THYMKIilCUS ACTi^ON, AND OTHER LEPIDOPTERA. 247 



* Transactions of the Linnean Society of Bordeaux ' (vol. xlviii),* 

 where M. Tarel ascribes two broods to Thymelieus (Hesperia) 

 acffBon. In this southern department, as elsewhere, actceon 

 would make its first appearance early in the spring. Mr. H. L. 

 Earl (' Ent. Record,' xxvii, pp. 78-85) took it at Hyeres on 

 May 6th, 1914, and this is the earliest date of which I have infor- 

 mation in the west of Europe, north of the Pyrenees. M. 

 Oberthiir's testimony, however, should be conclusive for the 

 western palaearctic region that there is only one emergence in the 

 year, and this holds good also in Algeria, where, if anywhere, a 

 second generation might be expected (" Lepid. Comparee,' fasc. 

 iv, p. 359). 



Fortunately, again, for the survival of the species in the Isle 

 of Purl)eck and the south of England, it is subject to no varia- 

 tion, and extermination by variety-hunting fanatics is not, 

 therefore, so immediate a contingency as for certain forms of 

 our native Lycfenids. In ordinary seasons, then, English 

 aeicBon began to emerge after mid-June and .July to the end of 

 August, later in backward years. In the Midi flight is con- 

 tinuous under favourable conditions from the first days of May 

 onwards well into September. 



LyCvENid^. — Chryaophanus phlcBas, common, and in fine con- 

 dition, some very dark ; *Cnpido mijiimufi ; Celastrina argiolus ; 

 Pleheius agon, practically over ; several worn males, and one 

 female near the lovely blue lake on the great heath towards 

 Wareham, August 11th ; Agriades corydon, chiefly near the 

 Waterworks at Swanage ; A. bellargiis, a few males only, Corfe 

 downs ; Polyommntus icaras ; Aricia medon, gen. cest., generally 

 distributed, but by no means common. 



PiERiD;E. — Pieris brassic(S, P. rapes, P. napi — perhaps the 

 commonest of the three; *Colias edusa ; *Gonepteryx rhamni. 



Nymphalid^. — Dryas pnphia ; Argynnis aglaia, common, but 

 worn ; Pyramein cardui ; Vanessa io, common ; Aglais urticce. 



SkTYRiDM. — Pararge megesra ; P. egeria var. egerides, fresh 

 individuals between Corfe and Swanage ; Hipparchia semele, 

 everywhere, heaths and downs ; Epinephile jurtina ; E. tithonus, 



* " Contribution ti la faune des Lepidopteres du Sud-Ouest de France. Cata- 

 logue de I'Arrondissement de Bergerac' Dordogne. 



With regard to the stage in which T. actceon passes the winter on the Continent, 

 I find that Lambillon (' Papillons de Belgique,' pp. 272-3) says that after the first 

 moult the larva retires to the roots of the food-plant, and resumes feeding in the 

 middle of April. Frionnet {'Les Premiers Etats des Lepids. Franc^ais,' p. 273) 

 repeats Dale's legend, while referring to Tutt's work. Goossens, whose interest- 

 ing collection of preserved larvie I have seen in the little museum of the Association 

 of Levallois-Perret Naturalists (Paris), was a careful and accurate observer. He 

 found the larvae of actaon in the environs of Paris, sometimes congregated together 

 at the roots of grasses in May only ('Ann. Assoc, des Nats, de Levallois-Perret,' 

 1904, p. 24). As to the actual stage at hibernation, Mr. Frohawk has, I believe, bred 

 actceon through, and can, no doubt, clear up the ambiguity, if he has not already 

 done so. 



