ARGYNNIS VII. 



variety, wild or cultivated, and upon pansies, as do the larvje of C'(/heIe and 

 Aphrodite. The eggs of the three species are essentially alike, constructed on 

 the same plan, and in about equal periods the larvae hatched ; namely, from 

 twelve to fifteen days. After emerging, an occasional larva was noticed feeding, 

 but onlj for a day or two, and nearly all at once attached themselves to the 

 imder sides of the leaves and upon the grooves of the stems, where rows of half 

 a dozen were to be seen ranged one behind the other, quite to the base, and 

 became dormant. There is no perceptible difference between the larvae of these 

 three species at this or the next two or three stages. As it seemed necessary 

 to keep the plants cool, I found great difficulty in carrying them through the 

 early part of the winter, and as the leaves died off', and perhaps the whole 

 plant as well, the larvae had to be transferred to others, and a great many 

 of them were lost in the process. Many also were destroyed b}- mould. Soon 

 after the first of January, I placed the plants in the greenhouse, and a few 

 days later discovered the larvaj of Cyhele moving about and feeding. Two 

 weeks later, on the twenty-first, those oi Diana and Aphrodite were active. To 

 prevent escape I confined them within glass globes set on the pots over the 

 plants. But both plants and larvae suffered from the confinement, and there 

 soon appeared a great mortality among the latter. But the most serious loss 

 occurred from the smoking of the greenhouse with tobacco, one day in my ab- 

 sence, the gardener having forgotten to remove my pots. From this catastrophe 

 emerged about a score of Cyhele, half a dozen Ajihrodlte, and fewer Diana. The 

 growth of all was slow, and it was the twenty-seventh of January before the first 

 moult of Cyhele took place, and individuals of this species were passing this 

 moult irregularly for a fortnight afterwards. The other two passed their first 

 moult about the middle of February. Each species moulted five times before 

 maturing, and the intervals between the several corresponding moults varied 

 much in individuals, no doubt owino; to the state of the weather. On sunnv 

 days all were active, but when the sky was clouded or weather cold they neither 

 fed nor moved. 



Up to the fifth moult the three species retained a close resemblance, Cyhele 

 and Diana being of equal size, Aphrodite smaller and slenderer. At the fifth, 

 Diana parted from the other two, increased rapidly in size, and the spines wei'e 

 longer in proportion, and radiated from a central axis like spokes from the hub 

 of a wheel. The four spines of second segment were projected horizontally for- 

 ward over the head, and the two middle ones of these were longer than any others 

 on the body. In these respects Diana differed from the other species. As they 

 approached maturity, the number of larva* was reduced to four Cyhele, two Aphro- 

 dite, and one Diana, and how to preserve them to the end was a matter of much 



