NOTES FROM THE WYE VALLEY : THE VANESSIDS IN 1907. 37 



currant-bushes, several of the larvae, which we left for observation and 

 also because we wished to find a pupa in situ for Mr. H. Main for 

 photographing. The larvfe live on the underside of the leaves and 

 are very easy to discover on currant, especially during the first two 

 instars. When one has learnt to recognise the peculiar elongate holes 

 the young larvae make in the leaves, a cursory glance round a bush 

 will almost be sufficient to see if any larvae are present. They are 

 generally to be found on the outer leaves, a little lower than half-waj'' 

 down, but as they grow, they climb upwards, and, when full-fed, pupate 

 at the top of the bush, attaching themselves by their tails to the pro- 

 jecting ends of twigs that have been pruned away from the stems. 

 " Wild" larvie on our currant-bushes, most likely progeny of the same 

 female that laid the ova we obtained, were not so forward as those 

 kept in confinement, and probably emerged about a fortnight later. 

 On July 1st, before any we were rearing had emerged, or any imagines 

 seen at large, my father found a young larva feeding on w^ch-elm, and 

 (m the next day I found another on the same tree, suspended for 

 pupation to a vein on the underside, near the base and tow^ards the 

 edge of a leaf growing on one of the low branches. This pupated on 

 the 3rd and emerged seventeen days later. On July 7th, I found two 

 more on currant, not many days old, in fact, still in the first instar. 

 As will be seen in the table, the first bred one emerged on July 6th. 

 In the natural state, the summer brood were seen flying from July 24th 

 until September 9th. This brood was fairly numerous, at least the 

 males were; I only saw three I am pretty sure were females. The under- 

 sides of this species may be roughly divided into three groups, {a) light 

 marbled, (b) dark marbled and (c) plain, almost black. According to 

 our experience, groups a and h belong more particularly to the summer 

 brood, while group r is the " type " of the autumn brood. It was 

 noticed this year that the summer brood had much darker undersides 

 than usual. Examples of groups a and b were, I think, much the 

 rarest, group a being exceedingly scarce ; while most of the specimens 

 bred belong to group r. Of the three "wild" females seen, one, which 

 I did not succeed in catching, had a light marbled underside, while the 

 other two had very dark undersides. The t'wo latter I netted and 

 posted to Mr. Main, who wished to try for ova. He tells me that the 

 first one, which I sent him at the beginning of August, lived a month, 

 but did not lay a single egg. The other one, posted on September 9th 

 was, unfortunately, lost en route, the box containing it being so roughly 

 handled that the butterfly must have escaped (I am wondering if this 

 species will be recorded in the near future in some unusual locality 

 between Monmouthshire and Essex). On the latter date, September 

 9th, I noticed a good number of these butterflies about, all busily 

 feeding at various flowers. This was the last date upon which I saw 

 the summer brood on the wing. In consequence of the inclement 

 weather, I fancy the number of those hybernating through the 

 approaching winter will be considerably increased by members of the 

 summer brood. It would be interesting to hear if anyone has ever 

 succeeded in obtaining ova from a female of this brood belonging to 

 group c with a plain dark underside, or do all those with such under- 

 sides hybernate, as well as the autumn brood ? I believe it has been 

 frequently stated that only specimens with plain undersides have been 

 noticed in the spring. 



