1915.] 35 



THE LAKVA OF E VERES ARGIADES Pall. 

 BY T. A. CHAPMAN, M.D., F.Z.S. 



Plates II -VI. 



The account of tliis larva ifiven l)y Tutt in the tenth volume of 

 his " British Lepidoptera," is fairly good and complete, thanks to the 

 labours of Zeller, Frohawk, and others. My contributions thereto 

 were mea;4-re, chiefly due to the circumstance that I had only had the 

 larva when from home, which renders both the rearing and taking of 

 notes difficult, which in my case at least usually results in less, instead 

 of greater, attention being given to it. The chief item that I was 

 unable to supply, and which I regard as of some importance, was a 

 iigui-e of the skin of the first- stage larva, showing the armament of 

 hairs, lenticles, &c. I have wished to supply this defect, but not so 

 strongly as to make me specially hunt for E. argiades for the purpose, 

 so that it so happened that it was not till August 25th, 1S13, that I 

 met with a butterfly at Grenoble, that supplied me with a few, too 

 few, eggs. For want of abundant material, I failed to secure some 

 desired observations, but managed to get a first-stage skin, and some 

 drawings of the larvae by Mr. E. C. Knight. 



The latter are reproduced here and give a very accurate idea of 

 the appearance they present in their later stages. I think no such 

 drawings of the larva of argiades exist in any English medium, nor, so 

 far as I have ascertained, elsewhere. No doubt the Entomological 

 world will at some future date be rejoiced by Mr. Frohawk's pi-e- 

 sentation of this species in his monumental work, which however, I 

 have given up hope of seeing during my sublunary existence. 



Mr. E. C. Knight's figures seem therefore well worthy of 

 publication, as well as the other items submitted, incomplete though 

 they may be. 



Plate II shows the larvae magnified nearly five times. Figs. I 

 and 2 show the larva in its penultimate instar, and o and 4 when full 

 grown. In the summer broods the larva maintains this appearance 

 (with little change) up to pupation, but the autumn larvae, which 

 hibernate, assume, in order to do so, the coloration shown in fig. 5. 

 This change of colour for hibernation was described by Zeller in 1849 

 (Stett. Ent. Zeit.). 



I may quote the following from my notes : — 



" September 9th, 1913. The first-stage larva when a little grown, 



