176 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



of searching, however, could discover a 2 , although two or three other 

 c7 s were put up. A bustle, just above the herbage, and a scurry up the 

 slopes, again and again during the afternoon, told of S" Macrothylaria 

 rubi on the wing. This species is very abundant here, but one rarely 

 finds either the cocoons or J s, although in the late autumn the 

 larvae are abundant enough. The chalk-pit at the top of the hill was 

 a perfect picture of blooming Antlii/Uis vulneraria : never before have 

 I seen anything to equal its abundance or beauty. Among it, on the 

 summit of the more exposed overgrown heaps of chalk, the Tumlago 

 farfara lay buried, but the imagines of Platyptilia (jonodactyla came 

 up quite freely as I walked knee-deep among its foodplant and the 

 Antln/llis. A single Alticita pentad actyla was also disturbed, the species 

 evidently just emerging. Here and there with brilliant wantonness a 

 few masses of purple-blue Echiuni contrasted splendidly against the over- 

 whelming masses of yellow bloom that reached almost everywhere, but 

 with the exception of a few larva-cases of ('olenplwra onosuiella, nothing 

 special was found on it. Only one other insect, perhaps, should be 

 recorded, viz., a single imago of Nola fitnyida found resting on the trunk 

 of a sycamore by the wayside in the village before one reaches the 

 famous Eaindene wood, a walk through which, with the exception of 

 Melanippe montanata, produced nothing. 



But such a June day as this lives in the memory, and makes one 

 glad one is a butterfly-hunter. The brilliant sun, and fresh air, the 

 spring flowers and delicious greenery, make a day on the downs some- 

 thing to be remembered in the dark winter days that follow, and 

 certainly lay up a store of health against the insidious attacks that 

 town life makes even on the most physically fit of our entomological 

 fraternity. 



Comparative Notes on the Egglaying of Aglais urticae and 



Vanessa io. 



By T. REUSS. 

 From May 3rd to June 3rd, I have obtained ova from sixteen ? s of 

 Aylais urticae, and four 2 s of Vaneasa io. In each case I witnessed the 



? in the act of ovipositing; there were also numbers of cases observed 

 in which the 9 s did not settle to lay, although they attempted to 

 select a leaf for doing so. In all cases, both the A. urticae and F. io 



2 s were interested in the leaves near the top of the nettle-plants, 

 whilst the nettle-buds were often tested with the antennie, but the ova, 

 except in one case when an overhanging nettle-top offered the necessary 

 foothold, were laid on the underside of a larger nettle-leaf. The egg- 

 laying observed, took place chiefly in the morning ; one ? of V. io 

 laid from 12 (noon) till past 2 p.m. Towards the end of May as many 

 as four ? s of ^. urticae were observed ovipositing at the same time, and 

 at one spot not far from each other. While ovipositing, the two front 

 legs of the butterfly hold fast to the upperside of the leaf; the preliminary 

 tests with the antennae, and certain jerks of the head,* are the same in 

 both species. In two cases stunted nettles were selected, once by $ A. 

 urticae, and once by 2 V. io, the nettle even looking yellow and sickly 

 in the latter case. These nettles stood apart near rich patches of the 



* Observed to be continually made while courting by the i , which as 

 continually taps the wings of the ? in front of it with its antenna? ; when the ? 

 closes heT wings, the g moves round to one side. 



