LIFE-HISTORY OF APORIA CRAT^EGI. 183 



yards. On the evening of the 13th I found a pair at rest on a 

 large red clover blossom ; they had evidently paired, as the 

 female was in very fresh condition. This one I kept for eggs, 

 and placed her on a plum-tree on the 15th, and two other 

 females I turned on a young plum tree covered over with gauze. 

 On the following day there was but little sunshine, consequently 

 no eggs were laid, but the next day (17th), being warm and 

 sunny, the two females on the small tree deposited three batches 

 of eggs, one batch on the upper side, and the two other batches 

 on the under side of the leaves. The leaf containing the smallest 

 batch I removed for examination. Before putting the butterflies 

 on the trees I fed them with sugar and water, which they drank 

 freely; one continued sucking at the liquid for half-an-hour. I 

 also fed them daily when on the trees. 



On the 23rd another batch of eggs deposited on the upper 

 surface of a leaf, and a smaller batch on the under side of 

 another leaf on the following day. Owing to the continuance of 

 cold, dull, wet weather, with only a very slight amount of sun- 

 shine, and that chiefly during early morning, they all remained 

 quiet day after day Two died during the first week of August, 

 and the last one died on the 9th August, without depositing any 

 eggs, — this one being that which I found at rest on clover on 

 July 13th, obviously the day it emerged ; she, therefore, lived 

 for twenty-seven days, which, probably, is about the duration of 

 life of this species in the perfect state. I may here mention 

 that fields of broad beans and lucerne in bloom are very 

 attractive ; the honey-dew on the bean leaves seems the greatest 

 attraction, not only to A. cratagi, but to the common Whites as 

 well. Owing to the larvse dying during hybernation, I again 

 visited the same locality in July, 1904, but found this species 

 much scarcer than in the previous year ; however, I captured 

 five more females on the 5th and 6th of that month. These I 

 placed on a small plum-tree on the morning of the 8th ; by 

 midday two batches of eggs were deposited, and another batch 

 on the 9th. (The tree, growing in a large flower-pot, was sunk in 

 the earth from July 8th until March 23rd following, when I 

 removed it indoors for examination, and placed it by a window 

 facing north -east exposed to early morning sun). The eggs hatched 

 on August 1st, remaining in the egg state twenty-three days. 

 Kespecting the five batches of eggs laid July, 1903; the small 

 batch, consisting of about one hundred ova deposited July 17th, 

 remained, without changing colour, until August 8th, when they 

 became duller on the crown, and on the following day they assumed 

 an olive or greenish ochreous hue, and dark on the crown ; during 

 the night they commenced hatching, and all were hatched by early 

 morning on the 10th. They remained all that day clustered to- 

 gether upon the empty egg-shells, but in the evening they gradually 

 moved off. These likewise were twenty-three days in the egg. 



