MKLAXIITK FLUCTUATA. 5'? 



thv eccentric manner which 1 lind to be so fre(juent with ( 'onmia 

 lcnii(i(it(i, Linn, (loiiflnitaria, Haw.) ; the hirviO were nearly full 

 .^rown, and soon pupated, but of course I cannot say how rapidly 

 they liad fed up. About Christmas they were brought in-doors 

 to force, but none appeared until April, and then only two or 

 three ; in May they were again turned out into an out-house to take 

 their chance, and a few more came out at intervals, one in mid- 

 winter, LS91-2 ; another in March, 1892 ; and the last on May 1st, 

 1892, after some nineteen months in the pupal stage. These speci- 

 mens came out nnich more variable than the 1892 batch, reared 

 from ova. 



I suspect that to these eccentric broods belong the specimens occa- 

 sionally met with in mild weather in winter. I have one record 

 for November, and Mr. Douglas A. Onslow {l\iif(»ii.. xxiii., VMi) 

 records a S2)ecimen in his garden on Feb. 2nd, 1890. J should be 

 interested to learn whether this species generally develops in the pupa, 

 before the Avinter ; for, if so, occasional early emergences could easily 

 be accounted for. I remember that the imagines from the 1890 larviv, 

 or some at least of them, developed a xevy longtime l)efore emergence, 

 and I am under the impression that some one has informed me that 

 that is usual. 



In spite, however, of these occasional eccentricities, I have no 

 doubt that we are reasonably safe in speaking of Mclaiiiiiin' iliivtiiata 

 as a double-brooded species ; it is so regarded by all authors, and the 

 dates of the two bi'oods are usually fixed iit about jMay and .Tuly or 

 August respectively. It is, nevertheless, rather curious that I very 

 rarely meet with a spring specimen in my garden, but that there is 

 usually a sudden emergence of numerous fine fresh specimens at the 

 very beginning of •Tuly. Is the second brood generally very much 

 the commoner, and is it usual for that brood to be out (|uite so early ? 

 And whence come the not infrequent June specimens ? 



It has been suggested that the two broods have somewhat different 

 facies, and Mr. Boden tells me that he has found this to be the case 

 in his experience, having himself bred both broods. 



The Large Copper Butterfly (Chrysophanus dispar). 



Hy .T. W. TUTT, F.E.S. 



The Large Copper butterfly was first noticed as lieing a British 

 species by Lewin, in his Insects of (ircat llritain (179B). Under the 

 name of hijip(it/nie, he figures it on PL -40 of that work, and states that 

 specimens were met with ])y a gentleman in Huntingdonshire, on a 

 })iece of moorland. The specimens were afterwards sent to Mr. 

 Seymer, F.L.S., of Dorsetshire, who presented them to the late 

 Dowager-Duchess of Portland.*-' 



At the time that Lewin's work was published, Donovan was pro- 

 ducing (in parts) 'J'/ie Xatnral Ilistori/ of Britis/i Insects. He also 

 figured (Plate 117) the Large Copper under the name of /liiijidt/iDc, 

 and it was not until Haworth published the Lepiilo/ifera liritannica 



* We wonder whether Mr. Davies can tell us whether these are included in the 

 Catalogue of insects, sold with the Duchess of Portland's collection, that he has ? 

 Specimens of C. virgaurcac (two pairs) arc included, vide, Kiit. llecurd, vol. v., 

 p. 126.— Ei>. 



