THE ENTOMOLOGIST 



Vol. XL.] JULY, 1907. [No. 530. 



LIFE -HISTORY OF CHRYSOPHANUS DISPAR VAR. 



RUTILUS. 



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



Gynandrous ChrysopJianus dispar var. rutilus. 



Through the kind assistance of the Hon. N. Charles Roth- 

 schild, I received from Austria three living females of Chryso- 

 'phanus dispar var. rutilus on June 4th, 1906 ; these were at once 

 fed and placed on two growing plants of the great water- dock 

 {Rumex hydrolapathum) . The following day I found a few eggs 

 were deposited, and many more were daily laid for about a week. 

 On the 15th I examined the plants and counted 202 eggs had 

 been deposited on one plant by two females, and 140 on the 

 other, the production of one female. I then put the latter 

 female on a plant of common dock, upon which she deposited 21 

 more eggs, having altogether laid 161. The two other females 

 I placed on another plant of R. hydrolapathum : these again 

 deposited a further supply of eggs, amounting to 50 more, 

 making 252 by the two females ; the three parents produced in 

 all 413 eggs. They lived in captivity for about three weeks, and 

 continued depositing during the greater part of the time. The 

 eggs are laid singly and scattered over both surfaces of the 

 leaves, sometimes laid in little groups of three or four. They are 

 small in proportion to the butterfly, being only slightly larger 

 than C. phlceas, measuring only -^^ in. wide and ^ in. high. 

 It is shaped like a coronet, with a bold cellular pattern on the 



ENTOM. — JULY, 1907. O 



