovered in England. The fly is on the
wing at the end of June ; and is not uncommon on the sides of woods, and
in the lanes near them. I suppose, that the old name of fritillary, given to
this butterfly, and the nine following species, is from their resemblance to
that flower, in their checkered markings on the upper wings. The cater-
pillars are remarkable for their rough and ugly appearance, being covered
with long hairy spines ; this formidable figure is their great protection from
insectivorous birds ; which however fond of smooth caterpillars, do not care
to touch these. They are very fearful, for, on the least motion of the plant
or leaf they are on, they drop to the ground, and the spines prevent their
being bruised in the fall."

ARGYNNIS AGLAIA.

Silver-spotted Fritillary.

AGLAIA, Linn. Agla'ia, one of the three Graces.

This Fritillary expands in the width of its wings from two inches and a
quarter to two inches and three-quarters. On the upperside they are fulvous
spotted with black, the female being the darker both in the ground colour
and markings. On the underside the hindwings are greenish, and partly
tawny, being splendidly studded with about twenty silvery spots ; the fore-
wings have marginal silvery spots towards the tip. The wings are more
rounded and not so pointed as those of Paphia.

A variety differing from the type by having some of the silvery spots near
the base much larger, two pairs of them coalescing, has been named and
figured by Sowerby. in his " British Miscellany," under the name of " Char-
lotta" in compliment to Queen Charlotte, the Consort of King George the
Third. It appears to be least rare in the North of England.

The Scottish specimens -are much darker than the English ; and I have a
very curioas Variety taken by Leplastrier, at Dover, many years ago, in

178

which the fulvous ground colour is replaced by a milky drab, and the black
spots by fulvous spots. I have also a hermaphrodite, in which the wings on
the left hand side are much smaller than those on the right. Like Adippe,
it also varies by the enlargement and coalescing of the black spots.

The egg is very similar to that of Adippe.

The caterpillar is of a dark shining violet grey, thickly marbled with vel-
vety black. It has six rows of black spines, branched, with short black hairs.
The spiracles are black, delicately margined with grey, and close below each
spiracle is a blotch of bright orange red. The head is black, shining, and
hairy. It feeds on the leaves of the dog and the sweet violet ( Viola canina
and odorata), and hibernating young, feeds up in the spring.

The chrysalis is of a shining, blackish brown, with paler markings ; and is
very much curved in outline : on the upper surface are two rows of blunt
conical projecting points. It is suspended by the tail to the underside of a
leaf, the surface of which it covers, when a caterpillar, with a circular mass
of silk, thickest in the centre, to which the anal hooks of the chrysalis are
attached in a horizontal position, the back of the abdomen being so much
curved round towards the leaf as to imitate the upper two-thirds of the
letter S-

The butterfly may be found on the wing in July and August, and frequents
the sides of hills, coast sandhills, and heaths.

It is more generally distributed than Paphia, and is the commonest of the
large Fritillaries throughout Europe, and Northern and Western Asia. In
Scotland it ranges as far north as Sutherland, and I have met with it in the
Isle of Skye. It also appears to be common in Ireland. Some closely
allied species are found in California.

It is figured and described in Moufet's " Insectorum Sine Minimorum
Animalium Theatrum," 1633.

Petiver, in his " Papilionum Brittannise, Icones," &c., 1717, informs us
that the Great Silver-spotted Fritillary appears about the midst of July.

Wilkes, in his " English Moths and Butterflies/' 1773, writes : "On the
15th July, 1748, I had three eggs laid, and on the 5th of August the young
caterpillars came forth. They were of a flesh colour, with rows of black
spots on each joint, like the caterpillars of the Emperor Moth, and out of
each spot grew hairs of a sandy colour. The eggs were beautifully fluted
down the sides, were flat at the bottom, and had a glutenous mixture upon
them, which occasioned their sticking fast wherever the fly chose to leave
them. The caterpillars on this present ]0th of February, 1749, seem to be
alive, but are very small, and, I believe, have eaten nothing all the winter,
though they have had grass given them, which I take to be their proper food."

179

Sowerby, in his "British Miscellany,'' 1806, writes of the var. tharlotta,
" Some years ago the Rev. Dr. Charles Abbott discovered this curious Fritil-
lary in Bedfordshire; and we do not know that it has been found by any one
else. The nineteen silver spots on the under part of the lower wing are very
constant. It is an elegant insect, well deserving an honourable name, and
comes near to Aglaia. As we have, comparatively speaking, but few Papilios
in Great Britain, it is a very desirable acquisition. This gentleman first
added P. paniscus to the British list."

Curtis, in his " British Entomology/' 1830, figures a very dark variety of
Aglaia, which he informs us were taken by Mr. John Seaman, in the parish
of Nacton, near Ipswich, the 7th of July, 1827. He goes on to say : " For
an intermediate variety, which was captured at Dover, I am indebted to
Mr. W. Christy : it is singular that these specimens vary from the type no
less in form than in colour, which is not the case I believe with CharloUa."

ARGYNNIS ADIPPE.

High-brown Fritillary.

ADIPPE, Linn. Adip'pe. Linne says: "In Fauna, Cydippe perperam
pro Adippe legitur." It seems probable that Adippe is merely a variation of
Cydippe, one of the Muses, made in consequence of the latter name having
been already appropriated to another species.

This Fritillary expands in the width of its wings from two inches and a
quarter to two inches and three-quarters. On the upperside they are fulvous
spotted with black. On the underside the hindwings are of a greenish
brown, with about twenty silvery spots, the silver on the marginal spots
being indistinct; between the marginal and central rows is a row of small
dull red spots with bluish centres, which at once distinguishes this species
from Aglaia.

This species varies both by the enlargement and coalescing of the black
spots, and by a change in hue of the ground colour. A very beautiful
specimen is in Mr. Gregson's collection, in which the greater portion of both
wings is black. Mr. Stevens has one with the spots as usual, but the ground
colour is a very pale drab. Others occur in which it is a rich mahogany
brown, while intermediate varieties are found. Several varieties of the under
side have been named. Cleodoxa, Ochr., has the usual silvery spots of the
underside pale yellow or very slightly silvered. This form has sometimes
occurred in England, but it is commoner in Greece and Sicily. I possess a
specimen of it, which was taken near Bedford, by Dr. Abbott, and mistaken
for Nio&e. Chlorodippe, H.S., is greener on the underside than the normal

180

form, and has more central silvery spots. It has been taken by Mr. Greg-
sou near Windermere, in Westmoreland, but is apparently common in Spain.
Cleodijppe, Stand., another Spanish variety, resembles the last, except in the
want of the silvery spots.

The egg in shape is conical, the base broad, having a central depression,
the sides are very boldly ribbed and reticulated, some ribs being longer than
others. When first laid it is of a glistening light ochreous green, but
gradually changes to a dull pink.

The caterpillar at first is of a brown colour, with a shining black head, and
is decidedly hairy. When full-grown it is about an inch and a half long and
stout in proportion, of a dingy pinkish brown minutely freckled, the spines
being of a pinkish ochreous. Like the rest of the genus it feeds on the leaves
of the violet, and can run at a pace quite equal to the fastest caterpillar of
Arctia caja.

The chrysalis is of a pitchy brown, with a row of dorsal diamond shapes of
less intensity of colour, the margins of the wing-covers deep brownish
ochreous, the spiky projections golden and brilliantly glistening. It has two
rows of rather blunt pointed obtuse projecting spines, and the thorax is
keeled (" Buckler's Larvae.")

The butterfly is on the wing in July and August. The eggs apparently
do not hatch before February or March, and the caterpillars change into
chrysalis in June.

It is a rarer species than either PapJda or Aglaia, and seems to occur
both in woods and on uncultivated hill sides. It is found all over Europe,
except in the Polar regions, and in Western Asia. In England it is widely
but not generally distributed, but in Scotland is only found in the extreme
south such as Dumfriesshire, and does not appear to occur at all in Ireland
or the Isle of Man.

It appears to have been first recorded as a British species by James
Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britaunise," 1717. He records it with the last
as appearing about the middle of July.

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes: " Yiolet Silver-
spotted Fritillary. These elegant butterflies make their first appearance on
the wing the latter end of June, mostly in lanes near woods in dry situations ;
and are easily caught when feeding on the bramble or thistle blossoms : but
as the sun advances towards the middle of the day, they are restless, sporting
and flying with great swiftness, at which time they are very difficult to take,
The female lays her eggs in July, on the violets that grow under the shelter
of bramble, or some similar cover, or dry banks, or hilly places. The cater-
pillars are produced in about twelve days, and feed till September, when they

181

spin a fine web at the root of their food, close to the ground ; and under
this cover they pass the winter in a torpid state. In February or March,
according to the mildness of the spring, they begin to feed again, at this
time they are but small, of a dull black colour, and thick set with short -blunt
spines, finely haired. As spring advances they increase in size, and in May
are full-fed. The beginning of June they prepare for their transformation,
suspending themselves by the tail, and in a few hours the chrysalis appear.
In this state they remain for three weeks ; when the first fine morning brings
them out to dry and expand their wings, ready for flight. The female differs
but little from the male,"

J. F. Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes
of Adippe : " Not quite so abundant as Aglaia, but frequently met with in
the woods near London, at the end of June and through July. It is also
found in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Berks, Dorset, Devon, and
Hants ; in the latter county very commonly in the New Forest."

An allied species, viz., Niobe, Linn., has been recorded as British.
Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," writes of it:
" Stewart gives this as a British species, but without any authority ; I may
say, however, that among the insects purchased by Mr. Dale, from the pro-
fessed indigenous collection of the late Dr. Abbot, of Bedford, was a single
specimen of this species, which was considered by the Doctor as a variety
of Adippe" (and rightly, J. C. Dale).

Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1830, writes : " Niole, Linn. Godart
thinks this is the Adippe of Linnaeus; and the same opinion might lead
Stewart to record it as a British insect. Dr. Abbott's English collection
contained a specimen, which Mr. Dale now possesses ; and as it is found in
Sweden and the South of France, there is nothing unreasonable in believing
that it may occasionally make its appearance in this island."

The next record is of a single specimen which was taken in the New
Forest in the summer of 1870, by Mre Gerrard of Lyndhurst, and sold by
him to the Eev. Windsor Hambrough, see " Entomologist," Yol. Y., p. 351.
This was shown at the National Entomological Exhibition, held at the
Westminster Aquarium, in 1878, and recorded in the "Entomologist,"
Yol. XL, p. 162, with this comment, " upon its correctness there seems some
doubt."

Another is recorded on p. 83, Yol. VIII., of the same magazine, as being
taken by Mr. Gregson, in August, 1871, at the Devil's Gallop, near Winder-
mere. A more extensive capture of the species was said to have been made
in 1874, in a wild gorge, in Kent, between Wye and Ashford, and recorded
in the " Entomologist," Yol. YIL, but the whole tale seems to have been
a fabrication, see " Young Naturalist," Yol. I., p. 395.

182

AEGYNNIS LATHOMA.

Queen of Spain Fritillary.

LATONA, Linn. Lato'na, the mother of Apollo and Diana. The name is
variously spelt — Latona, Latonia, Lathona, and Lathonia.

This is the rarest as well as the most beautiful of our British Fritillaries.
The colouring of the upperside resembles that of the rest of the genus, being
fulvous spotted with black. Underneath, the fore-wings have nearly the same
markings as those on the upper surface, but near the tip is a group of silver
spots. The hind-wings are buff, varied with reddish brown, with numerous
silver patches of different sizes and shapes, and of which there are about
fourteen between the base of the wings and a row of seven dark brown eyed
spots with silver pupils, between each of which and the margin of the wing
is a large silvery patch resembling mother-of-pearl. It will be observed that
the form of the front wings differs from the rest of the N Frittillaries, the outer
margin being concave in its outline. The inner corner of the hind- wings
also is more sharply angular.

The width across the wings is from an inch to an inch and a half.

There does not appear to be any variation to speak of in English caught
specimens ; but on the Continent it varies much in size, and the black spots
on the upper surface are larger, or smaller in different specimens. The
Indian form is called Issaa, but it scarcely differs from the type. The silver
spots on the underside also vary in size, and sometimes are so large that they
become confluent. This is the variety Valdensls of Esper. A beautiful
specimen of this variety from Norway, the upper-side being likewise melanic,
is figured in the " Entomologist," Vol. XIV., p. 25.

The egg, caterpillar, and chrysalis have never been found in this country.

The caterpillar is blackish grey, with a whitish stripe down the back, and
two brownish yellow lateral lines. The spines are short and of a pale yellow.
It feeds on Viola tricolor.

The chrysalis is anteriorly dull brown, posteriorly greenish, sprinkled with
gold and silver spots, and has a white streak at the end of the wing-cases
(J. F. Stephens " Illustrations.")

The butterfly is rather later in emerging than the rest of the Fritillaries,
not appearing before August, and continuing on the wing till quite late in
the year, several being recorded in October, and one as late as the 4th of
November.

In Petiver's time it was not very rare in Gamlingay Wood, Cambridgeshire,
in May ; but all the recently recorded British examples have occurred in the
autumn.

183

In Kirby's " European Butterflies " it is also said to occur in May and
June ; whence it would appear to be double-brooded. Godart, however, tells
us that the last autumnal specimens hybernate and re-appear in the spring
—an anomalous event amongst the Eritillaries, thereby approximating in
habits to the Vanessa.

The caterpillars are said to hybernate small, as do others of the genus, and
to feed up in the spring.

Argynnis latJwnia is widely distributed in Europe, Northern and Western
Asia to the Himalayas, and North Africa. It does not extend to the Polar
regions but is common in Sweden and Norway. It frequents lanes and roads
in woods, and its flight resembles that of IlipparcJim mcgara, but is more
rapid. It sometimes settles on the pathway, and has been seen in clover
fields, In England it is a very scarce species, appearing at uncertain inter-
vals, and generally in places on the coast of Kent, leading us to the conclu-
sion that, like Pieris daplidice, it is but an occasional visitor. A stray
specimen was taken near York, and another near Scarborough, which are the
most northerly records for Britain. A single specimen was taken on August
10th, 1864, at Killarney, in Ireland.

The first record we have of its being a British species is in John "Ray's
"Historia Insectorum," published in 1710, as follows: " Papilio Eigensis
aureus minor, maculis argenteis subtus, pubelle notatus. The Lesser Silver-
spotted Fritillary. Species est pulchra, et ab aliis congeneribus satis dis-
tincta. A. D. David Kreig Eiga transmissam primb accepit D. Petiver,
postea etiam a D. Vernon, D. Antrobus, et aliis circa Cantabrigiam inventa
est."

James Petiver, in his "Papilionum Britannise," records it as being
observed about Cambridge.

Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion, 1775, names it the
Queen of Spain, and records it as occurring in Gamling Gay Wood, near
Cambridge.

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes: "With the
natural history of this rare English insect we are not in the least acquainted,
and we have only two or three instances of the butterfly's being taken in this
country. Mr. Honey, of the Borough, has a good specimen in his extensive
collection of English insects, taken by him in his garden in the month of
August. The figure of the caterpillar, with the description, I have added
from the elegant and correct work of Sepp : ' The eggs of this butterfly are
ribbed and oblong; the broadest end being fast glued to the plant on which
it is laid. The female lays them not in clusters, but separate ; and it is re-
markable that she lays only in the sun, ceasing whenever she is by any means

184

shaded. Prom the eggs, which the butterfly began to lay on the 10th of
June, the first caterpillars appeared on the 18th. They were of a yellowish
grey colour, with black heads ; and their bodies were covered with fine short
hairs. On the 27th, they changed their skins for the first time, and then acquired
spiiies, beset with long hairs ; the colour of the caterpillars was now nearly
black, with a light stripe on the back. On the 7th of July they changed
their skins a second time, on the 15th a third time, and on the 24th or 25th
the fourth and last time. The spines, which after the first change appeared
with fine and long hairs, acquired their stiff ones after the last change. In a few
days after the fourth change, the caterpillars had attained their full growth/"

Haworth, in his " Lepidoptera Britannica, 1803, writes : " Habitat Imago
prope Cantabrigiam, etiam prope Londinum, et etiam prope Wisbeach, f,
Mai. : Sept. sed rarissime."

In the Preface to the above work, Haworth also writes : " Since the body
of this work was printed, my friend the Kev. Dr. Abbott, of Bedford, has
informed me that he took in May last, near Clapham Park Wood, in Bedford-
shire, a specimen of Papilia podalirius in the winged state ; and that he also
took in June last, in White Wood near Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire, the
Papilio daplidice (in a faded state), and likewise Papilio lathonia. These
are three extremely interesting species, and there is not a British specimen
of any of them now extant, except the above. (All now belong to J. C. Dale.)

" As to the Gamlingay Lathonia (the Queen of Spain Fritillary), it is, in
my estimation, the most interesting insect we have in the whole genus ; be-
cause it is not only extremely rare and beautiful, but, if it is the same as our
London Lathonia, it is likewise double-brooded, and that in a very singular
and unusual manner : that is, a brood of it flies in May at Gamlingay, but
not near London ; and another separate brood of it flies in September near
London, but not at Gamlingay ; and never contrarywise. And this is still
further extraordinary, as no other Fritillary we possess in Great Britain, was
ever known to breed more than once in the same season, and that in the
months of May, June, or July.

" Lathonia was not very rare in Gamlingay Wood, Cambridgeshire, in the
days of Petiver. It has also been taken at Wisbeach, and my friend, Dr. F.
Skrimshire, assures me he has seen a specimen of it in some picture, which
was taken many years since in his father's garden at that place.

"My friend Mr. Hatchett, of Kingsland, knew an old London Aurelian,
of the name of Shelfred (nume inter beatos), who was so much attached to
Aurelian amusements, arid so much enamoured of the beautiful and rare
Lathonia, that he absolutely determined upon, and accompanied by his
daughter, successfully performed (in postchaises) a journey to Gamlingay, in.

185

pursuit of that charming Papilio, which he had the good fortune to meet
with and secure ; but his specimens are not now extant. Our London
Lathonia is infinitely more rare than the Gamlingay one ; there have only
been seen five individuals of it, all in different and distant years, and all in
the month of September. Every one of these I have examined ; but the
Gamlingay Latonia never."

Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes,
" The effulgent metallic brilliancy of the silver spots which adorn the posterior
wings of this beautiful insect beneath, renders it pre-eminently conspicuous in
our collections ; and its peculiar rarity contributes to the value of its acquisi-
tion. Previously to the year 1818, few cabinets possessed even a single
specimen ; and from the very few known instances of its capture (six only
according to Mr. Haworth,) there is reason to believe that some of the speci-
mens at that time placed in collections were foreign ; but in the above re-
markable year for the appearance of certain papilionaceous insects, this species
occurred simultaneously in several, and very distant parts, having been taken
in August, by Mr. Haworth, at Halvergate, in Norfolk ; by Mr. Yigars, in
Battersea fields ; by myself at Dover, and during that and the following
month near Colchester ; Birch Wood, Kent ; and Hertford, in plenty by
others. At the latter place I saw several specimens, but was not fortunate
enough to secure any. In Petiver's time it was not very rare in Gamlingay
Wood, Cambridgeshire, in May; but all the recently recorded British ex-
amples have occurred towards the autumn, a fact which is apparently cor-
roborated by the captures of 1818. The first specimen (a female) I caught
on the 12th of August, sporting at the foot of Shakspeare's Cliff, was in a
very faded state, and had evidently been " winging its way " for many weeks ;
a pair which I took on the 14th, in the Castle meadow, Dover, were also in
a faded condition, whereas the specimens taken near Birch Wood, at the end
of September, were remarkably fine."

Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, writes: "This common Con-
tinental species has always been considered, and still remains, a great rarity
in this country ; the English localties are rather numerous, but the number
of specimens is very small ; the maritime position of most of the localties
suggests the idea of the specimens having migrated from the Continent :
Dover, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Yentnor, &c., seem to support this conclusion ;
while others, such, for instance, as the celebrated locality in Birch Wood, are
so truly inland that we cannot hesitate to believe that the specimens have
been bred on the spot where they were captured. I think we may conclude
that, like many of our resident birds, such as the goldfinch or skylark, of
which thousands of dozens are annually captured on their arrival 011 our

186

southern wastes, that accession to the number of Lathonias take place every
year. Mr. Birchall informs ine ' that a single specimen was taken at Kil-
larney, in Ireland, on the 10th of August, 1864, in a lane leading from
Muckross to Mangerton, near a limestone quarry on the left of the road " —
a very important and interesting fact, since no doubt can now be entertained
of the species existing in the Killarney district in a perfectly natural state,
although the constant humidity of the atmosphere may interfere with its
appearance on the wing. From Scotland I have no report of its occurrence."

Dr. Knaggs, in his " List of the Macro-Lepidoptera occurring in the
neighbourhood of Folkestone," 1870, writes of Lathonia'. "Two or three
examples have been secured in the Warren. It used not to be scarce in some
seasons in lucerne fields, at the back of Dover Castle."

Messrs. C. J. and James Paget, in their " Sketch of the Natural History
of Yarmouth," 1834, writes, "Lathonia — a single specimen taken this year,
August 2nd, by Capt. Chawner, near Caistor rails."

In the " Zoologist," Yol, II, both Daplidice and Latkonia are recorded as
being captured in Roseberry Wood, near Exeter, by Mr. Dawson, in the year
1836, and were by him presented to Mr. Thomas Leighton.

In 1839, twelve specimens were captured by Mr. Pierce, in woods in the
parish of Shoreham, and recorded in the "Zoologist," Yol. Ill, p. 945.

In 1842, a couple were taken by Mr. George, in Suffolk, on the 3rd
September.

In 1846, two good specimens were taken in October, at Harleston, near
Norwich ; and three near Dover. In that year Antiopa was much commoner
than usual, as also were the rare Sphinges.

In 1851, a couple were taken on the race course near Ipswich, and two or
three pairs at Jagger, near Colchester.

In 1852, a couple were taken by Mr. Reeks, at Swanage, in Dorsetshire.

In 1854, the Rev. W. H. Hawker recorded in the "Zoologist," Yol. XIII,
the capture of six specimens by himself in the Forest of Bere, Kent.

In 1856, one is recorded in the " Intelligencer " as being taken near
Chesham, Bucks.

None appear to have been met again till 1864, when one was taken near
Eamsgate, on the 17th of September; and another at Killarney, in Ireland.

In 1865, a specimen was taken at Blandford, in Dorsetshire (twenty miles
from the sea), and others at Dover and Folkestone, in Kent, and also in
Norfolk, Essex, and the Isle of Wight. No less than five were taken in the
Isle of Wight, at Sandown and Yentnor, on the 20th, 21st, and 24th of
October, and the 4th of November.

In 1868, the great year for Colias hyale, no less than thirty specimens of

187

Lathonia were taken in Kent, Suffolk, and Essex, and one as far North as
Scarborough, in Yorkshire. That year had a summer almost unprecedented
for the duration and intensity of its heat, and which was followed by
an exceedingly mild autumn. Pieris daplidice also occurred that year in
Kent.

None appear to have been seen in 1869, and but one in 1870, and oiie in
1871.

In 1872, there were no less than nine of Lathonia, four of Daplidice, and
two of Antiopa, taken at Dover by different persons, all three species being
unusually common that year. Specimens of Lathonia were captured besides
at Folkstone, Ramsgate, Canterbury, Felixstowe, Ipswich, Yarmouth, Deal,
and Yentnor, in the Isle of Wight. It was also common in Jersey. Mr.
Poingdestre, in recording it in the " Entomologist," Vol. VI., p. 235, writes,
" I took Lathonia rather plentifully on the 1st of April and the 1st of June,
on some sandhills near the sea shore : few were on the wing during July and
August, but in the middle of September they again appeared. The April
specimens were evidently just out of the chrysalis : they were smaller than the
autumnal ones."

In 1876, one was taken at Hastings, in Sussex, on the 14th of August.

None appear to have been met with again till 1880, when eighteen speci-
mens were recorded by Mr. Sydney Webb, in the " Entomologist " for that
year, as being taken in and near Dover.

In 1882, twenty-five were recorded by Mr. Sabine, in the " Entomologist "
for that year, as being likewise taken in and near Dover : the Queen of Spain
thus proving herself a brilliant exception to the general entomological poverty
of that year.

In 1883, six specimens were recorded by Mr. Sabine, in the "Entomolo-
gist" for that year, as being taken in the Dover district; and a couple more
were taken in a clover field near Salisbury, by Mr. Penruddocke.

In 1884, one was taken near Canterbury, in August, and another at Ash-
ford.

In 1885, one was taken on the Brighton racecourse, on the 3rd of August,
and another at Kingsdown, near Deal : but none appear to have occurred in
either 1886 or 1887.

It will thus be seen that the most favourable years, for the Queen of Spain,
were those of 1818, 1839, 1865, 1868, 1872, 1880, and 1882.

188

ARGYNNIS EUPHROSYNE.

Light Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

EUPHROSYNE, Linn. Euphros'yne, one of the Graces.

This Fritillary expands in the width of the wings from one inch and tbree
quarters to nearly a couple of inches. On the upperside they are fulvous,
spotted and marked with black. On the underside, the hind-wings are of a
dull yellow or ochreous, with brick-red blotches, a row of silver semi-circular
spots at the hind margin, a large oblong silver spot in the centre of the wing,
and a smaller one at the base.

It varies similarly to others of the genus. The black spots become larger
until they coalesce, sometimes forming bands, &c.

A very curious variety is in the collection of Mr. Yaughan. It is of the
ordinary form in all respects, except that the spots on the upperside are
silvery or rather leaden in colour, instead of being black as usual.

A specimen in Mr. Brigg's cabinet has the base of the hind-wings entirely
black : it was captured at Folkstone, in 1876. In Mr. Bond's collections
are specimens of a buff, orange, or almost white ground colour.

Stephens, in his " Illustrations," gives the following.

Var. b. With the marginal fascia of silvery spots on the posterior wings
wanting.

Yar. c. With the basal half of all the wings above, black spotted with
fulvous ; with large black spots on the anterior wings beneath.

Var. d. With the ground colour of all the wings of a pale fulvous yellow,
both above and below. (This is Euphrasia, Haw. M.S.S.)

Yar. e. Wings above pale fulvous, irregularly spotted with black : anterior
beneath pale varied with yellowish and ferruginous towards the tips, with
some obsolete black or dusky spots on the disc : posterior wings variegated
with ferruginous, yellow, and green, with the pupil of the ocellus very large,
the discoidal silvery spot produced to the hinder margin, and the usual mar-
ginal spots lengthened inwardly ; the usual fasciee are obliterated, but the
silvery spot at the base is somewhat apparent.

The latter is the Thalia of the old " Entomological Transactions/' pub-
lished in 1812; but the Thalia of the continental writers is referred by
Ochsenheimer and Godert to Selene. However, it is the Thalia of Hubner.
Mr. Haworth in recording it writes : " I have an English specimen of this
rare and beautiful insect ; which is, perhaps, a very extraordinary variety
only of P. euphrosyne"

Thalia, Hub., occurs more frequently in Sweden and Norway ; and another
named var. Fingal, Herbst., is also found in the more northerly parts of

189

Europe. This, like many other boreal specimens, is smaller and darker than
the type, the spots coalescing into bands.

The egg is of a blunt conical shape, with its lower surface, which adheres
to the leaf, flattened, its sides are ribbed ; at first it is of a dull greenish
yellow colour, but turns afterwards to a brown. Towards the end of June
the caterpillar is hatched, being then of a pale greenish tint, but after the
first moult it becomes of a browner green, and about the middle of July it
attaches itself to the plant and ceases to feed. (W. Buckler.)

The caterpillar, when full-grown, is black, with bluish white stripes on the
sides, and a few white spots on the back. The spines on the back are yel-
low, with black tips, head and legs black, claspers dull. It feeds on the
leaves of the dog violet ( Viola canina), but is rarely met with, and Mr. G. F.
Matthew informed Mr. Buckler that they are seldom seen on their food-
plant, but generally on a dead leaf in its immediate neighbourhood, or a twig
above it. Mr. Buckler records its pace when walking as being very rapid ;
and that sometimes it fed for a while on the dog violet leaves, and that it
sometimes rested quite still basking in the rays of the sun ; when these were
withdrawn it retired to the underside of a leaf and there remained, apparently
without motion, till the hour (viz. : 2 p.m.) of the next day which brought
the sun round to the window in which its cage was placed, and then at once
it came forth and walked actively about, feeding and basking as before. On
May 5th it had changed to a chrysalis, suspended by the tail to a circular
mass of silk spun upon the side of the glass cylinder, hanging about three-
quarters of arid inch from the earth.

The chrysalis, five-eights of an inch in length, is moderately stout and
rather sharply pointed, much curved in outline, and warty : it is grey brown
in colour, with a few dots of a paler shade ; the wing cases are long in pro-
portion and dull brown in tint.

The butterfly emerges at the end of April (Lewin saw it flying once as
early as the 12th), but more frequently in May, and continues on the wing
during the earlier part of June. The caterpillar is hatched at the end of
June or begining of July, but does not as a rule feed up till spring in this
country. Sometimes, however, it does so, and the butterfly appears in
September, but the instances are few and far between.

M. Yandover has published in the "Ann Soc, Linn.," Paris, September,
1827, some curious observations upon the lethargy of the caterpillars of Dia
and Euphrosyne. Some caterpillars reared from eggs of the latter, when
about a month old, fell into a lethargic state at the end of June, in which
they remained until the following spring : a few, however, revived in August,
and became butterflies the same autumn. The same experiment made upon

190

the caterpillars of Dia produced the same result. Hence appears the reason
why those butterflies, and Selene likewise, are so common in spring and early
summer, whilst so very few are found in autumn.

Argynnis Euphrosyne is one of the commonest of the butterflies attached
to woods, and occurs all over Europe, except the extreme south, such as
Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy, Sicily, &c., and is also found in Northern
and Western Asia. It has never been recorded from Ireland, but is one of
the very commonest of wood butterflies throughout England. It swarms in
the London district, as in Darenth and Birch Woods, and is equally abundant
in Northumberland and Durham. It seems to be more common in the
northern than in the southern parts of Scotland, especially in Rosshire, but
does not occur in Caithness. It is not a common species in Perthshire, but
is found in the Scone Woods and at the Bridge of Allan.

The first record we have of it as being a British species is in Hay's " His-
toria Insectorum," published in 1710. Ray names it the April Fritillary,
and after describing it, ends with these words : " Hane speciem mini primum
ostendit, D. Dale."

Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britannica Icones," published in 1717, writes,
" April Fritillary with few spots. This has but one oval silver spot in the
midst of the wings beneath. Frequent in Cain Wood."

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "This butterfly is
very plentiful in all our woods, and is the first of the Fritillaries that makes
its appearance on the wing in the spring of the year, I have seen it flying as
early as the I2th of April. The caterpillar is unknown."

ARGY1NNIS SELENE.
Dark Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

SELENE, Fab. Sele'ne, the Greek name for Luna, the Moon.

This Fritillary expands in the width of the wings from an inch and a half
to a couple of inches. On the upperside they are fulvous spotted and marked
with black. On the underside the hind- wings are of a dull yellow or
ochreous with dark red blotches, a row of silver semi-circular spots along the
hind-margin, and several other silver spots about the centre and base of the
wing. It is liable to considerable variation like the last species, specimens
occurring of a buff, orange, or almost a white ground colour. A very beauti-
ful variety, in Mr. Webb's collection, is figured in Mr. Mosley's " Illustrations
of Varieties of Lepidoptera." The forewing of this specimen has two rows
of small spots at the hind-margin, and only two others on the costa behind
the centre, while the hindwing is all black at the base, and the wing rays

191

are as black streaks to the margin. It is as if nearly all the black of the
forewing had been transferred to the hindwing. This specimen also varies
much on the underside, which is streaked with red, yellow, and silver, in lieu
of the usual spots. It was taken near Ipswich in 1875. The Lapland
variety Hela, Staud., is smaller and darker than the type. Four others have
been named, viz. : Thalia, Esp. ; Pales, Bergst. ; Marphisa, Herbst. ; and
Itinaldus, Herbst.

The egg is of a dumpy, blunt, sugar-loaf shape, with a thin, soft, glisten-
ning shell, which is ribbed with about eighteen ribs, and transversely reticu-
lated : it is at first of a subdued pale yellow, but afterwards turns to more of
drab.

The caterpillar when newly hatched is of a pale olive, with a shining black
head. When full-grown it is a velvety smoky pink, and has a dark brown
dorsal line, which throughout its course expands and contracts twice in each
segment : in front of each sub-dorsal spine, and partially enclosing it, is a
velvety black spot delicately edged with white, while behind each spine is a
blackish interruped streak. The spiracles are black, the forelegs pale pink
with blackish brown tips, and the anterior legs are black and shining. It
feeds on the leaves of the dog violet (Viola canma}, and hibernates when
small. Unlike its congenor Euphrosyne, the caterpillar of Selene has an
aversion to the rays of the sun, and does not at any stage care to expose
itself to their direct influence, but reposes either on the undersides of the
leaves, or else on the stems while shaded more or less by the leaves, and feeds
while young, on the youngest and most tender leaves of the violet. (W.
Buckler . "Larvae of British Lepidoptera.")

The chrysalis is suspended head downwards ; it is about half-an-inch in
length, thick, and obtuse in front, and much curved in outline. It is brown
in colour, with metallic spots and black spiracles : the ground colour is most
delicately reticulated with blackish brown.

The butterfly emerges at the end of May, but more frequently in the
begining of June, and continues on the wing for about a month. When the
flight of Euphrosyne is nearly over, then Selene appears upon the scene ; but
it is only for a short time the two bear each other company. The caterpillar
is hatched in July, but does not, as a rule, feed up till spring in this country.
Sometimes, however, it does so, and the butterfly appears in autumn ; small
and apparently stunted specimens. Like most others of the genus, Selene is
a wood-frequenting species, and occurs all over Europe, except the southern
parts such as Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy, Greece, &c., and is also
found in Northern and Western Asia. It has never been recorded from
Ireland, but is far commoner in Scotland than JEuphrosyne, occurring as far

192

north as Rosshire, and is more widely distributed. Dr. Buchanan White
observes it is a common species throughout Perthshire in marshy places, in
woods, and on the hill sides, holding the same place as Euphrosyne does in
England.

The first record we have of it as being a British species is in Bay's
"Historia Insectoruin," published in 1710, under the name of the May
Fritillary.

Petiver, in his rt Papilionum Britannica Icones," published in 1717, writes,
" Frequent in Cain Wood."

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, " Eupkrasia, Linn.
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. This butterfly is to be taken in woods about
the middle of May, flying with the above ; and indeed they are so like each
other, that a person not well aquainted with them would suppose them to be
the same species. The difference of the markings on the upperside is scarcely
discernable: however, the under- wing on the underside is distinctly different,
so that there is not in reality any doubt of their being distinct species. The
caterpillar is unknown. These are common insects, and both species of flies
may be easily taken, when feeding on the different flowers that bloom at the
time they are on the wing."

Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, writes, "In the Kentish
woods, I have always found that this butterfly makes its appearance from ten
to twenty days later than Euphrosyne. I have taken it on the 1st of June,
but it is more abundant about the 8th or 10th. Dorsetshire : Glanvilles
Wootton (but rare of late years) Puby, &c. — J. C. Dale. Essex : Colchester,
but not so common now as formerly. — W. H. Harwood."

In June, 1887 and 1888, Selene occurred in profusion in the Glanvilles
Wootton copses, and in 1887, 1 took afresh specimen on the 15th of August,
which is about half the usual size.

In 1818, B. Standish met with one or two in Middlesex, during the month
of September.

An allied species, Argynnis diet, Linn,, is figured in London's •' Magazine
of Natural History," Vol. Y. p. 751, published in 1832, by the Rev. W.
Bree, who writes, " Mr. Weaver possesses two specimens, both of which were
taken in Sutton Park, Birmingham ; one about ten years ago, the other not
more than five or six. It differs from Selene in being rather smaller, and
having the black spots and characters on the upperside of both pair of wings
larger and stronger, so that the whole assumes a darker appearance than that
insect ; but the principal difference consists in the underside of the posterior
wings, which are of a brownish purple, interspersed with darker markings of
the same colour, and numerous irregular semi-metallic spots ; a low of which

193

borders the posterior margin." The chief difference is the straight border to
the upperside of the posterior wings.

The caterpillar, like those of the rest of the genus, feeds on the common
violet.

It has also been reported as being taken in Alderlj Park, Cheshire, by Mr.
Stanley (but the specimens appear to have been varieties of Selene), and a
female as lately as 1872, in Worcester Park, Surrey. — See " Entomologist,"
Yol. IX., p. 69.

Argynnis dia is common in spring and autumn, in woods, throughout
Central and Southern Europe, and also in Western Asia.

GENUS XX. MELIT^A.

Falricius.

MELIIVE'A, a town in Thessaly. Sodoffsky proposes Melintza, a surname
of Venus, from Mel. honey.

This genus is difficult to characterise in the perfect state, so as to readily
distinguish it from the preceding; but there is one important distinctive
character which has been pointed out by Drs. Adolfe and Otto Spyer, viz.,
that the tarsi of the middle and posterior pair of legs are not spiny on the
upper surface, whilst they are so invariably in Argynnis. The hind-wings
also have no silvery spots. The caterpillars differ from those of Argynnis in
being shorter in proportion to their thickness, and instead of spines are
furnished with short fleshy tabercles beset with short bristles. They feed on
plantain and scabious, and when young, live in societies under tents of silk.

Meliteza does not contain half as many species as Argynnis, only about
forty being enumerated. Like it, they inhabit for the most part northern
and temperate climes. Many of them are excessively variable, and some
species seem to run so much into others, that their discrimination is often a
matter of difficulty, which the uniform character of their markings docs not
tend to simplify. Only three species are British, but though they are vari-
able enough, there is no difficulty in distinguishing them. An American
species, Tharos, sometimes swarms in countless thousands on Goat Island, in
the midst of the falls of Niagara.

MELITJ3A CINXIA.

The Glanville Frttillary.

CINXIA, Linn, Cinx'ia, a surname of Juno, connected with cingulus, a
girdle.

194

On the upperside, the wings are of a deep fulvous, tesselatecl with brownish
black, and with a row of black spots on the hind-wings. On the underside,
the hind-wings are of a pale straw colour, with two fulvous bands edged with
black, and have several rows of small black spots. The width across the
wings is from one inch and nine lines to a couple of inches.

This Fritillary is most subject to variation on the underside of the hind-
wing by the enlargement or diminution of the black spots. In some speci-
mens they are like larger black blotches or streaks, while in others they are
almost wanting, especially on the central pale band. In others, the upper-
side varies, like the preceding genus, by the enlargement of the black spots
or the suffusion of the wing with black, but the variation of the underside is
much more frequent. Two varieties, occurring in Sweden, have been named
Fulla and Delia.

The egg appears to be undescribed.

The caterpillar is intensely black, being very slightly spotted with white,
and has a red band and claspers, the legs being black. Each segment has
eight warts, from which proceed tufts of short bristly black hairs.

The chrysalis is short and stout, of a veiy dark colour and almost smooth.

The butterfly emerges during May and June, sometimes being quite out
at the beginning of the former month. The eggs are laid in batches during
May and June on the leaves of the food-plant, the narrow-leaved plantain
(Planlago lanceolata), and the caterpillars are hatched towards the end of
July or in August. They feed rather slowly during the autumn months, and
as the cold weather approaches, they spin a kind of tent or covering of silk
among the grass stems and plantain leaves, in which they pass the winter.
This tent is very compact, and almost of a globular form, the caterpillars in
each mass varying considerably in number* In some there are fifty or sixty;
in others not more than a dozen. The web is very ingeniously constructed,
the blades of grass, as well as the leaves and flowering stems of the plantain
being interwoven, and thus rendering the mass firm and compact. The cater-
pillars when examined in the winter are about a third of an inch long, and
directly they are disturbed roll up into little balls. Early in the spring they
leave their winter quarters and feed up rapidly. At the end of April they
attach themselves by the tail to plantain stems, almost close to the ground,
and change into chrysalides.

Melitaa cinxia is well spread over Europe, being only absent from the
polar regions. It occurs also in Asia Minor and Siberia. In the British
Isles it occurs in but few localities, and all of them on the Southern coast.
It is or was abundant in the Isle of Wight, where it was discovered by Mr.
E. Newman, oil the Undercliff', near Sandown, in 1824. It also occurred at

195

Ventnor, Newport, Carisbrook Castle, Blackgang Chine, and Freshwater, in
the Isle of Wight ; near Brokenhurst, in the New Forest ; on the clifts near
St. Margaret's Bay, Kent ; and very rarely in the neighbourhood of Great
Bedwyn and Sarum, Wiltshire. It also formerly occurred in Yorkshire and
Lincolnshire. In the Channel Islands it is most abundant, occurring all
round the coasts of Guernsey and Jersey ; but appears to have almost dis-
appeared from England, a few only having been taken of recent years in the
Isle of Wight.

The first record we have of it as being a British species, is in Petiver's
" Gazophylacium Naturae et. Artis," published in 1702. It is there recorded
as being found in Lincolnshire, and near London in a wood at Dulwich.

Kay, in his " Historia Insectorum," published in 1710, calls it "Papilio
Fritillarius Lincolviensis fascius subtus pallidis," and after describing it,
winds up with " Hujus capiam D. Dale nobis fecit. Nimis fretasse prolixe
hanc speciem descripsus."

Wilkes, in his "English Moths and Butterflies," 1773, writes, "The
Plantain Fritillary Butterfly. The caterpillar hereof feeds on plantain, clover,
and grass, changes to a chrysalis, within a web of its own spinning, upon the
surface of the ground, at the beginning of May, and the fly appears fourteen
days after. The caterpillars are sociable, and feed together. They appear
of a very timorous nature, for if you move the food on which they are, they
immediately quit their hold and fall to the ground, and there remain in a
curled up form till such time they think the danger over. The butterfly is
swift in flight, but may be taken if diligently attended, in fields of hay-grass,
at the time above mentioned."

Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian," 1779, writes, " The fly took its name
from the ingenious Lady Glanville, whose memory had like to have suffered
for her curiosity. Some relations that were disappointed by her will attempted
to set it aside by acts of lunacy, for they suggested that none but those who
. were deprived of their senses would go in pursuit of butterflies. Her relations
and legatees subpoenaed Dr. Sloan, founder of the British Museum, and Mr.
John Ray to support her character. The last named went to Exeter, and at
the trial satisfied the judge and jury of the lady's laudable inquiry into the
wonderful works of the creation, and established her Will. She not only
made the study of insects part of her amusement, but was as curious in her
garden, and raised an Iris from the seed, which is known to this day, by the
name of Miss Glanville's Flaming Iris."

Lewin, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "This is not a
very common butterfly, but may be may be met with in meadows and fields
of grass, in June/'

196

Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," Vol. VII, published
in 1798, writes, "This is the rarest of the British Fritillary Butterflies, if
we except Paplio lathonia, the Queen of Spain. The flies appear in May.
The caterpillars are black, beset with spines and tufts of the same colour :
the sides are marked with a double row of white spots, the feet red."

Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology/' 1828, writes,
" This is a very local species, and is found in meadows by the sides of woods :
in Wilkes' time it was not uncommon in Tottenham Woods; recently the
places where it has been chiefly observed have been near Eyde and the Sand-
droch Hotel, Isle of Wight ; in the latter place in plenty ; also at Birch
Wood, and near Dartford and Dover, arid in a wood nea"r Bedford. I believe
it has been found in Yorkshire ; and from Eay, it would appear to have
have been abundant in Lincolnshire in his time. It generally flies in June."

Curtis, in his "British Entomology," 1832, writes: "Rare in meadows
on the borders of woods, from the middle of June to the beginning of July.
Tottenham Wood, Wilkes ; Lincolnshire, Eay and Petiver ; Yorkshire, Dul-
wich, Birch Wood, and near Dartford ; near Dover, Mr. Leplastria ; Eyde,
Isle of Wight, Mr. Sparshall ; near the Sandwich Hotel and Undercliff, at
the back of the island, Mr. Newman and Mr. Waring."

The Eev. P. 0. Morris, in his "History of British Butterflies," 1853,
writes : " This butterfly "is a very local one, so that its capture must be
regarded as a great fact in the experience of by far the greater number of
entomologists. J. W. Lukis informs me that this extremely interesting
insect is taken, though very rarely, in the neighbourhood of Great Bedwryn
and Sarum, Wiltshire. It seems to be most plentiful near Eyde and other
places in the Isle of Wight, on the grassy sides of the grassy glens which
run down to the sea shore."

In the " Zoologist," for 1846, the Eev. J. F. Dawson gives the following
interesting account of the habits of Melitaa cinxia in the Isle of Wight.
" As this Eritillary is rare in almost every part of the kingdom, some account
of its favourite habits and haunts may not prove uninteresting. It cannot
be accounted by any means common here, being confined to a few localites
only, though where it does occur, it is in general to be found in some abund-
ance. It is not to be expected in cultivated districts, but breeds on steep
and broken declivities near the coast, which the scythe or the plough never
as yet have invaded, and in such spots it may be met with sooner or later in
May, according to the season. Near Sandown, on the side of the cliff, there
is one of these broken declivities, occasioned by some former landslip, covered
with herbage, which slopes down to the beach. A path-way leads to the base.
On the 9th of May. 1844, a hot sunny day, each side of this path- way was

197

completely carpeted with a profusion of the yellow flowers of Anthyllis vul-
neraria, when I visited the spot ; and these flowers were the resort of an
abundance of these Fritillaries, which fluttered about them, or rested on their
corollas, expanding and sunning their wings, and presenting a most charming
picture of entomological loveliness. The great abundance of the narrow-
leaved plantain, which also grows there, affords food for their larvae. The
spring of last year, on the other hand, was so very backward, that on visiting
that locality at a date some fortnight later than the above, so far from either
flowers or butterflies being visible, the larvae were still feeding, and I could
discover but few chrysalides. These latter are found adhering, just above the
surface of the ground, to the knotted stems of the plantain, which here con-
sists of aged plants, each with but a few stunted leaves ; and occasionally on
the underside of large stones, which have fallen from the cliff, and they are
suspended and partly surrounded in the latter case with a fine web. They
are also generally to be found in pairs. The caterpillars evidently prefer these
stunted plants, for at the base of the declivity, where the plantain grows
luxuriantly, not one is to be seen. They are black and spiny, with red heads
and legs : being hatched in August, they pass the winter in societies, under
a kind of tent, formed by a compact web, brought round and over the stems
of grasses. I have found several of these societies on the 27th of August,
the individuals which composed them being about a quarter of an inch long,
rolled up like little balls. All these societies occurred at the base of the
declivity, where the herbage grows most luxuriantly ; and when the cater-
pillars have obtained sufficient strength in the spring, they are invariably seen
ascending the higher parts of the slope. And herein I imagine that 1 recog-
nize a beautiful instance of natural instinct, both in the butterfly and cater-
pillar : the former deposits its eggs low down the declivity, where the young
brood may rest most securely sheltered, and least exposed to the wintry
storm, but when the caterpillars are sufficiently advanced in growth, they
ascend to the higher parts of the steep to feed and undergo their transfor-
mation ; were the chrysalis formed below they probably would have too much
moisture and too little sun ; whereas by being formed higher up they have a
sufficiency of both to bring them to maturity."

This butterfly is single brooded ; but there is a succession of them, varying
in duration according to the season. The earliest date on which I have
met with it is May 1st, the latest in July ; but in the latter case the specimens
were bred in captivity. I never remember to have seen it so late in the state
of liberty, not later indeed than the middle of June here. They are very
difficult to rear ; and those that I have bred, are not only disclosed much
later than in the state of freedom, but are not nearly so fine and perfect.

198

They in general fly slowly and peacefully, except when alarmed, gliding
gently from flower to flower. I have taken as many as two dozen without
moving from the spot where T stood, as they successively visited the stems
of the grasses round me.

This Fritillary was much less plentiful last season than heretofore ; and in
some of its former haunts has quite disappeared. It has many foes ; for
besides the march of improvement in cultivation which gradually invades its
haunts, the same natural causes which promote its abundance, also multiply
its enemies. Two necrophagous beetles, Silpha obscura and tristis destroy
the larvae, and a large ground spider, very numerous in the spots which it
frequents, feeds on the perfect insect ; it lies in wait till the butterfly alights
upon the low plants, or on the ground, then rushing forward, seizes it by the
neck, and holds it captive with such tenacity, that both insects may almost
be pulled in pieces ere it will relax its grasp."

Newman, in his "British Butterflies/' writes, "I had the pleasure in 1824,
in company with my friends, George Waring, of Bristol, and Waring Kidd,
Godalming, of discovering the now celebrated locality of Undercliff, Isle of
Wight. We found the caterpillars, chrysalides, and butterflies equally abun-
dant at the same time. With a feeling of triumph I recorded the discovery
in the pages of " Loudon's Magazine of "Natural History," then in the zenith
of its glory, now a mere memory of the past."

On June 8th, 1855, the Glanville Fritillary was very common at Black-
gang Chine.

In 1865, several were found on the Undercliff at Folkestone, by Mr. Briggs,
and recorded in the " Entomologist's Monthly Magazine," Vol. II : however,
Dr. Knaggs, in " List of the Macro Lepidoptera, occurring in the neighbour-
hood of Folkestone," published in 1870, records it as "not being observed
of late years.

In the " Entomologist," Vol. VI., Mr. Luff writes, " Hetitaa cinxia is
abundant both in Guernsey and Sark. The earliest date I have of its
appearance is May 8th, 1870. In 1872, I did not observe one on the wing
until the 27th of May, and then they were nothing like the abundance of the
previous seasons. I noticed a couple of battered females on the wing as late
as the 26th of July. They are to be met with all round the southern coast
of Guernsey, from Fermain Bay to Pleinmont Point, but are never found far
from the sea coast."

MELI'MA ATHALIA.
The Heath FUillary.

ATHALIA, Esp. Athali'a, the daughter of Omai, King of Israel, and wife
of Jehoram, King of Judah — heroine of Racine's tragedy " Athalie."

She is erroneously recorded in the " Accentuated list of the British
Lepidoptera," published in ]858, as being the daughter of Ahab.

Like the last species, the wings on the upperside, are of a deep fulvous
tesselated with brownish black, but the black marks are broader, and the row
of dots on the hind- wings are wanting : the base of the wings also is often
much suffused with black. On the underside, the hind-wings are of a straw
colour, with two fulvous bands edged with black, but without any row of
black dots. Besides the absence of the distinct black dots so characteristic
of the underside of Cinxia, the two species may be readily distinguished by
the colour of the bands, which is very much paler in Cinxia than in Athalia.
The width across the wings is from an inch and seven lines to two inches
and two lines.

This Fritillary varies much both on its upper and under surface. The
upper surface varies by being suffused with black scales to a greater or lesser
extent than in the normal form. In some specimens the wing is nearly all
black; in others there is scarcely any black at all. The underside sometimes
has the straw-colour covering the greater part of the wing, while in others
there is more black than usual.

Stephens, in his " Illustrations," gives the following varieties, all of which
are rare.

Var. b. Wings black above, with alternate transverse rows of whitish and
pubescent tessellations : the central band on the posterior wings beneath
composed of one row of yellowish elongate spots.

Yar. c. Wings black above, with the two rows of fulvous tessellations
towards the hind margin of the anterior wings united.

Var. d. Wings black above with very small fulvous spots, those on thQ
outer margin wedge shaped, and the bases of all the wings above nearly
immaculate.

Besides these there is the var. Eos, of Haworth, now in Mr. Stephen's
collection, and is said to be unique, but Mr. Bond has one very like it. The
upperside has a darker border on the hind margin, and the inside of the wings
suffused with the two colours : within the hind margin of the hind-wings is
a series of fulvous lunules, and a single fulvous lunule in the centre of each
hind-wing. The underside of the fore-wings has the black concentrated in
the middle, and the hind-wings have a broad pale band running across the

200

underside. It was taken at Peckham, in June, 1803, by Mr. John Howard
of Kingsland ; and was named by Mr. Haworth in his " Lepidoptera
Britannica," after Eos, the Goddess of the morning. Both the upper and
the undersides are figured by Stephens in his " Illustrations/' under the name
of Pyronia Hub.

Varieties of Athalia occurring on the Continent have been named Cory-
thalia, Hub., Navarina, De Selys., Caucasica, Staud. ; all of which appear
to be dark forms. Melanius, H. S., Altheria, Hub., Tarquinius, Cort., and
Orientalis, Men,, which has white spots on the underside. Papilio tessolata,
serotina, Subtus straminea, as the Straw May Fritillary of Petiver is also a
variety of Athalia. In Petiver's time, it was pretty common in Caen Wood,
where Athalia also occurred. It is of a paler shade on the upper surface than
the type, and the fore- wings are more fulvous underneath ; the hind-wings
beneath are entirely straw coloured with black veins ; a broad curved fascia
of straw yellow runs across the middle of the wings, edged with black, and
with an irregular black line running through the middle of it ; this is suc-
ceeded by a row of black lunules, and the margin is straw yellow with a
black vandyked line running along it. Newman, in his " British Butterflies,"
figures four varieties from the collection of Mr. Bond. The second appears
to be a melanic variety with a fulvous band near the hind margins.

The caterpillar, when full grown, is about an inch in length and moderately
stout, and is of a black hue with white spots. The spines are of an orange
colour, with white tips on the back, and all white at the sides ; the spines,
bristles, head, and legs being black. Mr. Newman points out the protective
resemblance of this caterpillar to the flower of one of the food-plants — the
Narrow leaved Plantain, and noticed that his specimens always crawled up
the flowering stems in the middle of the day. The food-plants appear to
consist of the narrow and broad leaved plantains (Plantago lanceolata and
major), wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia) , Germander speedwell (Veronica
chamcedryas), and cow wheat (Melampyrum pratense), which latter was a
discovery of Mr. Harwood, in May, 1871, and was considered by Mr. Buckler
to be the principal food-plant in most of the English habitats of the species.

The chrysalis is half-an-inch in length, very plump, with the usual angles
much rounded off; the colour is creamy white, variegated with black and
orange.

Ichneumon culpator, Schr., is said to have bred from this species, but not
so far as we know in this country.

The butterfly may be found in open places in woods, and heathy localities,
during June and July. On the Continent, it as said to fly from May to August.
The caterpillars hatch in about a fortnight after the eggs are laid, and after

201

feeding for a short time hybernate at the roots of the food-plants till the
following spring, when they feed up quickly. Like the last species they are
fond of basking in the full rays of the sun. It does not occur in Scotland
or the Isle of Man, but is abundant at Killarney in Ireland. In England,
it seems to be most plentiful in the more southerly counties, and is very rare
in the midland, not occurring north of Staffordshire. It is rare near London,
but abundant in some parts of Devonshire, Cornwall, and Sussex ; it also
occurs in Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire,
and Staffordshire. It is spread generally over Europe, but only occurs in the
northern and western parts of Asia.

It was first figured and recorded as a British species by James Petiver in
his "Papiliorum Britanicse Icones," published in 1717, under the name of
the Straw May Fritillary, and as being very common in Cain Wood.

Wilkes, in his "English Moths and Butterflies," 1773, writes, "The
Heath Fritillary Butterfly. I found the caterpillars of this fly feeding on
common heath in Tuttenham Wood, about the middle of May, 1745. Six
or seven of them were feeding near to each other, I observed their manner of
eating, which was extremely quick, and when they moved it was at a great
rate. I fed them with common heath for three or four days; at the end of
which some of them changed into chrysalis, in which state they remained
about fourteen days, and then the flies came forth. This butterfly is very
common in most woods, but its caterpillar is very rarely found."

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, " It may be taken
in June, flying in the open parts of woods and dry places, near which heath
grows. In some summers it is tolerably plentiful, and in others scarcely to
be met with ; just as the winter has proved more or less favourable to the
caterpillars."

Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1832, writes, " M. atJialia is found
on heaths, marshes, &c., the end of May; in Coombe Wood ; Hartley Wood,
Essex ; Apsley Wood, Bedfordshire ; Dartmoor, and near Bideford, and in
Bradley Wood, Devon, by Capt. Blomer, as late as the 10th of July. It
used to be frequent in Cain Wood, and at Faversham. The P. tesselata of
Petiver was formerly pretty common in Cain Wood, the begining of May,
where M. athalia was common also ; 1 suspect it is only a variety of that
species."

The Rev. F. 0. Morris, in his "History of British Butterflies," 1853,
writes, " The late Capt. Blomer used to take this very interesting insect
plentifully in Devonshire ; Ford Wood is one of the localities there for it,
and Dartmoor another ; it is taken also in Cain Wood, Middlesex ; Bagley
Wood, Berkshire, near Oxford ; Apsley Wood, and near Bedford ; near Deal,

Faversham, Canterbury, and at Coombe Wood, Kent. It occurs near Fal-
mouth, but rarely; W. P. Cocke, Esq., has taken it there ; also not very
uncommonly near great Bedwyn and Sarum, Wiltshire, as J. W. Lukis, Esq.,
informs me ; and at Langham Lodge Wood, plentifully ; as also in Hartley
Wood and Maiden Wood, near St. Osyth, and in the High Woods, near
Colchester, Essex, it has also been taken at Peckham, Surrey, near London."
Stainton, in his " Manual of British Butterflies and Moths," 1857, writes,
" Mr. Tress Beale gives the following account of the habits of Athalia in the
neighbourhood of Tenterden: chief locality, Knock Wood. They are
generally congregated in one particular spot — an open heathy place, where
the undergrowth is of about one or two years growth. The metropolis is
mostly changed each year ; for instance, I could point out four different
places which have been occupied during the last four years. Stragglers are
of course to be met with in other parts of the wood. They are fond of bask-
ing in the sun on thistles. When in the net they generally feign death, close
the wings and contract the legs."

MELIT^A AURINIA.

Marsh Fritillary.

AURINIA, Rott. Aurin'ia, a Prophetess held in great veneration by the
Germans. Tacit, Germ.

The name Aunnia was bestowed upon this butterfly by Yon Rottenburgh,
in 17 75; and Artemis y the Greek name for Diana, by the author of the
Vienna Catalogue, in 1776.

The wings on the upperside are of a reddish fulvous, tessellated with pale
fulvous and black, the hind-wings having a broad reddish band near the hind-
margin. On the underside the fore-wings have an appearance of the mark-
ings having been smudged together, and a shining surface, as if it had been
greased : whence it is sometimes called the " Greasy Fritillary." The hind-
wings are similar to those of the last two species ; yellowish, banded with
brownish orange, the outer band of which bears a series of black spots, each
surrounded by a pale yellowish ring. The front edge of the front- wings is
slightly concave in its outline about the middle, whereas it is convex in both
Cinxia and Athalia. The width across the wings varies from an inch and a
quarter to three inches.

The Marsh Fritillary varies more generally than any other British butterfly,
and though its range of varieties is restricted by the three colours of the type,
it is surprising what changes of appearance are produced. The Irish
specimens, Hibernica of Birchall, are the most beautiful, the colours con?

203

trasting more, the paler shade being paler than the type, the red
bands and spots being brighter red, and the black deeper. I have a
small specimen from Carlisle similar to the Irish. The Scotch form, Scoiica,
of Buchanan White, is smaller and scarcely so densely scaled, the red and
yellow not so distinctly different, and the black duller in hue. Both this
and the Irish form often have the inner half of the red band near the hind-
margin of a pale straw colour. In the north of England the insect is like
the Scotch form, but as we approach the south the specimens are usually
larger, the red and yellow markings still nearer each other in shade, and the
black marks and veins are browner. Specimens occur not unfrequently with
little or no black on the underside, while Dr. Gill had one with the upperside
quite obscured with smoky black.

Two somewhat similar examples are figured in London's " Magazine of
Natural History," Vol. VI., p. 378. The first differs from the type by the
absence of the red band, which is replaced on the lower wings by a row of
black dots in straw coloured rings : there is also a reddish patch running
from the middle to the inner-margin of each. This curious specimen was
taken by J. C. Dale at Enborne, in Berkshire, on June 16th, 1810. The
ocelli on the under-wings give it somewhat the appearance of Cinxia. The
second was found at Haverfordwest by Capt. Blorcer. In this speci-
men, the upperside is much obscured with smoky black, thus rendering the
reddish band very conspicuous. Both of these varieties are females. In
another I have, there is a large smoky black patch at the base of the lower-
wings.

Stephens, in his " Illustrations," gives the following varieties.

Var. b. With the base and posterior margin of all the wings tessellated
with fulvous and whitish.

Var. c. With the wings similar to the last at the base : the anterior with
three oblong fulvous spots near thecosta towards the middle; then a fulvous
fascia composed of very narrow elongated longitudinal stripes : a waved band
composed of quadrate fulvous spots ; and a black marginal band bearing
lunulated fulvous spots beneath, similar to the first described.

Var. d. Posterior wings beneath, with the irregular basal band totally
obliterated : the central band not edged with black externally.

Var. e. The posterior wings beneath with the basal half fulvous, the
exterior half ochraceous, with an obsolete row of black spots.

The variety Provinciate, Boisd., occurs in the south of Fiance, £c., and
is a large insect with scarcely any perceptible difference between the red and
yellow bands, the divisions between them and the wing rays being brownish
black. The French type differs considerably from the south of England form,

204

but these differences, though clear to the eye, are difficult to describe in words.

Merope, Prun. is an Alpine form and appoaches the Scotch or North of
England specimens, but it is much less densely scaled and has a semi-trans-
parent look, sometimes it is all black and straw colour, except the outer red
band on the hind-margins.

The variety Sibiriea, Staud., occuring in Siberia, differs from most north-
ern specimens, for it is paler than any other, while northern forms are
generally dark. Sibirica is the same as Desfontainesii, Evers. The
Spanish and African form is called Desfontainesii, Godt., and is the same as
Desfontainesii y Boisd. and Herrich-Schaffer. It is more uniformly fulvous
than any other. The Turkish specimens are paler on the under, and more
varied on the upperside, and are called Orientalis, H-S.

An allied species Cynthia, Hub., bearing a close resemblance to the var.
Hibernica, Bir., occurs on the higher Alps.

The egg is of an ovate shape, truncated at the top, and slightly flattened
at the bottom, and is ribbed from the top for about half the length, the rest
of it being smooth : it is of a shining pale brown colour. The eggs are laid
in clusters of a hundred or so, on the face of a leaf.

The caterpillar is of a velvety black with black spines, short and blunt
tipped, with short, radiating, black, and pointed hairs, and with numerous
white dots, in three not very clearly defined rows. The spines are branched,
and most numerous from the fifth segment. The head and legs are black,
the claspers smoke coloured. It feeds on the Devil's-bit Scabious (Scabiosa
succisa), and also on plantain.

The chrysalis is short and stumpy, and of a pale stone colour, spotted
with black, turning brighter as the time of emergence approaches, when the
red and black markings may be seen through the skin.

The butterfly is on the wing from the middle of May till the latter end of
June, or sometimes even later in the more northern localities. The cater-
pillars are gregarious when first hatched, and draw the leaves down together,
while they live under shelter of the tent thus formed, and devour the under-
side of the leaves only. They feed but slowly during summer, and pass the
winter low down among the leaves of the food- plant, or other herbage, which
are drawn together as described. On the approach of warmer weather they
leave their hybernaculum, and feed quite exposed, being apparently as fond
of the rays of the sun as the rest of the genus. When full-fed they seek the
underside of a leaf, or similar shelter for their final change, which takes
place in the latter end of April, or the beginning of May.

Two species of parasitic Hymenoptera have been bred from it, Apanteles
Bignellii, Marsh., and spurius, Wesmael.

205

Newman, in his " British Butterflies/' states, that nine out of ten of his
caterpillars were infested with a species of Microgaster, varying from ten to
twenty-six in each caterpillar. They emerged in similar manner to the well-
known parasite of Pieris brassicte, spinning small silken cocoons outside.
Probably they belonged to one or the other of the above mentioned species.

The Marsh Fritillary frequents damp meadows, or similar places. Where
it occurs it is often exceedingly local, frequenting perhaps one corner only of
a field, and after changing its head- quarters, quite disappearing from the
place where it abounded one year, and being as abundant the next year in
another spot not far away. It occurs in every English country and in several
parts of Ireland and Scotland below the Caledonian Canal. It is generally
distributed over Northern Europe and Siberia, but does not occur in the
polar regions. It scarcely reaches the countries bordering on the Mediter-
ranean, though one variety occurs in Turkey, and another in Spain (Andalusia)
and in Barbary in Africa. It is first described as a British species in Kay's
" Historia Insectorum," published in 1710.

Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britanicse Tcones," 1717, calls it " Dandridge's
midling Black Fritillary," and that Mr. Dandridge observed it in Cain Wood
and the Oak of Honour Woods near Dullidge, about the end of May and
beginning of June.

Wilkes, in his " English Moths and Butterflies," 1773, writes, " About
the 10th of April, 1741, I took upon the ground upwards of one hundred of
these caterpillars, in Cain Wood. I gave them to eat a variety of growths
which I gathered on the spot where I found the caterpillars, but they were
so restless and uneasy under confinement, that they seemed in continual
motion, neither would they eat any of the food I give them. On the 18th
of April, ten of the caterpillars fastened themselves up by the tail, in order
to change into chrysalides (the rest being gone away or dead), and on the
3rd of May following the flies were bred. This butterfly is to be taken in
woods and grass fields adjacent to woods, in the month of May."

Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian." 1766, writes, "They ara generally found
on the side of a hill that rises with an easy ascent, and fronts the east, by
which they have the sun most powerful in the morning, and avoid the too
scorching heat in the afternoon. It was said that they fed on plantain and
grass, but I found that to be a mistake, having often endeavoured to feed
them with both, but my endeavours were always fruitless, and accordingly on
the ISth of April, 1760, I went to Neesdon, Wildsden, about seven miles
from London, where I was informed they were in great plenty, as indeed I
found them to be. Here I took great pains to watch their actions for full
two hours. I paid them several visits a few days afterwards, that I might be

206

able to give a satisfactory account of them. Their food is the Devil's-Bit
Scabious, which, at that time of the year, hardly appears above ground. They
feed on the opening leaves as fast as they come up, which is the reason why
those who found the caterpillars could never see the food. When the sun
happens to be shut in by clouds they stand still, and though eating very
greedily, they will suddenly cease : but on the return of the sunbeams, they
run nimbly over the tops of the grass, and descend into every vacancy in the
grass they can find in search of this food. Nor did I ever find above two at
one root, although the field appeared to be covered with the caterpillars.
When in their last skin they appear to be very black, and thickly set with
sharp spikes ; and their back and sides are powdered with white specks.
The preparation they make for the preservation of their chry slides is much to
be admired. When one is ready for his transformation, his first business is
to draw several pieces of blades of grass across each other toward the top.
These he fastens together with his web, and then beneath the centre, where
the blades of grass intersect each other, he hangs himself pendulous by the
tail, and changes to the chrysalis. This method they have of providing for
their safety while in the chrysalis state, is a strong proof of the amazing
instinct of these little creatures. They are not only securely hid from the
sight of birds, but defended from the damage they might otherwise sustain
in boisterous and windy weather ; for, as the grass is drawn from every side,
let the wind blow which way it will, one or more of the pieces of the grass
immediately acts in the manner of a stay. It is remarkable in this insect
that neither fly nor caterpillar will stray from the field in which they were
bred, and though I have seen some thousands in the field, yet I could never
find one in the meadows adjoining. In September the caterpillars may be
seen in great abundance. They keep together under the cover of a fine web,
which they spin to defend themselves from the inclemency of the weather,
and under the protection of this they pass the winter months."

Stephen's, in his " Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes
" A local species, rare near London, but particularly abundant near Brighton,
and at Enborne, in Berkshire ; it also occurs near Norwich ; in Clapham
Park, Bedfordshire ; in Dorsetshire ; in Glamorganshire ; at Eriswell and
Mildenhall, in Suffolk; Dartmoor, in Devonshire; and at Beachamwell, in
Norfolk ; usually towards the end of May."

Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, writes, "In Ireland it is
common, occurring in the county Wicklow, also in Galway and at Killarney ;
and is abundant at Glen Lough and Cromlyn Bog, in Westmeath, where it
is very highly coloured and very various in size. In Scotland it seems rare
and local, but increases as far north as Forres. Scottish specimens are

207

slightly smaller and darker than English ones. In Cumberland it is abundant
at the Brick House, Saburgham. The caterpillars from this bleak place pro-
duce very small dark specimens, and also some beautiful varieties with large
canary -coloured spots on the fore-wings."

This brings to a close the second division of the Butterflies, viz. " Pen-
dulse," so called because the chrysalides are attached by the tail only, and
swing in the air, with the head pointed towards the ground.

The third and last division is called " Involutse," from the circumstance of
the caterpillars concealing themselves in a silken follicle or cocoon before
changing into chrysalides. These cocoons are generally hidden in rolled-up
leaves, or at the roots of grass ; some of them are even attached to grass stems.
The simple structure of the chrysalis, and the habit of the caterpillar of rolling
up leaves are peculiarities at variance with the general characters of the
Diurni, and agreeing with the Heterocera.

Family HESPEB1DJE.

This is a family of butterflies generally of small size and obscure colours,
and very numerous in species, probably more than fifteen hundred are known,
and of this number at least half are natives of tropical America. Many fine
species occur in India, and but few in Australia, Africa, and Europe. In the
last named quarter of the globe there are scarcely more than thirty species.
Their flight is extremely rapid, tbe eye being hardly able to follow their
movements. They delight in the hottest sunshine ; and their small powerful
wings, enable them together with their robust bodies to rival the hawk moths
in swiftness. Their peculiar flitting movements have caused them to be
named " Skippers " by our English collectors. Many of the species possess
a pair of spines in the middle of the hind tibiae, which are not found in any
other butterflies. In some species, Nisioniadvs tages, Tamycus zeleucus, &c.,
all the wings lie in a deflexed position when the insect is at rest ; but in most
of the species the hind- wings are deflexed, whilst the fore-ones are more or
less perpendicular. It is on this account that Dr. Agassiz regarded the
Hesperidse as a lower type than the majority of butterflies (which on account
of their resting with their wings in a position opposed to that which they
occupied in the chrysalis state, are considered not only as higher than the
rest of the Lepidoptera, but also than all other insects.) The veins of the
wings offer several remarkable particulars : thus, the four branches of the
postcostal vein of the fore-wings arise at nearly equal distances apart, before
$he anterior extremity of the discoidal cell, closely followed by the two djs-

208

coidal veins and the branches of the median vein ; the whole forming a series
radiating from the discoidal cell in so regular a manner, that Dr. Herrich-
Schaffer regards this group as the type of the Diurnal Lepidoptera on this
account. The more or less obsolete character of the discoidal vein of the
hind-wings, and the arrangement of the basal portion of the veins are further
peculiarities of the family. The peculiar distinction indicative of the sexes,
afforded by the structure of the fore-legs in many of the preceding genera, is
here wanting ; and it is consequently difficult, except in those species where
the wings afford sexual distinctions, to determine the sexes of different
individuals. In some, Tages, &c., the fore-margin of the fore-wings is re-
curved in the males, the enclosed space being thickly ^clothed with pale coloured
down. In others, Linea, Comma, Sylvanus, &c., there is a thickened and
oblique ridge on the middle of the fore-wings. Hubner divided the family
into forty-two genera or sub-genera. In Britain we have four, viz. :
Cyclopides, Ilesperia, Syrichthus, and Nisoniades.

GENUS XXI.— CYCLOPIDES.
Hubner.

CYCLOPIDES, the sons of Neptune who assisted Yulcan in forging Jupiter's
thunderbolts. The genus was also named Carterocephalis by Lederer, and
Sleropes by Boisduval. The species of this genus or sub-genus differ from
those of the next in the differently formed club of the antennae, by having a
more slender body, and especially by the want of an oblique black patch
across the middle of the wings of the male, and the identity of colouring in
the sexes. A more important character, however, consists in the posterior
tibia? possessing only a pair of spurs at the tip. There are only a small
number of species known, four of them occurring in Europe.

PANISCUS.

Chequered Skipper.

PANISCUS, Fab. Panis'cus, diminutive of Pan, the God of Shepherds ;
also named Paltemon by Pallas, which latter name is sometimes adopted.

This pretty species is generally about an inch and. a quarter in the expan-
sion of its wings, which on the upperside are of a rich dark brown colour,
chequered with orange tawny spots. The underside is similar but paler.
The spots differ in size in different specimens, but otherwise it does not
appear to vary, nor is there any material difference between the sexes. The
aiitennjje are of a bright fulvous yellow beneath, and annulated with black and

yellow above. The width across the wings is from an inch and one line to an
inch and two lines.

The egg is of a hemispherical shape, with flat base, and is of a white and
shining colour, resembling porcelain.

The caterpillar when newly hatched has a largish and uniformly cylindrical
body, which is velvety white ; the head is black and shining, and there is a
shining black linear plate on the second segment. After feeding a couple of
days, the colour of the body changes from white to a very faint tint of bluish
green. When full-fed, the ground colour is a pale orange white, with a pale
reddish brown dorsal line, and a yellowish sub-dorsal line.

The chrysalis is long, slender, and nearly cylindrical, with the head blunt
and the eyes rather prominent and a sharp spike between them. The anal
end is rounded, with a flat spike set at the tip, with a dozen or more curled
spines of different lengths. The colour on the back is a creamy white, with
a very dark brown central line, a sub-dorsal of pale buff bordered with red-
dish brown ; the wing-cases are of a pale flesh colour faintly tinged with dark
brown. (Rev. J. Hellins, in " Buckler's Larvse.")

The butterfly is on the wing in May and June. The caterpillars are
hatched in June, and feed on the wood brome grass (Brachypodium sylvaticum .)
They draw the tips of the leaves together, so as to form little cylindrical
retreats, which they make secure by spinnings of silk. When they out-grow
the tubes they make fresh ones. Mr. Buckler writes, "On the 10th of
October, one had spun itself up by drawing a leaf round itself as it lay on the
underside. The leaf not being broard enough, the two edges did not quite
meet, and the interstice had been well covered with whitish silk, forming
a complete cylindrical silk-lined hybernaculum ; other caterpillars seemed
ready to follow this example. They leave their hybernaculum in March, feed
up quickly and then turn into chrysalides."

Cyclopides paniscus is common over a good part of Central Europe, and in
Russia extending to Finland and Siberia. In the North-west of Europe, it
is a very local species, and is met with in open places in woods. It does not
occur at all in either Scotland or Ireland, and only in a few midland and
southern counties of England. It appears to occur most plentifully in the
counties of Huntingdonshire. Northamptonshire, and Nottinghamshire, and
mere rarely in Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, Hampshire, and Dorset-
shire (one specimen.)

The first account we have of it as being a British species is in the
"Transactions of the Linnean Society," Vol. V., Nov. 6th, 1798, "The Rev.
Mr. Abbot, F.L.S., informed the Society of his having taken the Papilio
paniscus in Clapham Park Wood, Bedfordshire." He observes " that this

310

Papilio is most easily taken in May and June, when the P. lucina, or Duke
of Burgundy Fritillary, is out ; but the term of its existance seems to be
longer, as some specimens have been caught, in good condition, a full fort-
night after the Lucina has disappeared. It is to be found from 7 to 9 o'clock
in the morning ; very often playing in pairs just after sunrise, or at least as
soon as the morning fog has evaporated. Its flight is extremely short, very
near the ground. It delights to settle on the blades of very long grasses or
Carices, and is far from being a timid insect. " Mr. Abbott wishes to name
it the Duke of York Fritillary. With its caterpillar and chrysalis he is
unacquainted."

The first specimens were taken by Dr. Abbott on May 8th, 1798.

Ha worth, in his "Lepidoptera Britannica," 1803, writes, " Habitat imago
sylvaticis May : rarissima, sed prope Bedfordium frequentius capta et ad me
missa amico meo C. Abbott, D.D."

In the end of June, 1802, Dr. Abbott took faded specimens in White
Wood, Gamlingay, Cambridgeshire. It was next taken in great plenty in the
Hanglands, Milton, near Peterboro, on May 1st, 1823, by Mr. Henderson,
Lord Milton's gardener; and in the same place on June 6th, 1826, by
J. C. Dale.

Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology/' 1828, writes,
" Generally reputed a scarce, but merely a very local species ; it occurs in
great plenty in several parts of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire at the
end of May. Between Woodstock and Enstone, Oxon — Rev. W. T. Bree.
Near Dartmoor, Devon — Miss Jermyn."

In the "Entomologist " for 1841, Mr. Doubleday records it as being in
profusion in Monk's Wood and in a wood near Oundle, Northamptonshire.

In the " Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer," for 1857, Mr. Harvey
writes, " I have great pleasure in announcing that this year I have taken this
rare insect at Netley Abbey, near Southampton : and Mr. Sturgess writes,
" I have much pleasure in stating that this very local insect has been taken
very freely in the neighbourhood of Kettering duriug the past month."

In the "Entomologist," Vol. XV., for 1882, the Eev. W. Fowler writes,
" In a wood about seven or eight miles from Lincoln, while hunting for
Coleoptera on June 2nd, I saw Hesperia Paniscus, evidently not uncommon
in one locality. On two subsequent occasions I visited the wood, but each
time a thunder storm, followed by heavy rain, came on just as we reached it,
and stopped our operations ; we, however, took one specimen each time,
showing that it was still out, and I have no doubt that the insect was fairly
plentiful."

GENUS XXII.— HBSPEBIA.
Latreille.

Hes'peria, an ancient name for Italy.

The short thick club of the antennae, terminated by a short slender recurved
hook, and the minute size of the last joint of the labial palpi, are the chief
characteristics of this genus, in addition to the velvety oblique streak in the
wings of the males of many of the species. The general colour of the wings
is either tawny orange marked with brown, or brown strongly marked with
orange ; the colour being generally so disposed as to leave a row of spots
near the apical margin of the fore-wings ; the colours of the female, moreover,
are brighter than those of the males.

Over three hundred species have been described; of which four only are
found in the British Isles.

HESPERIA COMMA:

The Silver-spotted Skipper.

COMMA, Linn. Com'ma, thus named on account of the mark of the
fore- wings.

The wings on the upperside are of a rich brown, blotched and spotted with
fulvous ; the spots towards the tips of the fore- wings being of a whitish
fulvous : on the underside greenish, with square white spots.

The width across the wings varies from an inch and two lines to an inch
and four lines. There is a black streak on the fore-wings of the male.

Like all the Skippers it is remarkably constant to the type. One form is
named Catena, Stgr., having the hind-wings greenish. It occurs in Lapland.
Two fine varieties are figured in Mosley's "Illustrations." One from the
collection of the late Mr. Alfred Owen, has the usual pale spots nearly white.
The other which was taken at Newmarket, and is in the rich collection of
Mr. Bond, has the spots and markings of the usual hue, but the other por-
tions of the wing, which are generally darker, are all of a pale greenish drab.

The egg is dome shaped, with a small circular depression on the summit,
the surface being apparently smooth. "When freshly laid it is of a creamy
white colour, but afterwards becomes darker with the faintest possible tinge
of bluish green. In size it is about -^ of an inch wide, with rather a flattened
top, about ?V of an inch across, and is ^ of an inch in height. (Rev. J.
Hellins.)

212

The caterpillar is of a dull green mixed with red ; second segment white ;
head black ; there are also two white spots near the bottom of the tenth and
eleventh segments. It feeds on the bird's foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus)
and other papilionaceous plants.

The chrysalis appears never to have been described.

The butterfly emerges in July and continues on the wing for more than a
month. The caterpillars are hatched in April and turn into chrysalids in
June.

Hesperia comma occurs throughout Europe and Northern and Western
Asia, on heaths, downs, &c. It is unknown in Scotland, Ireland, or the
Isle of Man, and is a very local species in England, occurring on chalk
downs. It is common in the counties of Kent Sussex, Surrey, and Cam-
bridgeshire, and rare in those of Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, Gloucester-
shire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, and
Yorkshire.

It appears to have been known in Britain as long ago as 1667, for Dr.
Christopher Merrett, in his " Pinax rerum Naturalium Britannicseum," gives
the following description of a butterfly : " Alis conchatis, et clavatis : ex
albo et obscure rubente varias."

Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," 1775, records the
Pearl Skipper as being found in swampy ground on briars, Hanwell Heath,
near Ealing, on August 25th.

Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, "This butterfly is
said to be out on the wing in August, and to have been taken on the swampy
ground on Hanwell Heath, near Ealing, in Middlesex. The specimens of
this fly that I have seen lead me to think, that it is not a distinct species,
but merely a variety of the Large Skipper."

Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," Vol. IX., published
in 1800, writes, " In the begining of August, 1772, a brood of these insects
were taken near Lewes, in Sussex, by the late Mr. Green ; and we believe
no other specimens have been taken since that period. It is not very unlike
the Papilio sylvanus of Fabricius, but may be readily distinguished from it
by the square spots on the underside being perfectly white."

Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes,
" A local species occurring in plenty on Eiddlesdown, near Croydon, and on
the chalky downs of Sussex, especially near Lewes. It used formerly to be
taken on Hanwell Common, Middlesex, but I have not heard of recent cap-
tures near that place : it appears towards the end of August. Discovered in
-considerable abundance towards the middle of August, 1825, on the Devil's
Ditch, between the running gap and the turnpike ; the specimens remarkably

313

large and fine.— Rev. L. Jenyus, Old Sarum, Wilts., ] 826.— J. C. Dale."
The Rev. P. G. Morris, in his " History of British Butterflies/' 1853,
writes, " This species is plentiful near Newmarket, and at Gogmagog Park,
near Cambridge ; Mr. Dale records the neighbourhood of Hull as another
locality for it ; Barnwell and Ashton Wild, and the neighbourhood of Pole-
brook, Northamptonshire ; near Dover, Kent ; Old Sarum, Wiltshire ; Croy-
don, Surrey ; Lewes and Brighton, Sussex, are also its habitats, and Blan-
ford also.

HESPERLY SYLVANUS.

Large Skipper.

SYLVANUS, Fab. Sylva'nus, God of the winds, Yirg. Georg.

The wings on the upperside are of a rich brown, blotched and spotted
with fulvous : on the underside of a greenish brown, indistinctly spotted.
The male has a black streak on the fore-wings. The width across the wings
varies from an inch and two lines to an inch and four lines.

This butterfly varies a little in hue, and in the extent or clearness of the
paler markings, but is still very constant to the type. A fine variety is
figured in Mosley's "Illustrations." It has the wings of an orange yellow,
paler towards the hind-margin, which is dark brown ; there is also a dark
brown spot on the costa, near the tip.

The egg at first is of a dull white, being afterwards tinged with yellow,
and is of a globular shape, with the base flattened : the shell is dull and
finely granulated, and covered all over with extremely faint blunt hexagonal
reticulation, with fine reticulation just on the top.

The caterpillar, when young, is of a pale yellowish colour, with black dots
set with exceedingly short bristles, and a large smooth brilliant jet black
head. At the end of three weeks or so, the colour changes to a dull green,
and it spins together the edges of the grass blades, and makes an opaque
web, not much bigger than itself for a hiding place. After hybernation in
May, the colour is a pale green, the skin being thickly covered with very
fine short dark brown bristles, the head of a dirty white, with dark brown
stripe. It is of a cylindrical shape, and feeds on various grasses (Holcus
lanatus, Luzula pilosa, &c.)

The chrysalis is of a chocolate brown colour, slender in shape, and is en-
closed in a folded blade of grass. The butterfly appears on the wing in the
end of May and June, and also in July and the beginning of August.

Hesperia sylvanus is found all over Europe, except the extreme north, and
in Northern and Western Asia. It is widely distributed and common in

England, but scarcer in the north, and apparently unknown in Northumber-
land. In Scotland, it occurs only in the south, and is not common. It is
also a scarce and local species in Ireland, but more common in the Isle of
Man. It was first described and figured as British by James Petiver, in
1717, in his " Papilionum Brittannise Icones, Nomina, etc.," and recorded
as occurring at Hampstead, under the name of the " Cloudy Hag/'

Moses Harris, in his "Aurelian/, 1778, writes, " The caterpillar of this
fly has never yet been discovered in this country. The moths delight to fly
in woods, and lanes near woods : their actions are somewhat remarkable, and
not unworthy of notice, for whenever they settle, which is very frequent, as
they are never long on the wing, they are sure to turn half-way round, so
that if they settle with their heads from us, they turn till their heads are
toward us, and sometimes till they have turned quite round. When on the
wing, they have a kind of skipping motion, which is effected by reason of
their closing their wings so often in their passage, and whenever they settle
they also close their wings. They are found in the months of May and
August, as there are two broods a year. The male is much the less."

Lewin. in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes, "This is a very
common butterfly. There are two broods of them in the summer : the first
makes its appearance the middle of May, and the second is on the wing in
August. It frequents, woods, heaths, and lanes. Its flight is very short ;
but when on a bush or shrub, it is almost constantly in motion, skipping or
leaping from leaf to leaf. From this habit, common to all the flies of this
section, it derives the appellation of Skippers."

Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," Vol. VIII., published
in 1799, writes, " Fabricius has no reference to any author for a figure of this
species, nor is it described by Linnaeus ; this is the more remarkable, as the
species is found in great abundance in the months of May and June in this
country, and is not uncommon by any means in Sweden and Germany."

An allied species Vitellius, Abbott and Smith, Lep., Georgia, 3 f. 17, is
stated by Mr. Haworth, in the "Entomological Transactions," 1812, to have
been caught in Bedfordshire by the Rev. Dr. Abbott, although he added that
he possessed specimens of the same from Georgia, in America. Of the female
two specimens were taken at Barnstaple, in Devonshire, by Mr. W. Eaddon
(or supposed to be), and communicated to Mr. Stephens, who published a
figure of this presumed species in his " Illustrations," in 1828, and gave it
the name of Bucephalus, or the Large-headed Skipper.

Mr. Stephens, after describing it goes on to say, " Taken in the neighbour-
hood of. Barnstaple, in Devonshire, by W. Eaddon, who possessed two speci-
mens of the insect, which he assures me were captured by himself in the

215

above locality sereral years since. I have therefore on his testimony ad-
mitted the species ; but I cannot help surmising that its origin is questionable,
and that the specimens were probably imported in one of their earlier states,
among the timber or other stores which Mr. Eaddon acquaints me came
direct from the North American continent to Barnstaple. I am induced to
say this much from the circumstance of the section of the genus to which
this insect belongs, being without any other exception exclusively found in
America." A specimen was also stated to have been taken by Mr. Newman
near Godalming, in Surrey. J . C. Dale had one of the above Bucephalus
from Mr. Raddon, who had placed them as the females of Sylvanm, not
having the true female, evidently a mistake. J. C. Dale had also Dr.
Abbott's specimen of H. vitellius. It is possible that Dr. Abbott received
it from the American Mr. Abbott, to whom he was supposed to have been
related.

HESPEEIA LINEA.
Small Skipper.

LINEA, W.V. Li'nea, named such on account of the line on the fore-wings.
It has also been described by Hufnagel under the name of Thaumus, but
that name was applied by Fabricius to an American species from Phila-
delphia.

The wings on the upperside are of a rich fulvous shaded into brown at the
borders. The male has an oblique blackish line near the centre of the fore-
wings but they are not clouded with brown, as are those of Action. On the
underside the wings are unspotted, the hind-wings being of a greenish tawny,
the fore-wings of a dull tawny. The width across the wings is from one inch
and a line to an inch and three lines. It is but rarely known to vary. A
male of the pale or bone coloured form is figured in Mosley's " Illustrations,"
and Mr. Bond has the same form in both sexes, as have a few other collectors.
In those specimens there is no change in the markings.

The egg is not at all like that of H. Sylvanus, but is considerably smaller,
of a long oval figure, half as long again as wide, the shell glistening, devoid
of ribs or reticulation ; at first white, then turning dull yellowish, and at last
paler again, with the dark bead of the caterpillar showing through. — (Rev.
J. Hellins.)

The caterpillar when young is of a pale dull yellow, and is slender, cylin-
drical, with a very smooth skin, and no bristles except on the second and
thirteenth segments, and some very short ones on the head. When full-grown
it is ten lines in length, and is of a tender and delicate grass green colour,

216

without any gloss, with a dorsal stripe of a darker and bluish green, having
a stoutish line of paler green running through the middle, and bordered out-
side in stronger contrast by a stout line of green still paler than the ground :
the head is of rather a deeper green than the body, and rough with minute
points : there is also a transverse path of white on the front of the ventral
surface of the eleventh and twelfth segments. It is cylindrical in shape, but
tapers towards both extremities. It feeds on soft-haired grasses, Holcus
lanatns, Brachypodum sylvaticum, &c., and spins little ropes of silk across
the blades of grass, making little web coverings. When ready to turn into
chrysalis it encloses itself within two or three leaves of the grass, joined
together longitudinally by lacing or spinning with white silk.

The chrysalis is of the same light green as that of the caterpillar, of which
the paler lines can still be faintly traced. It has a pointed head-case, and
is very sharply tapered towards the tail, much resembling in form that of
H. action.

The butterfly appears on the wing in July and the beginning of August ;
the egg is laid on the food-plant, and the caterpillar hybernates quite small,
feeding up in the spring, and assuming the chrysalis state in June.

Hesperia linea is found all over Europe except the extreme north, and
occurs also in Asia Minor, Persia, and North Africa. It is generally distri-
buted in England, but most abundant in the south. It does not appear
to frequent either Durham or Northumberland, nor has it been taken in
Scotland or the Isle of Man, but Mr. Birchall has taken it in Ireland at
Powers-court, and near Cork, arid it probably frequents many other places in
the Emerald Isle.

It was first described as a British species in Bay's " Historia Insectorium,"
1710, and recorded as appearing in pastures in the begining of July.

Petiver, in his " Papilionum Britannicse Icones," 1717, calls the male the
" Spotless Hag," and the female the " Streakt Golden Hag/' In his " Gaz.
Nat/' he records it as being taken by Mr, Dandridge.

Moses Harris, in his " A urelian," 1778, writes, "Small Skipper. The
caterpillar of this fly is also undiscovered. The moth flies in woods, and its
actions are also similar to the above ; but there is only one brood a year
and they appear about the middle of July/'

Lewin, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, " This minute fly
is met with on heath, common, and lanes, in most parts of England. It is first
out on the wing the beginning of July, and may be readily taken ; as it flies
but little, and frequently settles, and skips from leaf to leaf on low bushes,
rather than take wing when disturbed. The caterpillar of this species is
likewise unknown/'

217

Donovan, in his "Natural History of British Insects/' 1798, writes,
" A very generally diffused species, but not common ; it is similar to the
Papilio sylvanus of Linnaeus, or He&peria sylvanus of Fabricius, which is in
the greatest abundance in the skirts of woods in summer."

Stephens, in his "Illustrations," 1828, writes, "Less common than the
P. sylvanus, but nevertheless pretty abundant ; it frequents the borders of
woods and shrubby places, towards the end of July."

Newman, in his " British Butterflies," 1871, writes, "In England it is
generally abundant, more particularly in the southern and midland counties,
but has mysteriously disappeared from many places where it was formerly
common ; in Essex, it occurs in open swampy places that are covered with
rushes."

It is a very abundant species in Dorsetshire, both on the coast and inland.

HESPERIA ACTION
Lulworth Skipper.

ACTION, Esp. Actse'on, a hunter, who seeing the goddess Diana bathing
in a fountain, was changed by her into a stag, and then was pursued and
devoured by his own hounds, who took him for a real stag. — Ovid. Met.

The wings on the upperside are of a dull rich brown, shot with fulvous,
and with a narrow dark hind-margin. The male has a black line from the
cen'tre of the wing nearly to the base of the inner margin. The female
has a curved row of rather pale fulvous spots. On the underside, a greenish
tawny is the prevailing colour. The width across the wings is from an inch
to an inch and two lines.

The only varieties, I have seen or heard of, are a couple of females with-
out the spots, in my own collection.

The egg does not appear to have ever been described.

The caterpillar is of a cylindrical shape, but tapers somewhat towards both
the head and tail. It is of a pale greyish green, with two yellowish longi-
tudinal lines down the back, the space between them being rather darker
than the ground colour, and a yellowish line at the sides. The ventral area
is marked on the tenth and eleventh segments with a snow white patch,
which appears to be a peculiarity of the whole genus. The colour of the
head is brown in the young caterpillar, pinkish green in the old ones, with
two lines down the face. The spiracles are of a pale flesh colour, and the
legs are very short and of a green colour. It feeds on grasses, Brachypodium
gylvaticum, Triticum repenst Calamagrostis epigejos, &c. The habit of feed-
ing is as follows : ascending high up the blades of the grass, it eats out a

218

wedge-shape portion from the side, which cuts off the pointed top, leaving an
oblique edge above, and proceeds to eat away large wedge-shaped pieces from
the side of the blade ; when tired of feeding it moves lower down the blade,
and spins a coating of white silk from one side to the other, causing the two
edges of the blade to draw together a little, and then in a silk lined hollow
rests awhile, and then comes out again to feed. When full-grown it seeks for
a retired shelter, which it finds between some leaves, of which it forms a
spacious habitation by spinning, in the open parts, a thin wall of whitish silk
web, with large and very irregular meshes j the resting place being thickly
covered with whitish silk, but most thickly where the tail of the caterpillar
is to rest. In four or five days it changes into a chrysalis.

The chrysalis is very slender, and is three-quarters of an inch in length, with
two lines across the arched thorax, and has large prominent eyes ; the top of
the head is a trifle flattened, and has a beak-like process projecting forwards,
of a flattened triangular shape ; the tail ends in a prolonged and blunt flat-
tened tip, furnished with a circlet of exceedingly minute recurved hooks.
1 he wings, antennae, and legs are plainly developed, and the proboscis is ex-
tended at full length down the body, from which it lies wholly free towards
its extremity. It is of a very pale and delicate yellowish green colour, on
which all the stripes of the caterpillar, though faint, are to be seen. Just
before the emergence of the butterfly, the colour changes to a purplish black.

There are apparently two broods of the butterfly, the first appearing in
June, the second in August, but specimens may be met with all through the
summer. In 1833, the butterflies appeared as early as the 31st of May, and
in 1888, worn examples were still on the wing as late as the 13th of Septem-
ber. The eggs are laid in June, July, and August. The caterpillars hatched
from the earlier laid eggs feed up before winter comes on, and hibernate
probably in the chrysalis state. Those from the later eggs hibernate small,
and feed up in the spring. Being full-fed in the middle or end of June,
they remain about a fortnight in the chrysalis state.

Hesperia actaon is a very local species, though abundant where it occurs ;
and is found in central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa,
also in the Mauritius and the Canary Islands. At Meseritz, in Austria, the
caterpillars were found by Professor Zeller feeding in June, on the wood
small reed grass (Calamagrostis zpigejos), chiefly under the shade of fir trees.
In Britain, it is exclusively confined to a very few restricted localities on the.
south-west coast, chiefly in Dorsetshire, where it frequents places along the
coast, from Swanage to Preston, near Weymouth, and also the line of chalk
hills from Swanage to Upaney. It has also been taken on the cliffs east of
Sidmouth, and at Torquay, in Devonshire ; and near Falmouth, in Cornwall.

B19

The principal localities, though, are Lulworth Cove and the Burning Cliff, on
the Dorset coast, where they may sometimes be found in plenty, settling on
the wood brome grass (Brachypodium sylvaticum), on which the caterpillars
feed.

This interesting addition to our meagre list of British butterflies, was made
by my father, on August 15th, 1832. On that day he captured no less than
three species new to Britain, viz. : Eesperia Aclaon, Habitophagus Curtisii,
and Eucyrtus Mirabilis, The middle one belongs to the interesting and
curious order of bee parasites, to which the Eev. W. Kirby gave the name of
Strepsiptera. It is one of the rarest of our British species, there being only
two specimens in existence, and both captured by my father. The last is one
of the parasitical Hymenoptera.

Hesperia action was first figured and described as a British species on the
2nd of March, 1833, by John Curtis, in his " British Entomology," and the
name of the " Lulworth Skipper " bestowed upon it, accompanied by the
following letterpress : " The insect at the top of the plate is the male, the
other flying the female ; the male at rest is represented of the natural size;
We cannot often hope to record the addition of a butterfly to our British
Fauna, but this species was discovered at Lulworth Cove, in Dorsetshire, last
August, by J. C. Dale, Esq., through whose liberality it now ornaments most
of our cabinets : it was found upon thistles, and was very local."

The exact place where the first specimen was captured is called Durdle Dove,
and is situated to the west of Lulworth Cove.

Stephens, in his " Illustrations " — Appendix — published in 1834, writes,
"I am indebted to the Rev. J. Lockey for this species ; it was found by him
in plenty near the Burning Cliff, in Dorsetshire : it has also been previously
taken at Lulworth Cove, in the same county, in August/'

Messrs. Humphreys and Westwood, in their " British Butterflies," 1841,
writes, " This extremely local species was discovered in August, 1832, by
J. C. Daley Esq., near Lulworth Cove, in Dorsetshire, in considerable num-
bers, frequenting thistles. It has since been found by the Key. J. Lockey,
near the Burning Cliff, in Dorsetshire, in plenty."

Mr. S. Stephens, in a communication to the "Zoologist/' Vol. V., 1847,
writes, "This Skipper, which has been so scarce for the last eight or ten years,
I had the pleasure of taking on the 2nd of August last in plenty under the
Burning Cliff, on the coast of Dorsetshire, between five and six miles from
Weymouth; I found a few on the flowers of the thistle and ra'gwort, but most
on the flowers of a carex, which grew in clusters close to the beach. The insect
was extremely local, being confined to a space of about one hundred yards.
Mr. Dale, who kindly told ine the locality whilst on. a visit to his place, has

220

been to Lulworth (the original locality for the insect) for. the last five years,
and twice to this, without success, and it is now twelve years since he found
it in plenty. 1 was a fortnight or three weeks too late, I regret to say, for I
met with very few fine out of one hundred and thirty that I captured in five
hours."

The Rev. F. 0. Morris, in his " History of British Butterflies/' 1853,
writes : " In company, some years ago, with my friend J. C. Dale, Esq., late
High Sheriff of Dorset, I formerly captured this, then newly by him dis-
covered, insect, I mean as a British one, in plenty at Lulworth Cove, Dorset-
shire— a charming place, where you will be fain to wish that you could for
ever watch the glorious ocean, dashing up from its dark depths against the
steep cliffs, which there presents an aspect of the utmost seclusion and the
most lovely retirement. Wild must all around be in winter, but this small
butterfly rejoices in the settled summer, more fortunate than some of its
class, who are tempted out to woo the ' beautiful spring ' : often their re-
ception is cold and chilling, and their day-dream of happiness is blighted, like
the contemporary delicate flower that has peered out too soon from its shel-
tered nook, and must again hide its head for a season, till the skies are more
propitious, and the sun shall shine undisturbed upon it. Now it is not to
be seen there, though it is still to be found at the Burning Cliff, nearer
Weymouth, where my friend, the Eev. Francis Lockey, of Swanswick Cot-
tage, near Bath, has taken it in plenty."

Stain ton, in his " Manual of British Butterflies and Moths," writes, " A
very local species : Lulworth, Dorsetshire, and Sidmouth, Devonshire."

Mr. Douglas has given me the following note of his experiences of this
insect in Dorsetshire: "In July, 1849, my late friend, H. H. Farr was
staying at Weymouth for the benefit of his health. I stayed a few days in
his company, and made some entomological excursions with him to Portland
and other places adjacent. One bright sunny morning we hired a boat,
owned by one of the amphibious long- shore dwellers, whom we took with us,
and found he was a character, and could turn his hand and tongue to any-
thing. An hour's sail across Weymouth Bay, during which we amused our-
selves by catching mackeral, brought us to the desired spot, the Burning
Cliff, where we had been told we should find Pamphila actaon, and there,
sure enough, we found it in profusion. The spot, close to the sea, is a kind
of undercliff, not very level, of no great extent, and covered with thistles and
large tufts of a long coarse grass or carex, about which our prey were skipp-
ing briskly. So abundant were they that I often had five or six in my net
at one stroke, and in about two hours I. caught a hundred, filling my box
and my hat ; and Mr. Farr had nearly as many. They were accompanied by

221

a few of the common P. linea, which, in their flight they greatly resembled."

In the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine/' Yol. I., Mr. Trovey Black-
more writes, " This species seems to be very irregular in the time of its
appearance. I took it in abundance, in very fine condition, in 1858, at the
end of July, both at Lulworth Cove and at the Burning Cliff; whereas, the
few specimens that I met with in the corresponding week this year, 1864, at
the latter locality, were in a very wasted state, and had, apparently, been on
the wing for some time. I met a member of the Entomological Society on
the cliff, who had walked over there from Lulworth, where he had taken a
few specimens in no better plight than mine/'

My first capture of Action was made on the 27th of July, ] 869, when I
drove over to Lulworth and captured fourteen ; also one of Linea, four of
Sylvanus, two of Corydon, and several of Galatbea and Semele.

Newman, in his " British Butterflies/' 1871, writes, " We are indebted to
the indefatigable Mr. Dale for the discovery of this insect at Lulworth Cove,
in August, 1832, as announced by Mr. Curtis in his " British Entomology/'
I believe it to be extremely local — that is, frequenting particular spots, scat-
tered at intervals all along the sea coasts of Dorset and Devon. The Warwick-
shire localities, although confidently spoken of, are very unlooked for, and are,
I think, fairly open to doubt. Devonshire. — Extremely local, frequenting cliffs
and coves on the coast, more especially cliffs east of Sidmouth and Torquay.
— J. J. Reading ; Mr. Hellins has also taken it near Sidmouth. Dorset-
shire.—Lulworth and Burning Cliff by Holworth. — J. C. Dale/'

Taken this year (1870) in two new localities, at Swanage and near Tyne-
ham.—T. Parmister.— " Entomologist," Yol. 3., p. 179.

In the "Entomologist," Vol. XL, is the following communication from
myself: "This little butterfly has been very scarce this year (1878), but last
year it was in greater profusion than ever I have seen it. The earliest I
captured was on June 20th, the last on September 4th. It is more widely
distributed than is commonly supposed, as I have taken it in various places
on the Dorset coast, from Swanage to Preston Preventive Station, which is
about two miles from Weymouth."

It was also met with in 1877, by Mr. Wacey, on Kidway Hill close to
Upaney.

In the " Entomologist," Yol. XYI, Mr. Benson writes, " Some years back
I took Hesperia actaon in some numbers near Truro, Cornwall, in good con-
dition and quite unmistakable ; but have not seen it there since."

In 1888, it was on the wing at Lulworth as late as the 13th of September.

Hesperia action occurs at Lulworth in company with no less than four
others of the Skipper family, viz. : Sylvants, Linea, Alveolus, and Tages.

222

The best place is to the east of Lul worth Cove, on cliffs facing the sea. A
little further on is a minature undercliff. On this undercliff grows a iriass
of Inula critAmoides, below is the clear blue water af Wey mouth Bay. In
that little space, almost without moving, I have captured, or at least seen,
no less than twenty-three of our British butterflies?, viz; : Pieris brassica,
rapa, and napi ; Colias edusa, with its var. kelice ; Melanargia galalhea,
Satyrus semele, tithonus, janira, megara, and pamphilus-, Chrysophanus
phloeas ; Lycczna, corydon} adonisy alexis, agestis, and agon, and Nisoniades
tages*

GENUS XXIIL— SYRICTHUS.

Boisduval.

This genus which is called Thymele by Stainton and Hesperia by Kirby
contains over sixty species, all of which are black, chequered with white spots.
About fifteen of them are European, but only one British. In the folded
structure of the costal margin of the fore-wings of the male, Syricthus is
closely allied to Nisoniades, from which, however, they are distinguished by
their strongly tesselated wings. The obtuse tip of the antennae, destitute of
a hook, separate them from the other genera.

SYKICTHUS ALVEOLUS.

Spotted Skipper.

ALVEOLUS, Hub. Alve'olus, a chess board, given in reference to the
black and white appearance of the butterfly, which is chequered with some-
what square spots.

It is also called Malva, but the true Halva of Linnaeus is apparently
another species, according to the Yienna Catalogue, Alcea, the caterpillar of
which feeds on Malva.

This pretty little species measures from an inch to an inch and two lines
in the expansion of its wings. On the upperside they are of a blackish
brown, chequered with somewhat square white spots, and with chequered
fringes. On the underside they are somewhat similar, the ground colour
being greyish brown. A well known variety having the spots confluent was
figured as long ago as 1717, by James Petiver, in his "Papilionum Britan-
nicse leones," under the name of the Brown Marsh Fritillary. Lewin also
gives three excellent figures of it in 1795, and calls it Fritittum, Fabricius.
He records it as being but seldom met with in England, and that our know-

ledge of its manners is confined to the taking a few of them on the wing.
He also goes on to say, this may not be a distinct species, but merely a variety
in the white markings of its wings. It is described by Haworth as Lava-
terte, and figured as such by Newman. It has been taken in Dorsetshire and
other parts of the south of England, but is considered to be very rare. A
still more extreme form of this variety is figured in Mosele/s " Illustrations,"
from a specimen in the collection of Mr. Howard Yaughan, and called Taras,
Meig. Both these later names apparently represent the same form, which
Kirby calls Fritillum, W.V.

Both the type and the variety are subject to still other variations ; the
former frequently occurs with all the spots on the anterior wings very minute,
while those on the posterior are remarkably large, and vice versa. Again,
the variety occurs with the upper wings nearly all whitish or cream-colouied,
with a single whitish spot alone in the centre of posterior, while others have
a central and marginal fascia of spots.

In Mr. Stephen's collection was a specimen having the character of Alve-
olus on the anterior wing, and of Lavatera on the other \ and he also pre-
served a series gradually varying from the confluent to the simple spots on
all the wings. Another named variety, Melotis, Dup., occurring in Syria, is
larger, and has the hind-wings all white on the underside.

The egg is globular, with base rather flattened ; the shell ribbed rather
irregularly with about eighteen ribs, and transversly reticulated with very
even fine lines : the colour is a very fine pale green all over.

The young caterpillar makes its escape by cutting a large round hole
through the top of the egg ; in colour it is very pale green, with a shining
black head. When full-grown, the length is rather over five-eighths of an
inch, the figure very stout, the head horny, globular, and stuck like a knob
on the second segment, which however, is not so strikingly narrow as in
Nuoniades tages ; the skin granulated in appearance, the head and whole body
covered with short fine pale hairs ; the general colour a pale ochreous green,
the second segment pink, the lines faintly darker than the ground colour ;
the head dark brown. — (Mr. W. Buckler). It feeds on the barren straw-
berry (Potentillafragariasirum}, the wood strawberry, the raspberry, and the
bramble.

The chrysalis is enclosed in a case between two or three leaves, similar to
that in which the caterpillar lives, but fastened with stouter silk, and the
openings protected by a loose pale yellow webbing. Its length is not quite
half an inch, the figure thick and stumpy ; the eyes prominent ; the wing
cases well developed ; the whole skin rather rough, set with short stiff hairs
of a light brownish led ; the ground colour is a reddish grey, on which are

224

situated some black marks and spots ; the spiracles are ringed with black and
placed within the largest dark blotches.

The butterfly appears in May and June, and has been taken both in the
end of April and the beginning of July. The caterpillars emerge by the end
of June, and are full-fed in September. They remain in the chrysalis state
over the winter.

S. alveolus occurs all over Europe except the extreme north, in Asia Minor,
and North Africa. It is abundantly distributed in England and Scotland
south of the Clyde, and has been met with at Galway in Ireland. It was
first described as a British species in Ray's " Historia Insectorum," 1710;
after describing it, he goes on to say, " Maii 29 in pascuis loco palustri
inneni. Quarti generis Papilionum a nobis observatarum speciei primse
persimilis est quoad colores, sed multa minor."

It is figured and described by Petiver in his " Papilionum Brittannicse
Tcones," 1717, under the name of the Small Spotted Brown Marsh Fritillary.

Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian," 1778, writes, "Grizzle. — The whole fly
is of a dark lead colour, speckled all over with small square specks. The
fringes are chequered black and white. The underside is similar to the
upper ; but the inferior wings are paler. Eoesel says, the caterpillar is found
on the common mallow, inclosed in a web ; that it lays in chrysalis eleven
days, and that the fly, when it appears from the chrysalis, produces blood
from the abdomen. See Linn, Papil. Pleb. 267, Malva."

Wilkes, in his "English Moths and Butterflies/' 1773, figures for the
Grizzled Butterfly, the butterflies and chrysalides of another species, also the
caterpillars feeding on a plant of mallow; and writes : "Mr. Roesel tells us,
that the caterpillar of this fly was found on the mallow, with the leaves of
which he fed it till the end of June, when it spun a web amongst the leaves,
and changed to a chrysalis, the butterfly of which was bred the May follow-
ing. This fly is to be taken in woods and meads, at the beginning of May ;
and although small, it flies swiftly, so that you must be very quick to take
it."

Donovan, in his " Natural History of British Insects," likewise figures
another species, and writes " The larva of this butterfly feeds on the mallow ;
the colour is greyish or yellowish, with the head black, and a black collar
marked with four sulphur coloured spots. The pupa is somewhat gibbous
and bluish. This insect is common in many parts of Britain in the fly state ;
the larva, though known, is by no means common. The butterfly appears
on the wing in May. Some collectors admit two or more varieties of the
Grizzled Skipper Butterfly, while others consider them as so many distinct
species : the male also differs from the female in being somewhat smaller."

886

The foregoing will show how much better it would have been for Harris,
Wilkes, and Donovan, not to have copied from Fuesel : and that our species
is not the Malva of Linnaeus, which now goes under the name of Alcea, Esp.

Lewi 11, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, " Spotted Skipper.
Malva, Linnaeus. The caterpillars of this butterfly feed on the leaves of the
bramble bushes. They web the edges of the leaf together, and from this
cover they come out a little way to feed ; but the least motion of the leaf
they return to their retreat, and if they be much alarmed, they drop to the
ground. The end of April they are full-fed, when they enclose themselves
in a slight web, under cover of a leaf, and there change to chysalis. In that
state they remain about fourteen days, as the fly comes out on the wing the
beginning of May. The butterfly is pretty common in the dry parts of woods
and heaths/'

Haworth, in his " Lepidoptera Britannicse," 1803, writes of Halva, '* That
it frequents pastures/'

Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1833, writes, Alveolus, Hub. —
Halves, Haw. — Cardui, Goda. — End of May, beginning of June, meadows,
commons, woods. Malvte, Linn. I have found at Toulon, and believe it is
not British, although Donovan's figures appear to be this species/'

Stephens, in his " Illustrations of British Entomology," 1828, writes, "An
elegant, variable, and far from uncommon insect ; frequenting woods, com-
mons, dry banks, and meadows, about the end of May, near Newcastle
common. In the fens of Cambridgeshire, plentifully. Malva has consider-
able resemblance to Tages, but is easily known by its dentated wings. This
species has doubtless been introduced into the indigenous fauna by Stuart,
owing to the unfortunate misappropriation of the Linnaean name to Alveolus
by his predecessors." In a manuscript note in my father's handwriting is
" In the Linnsean cabinet are 2 Malva large and 2 Alveolus small put in as
4 Malv*»

Haworth, in the old " Entomological Transaction," 1802, records another
species, Orleus (The Georgian Grizzle), as being taken in Bedfordshire, by
the Rev. Dr. Abbot. Evidently a mistake.

GENUS XXIV.— NISONIADES.
Hubner.

A genus of about fifty species, of which but two occur in Europe, and only
one in Britain. They are mostly brown in colour, with ash-coloured undu-
lating bars. The males have the costal margin of the fore-wings double, or

226

folded, the inside of the fold being covered with fine downy hairs, as in the
last genus, from which they may be distinguished by the fringe of Nisoniades
not being chequered. The antennae are short, but longer and more slender
than in Syrichthus; the club attenuated at the tip, not hooked. The butter-
flies of this genus sleep with their wings deflexed like a moth, not erect like
other butterflies. Curtis remarks on the Skippers in general, " These singu-
lar insects approach the Sphingida in the extreme length of the maxillae, and
the Noctuidte and Phal&nidce in their metamorphoses and doubly spurred
posterior tibise. The palpi are so densely clothed with scales and so very
tender, that although the relative proportions are correct in fig. 4. a., the
outline may vary a little. It is rather remarkable that old specimens have
have frequently lost one or both of their palpi, an accident I have never
observed in other Lepidoptera, excepting a few of the Pyralidce. Boisduval
bestowed the name of Thanaos a corruption of Thanalos, death, in allusion
to the dark colour of the species.

NISONIADES TAGES.
Brown Skipper.

TAGES, Linn. Ta'ges, a son of Genius, who first taught the Etruscans the
art of divination. Linnaeus probably chose this name for one of the Ruri-
culse, because the story is told of Tages being found by a rustic while plough-
ing : hence a clod-hopper.

t This, the last of our British butterflies, sleeps with its wings deflexed like
a moth. It is of a dullish brown colour, with marginal rows of small pale
dots ; two obscure greyish bands on the fore-wings, and one on the hind-
wings. On the underside, the colour is uniformly greyish brown. The
width across the wings varies from an inch to an inch and a quarter. The
male is more dusky and uniformly coloured than the female. The grey
markings on the wings are sometimes more clearly defined in some specimens
than others : the costa also has sometimes a bright white spot towards the
tip, anterior to the band of zig-zags, and a spot or two in the band : other-
wise it is remarkably constant to the type. A form named Unicolor, Fu.,
which as its names implies is unicolorous on the upperside, occurs in Greece
and Western Asia. Another, name,d Cervantes, Grael., is found in Andalusia.
It is larger than the type, and is more obscurely marked.

The egg is of a somewhat elliptical figure standing on end, and is pale green
in colour.

The caterpillar is of a yellowish green, with two yellow lines on each side,

227

and a row of black dots above them : the head, like that of the rest of the
family, is large, and is of a purplish brown colour : The spiracles are very
small and red. When full-grown it is nearly three quarters of an inch in
length, with the back a little arched and the belly rather flattened : the body
is very plump, and thickest in the middle segments. It feeds on the Bird's-
foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus.} — (Mr. W. Buckler on " Larvae " by the
Eay Society.)

The chrysalis is smooth, without angles, the thoracic segments being
swollen and of a dark green colour ; the body is tinged with rosy red ; it is
conical and pointed. (Newman.)

The butterfly emerges in May, and it continues on the wing till June is
well in. The eggs are laid on the food-plant, and as soon as the caterpillar
is hatched, it conceals itself by drawing the leaves together. In the South
of England, a second brood emerges in August, and the caterpillar lives over
the winter ; but there is only one brood in the North, and it passes the
winter in the chrysalis state.

Nisoniades tages occurs all over Europe, except the Polar regions, in
"Northern and Western Asia, and Asia Minor ; frequenting dry sunny places.

It is common all over England, and the South of Scotland, but occurs as
far north as Invernesshire and Eosshire. It also occurs in Galway and pro-
bably other parts of Ireland. It appears to have been known as British as
long ago as 1667, for Dr. Christopher Merrett gives the following description
of a butterfly in his " Piiiax rerum Naturalium Britannicarum, continens
vegitabilia, Animalia, et Fossilia, in hac Insula repecta inchoatus," viz. :
"Corpore, pedibus, capitulo, antennis, cineritiis."

It is described by John Bay in his "Historia Insectorum," 1710; and
figured and described by James Petiver in his " Papilionuin Britanniae Icones,"
1717. Petiver records it thus, " Papilo niger fuscus Hampstediensis mar-
moratus. Handley's small brown butterfly. It is brown above and paler
below, and dully marbled."

Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion," 1775, records it as
haunting woods, heaths, and meadows.

Lewin, in his " Insects of Great Britain," 1795, writes, "This species of
butterfly is to be seen flying the beginning of May, in the dry open parts of
woods, and the sides of roads and lanes. It delights to settle on the ground
to sun itself. The caterpillar is not known. In the male and females flies
there is little or no difference, either in colour or markings."

Haworth, in his ' ' Lepidoptera Britannica," 1803, records it as frequenting
woods and meadows in May ; unfrequent near London, but more frequent in
in Norfolk.

Stephens, in his "Illustrations of British Entomology/' 1828, writes,
" Not a very abundant species, frequenting dry banks, wastes, commons,
heaths, and woods, about the end of May and the middle of July : rather
plentiful on Hertford Heath and at Darenth, and abundant at Coombe Wood,
near Dover."

Curtis, in his " British Entomology," 1833, writes, "Beginning of May,
June, and middle of July, meadows, dry heaths, banks, and road sides in
various parts of England and Scotland."

The Rev. F. O. Morris, in his " History of British Butterflies," 1853,
writes, " I have taken this Skipper in plenty near Charmouth and Lyme
Regis, Dorsetshire and Devonshire. It is very abundant in Raydon Wood,
Essex, and, in fact, in most parts of England. In Ireland it is plentiful near
Galway ; it is taken also in Scotland in different parts."

Newman, in his "British Butterflies," 1871, writes, "It is particularly
plentiful in flowery chalk banks in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex. In England
it occurs in every county list I have received."

229

ADDENDUM.

Since the previous pages appeared a new butterfly has been added
to the British List, viz.

HESPERIA LINEOLA.

LINEOLA, OCH. Resembles Linea in size and colour, but the club
of the antennae is yellow, with a black tip ; the hind wings are uni-
colorous beneath instead of the inner margin being fulvous. The
black streak on the fore- wings of the male is shorter and quite straight,
sometimes it is wanting.

The caterpillar is yellowish green with fine yellow lines on the back,
and a yellow line along the sides. The range of this species is more
extensive than that of Linea, as it is found throughout Northern Asia,
as well as in Europe and North Africa, but it has only recently been
recognized in England. It occurs in meadows in July and August, and
is generally commonest along paths by the side of corn-fields.

It was first recorded as a British species in the Entomologist for
January, 1890, by Mr. Hawes, as occurring in the County of Essex.
Mr. Whittle also records it in the February number as occurring in
abundance in July, on the marshes near Purfleet, close to Shoebury-
ness.

I have been on the watch for this species myself for years, and
have come to the conclusion that it does not occur in the West of
England. It is probably an Eastern not a Western species in Britain.

230

CORRIGENDA.

Page xv. — Line 5. For " chysalides," read "chrysalides."
,, xviii. — ,, 36. For "to that," read "instead."
,, xxiii. — Between lines 37 & 38 insert "1795, Typhon. Lewin's

Insects of Great Britain."

,, xxvii. — Line 2. Add " South of the Humber."
,, xxvii. — ,, 3. Add " South of the Humber."
,, xxvii. — ,, 23. For " South-west," read " South Coast."
,, xxix.— ,, 17. Insert "rubi."
,, xxxiii. — ,, 6. After "belonging," insert "to."
,, xxxiv.— ,, 7. For "1858," read "1868."
,, xxxiv. — ,, 30. Insert " The mean on January 6th and 7th,

1890, were as high as 49' 9" and 51' 6"."
For " Napij" read "Brassier and Rap<z"
For " Tabinidtf," read " Tachinidae."
For "readers," read "members."
For "England," read "Ireland."

Page 10 — After line 38 add — " and at Dover. A few specimens were
also taken on the East Coast of Kent in 1887.
See Ento. Mo. Mag., Vol. xxiv."

,, 26 — Lines 27 and 28. Strike out the sentence beginning with
"but," and ending with "facts," and insert —
" Mr. McLachlan, in Entomologists' Monthly
Magazine for August, 1879, page 51, records
living chrysalides, the produce of eggs laid in
1877, and thinks that its life in that stage can
be prolonged over several years."

Page xxxvi. — Line 36.

,, xxxvii.— ,, 14.

,, xxxvii. — ,, 36.

,, xl.— ,, 9.

231

» 54 — » 9- Strikeout "diminutive of Argos, a City of Greece,"
and read — " from Argos, shining, in allusion to
the silvery appearance of the underside of the
wing. '

,, 72 — ,, 10. After " colour,'7 insert "with raised glistening
white reticulations, having projecting knobs at
the knots. The caterpillar when full grown is
of a dark green."

,, 72 — ,, 36. Strike out " Hoy, the most northerly of the Shet-
lands," and insert " The Orkney Isles, where it
has been met with both on the main island, and
at Hoy."

,, 73 — ,, 22. For "Alexis," read " Medon."

,, 73 — ,, 24. For "Alexis, Scop," read "Medon, Esper." As
Scopoli grouped together two or three species
under the name of Alexis, it is impossible to tell
which he meant by the name.
Page 97 — Line 36. For "RJtag'.*," read " Rhogas"

,, 104 — ,, 35. For "Calorii" read "Colons"

,, 127 — ,, i. For "Cranor," read "Cramer."

,, 127 — ,, 11. For " Petiner," read " Petiver."

„ 174— „ 8. For " 1877," read " 1887.'

,, 192 — ,, 24. For "Puby," read "Parley."

,,196 — ,, 18. For " Sandwich," read " Sandrock."

,, 199 — ,, 2. For "Fitillary," read " Fritillary."

,, 199 — ,, 3. For "Omai," read " Omri."

,, 211 — ,, 4. After " Italy," add " or from Hespera, the evening;
the Hesperidtf, forming the connecting link be-
tween the Diurni and Nocturni."

,, 216 — ,, 29. For "Hag," read " Hog."

,,217 — ,, 37. For "Sylvaticum" read " Pinnatum"

,, 218 — ,, 37. For "Upaney," read " Upiney."

,, 222 — After line n insert "Syricthusfrom Syrex, a pipe, some of the
markings being supposed to resemble a Pan's
pipe."

232

222 — After line 34, insert "Nisoniades, perhaps an error for
Bisoniades, resembling a bison, given in allusion
to the shaggy and heavy appearance of the
species."

Ibartlcpool :

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