4 THE ENTOMOLOGIST S RECORD. 



It will be observed that up to this point Weismann offers no sug- 

 gestion that the colours themselves are not produced by physiological 

 processes. His point is, that tlieir arrangement is not determined by 

 internal forces working within the organism, but by selection guided 

 by utility. 



Notes on the early stages of some British Butterflies. 



];y .TOHX .T. WOLFE. 



Mditaca aiiriiiia. — -The eggs of M. aurinia are always laid on the 

 underside of a scabious leaf, near the ground. On one occasion I 

 found the eggs laid on the leaf of a plant, known locally as 

 " Hnowberry," some three feet from the ground, and on this very 

 young larvae were feeding freely. Since then I have often reared the 

 species on this plant. Eggs of M. aurinia are very difficult to find, as 

 one cannot turn over a field full of scabious leaves, but I have often 

 seen the remains of them, and twice I have persuaded females to 

 deposit them in captivity. They are decidedly yellow in coloiir 

 (Buckler says they are " pale brown "), and, I think, quite globular and 

 shining. They are laid in a layer as closely as possible, and over 

 the greater part of the first layer a second layer is deposited, and often 

 a partial third. In one batch I counted considei-ably over 400 eggs, 

 and I do not think this an luiusual number. This February has been 

 very mild, and the young larvae of M. aurinia came out of their 

 hybernacula in numbers, sunning themselves and nibbling at food on 

 February 9th ; and are now, March 4th, considerably grown, though 

 they have not yet changed their skins, either indoors or out, since then, 

 and are not preparing to do so. The pupa is almost invariably ex- 

 posed. I have reared himdreds of them (of course, liberating the 

 imagines in suitable places, as I have no sympathy with wholesale 

 destruction), and have found dozens of pupae in a natural state, and 

 not half-a-dozen of all had a leaf drawn together in order to somewhat 

 conceal them. 



I'l/ramcis atalanta. — The newly-hatched larva of /'. atalanta feeds 

 at first on the upper side of the leaf, usually the young leaf on which 

 the Q^Q was laid, but if this has got a little hard it leaves it for 

 one higher up. It retreats into the hollow just over the stem, and 

 spins a flat roof of whitish web over its head, and under this it feeds. 

 It probably lacks strength to bend the leaves to cover it. 



When the full-fed larva of I\ atalanta makes its tent of one large 

 leaf with the edges drawn together, it cuts the mid-rib close to the 

 base, so that the pupa hangs straight, or, as younger larvie also do 

 this, is it to keep oft' rain ? 



The remark made by Mr. Tutt {Ent. llir., vol. vii., p. Ill) as to 

 Pyravicis carrhii endeavouring to pass the winter here without hybernating 

 is, in certain years, evidently true of some P. atalanta also. In a fine 

 autumn {r.;!., 1898), I have obtained very young larva- up to the last 

 day of October, but although all pupaj and larva) out of doors were 

 afterwards killed by the first severe frost, indoors I had imagines appear- 

 ing in January, and (one at least) in February. This late one was 

 crippled, but all those that emerged until the end of December came 

 out in perfect condition. 



Epinepliele ianira and K, tithoniis. — The pupa of E. ianira invariably 



