BRENTHIS. 69 



Tark, near Birmingham. Other examples have been taken in 

 England from time to time, but so rarely that very few entomo- 

 logists are disposed to admit the claims of this Fritillary to be 

 considered a British species. On the Continent, however, it 

 is not an uncommon Butterfly in woods, and is double-brooded 

 like its congeners, appearing both in spring and autumn. 



It is a somewhat smaller insect than the other species, 

 measuring about an inch and a quarter across the wings, which 

 are fulvous, with the base black, and the margins likewise 

 black, with a festooned line, inclosing rather large fulvous spots ; 

 within this is a row of rather large black spots, and the re- 

 mainder of the wings is likewise rather more heavily spotted 

 with black than in the allied species. The under side of the 

 hind-wings is black at the base, followed by a band of three 

 silvery and three yellow spots ; between these and the silvery 

 marginal spots is a purple band ; and a row of black spots with 

 white pupils runs parallel to the marginal spots. 



The larva is dark brown or black, the back paler, inter- 

 sected by a black dorsal line, the spines alternately black and 

 reddish ; legs black. It feeds on different species of violet. 



During the last fifty years, several species of Butterflies have 

 become actually or very nearly extinct in England, and others, 

 formerly not uncommon, have become much restricted in their 

 range. It is probable that this process has been going on for 

 a long time, and that some of the species included by the 

 older authors, but now removed from our lists, were species 

 already disappearing when the study of entomology first com- 

 menced. It is possible that B. dia is one of those Butterflies 

 which may have been formerly common, but are now on the 

 verge of extinction in England ; for it is not a species likely 

 to be accidentally introduced into this country. 



EXOTIC GENERA ALLIED TO ARGYNNIS. 



There are several genera closely allied to Argynnis (as 



