NOTES FROM THE WYE VALLEY : THE VANESSIDS IN 1907. 



39 



That the larvje do not invariably pupate on the food-plant is 

 •evident. On September 1st, in the morning, I came across a larva 

 suspended to the outer beam under the eaves of a lean-to hovel, close 

 by the side of one of the posts supporting the roof, up which it had 

 probably travelled. Up to midday on September 4th, it had not cast 

 its lai'val skin, but, on looking later on, in the afternoon, I found it not 

 long pupated ; the integument still soft and light in colour, I have 

 never known one take so long to pupate after suspension, but possibly 

 the cold weather we were having at the time may account for this ; 

 the change usually occupying from 24 to 48 hours. Meanwhile, 

 another of these larvae had arrived on the scene and was quietly resting, 

 three inches away from the freshly-changed pupa. Next morning, at 

 11 a.m., the new arrival was still unsuspended, but had spun a small 

 cone-shaped pad of whitish silk, and was sitting in the characteristic 

 attitude of this larva, with head curled to one side and its posterior 

 extremity hanging downwards from the last pair of abdominal pro- 

 legs, which were clasping one on each side of the silken pad. I stood 

 watching for some time, hoping to see it attach itself to this pad, but 

 as it did not seem ready to oblige me, I got tired of waiting. At 

 2.45 p.m., I found it attached to the silk and hanging downwards ; it 

 pupated on the 7th. Neither have yet (October 14th) emerged, and 

 although 27 days has been the longest pupal period which has, as yet, 

 come under our notice, I thmk there is still a chance that one at least, 

 the one that pupated on September 7th, may come out, as it showed 

 signs of life on October 9th, by moving slightly. Besides these, I 

 found two more pupa3 (one dead) suspended to woodwork within the 

 building. In a small clump of nettles, close by the shed, I discovered 

 a pupa suspended to the base of the midrib of one of the upper full- 

 grown leaves, and also two larvae, which I left, to see whether they 

 would leave their foodplant to pupate or not. When these suspended 

 themselves, the weather had much improved, with the temperature a 

 good deal warmer, and pupation took place much sooner than was the 

 case with the one before mentioned. Both suspended themselves to 

 stalks of large leaves towards the upper part of nettles, the first on 

 September 7th, pupating on the 8th, while the other suspended itself 

 on the 8th and had pupated on the 10th. .\ little larva, found on my 

 knee on September 5th, which I must have brushed off while walking 

 among the nettles, surprised me, on account of its small size, by 

 pupating on the 13th of the month. We have only recorded the pupal 

 lives of three bred this autumn," which are as follows : — 



It has surprised me considerably, when reading u]) notices of this 

 species, by various authors, that they should remark on the small 

 flight of the first brood and the greater abundance of autunni 

 specimens. Of course I can only claim a four years' acquaintance of 

 this butterfly, but my experience in Monmouthshire during that time 



