90 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



fortune to capture a fine specimea of the variety cleodoxa, having the usual 

 silvery spots replaced by fulvous. A. niohe was, by June 20th, already 

 very abundant in the valleys, it being the first of the larger fritillaries to 

 appear. The variety em, in whicli the silver spots are replaced by fuJvous, 

 was quite as common as the type ; males being apparently more subject to 

 this variation than females. Intermediate varieties between eris and the 

 type, having the silver spots only partially replaced by fulvous, were rare. 

 Niohe continued on the wing throughout the remainder of June and July. 

 A. aglaia occurred a little later than niohe, and was not quite so abundant, 

 but was found in the same situations. A. latona did not occur with the 

 others of the genus in the damp, fertile valleys, but preferred dry, stony 

 ground not near woods, and especially in stubble-fields. In such places 

 it was fairly common during the last half of August and through September. 

 There are said to be two broods previous to this one, but I did not 

 observe the insect before August I'^th. A. euphrosyne first appeared on 

 May 16th, and was on the wing about three weeks. Very common in the 

 damp valleys. No sign whatever of a second brood. A. selene was abun- 

 dant, but more local than euphrosyne, preferring damper spots as a rule. It 

 emerged eight or ten days later than the last insect. There was a partial 

 second brood early in August, specimens of which were smaller than those 

 of the spring brood. A. dia was the first of the genus to appear, being 

 already abundant in the damp valleys by May 16th. They seemed some- 

 what local, but were nowhere scarce. The second brood, which produces 

 specimens as abundantly as the first, began to appear on July 20th. These 

 did not differ in the slightest in size or appearance from the spring brood. 



Melitcea aurinia was abundant in the low-lying valleys from May 24th 

 till the middle of June. Neither this species nor the rest of the Melitcea 

 genus were nearly as local as they are with us, but most of them, e.x.cept 

 if. didyma, distributed pretty generally about the marshy meadows inter- 

 secting the woods. Of M. cinxia I netted a few specimens during the last 

 week of May. It was not so abundant as the rest of the genus. It is 

 single-brooded. M. didyma is double-brooded. I only met with one speci- 

 men of the first brood, and it was larger than any I subsequently took in 

 July. Although a few specimens may occasionally be found in the wood- 

 valleys, I found the head-quarters of this insect to be on a steep hill-side, 

 covered with short grass, not mown for hay, and some distance from the 

 woods. Here in occasional spots it swarmed during the last ten days of 

 July. M. athaiia was common from May 27th to the end of June, and 

 could scarcely be called local. I met with a few solitary specimens in the 

 beginning of August which seem to give evidence of a partial second brood. 

 I took a good specimen of a variety much resembling the fourth figure of 

 M. athaiia, given in Newman's ' British liutterflies.' M. aurelia was far 

 the most abundant of the genus, it swarming in all the meadows in woods 

 during the last half of June and through July. I took a variety of the same 

 sort as that of M. athaiia, having the fulvous tint greatly predominating. 

 M. dictynna was very scarce. 1 took two or three specimens at the end of 

 June, flying with ill. aurelia, which they greatly resembled in flight. 



Vanessa c-alhum is double-brooded at Wiesbaden. The first brood 

 appeared at the end of June, and the second about the middle of August. 

 They were somewhat local, preferring stony ground, but nowhere scarce. 

 Specimens of the first brood were lighter and larger than those of the 

 second. V. c-alhum was the first, along with V. polychloros, to appear 



