HABITS AND HABITATS OF MELIT.EA AURINIA. 273 



treasures it holds, but whoever he may be who unfolds these to us, he 

 will bring away, besides the trophies of his collecting-box, memories of 

 a land of ferns, of brilliant wild flowers, rushing and falling water, 

 terrifying precipices, glorious sparkling snow, and, above all, thoughts 

 of the long ago, written in those marvellous curves of solid rock that 

 rise darkly and sullenly everywhere above and around him. 





Habits and Habitats of Melitaea aurinia. 



By GEORGE WILKINSON. 



I have had experience with this insect for a period now extending over 

 many years. The old collectors of the "Carlisle " district tell of seeing 

 as many as twenty collectors at one time in the fields haunted by the 

 " Greasy Fritillary " at Orton. The locality itself is Great Orton, 

 where is a considerable expanse of very wet woods in which plenty of 

 undergrowth flourishes, no clearing whatever being carried out. The 

 chief reason is, I believe, due to there being so many small landowners. 

 The woods, which are probably between 600 and 700 acres in extent, 

 vary considerably. This district includes meadows and moss-land and 

 extends to the Solway. The woods consist for the most part, however, of 

 Scots fir, with a very thick undergrowth of bramble, whilst here and 

 there are small oak-woods of, perhaps, half an acre, and similar woods 

 of birch, etc. All have a very thick undergrowth, amongst which the 

 bilberry flourishes. On all sides of these woods are very damp and 

 wet meadows, with a general undergrowth, yet it is remarkable how 

 different each meadow may be from its neighbours as far as plants go. 

 On one side of the woods there are eight meadows, and they were all 

 known by different names to the old collectors. The first one was the 

 " burnet " field, because of the quantity of Anthrocerid pupae which 

 were taken annually to supply imagines for butterfly- cases. Needless 

 to say, there are no longer " burnet" pupa? to be had in this particular 

 field. This field was, at this time, also a great haunt of Melitaea 

 aurinia, and larvae might at one time have been taken by gallons. 

 Mr. Routledge was amazed when he first saw the abundance of the 

 larva' in this particular area. He tried to introduce the species on to 

 his own "moss" at Hayton, but, although several impregnated females 

 were set at liberty, they did not seem to thrive. The fifth meadow 

 was known as the "forester" field, and only last year I saw 

 plenty of Adscita statices in their old haunts. The fourth was the 

 " mica n a " field ; I have seen hundreds of Sericoru mica no living here, 

 and, at such times, one has only to sweep the net around and then pick out 

 the good specimens; the females are much larger than the males. The 

 lower portions of these fields are sometimes practically under water in 

 the winter months, and I have actually walked on ice when I have 

 known quite well that beneath were sonic thousands of larvae of 

 Melitaea aunnia, for these wet parts were the favourite haunts of the 

 species. As one walked over these fields, one could not but notice the 

 difference in the fauna of each, but the last one was considered the 

 best of all for the entomologist. Here M. aurinia, a rather slow-flying 

 butterfly, was always to be seen about the second week of June, fighting in 

 all directions with Brenthis selene, etc., and here I have netted several 

 interesting specimens of the former species, some of which are now 



