190 THE entomologist's record. 



had the gi'Oimd coloiir of a very mucli richer red than usual, and the 

 yellow blotch at the anal angle of the fore wings almost entirely 

 replaced by the red colour with a few black scales ; two had a distinct 

 yellow median band crossing fore wings (see Plate, fig. 3) ; and two 

 had a blackish cloud at the apices of the hind wings, nearly obliterating 

 the yellow blotch usually present there. Before these had all emerged, 

 the single brood from Clapton had begun to come out. These, however, 

 were not at all typical, and the whole brood was somewhat phenomenal 

 from the fact that no specimen had the twin black spots on the fore 

 wings dearly present. In every case each spot was represented by 

 only about ten to forty black scales, instead of about four hundred or 

 more, as is the case in an average typical specimen. Two of the 

 specimens had these two spots wanting (fig. 2). These closely approach 

 var. ichnusa, but do not strictly agree with it, as that variety is charac- 

 terised, I believe, by the complete absence of the twin spots, and also of 

 the yellow blotch at the anal angle of the fore wings ; in my specimens 

 the blotch is present, though very much reduced in size and density, 

 and the spots, under the microscope, are seen to be represented by two 

 or three black, and a few very dark red, scales in each case. The other 

 markings on all the individuals of this remarkable brood were normal, 

 though the general ground colour seemed very slightly paler than is 

 visual in the sj^ecies, and several of the siDCcimens had the hind margins 

 of all the wings of a pale buff-grey. 



V. cardui. — On Whit Monday last year I went with Mr. W. H. 

 Jackson to Chattenden, Kent. On the way from the station to the wood 

 we noticed several worn specimens of this insect flying in a field in 

 which the field thistle abounded, the plants being about a foot high. 

 On these, cardui was busily engaged in the work of oviposition. We 

 found the eggs rather scattered and laid indiscriminately on almost any 

 part of the plant, though mostly on the leaves. Whilst we were 

 collecting some, we suddenly came across a little colony of about fifty 

 of the butterflies at rest on, or hovering over, a jDatch of thistles about 

 three yards square. On examining these plants we found them literally 

 covered with eggs. There were probably at least three hundred on 

 each plant. We contented ourselves with one leaf each ; that is, with 

 about sixty eggs apiece. On proceeding a few yards further on we came 

 to another and similar colony of butterflies and eggs. These patches of 

 thistles were not in any way isolated from the rest, nor did thc}'^ appear 

 at all different from the others in the field. It would be interesting to 

 know if any other collector has observed such a remarkable occurrence 

 in connection with this butterfly. The ova which I took completed all 

 their metamorphoses in six weeks from the day they were taken, and 

 all produced normal specimens with the exception of two. One of 

 these had an additional white spot in the brown part of the fore wings, 

 and just below the usual group of white spots at the apex (fig. 5). 

 This spot is surrounded by a black ring, and its position exactly 

 coincides with that of the white spot frequently found in the red band 

 on V. atalanta. This interesting point seems to me an undoubted 

 argument in favour of a common ancestor for cardui* and atalanta, par- 



* With regard to this we would refer our readers to an excellent paper by 

 Dr. Dixey, " On the Significance of certain wing markings in the Nym]phalidce," 

 published in the Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1890. 



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