STRAY NOTES ON CERTAIN SPECIES OF BUTTERFLIES. 169 



and to a certain extent E. hlandina. This latter I had sent me in 

 abundance in the larval stage, by the Galashiels collectors some ten 

 years ago. Since they have left off work, no one seems to have got 

 the larva. I need not say that I shall be very grateful for any larvje 

 or pupee that may be sent to me. 



Pupce of Parnassius apollo. — Perhaps one of the most interesting 

 things that I have noticed since I have been collecting butterfly ma- 

 terial, has been the pupa of Parnasiiias apollo. This larva is not 

 jDarticularly unlike the Papilionid<:e with which it is sometimes classed, 

 but, the pupa is most remarkal)le. The larva sjjins a slight web on the 

 surface of the ground, and with no attempt at suspension in this web, 

 it changes to a pu^ia. This pupa is as totally unlike a butterfly pupa 

 as it is possible to imagine, and reminds one at first of a Bojibyx pupa, 

 pei"haps a little of Satnrnia carpini. It is coated with a thick bloom, 

 like that which one finds in Cosniia, Halias, ifec, but so thick, that 

 l^lenty can be scraped off, the jjupa being completely coated with it. 

 Dr. Chapman finds that it melts, but that it is perfectly insoluble in 

 •water, in fact, water runs readily off it, and he suggests that it is a 

 waterproof coating to protect the pupa, and when one comes to con- 

 sider its usual haunts among the mountains, there is a strong probability 

 for supposing this to be correct. At any rate, it is a most interesting 

 pupa. The effect of the direct rays of the sun on this pupa is also 

 rather remarkable. Two pupa? placed in a window facing west, where 

 the sun only shines for about two hours every afternoon, emerged more 

 than a fortnight ago (May 22nd), whilst others, in a shaded gTeenhouse 

 a, little above ordinary temperature, emerged on June 10th. 



Snccincti occasionally changed into Saspensi. — Of other pupte I notice 

 that some of those species that naturally have a belt round their body 

 (/.e., Snccincti), often by accident, are unable to place themselves within 

 the girdle after it is formed. They thus become, unwillingly of course, 

 Saspensi, and it is remarkable how rarely they fail to attach themselves, 

 without the support of the girdle, l)y means of the ci'cmastral (anal) 

 hooks alone, and then hang after the manner of Ni/iitphalidcv by the 

 cremaster. This has happened with me in Pieris rapm, Euchlo'e carda- 

 mines, Gonopteryx rhamni and Aporia cratcegi. 



Gregarious habit in Melitcea cinxia. — The larva of Melitcea cinxia does 

 not appear wholly to lose its gregarious habits, even when quite full 

 fed, for on one occasion I found no less than three pupte inside a com- 

 mon silk tent they had spun, and this silk tent is rather remarkable, 

 and puts one in mind of the cocoon of apollo. I found some pup;>3 spun 

 up, quite isolated, on the top of the breeding cage, but these had some 

 loose silk about them, and in nature I should think, a loose silk cover- 

 ing which appears to be waterproof, is what they usually attach them- 

 selves to. 



Contraction of abdominal segments centrally in Argynnis aglaia. — It is, 

 I daresay well known, that the sex of most pupa? may be readily 

 determined, but the pupa of Argynnis aglaia is so hooked round ven- 

 trally, that the ventral surfaces of the abdominal segments are almost 

 entirely obsolete. 



Tubercles in young lame. — Of the larvaj the most striking peculi- 

 arity I have noticed, is with regard to the tubercles. In almost all the 

 young larvoe that I have examined, I find that the trapezoidal tubercles 

 (two anterior and two posterior), which are arranged in pairs all down 



