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MELITMA AURINIA, &c., AT BARCELONA. 

 By W. G. Sheldon, F.E.S. 



Journeying down to Andalusia last spring, I rested for a few 

 days at Barcelona, and whilst there put in two mornings, April 

 6th and 7th, on the slopes of the suburb of Tibadabo amongst 

 the butterflies. 



The climate of Barcelona in the spring resembles that of the 

 French Riviera, and the majority of butterflies found are common 

 to both ; my observations, however, would seem to show that at 

 Barcelona the emergence is a week or two earlier than on the 

 " c6i6 d'azur," such species as Thestor ballus and Nomiades 

 melanops being practically over at the time of my visit. 



The number of species observed in the imago stage was only 

 twelve, and consisted of Polyommatiis alexis, Colias edusa, Euchloe 

 eiiphonides, Pararge megcera, Antliocharis helia, Pieris rapa, 

 P. brassicce, Ccenonympha pamphiliis, Thestor ballus, Thecla riibi, 

 Nomiades melanops, and Euvanessa antiopa. 



My chief object, however, at Tibadabo was to make a search 

 for the larvae of the fine Spanish form of Melitcea aurinia var. 

 iberica, the imago of which, a few years ago, Messrs. Jones and 

 Standen had found there later on in the season. 



After prospecting the neighbourhood, I came to the conclusion 

 that the waste ground round the foot of the inclined railway which 

 takes one up to the summit, and which has an altitude of per- 

 haps 1000 ft., was a likely spot ; but a search of two hours or so 

 on the first morning of all the likely food-plants I could discover, 

 including various species of Centaurea and Scabiosa, one of which 

 closely resembles the favourite pabulum of the species at Hyeres, 

 if not actually it, was a total failure ; and except for an odd 

 pupa found under an overhanging rock I did not see any signs 

 of my quest on that day. The next morning, immediately on 

 commencing to search on the same ground, I found a full-grown 

 larva at rest on a Centaurea plant, which, however, did not show 

 signs of having been eaten. For a long time this was my only 

 success, and I was on the point of giving up when my attention 

 was directed to a trailing climber covering a large hazel bush 

 eaten wholly bare of leaves by some larva. But an adjoining 

 bush was overgrown by the same climber, which I then saw was 

 a species of Lonicera, very like, and probably identical with, the 

 Lonicera which is the usual pabulum of Limenitis Camilla. This 

 at once called to my recollection that Canon Zapater, in his 

 * Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the Province of Teruel,' speaks 

 of a small race of M. aurinia found near Albarracin, the larva 

 of which feeds upon Lonicera, one species of which is of course 

 often used as a captivity food-plant of this species in Britain. 

 This hint very soon led to my finding a batch of larvae of un- 



