19G 



THK KNT()M<)L()(ilST S RECOKI). 



during our travels after leaving the Santuario ; even getting any food 

 for them was a difficulty not always adequately solved. 



I have already dealt with some aspects of this species {J^nt. Iter., 

 xiv., p. 41, and xv., p. 113, etc.), but hitherto had little knowledge of 

 the larva. Kambur figures the larva {( at. Lcp. And., pi. ii.) as well as 

 ttiat of (). (Iiilrio, of which sfdrndiila is recognised as a local race, and 

 describes it on p. 284. His Andalusian larv* had the dorsal tufts light 

 brown { faiii'e-hnoititre) with the centres yellowish {bla)u-jai(iiatre),ei.nd 

 he figures diihia as a very pale larva indeed. My larvre, from so much 

 further north, have the doi'sal tufts of a pure black, with the central 

 portion pure white. The larva is thus, with its brilliant red tubercles 

 and other colours, one of the most beautiful and striking I know, and 

 fully as much entitled to be called .splendida as is the imago. 



Rambur believed dnbia and splendida to be distinct, and the larval 

 differences he describes seem to bear him out. Still they are only 

 differences of colour, and the differences may, no doubt, be held to be 

 either specific or varietal according to the views (rather of names than 

 of facts) of each authority. My black sjile)itlida larva- from north 

 Spain differ from his brown ones of south Spain, only in a little less 

 degree than his do from the pale diihia, but there can be no doubt that 

 both the Spanish forms are one species. About the Santuario de Moncayo 

 the ground is stony, not exactly screes, but still rough pieces of rock 

 of all sizes, only in places more or less bedded in finer material, and 

 all lying at a steep slope, little less than that suitable for preventing 

 screes being overgrown. Amongst this screes, or morauie-like material, 

 a species of sorrel grows in some plenty. I was told it was Riitne.c 

 )jati('ntia, whether this be correct or not, it is a species of sharp acid 

 flavour, a habit much like that of 11. acetosdla, but with a broader leaf. 

 It is also much larger than J I. acetusella , at least than the form that 

 grows on Moncayo, which is usually the small red-leaved variety that we 

 find here on open dry places. This sorrel usually grows amongst 

 and between the stones, so that, where it is most common, stones of 

 considerable size are much more abundant than sorrel. 



My first larvte of (>. spli'mlida were met with amongst general 

 herbage, especially Alc/innilhi alju'ua, in a place well covered with 

 herbage, and this led me for a time astray, as there was nothing to 

 connect it with the liume.r acetoseiio, Avhich was its food at that spot, 

 and as this was a place where the larva was really rare. However, 1 

 shortly met with others that put me on the right way. Its real food 

 is the larger sorrel, so common near the Santuario and in various 

 other places on IMoncayo. It is found, however, rather rarely on its 

 foodplant, and usually on a large stone many inches, or even several 

 feet, from its foodplant, right out on the bare surface, basking in the 

 sun. This habit is curious, as the aspect of its habitat is a north 

 slope. The range of the species on Moncayo is considerable. East and 

 west of the Santuario the larva; were common anywhere that the sorrel 

 grew. Its vertical range was more limited. Taking the Santuario as 

 5400ft. it was found 100ft. to 'iOOtt. lower, but below this was absent, 

 although, in the damp hollows of the gullies below the Santuario, its 

 foodplant grew in abundant luxuriance. Upwards its range was limited 

 by that of the foodplant. This did not grow upwards more than HOOfl. 

 to 400ft. above the Santuario, the limitation being, I think, not so 

 much climatic as a question of sufficient moisture in the soil. I think 



