76 TJie Scottish Naturalist. 



Diurni. In every natural meadow throughout the county, this 

 sombre-looking butterfly is to be found. Not unfrequently, 

 varieties of this insect are taken ; and, at times, we have taken 

 both the males and females, and have scarcely been able to dis- 

 tinguish the one sex from the other. 



S. Tithonus.— This butterfly must be regarded as a rare 

 insect in the west of Scotland. There is only one authenticated 

 locality, where a few specimens were taken twenty years ago, 

 on a grassy embankment in the parish of Dundonald, and dis- 

 trict of Kyle. 



S. Hyperanthus has been taken in different localities here, 

 and is by no means scarce, though somewhat local in its habitats. 

 The larvae will be found, if looked for, feeding on Aira ccesfiitosa 

 by night. 



Erebia Blandina. — Common in the month of July, on a 

 marshy piece of ground skirting Loch Doon. This is the only 

 locality known to me in the county where it is found. 



Ccenonympha Davus is far from being uncommon here. It 

 appears on Shewalton Moss, and also on the sand hills, near 

 Monkton, in July. It appears also occasionally on Paisley 

 Moss, in June. 



C. Pamphilus. — This very common insect is found" in every 

 parish of the county. All along the sea shore from Ayr to 

 Ardrossan it is abundant, and found from May to September. 



Vanessa cardui is generally distributed throughout the dis- 

 trict of Kyle. It occurs in considerable numbers in some 

 seasons, and then completely disappears in others. The larvae are 

 often found on the Carduus arvensis. 



V. Atalanta is abundant with us every season, frequenting 

 all the chief gardens in the neighbourhood of Ayr, and other 

 places in the north and south of the county. The larvae are 

 common on the stinging nettle, especially when sheltered by 

 some hedge or fence ; it is easily reared in confinement. 



V. Io. — This beautiful butterfly — styled by one of our natu- 

 ralists omnium rcgina — is not common in the county. In the 

 parish of Monkton it is more frequently observed than in any 

 other place in the west. About fourteen years ago we took a 

 batch of the larvae — I think about forty — from a clump of nettles 

 growing in the corner of a field and the same year (1857) a 



