THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XLVL] DECEMBEE, 1913. [No. 607 



NOTES ON THE LIFE-HISTORY OF LYCMNA ARION. 

 By F. W. Fkohawk, F.E.S., M.B.O.U. 



In previous numbers of this Journal* the author has dealt 

 with the different stages of Lyccena avion. Since the latest of 

 these contributions (vol. xxxix. pp. 145-47) further attempts have 

 been made to elucidate the doubtful points in the life-history of 

 this insect, but it has to be confessed that a considerable gap 

 still remains in our knowledge of the matter. It is the purpose 

 of this note to give a brief account of the most recent observations 

 of the author in the hope that suggestions tending to further 

 progress may be elicited from others who may be interested in 

 the subject. 



In the papers alluded to, the author recorded that the 

 butterfly prefers to deposit its eggs on plants of wild thyme 

 growing on or near anthills (the nests of Lasius flavus) ,f only a 

 few eggs being deposited on each nest or group of plants. The 

 young' larvae emerge in about nine days if temperature conditions 

 are normal. The earliest food of the young larvte consists of 

 the buds (flower) and blossoms of the thyme,! but they also 

 readily devour one another.! Thyme continues to be the food 

 of the larva until it has moulted three times. At this stage — 

 about twenty days after emergence — it drops from the thyme 

 plants,! and it is from this point that our knowledge of the life- 

 history begins to be uncertain. We do not know what are the 

 habitat or the food of the larva in its fourth stage. 



We are aware that the insect hibernates as a larva, § and it 

 may be assumed that it feeds for some time before doing so. 

 We are, however, ignorant as to the periods when it enters on 

 and leaves hibernation, and as to its behaviour during that 

 episode. The larva is full-grown in the first half of June, so 

 that its last stage extends over nine months. 



In captivity, at the termination of their third moult, the larva3 

 refuse to remain longer on the thyme, and jerk themselves from 



■•■ 'Entomologist,' xxxii. pp. 104-106; xxxvi. pp. 57-GO ; xxxviii, pp. 

 193-94 ; xxxix. pp. 145-47. 



\ Ibid, xxxvi. pp. 57-GO. + Ibid, xxxii. pp. 104-106. 



§ Ibid, xxxix. pp. 145-47. 

 ENTOM. — DECEMBER, 1913. 2 C 



