REARINa OF APATURA IRIS FROM A FORCED OVIPOSITION. 



BY E. C. AND F. W. ANDREWS. 



Early in July last year we paid a sbort visit to the New Forest. 

 We found that Lepidopterous insects were not too plentiful, the most 

 conspicuous, such as A.paphia and L sylilla, being less common than 

 usual. Trecicling proved a dismal failure, nothing but stray T. hatis and 

 very common species coming to the trees. We were much pleased, how- 

 ever, to capture a $ albino variety of E. tithonus in good condition. 

 Another interesting event was the discovery that Vi ^ A. selene, which 

 we had put into a small glass-topped box, had laid 41 ova. Of these, 

 eighteen reached by September the imago state, the rest insisting on 

 hibernating. 



Beyond this we should have nothing worth recording, had it not 

 been for Apatura iris, which in one part of the Forest was almost 

 plentiful. 



Having, between July 14th and 18th, shadowed several A. iris 

 with praiseworthy patience, we finally ran our quarr}^ down. One of us 



224 [October, 



Leqs:— The mid and hind femora are almost straight on the upper side. The 

 tarsi are a little stouter than in Ck. trichosa, but slendei-er than in Ch. ursi. The ' 

 first segment of the fore tarsus is somewhat shorter and broader than the second, 

 its longest apical bristle reaching to the apex of the second segment. The apical 

 bristles of the second, third and fourth segments of the hind tarsus are long and 

 slender, several of these of the fourth segment extending beyond the claw. The 

 fii'st hind tarsal segment is deeply notched, appearing constricted behind the sub- 

 apical pairs of bristles. The bristles on the ventral surface of the tarsi ai-e more 

 numerous than in Ch. trichosa. The fifth segment is nearly the same as in Ch. 

 trichosa, but the fourth lateral bristle is less widely separated from the third than 

 in that species. The proportional length of the tarsal segments is as follows : — 

 1st segt. 2nd segt. 3rd segt. 4th segt. 5th segt. 



Mid-tarsus 23 18 13 10 24 



Hind-tarsus 38 23 15 11 24 



Modified segments :— The eighth tergite bears a few small hairs above the 

 stigma, and from 7 to 10 bristles from the stigma downwards, arranged in two 

 irregular rows, these rows extending aboat one-third down the side, being widely 

 separated from the bristles which are situated at and near the apical and ventral 

 edges. The eighth sternite bears a few very short but rather stout hairs at the 

 ventral edge from two-thirds of the segment to the apex. Length, 31 mm. 



We have two ? $ from Canis sp., taken by Lord Osborne Beau- 

 clerk at Ancouza, in Central Asia. 



Tring Park, Tring : 



September, 1906. 



