78 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



liance is to be placed on the English epithets "dark 

 green" and "high brown," though a row'flfA. Aglaia 

 may display, taken as a whole, more of a green hue 

 than A. Adippe does. Especially is this so with the 

 females, the males being frequently quite as "high 

 brown" as Adippe. An exceedingly scarce and 

 beautiful form of A. Aglaia has been designated 

 Charlotta. This species does not seem so peculiarly 

 attached to woods as are others; of its congeners, 

 delighting in extensive downs, and places near the 

 sea-coast. In Scotland it is much more common 

 than A. Paphia. I think the High Brown Fritillary 



Fig. 45. Greasy Fritillary {Melittea Artemis), upper and 

 under sides. 



(A. Adippe) is rather a smaller insect, remarkably 

 active on the wing, as is also the preceding, yet not 

 quite so strong in flight. The maritime tastes of 

 A. Aglaia are not exhibited by this species, which 

 keeps closer to the woods, though sometimes seen 

 on heaths. By general report, it is a scarcer species 

 than A. Aglaia, apparently unknown in Scotland and 

 Ireland, perhaps overlooked through its higher 

 aerial flight. A singular form has been taken, with 

 fulvous, in place of silver spots, on the under side. 



Quite a buzz was caused in the entomological 

 world when a specimen, identified afterwards as 

 the Niobe Fritillary (A. Mode), was captured in the 

 New Forest in 1870. It is a butterfly much re- 

 sembling A. Adippe. Last year another sensation 

 was produced by the report that several had been 

 taken in Kent, between Wye and Ashford ; and a 

 living individual was forwarded to Mr. Doubleday, 

 and the name verified by him. This is an important 

 addition to the list of British fritillaries ; but the 

 incredulous assert that there is still a loophole for 

 a doubt to enter. Even as some persons have 

 planted diamond and gold fields with specimens 

 brought to the spot, in order to lure the unwary, so 

 it has been said, nowadays, with such easy com- 



munication to and from the Continent, the importa- 

 tion of fritillaries is no impossible thing. Hence, for 

 precisely the same reason, the records of the captures 

 of " Queens of Spain " are not all to be depended 

 upon, as the temptation to do business with those 

 who are eager for rarities, leads to a traffic in foreign 

 examples of this fritillary, sold with a guarantee 

 that they are British. Our best authorities, while 

 admitting that A. Lathonia is a native species, 

 believe that most of the stray examples of the 

 insect that turn up near or on the coast have either 

 been "blown over," or crossed the water on sonn; 

 vessel. At Birch Wood, where a A. Lathonia was 

 taken for four or five years in succession, a locality 

 quite inland, we must admit that the species must 

 have bred up in this country. The same conclusion 

 must be come to regarding the individuals taken in 

 a locality near Canterbury by Mr. Parry. Why the 

 species does not get a fair footing with us, is a 

 debatable point ; possibly the peculiarity in the 

 habit of the caterpillar, already referred to, is one 

 impediment. On the wing, it might be, perhaps is, 

 mistaken for its relatives, A. Euphrosyne and Selene. 

 These common species, which also we will take 

 together, are familiar to the entomologists who visit, 

 woods in ;May and June ; and they get a share of 

 admiration from non-entomologists, who may be 

 botanizing, shell-collecting, or at some kindred 

 pursuit, just when the Fritlliaries emerge, and show 

 themselves in parties, small or large. Though 

 A. Selene is in the vernacular called the " Small 

 Pearl-bordered," in size the two insects very closely 

 approximate, and the best distinction lies in the 

 silver spots beneath the hiud wings, which are few 

 in A. Euphrosyne and numerous in A. Selene. The 

 two species hardly ever appear contemporaneously 

 from the pupa state : the flight of the former is 

 usually in the third or fourth week of May; the 

 latter takes to the wing in June. Of late years 

 A. Selene has been less abundant in various localities 

 where it was once found in profusion; and the 

 almost unceasing attacks made upon A. Euphrosyne 

 in woods approximating to large towns have tended 

 to its diminution in a degree. Though both insects 

 are found in Scotland, no Irish specimens have been 

 reported. Dark, or " black " examples of A. Eu- 

 phrosyne are sometimes caught. 



The three Melita'as are small butterflies, with the 

 same style of markings on the upper surface, but 

 having beneath no silver spots or dashes, but a 

 tracingof some intricacy, and very pleasing to the eye. 

 While in the larval stage they are as gregarious as in 

 the imago state, the food-plant of one, M. Artemis, 

 being the Devil's bit scabious, the others resorting to 

 different species of plantain. The commoner of the 

 three species is that just named, delighting in damp 

 meadows, and, though numerous, often confined to 

 a space of a few hundred yards, seldom flying with 

 any celerity even in sunshine, while in dull weather 



