﻿LÉPinOPTÉROLOGIE COMPARÉE 27; 



ON THE LIFE HISTORY 



of Lycaena Alcon, F. 



Ry T. A. Chai'MAN, M. 1)., F. R. S. 



I hâve just hacl thc pleasure of making observations com- 

 pleting the outlme of the life history of Lycaena Alcon, F. 

 What we knew up till last year was that the young larva fed in 

 the flowers and in the soft tissues of Gentiana pieumonanthe 

 in the early autumn (or ]atc summer) up to its third instar, 

 thereafter failure to rear it. There are some German reports 

 describmg the full-grown larva, as an ordmary plant-feeding 

 larva, which are obvions ly founded on error of observation, or 

 on mère guesswork. 



My observations on L. anon aftordcd me the satisfaction of 

 solving the mystery surroundmg its life-history, in which my 

 success no doubt depended largely on the previous vvork, chiefly 

 of Mr. F. W. Frohawk. 



In the présent case, my investigations were due to Mr. C. 

 Oberthiir, who, assisted by Mr. H. Powell, showed that the larva 

 of alcon was very probably dépendent in some way on ants, 

 probably in some similar way to that of L. arion. Mr. Oberthiir 

 & Mr. Powell were probably led to this opinion on some degree 

 by the facts of the history of L. anon. Their own observations 

 are recorded in the Etudes de Lépidoptérologie comparée, 

 Fasc. XIV (191 7). They supplied me with young larvae in both 

 1916 and 1917 m the belief that my expérience with L. arion 

 would enable me to do something with them, and in the event, 

 it is satisfactory to find that their trust was not disappointed. 

 Though I hâve done my share of the work I am glad to point 

 out that much of the crédit of the resuit belongs to Mr. Oberthùr 

 and Mr. H. Powell just as in the matter of L. arion, it was 



