22 [June, 



Arffiolus, I have two figures taken by myself from larvto found in October on iyy, 

 which exactly resemble the figures 1 and la of plate 14, and which were drawn 

 from the larvae found in summer on the holly. It is not always the habit of Lycmna 

 Mgon to pupate on the surface of the earth, for I have often reared it from pupse 

 found at Zermatt attached to large stones, in the usual manner of Lyccence, viz., by 

 a button at the tail and a girdle ai-ound the middle ; the full-fed larva was also 

 frequent, and there they probably ate some species of Astragalus or Oxytropis. 

 The life-history of L. Medon given in the book is very full and most important, as 

 it establishes conclusively the identity of L. Medon and the form Artaxerxes. Is L. 

 Medon ever double brooded in England ? When speaking of the horns of Papilio 

 Machaon, mention was made of processes which existed in some of the larvte of the 

 LyccencB ; they are not mentioned in this book, but the opportunity given by this 

 paper is taken to direct the attention of British entomologists to their existence. 

 Dr. Hagen's account of them seems the clearest. Speaking of L. Argus and L. 

 Corydon, he says : " You find on the penultimate segment outside and behind the 

 stigmata two large white spots, each one of which evaginates a white membranous 

 tube, just like the finger of a glove, the top of which is not entirely drawn out." 

 " On the ante-penultimate segment is a large and transverse opening behind and 

 between the stigmata near the apical border. It looks like a closed mouth with its 

 lips, but I have not seen anything protruding from it ; but in an alcoholic larva of 

 Argus I saw an ovoid evagination." 



These processes were first, I believe, discovered by Guenee, and the fact that 

 ants haunted the larvce and followed them for the sake of the secretion was first 

 remarked by Prof. Zeller. This ant companionship is detailed in a very interesting 

 manner by Mr. Edwards in his " Butterflies of North America," under the head of 

 LyccBna pseudargiolus, from which much of the above account is quoted.* 



From the Lyccenidm we pass to the skippers, to me almost the most interesting 

 part of the book, since I have never seen as yet one larva of any of the group. 

 Fortified by the clues here given, I shall now hope to find them, and learn somewhat 

 of their economy from personal experience. Tamphila comma is without figure or 

 description, and the only fact that is recorded about it is, that it hibernates in the 

 egg state. 



The reason that in this notice attention has most pointedly been called to 

 omissions, is in the hopes that even yet the eggs or larvae of some of the species 

 may be sent to Mr. Hellins, so that when the work is completed, some more supple- 

 mentary notes, such, for example, as are here given in the account of I£. Tithonus, 

 may yet be in store for us. 



In summing up the importance of this volume, one great fact must be borne in 

 mind, that the student can now get the figures and descriptions of almost all our 

 native butterflies from the fresh and accurate observations of one man, not by 

 reference to the descriptions of various authors in various works difficult to procure, 

 or accounts scattered through different magazines, but in one volume of entirely 



* Mr. Edwards concludes, from his own observations, that the return which the ants give for 

 the liquor that they love is to protect the larva* from ichneumons, aiid he relates how he saw 

 them so ward off the attack of an Anomalon. We knew that they kept cows in tlie Aphides, but 

 here we find them taking care of milch elephants ; verily, " the ants arc little upon the earth, 

 but they are exceeding wise." 



I 



