64 Lloyd's natural history. 



mer and again in autumn. It frequents lanes, open places 

 in woods, clover-fields, and similar localities. It is a very scarce 

 insect in the south of England, and has once or twice been 

 taken in the south of Ireland, but is only to be met with casu- 

 ally, though it is much commoner on the Continent. It is 

 not unlikely that it is occasionally passed over as Satyrus 

 megara (Linn.), which it somewhat resembles when flying, 

 though it is a larger and brighter-coloured insect. A very 

 closely-allied species, A. isscea, Gray, chiefly differing in the 

 more yellowish fulvous of the wings, is common in the Hima- 

 layas. 



The larva is brownish-green, with a white streak on the back 

 and two brownish-yellow lateral streaks. The incisions are 

 brownish-yellow, and the spines and feet are ochre-yellow. It 

 is solitary, and feeds on Heartsease {Viola tricolor), Saintfoin 

 (IlcJysarum medicaginis\ Anchura officinalis, and other low 

 plants. 



GENUS BRENTHIS. 

 Brenthis, Hiibn., Verz.bek. Schmett., p 30 (1816); Schatz,Exot. 

 Schmett., ii., p. 119 (1887). 



The type of this genus has been given by Dr. Scudder as 

 B. hecate (Denis), which is one of the smaller European species 

 of true Argynnis, as that genus is at present understood. We 

 therefore retain Brenthis, as used by Schatz, with B. selene 

 as the type, only provisionally. If permanently used in this 

 sense, however, the real type will be B. thore (Hiibn.), a very 

 dark-coloured Alpine and Scandinavian Butterfly, allied to 

 B. atphrosyne and B. selene ; for no other species congeneric 

 with the latter was originally included in Brenthis by Hiibner. 

 This genus was formerly included sometimes with Argynnis, 

 and sometimes with Melitcea (Curtis, indeed, indicated B. 

 euphrosyne as the type of Melitcea, but erroneously), but is now 

 frequently treated as distinct. It is really intermediate between 



