1873.] 245 



I think some mistake must have been made with regard to this butterfly, which 

 appears to be a rather remarkable aberration of the Asiatic form of Ilia = Metis of 

 Kindermann, -wliich differs from the European type iu the much more fulvous 

 ground colour of its wings, and the absence of the ocellus at the anal por- 

 tion of the posterior wings, which is very conspicuous in the ordinary European 

 specimens. 



The larva; of A. Iris and A. Ilia feed upon sallows and aspens, and never upon 

 oak. Iris is almost entirely confined to woods in which the large wood sallow (Salix 

 caprcBa) grows ; but Ilia is quite as often found in meadows in which sallows and 

 various kinds of poplars are growing. A friend of mine took Ilia in plenty in some 

 meadows a few miles south of Paris, flying round the sallows on the borders of a 

 stream. Both species are single brooded, and the young lai-vse hibernate when very 

 small, stretched out along the branches of sallows and aspens on which they have 

 previously spun a web to which they are attached by their feet. I have found the 

 young larvae of Iris in March on the catkins of the sallow shaken from the trees 

 in Ongar Park Woods. They feed upon them till the young leaves appear, when 

 they eat the leaves and are often more than half-grown before an oak leaf is to be 

 seen. My late friend Dr. Maclean, of Colchester, often had young larvae hibernating 

 on a sallow iu his garden under a covering of muslin. The larvae of Iris change to 

 pupse in June, and the butterflies always emerge in twenty-one days, and are on 

 the wing the beginning of July. The same remarks apply to Ilia, except the time 

 of appearance which is rather earlier : it is a more southern species than Iris. 



I very much doubt the occurrence of hybrids between Iris and Ilia : the former 

 scarcely varies at all except in the occasional absence of the white fascia across the 

 wings, while the latter is perhaps the most variable of European butterflies. 



I do not think the colours of Lepidopterous insects are ever affected in con- 

 sequence of the larvte having fed upon different plants growing in the same soil ; 

 but difference of soil decidedly affects the colours of some species, of which Gnophos 

 olscurata is a familiar example. — Henry Dotjbledat, Epping : February 12th, 1872. 



Vanessa Antiopa in Yorkshire. — From the large number of specimens of this 

 fine insect captured or seen in Yorkshire during the past year, it would seem that 

 the Lepidopterists of that County have been especially favoured. 



To those already named in the Magazine, I can add the following : Sept. 13th, 

 a very fine example sent by a gardener from Warthill, about four miles east of York, 

 to Mr. I. Robinson, and now in my cabinet. On the same day, a boy took one whilst 

 gathering blackberries ; and a few days after one was taken in the window of a coach 

 factory, close to the Cathedral, and another by Mr. Dutton of York. 



It appears to have been very abundant near the east coast. I have a letter before 

 me from a friend at Beverley, who states that over twenty have been taken there, 

 though only two of these were good specimens ; and that Mr. Boyes knocked down 

 four with his stick, when walking in the garden. I saw one in November that had 

 been taken in Malton Railway Station ; and the gentleman who had it told me that 

 several had been seen and captured near Drifiield. — Wm. Peest, 13, Holgate Road, 

 York : January, 1873. 



Vanessa Antiopa in Northumherland and Durham.— In common with other 

 parts of the Kingdom, we were last year visited by this very fine insect in unwonted 



