This pretty little Butterfly formed a part of the Genus Meli- 

 taea until it was separated from it by Hiibner in his Euro- 

 "paischer Schmetterlitige. It is an insect that is very inter- 

 esting in its structure, and differs most essentially from Meli- 

 taea and Argynnis in the form of the anterior feet of the females, 

 which are perfect; whereas in those genera they are spurious 

 in both sexes, a point to which my attention was first called 

 by Dr. Horsfield. As far as regards the arrangement of 

 European Lepidoptera, I think the situation given to H. Lu- 

 cina in the Wiener Verzeidmis, (between Melitsea and Ly- 

 caena) is most natural, whether we consider its habit, structure, 

 or transformations. 



Figures of the Larva and Pupa have never been given by 

 any one but Hiibner, from whose work I have copied them, 

 as well as the following valuable remarks. 



Stirps III Napaeae — Genus Hamearis Hiib. 



The eggs are found solitary or in pairs on the under sur- 

 face o{ Primula veris and elatior (B. E. pi. 282) at the begin- 

 ning of summer ; they are almost globular, smooth, shining, 

 and pale yellowish green : the caterpillar feeds on the leaves, 

 its head is roundish-heartshaped, smooth, shining, and bright 

 ferruginous, black only on the mouth and about the eyes ; its 

 body is almost oval, but long, depi'essed, and set with rows of 

 bristly warts, the other parts are clothed with feathery hairs; 

 on the back, at least from the 4th joint to the tail, there is a 

 black dot on each joint, and on the sides similar, but less dis- 

 tinct spots, the colour is pale olive brown, its feet are rusty 

 brown ; the spiraculae black ; claws and belly whitish. It 

 moves very slowly, rolls itself up when disturbed, and remains 

 in that state a long time; soon after the middle of summer it 

 becomes a pupa, not only fastening its body by the apex, but 

 also by spinning a cord around its middle; in this state it re- 

 mains until the end of the following spring. Eliibner, who 

 reared it from the egg, says also that the caterpillar throws 

 off 5 skins before it becomes a pupa, and its appearance at 

 different ages varies considerably. The larva represented he 

 found on a Primula in his own garden. Hub. E. S. p. 7 & 8. 



It is necessary to observe that the eyes of this butterfly are 

 pubescent, for they have been lately described as naked. It 

 is never very abundant I believe in England, although from a 

 list of localities with which Mr. Dale has favoured me, it seems 

 to be generally distributed from Dorsetshire to Northampton- 

 shire, and has been taken from the 8th of May to the 27th of 

 June. 



Mr. Stone has a curious variety of a pale fulvous colour, 

 with the spots still paler. 



The plant is Primula vulgaris (Common Primrose). 



