294 THE entomologist's record. 



suggested was a figure of the egg of pohjchloros after hatching, the egg 

 being inverted. He was led to this conchision by observing a batch of 

 newly-hatched V. io larvae, which first ate the tops of the eggs, then spun 

 threads over them ; after this they ate the nettle leaf below, when the 

 batch of eggs got inverted, the apparent tops l)eing the smooth inverted 

 bottoms, and having the general aj^pearance described l)y Sepp. 



In the introduction to Newman's British Butterflies, p. 8, the author, 

 as if it were his own observation, writes : " One of the most curious 

 and striking facts is the extreme difference in the eggs of species, 

 which, in the perfect state, closely resemble each other ; thus the egg 

 of the Large Tortoise-shell is pear-sha])ed and smooth, while that of the 

 Small Tortoise-shell is oblong, with eight very conspicuous ribs. The 

 characters of each egg are, however, so constant in each sjiecies of 

 butterfly, that anyone who has paid attention to the subject can 

 immediately say to what butterfly any particular egg belongs. Never- 

 theless, a naturalist must not delude himself into a belief that he can 

 classify butterflies by the shaj^e or structure of their eggs." 



Now this scientific (?) conclusion based on such material is amusing 

 to start with, as it is very evident that Newman never saw the egg of 

 polychloros, but based his remark on material copied from other well- 

 known authors who had based their statements on Sepp's figure, so that 

 a series of observant (?) authors copy the same error from one another 

 without acknowledgment, each in turn pointing out to the world the 

 self-same moral, and each pretending that the whole is a result of his 

 own observation and reasoning power. 



But Mr. Dale out-Herods Herod. In Ent. 3Io. Mag., vol. viii., 

 pp. 52-53, the error made by Sepp and his successors is pointed out, 

 and a true description of the egg of polycJiloros is given. Mr. Dale, 

 Avho, in his work, continually (|uotes Hellins' and Buckler's descriptions 

 of larvaj, appears to have lieen aware of this correction, for he gives a 

 description of the egg of polychloros as follows : " The egg resembles a 

 short sijuat barrel, ribbed Avith eight or nine longitudinal even ridges, 

 which extend over the flattened top, Init appear to cease on reaching 

 the base ; the space between the ribs is transversely fluted, but much 

 more finely than in the egg of urticce, although the latter is not half its 

 size ; the colour apparently is a dull gi-een. The eggs appear to be 

 deposited in close, regular order on a twig of elm, after the style of 

 CUsiocampa neustria'^ (British Butterflies, i^. 166). This is word for word 

 the Eev. J. Hellins' description (Ent. Mo. Mag., viii., p. 53), even the 

 reference to C. nenstria coming from the same source, but withoiit 

 acknowledgment. 



This description appears in the body of Mr. Dale's work. Now 

 this was brought out in parts as a supplement to The Young Naturalist, 

 but some two years after this paragi'ajih had appeared, Mr. Dale 

 wrote his Introduction to the work. He appears to have entirely 

 forgotten that he had already made a copy (without quotation marks) 

 of Hellins' description on p. 166, for he now writes: "One of 

 the most curious and striking facts is the extreme difference in the 

 eggs of some species, which, in the perfect state closely resemble each 

 other. Thus the egg of the Large Tortoise-shell is pear-shaped and 

 smooth, while that of the Small Tortoise-shell is oblong, with eight 

 very consj)icuous ribs. The characters of each are, however, so constant 

 in each species of butterfly that anyone who has paid attention to the 



