NEW FORMS OF POLIA CHI. 277 



crawled over the pupa, even after its chitinous envelope had completely 

 hardened and was, I suppose, proof against the enemy's ovipositor, the 

 pupa would wriggle furiously as if to shake off the intruder. In 

 fact I generally discovered the presence of the ichneumon through 

 unusually violent struggles of the pupa. 



On July 16th, the first imago emerged, and, by the 22nd, there were 

 at least 150 flying about. I gave most of them their liberty, and saw 

 them on the wing in the gardens and park, at intervals, until late in 

 August. Towards the end of that month, those remaining in my 

 butterfly-house began to hibernate, mostly choosing the lower stems 

 of Skimmia bushes for the purpose. The butterfly, whose blackness 

 harmonized perfectly with the dark stems of the Skimmia, was generally 

 found at a distance of about one foot from the ground, and always 

 with its head pointing downwards, a position which I have observed 

 Vanessa io and other butterflies to adopt in like circumstances. I gave 

 some of the butterflies to a friend, who wished to see whether he could 

 keep them alive through the winter in natural surroundings, and his 

 experience, which was that directly a warm day came E. antiopa began 

 to fly, confirmed my own suspicions as to the cause of its absence 

 from our native fauna. It seems to be far more susceptible to a 

 bright day in winter than Vanessa to or Gonepteryx rhamni, which 

 latter, indeed, will sleep even through a warm day in early March. 

 The only two habits which struck me as peculiarly developed in the 

 imago of E. antiopa, were the strong creaking noise which it made 

 with the wings, and its fondness for shamming death when picked up 

 with the fingers. 



New forms of Polia chi. 



By J. W. HARRISON, B.Sc. 



For several years I have been accustomed to take a form of Polia 

 chi which, although very distinct, is apparently at present without a 

 name. Why this should be it is hard to tell, for it is fairly well 

 distributed within the limits of the ab. olivacea in Northumberland, 

 Durham, and Yorkshire. The following is a description of the form : — 



JBorewings: — The markings follow those of ab. olivacea except that the 

 Bubterminal white line is much reduced and tends to disappear, and the black 

 pnESubterminal wedges are either obsolete or at most merely indicated. The cilia 

 are not conspicuously barred as in olivacea, but are almost uniformly black. The 

 ground colour of the wings is a rather dark slate colour. Underside: The 

 underside of the forewings instead of having only the costa black, and the 

 subterminal line shown as in olivacea, is wholly black with the merest indication 

 of the line. Hindwings : — The hindwings are like those of olivacea except that 

 the cilia have a black line on them which olivacea is nearly always without. 

 Underside : The underside of the hindwings is just a little darker than that of 

 olivacea. Haiti/ : — The thorax, instead of being powdered with yellow-green scales 

 as olivacea, is powdered with scales the same colour as the ground colour of the 

 fore wing. The abdomen is so much darker than that of olivacea as to appear 

 nearly black. 



For this aberration I propose the name langei. It is very curious 

 that, although this is evidently a melanic form, there is less real black 

 in its coloration than in either olivacea or the type. In time of appear- 

 ance it is a little later than the type, just as that of olivacea is. The 

 first specimens of Polia chi (all types) appeared August 22nd, and 

 the first olivacea male (paired with an ab. langei female) was taken 

 September 1st this year. All the various forms only became plentiful 



