﻿LÉPIDOPTÉROLOGIE COMPAREE 297 



days before its émergence, chiefly bccause the nest it was in 

 afforded no space for wing expansion ; the loss of ant attention 

 was certainly not harmful. 



Captam Purefoy, who lias had tlie satisfaction of successfully 

 rearing L. arion to the imaginai state, tells me that the ants are 

 quitc fncndly to its pupa, and that the imago émerges whilst 

 the pupa has ants m attcndance, the butterfly making its own 

 way out of the ant 's nest. 



Septeviber içi8. There are two points of différence in habits 

 between the larvae of L. anoii and L. alcon, that should be 

 noted. One of thèse has long been known. L. arion during its 

 life on the thyme is an insatiable cannibal. Naturally, only 

 one egg is laid on a head of thyme and this propensity cannot 

 be indulged, but in captivity, if it be not kept in mind, the 

 numbers of the larvae being fed diminish rapidly. L. alcon, on 

 the other hand, lays a good many eggs on a flower, whether by 

 différent mothers I don't know, but the larvae live amicably 

 together, even as many as half-a-dozen in one flower. 



The other point is one that I observed last year, but not in 

 suffîcient instances to satisfy me, that perchance, want of obser- 

 vation was possibly more in question. This season, however, 

 confirms last year's observations, and Captain Purefoy remarks 

 (in litt.) the same facts. When introduced to the ants, there is, 

 with L. alcon, none of the remarkable and elaborate cérémonial 

 that takes place with L. anon, various ants hardly notice the 

 larva, but the one that does, almost at once, picks up the larva 

 in almost any way and carnes it into the nest, the larva itself 

 being as unresponsive as it afterwards is in the nest, when the 

 ants carry it about m changing the place of the brood nest. 



Sept. /j. Mr. Donisthorpe writes on I2th that larvae of 

 L. alcon introduced into nests of Tetraniorium caespitimi on 

 Qth and loth are ail dead; he sends their remains and of thèse 

 four are without any sign of injury; the other three are doubtful, 

 He says : 



