1867.] 205 
pairs 1 kept alive were still in coitu. Seven hours later I found one of the pairs 
had separated. I removed the vinited couple, and continued my observations on 
the others. At eleven o'clock that night (Wednesday) I found the remaining 
couple had re-united, and were again in coiiu. They continued thus through the 
whole of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Saturday night they separated. 
For some hours after the male was remarkably active, but the female was sluggish ; 
both, however, died early on Sunday morning. — J. Gedge, Cambridge, Dec, 1866. 
Note on the food-plant, c?c., of Lycccna Alsus. — L, Alsus is found in the neigh- 
bourhood of Cambridge in several localities. The larva of this insect is generally 
said to feed on Astragalus ; but in one place where it occurs I know there is no 
Astragalus, and in another only the smaller species (A, hypoglottis) is to be found, 
and that very sparingly. This made me curious to know what the larva fed on. 
There is one leguminous plant which grows plentifully in the localities for this 
butterfly, and which I thought would turn out to be the food-plant. This is 
Anthyllis vulneraria, otherwise known as " kidney-vetch," " lady's fingers," or 
" woundwort." Anthyllis gets its name (generic) from the downy flower-heads 
which characterize it : each legume being enclosed in an inflated hairy calyx. To 
decide this question, I determined to watch the females deposit their eggs. On 
June 27th, the perfect insect was out in great abundance, so I set to work to 
discover its food-plant. I soon observed that they did not care much for the great 
masses of Anthyllis, but rather chose to settle upon the scattered flowers of this 
and other plants. Presently, however, I saw one settle on a flower-head of 
Anthyllis which showed no yellow blossoms. I remained perfectly still. It walked 
down between the flower-buds, and dragged its body between the wooly calyces ; 
all round the flower-head it went, and then turned up its body and flew off to 
another head. Here there were two or three blossoms just open, but it seemed 
to go through the same process. Upon gathering the flower-heads, I found in each 
case a single egg laid between the downy calyces. This I saw repeated many 
times. The insect showed gi-eat discrimination in the flower-heads she chose; 
often she settled on one, walked round it, then flew ofi" to another, and sometimes to a 
third before she was satisfied. Never did she seem to be content unless there were 
some buds on the head ; at any rate, I particularly noticed that she avoided those 
where the blossoms had faded, leaving the calyx, the first food of the larva, dry. 
Twice I saw what I took to be a female settle on the flower-head of Eippocrepis : 
in one case the insect remained some time, but in neither case was there any egg. 
The eggs were of a glaucous hue, and under the microscope were found to be most 
perfectly reticulated ; the meshes which stood out in relief were not hexagonal as 
in L. Egeria, but perfectly rhombical, and knotted at the junction of their angles. 
They hatched on the sixth day (July 3rd). The larvEe began by eating the hairy 
calyx, then they passed into it and fed on the legume, and finally, upon that 
becoming di-y, they crept down the fiower-stalks, and perished in the water that 
was used to keep the flower-heads fresh. 
In a second locality, I found that Anthyllis was the food-plant of L. Alsus ; and 
though I must not be understood to give undue weight to the fact, still it is worth 
mentioning, that A. vulneraria, like L. Alsits, is not confined to chalk or limestone, 
though it always prefers dry sunny places.— Id. 
