THE HABITS OF THESTOR BALLT'S, 119 



The habits of Thestor ballus, with some notes on its oviposition 



and egg. 



By J. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



Every lepidoptei-ist who comes to Hyeres is keen on obtaining 

 T/iestor halliis. This little species, so abundant in north-western 

 Africa, and so limited in its distribution in Europe, occurs quite 

 commonly in the Hyeres district, and may be obtained almost anywhere, 

 wherever its foodplant, the somewhat local Lotus hixjiidns, grows. Its 

 marked sexual dimorphism singles it out at once as a striking little 

 species, the 3" reminds one, in its coloration, rather of ('aIlo{)/n>/s riibi, 

 and the 5 of ('hrijsojilianni^ iihlaeas, though it is without the character- 

 istic black marks on the coppery ground colour of the upperside, whilst 

 on the underside this similarity is still more marked, for the forewings 

 of both sexes show the small black quadrate markings that distinguish 

 the latter species very distinctly, and the hindwings the metallic green 

 and tiny white spots that one is accustomed to in (J. nibi. It is true 

 that these resemblances are only of the most general character, and 

 that the upperside of <? 2\ baling is of a duller brow'n, whilst, on the 

 underside of the hindwings, a distinct marginal band of purple, not 

 only gives a very distinct appearance to the species, but even suggests 

 to one, until one thoroughly knows the species, that the best of 

 specimens are somewhat w^orn. The small marginal coppery blotches 

 at the anal angle of the hindwings on the upperside, also tend to 

 suggest to one certain " hairstreak " affinities. T. balhtx is, however, 

 a much more heavily built insect and one is puzzled as to its 

 affinity, for its life-history is, to the scientific worker, still almost 

 a sealed book, and, although the species has been more than once bred 

 by the resident collectors at Hyeres, we are still in the dark as to a 

 detailed account of the es^g, the newly-hatched larva, the larva in its 

 successive stadia, and its pupa, all of which must be utilised to make 

 quite sure of its correct relationship with the rest of the PaUearctic 

 fauna. Dissection of a 2 shows Avell-developed minute full-coloured 

 green eggs, almost spherical in shape, with little surface marking to be 

 detected "by the aid of a pocket lens, i.e., an e»Q very different from 

 those of the typical Lycaniids, still, an egg laid in nature may be much 

 more spined and marked than an egg, comparatively soft, taken 

 from the female's body, but it is not so much the puzzling items of the 

 affinities of T. hallic^ as its habits that have interested me during the 

 last few days. 



Arriving at Hyeres on the morning of ^larch 2.Sth, a fine, hot, 

 sunny day, I started out for a look round, and, having stupidly 

 forgotten to bring any copies of the various magazines in which notes 

 relating to the lepidoptera of the district occurred, and letters that one 

 or two friends had sent me, I had to view the land from the standpoint 

 of its being to me, lepidopterologically, a toia imrxinita. Nor was my 

 chagrin lessened by the fact that I had forgotten Mr. Eaine's address, and 

 it w'as not until the day I left Hyeres that I made the acquamtance of 

 Mr. Powell, an entomologist who, one may safely prophesy, will 

 do great things one day in working out the life-histories of the local 

 butterflies. As a result, instead of going up to the renowned 

 Costebelle quarries and spying out the land, I went off up the 

 Toulon road for a mile or so, turned up a footpath to some 



