238 LEPWOPTERA. 



On Poa annua, Dadylis fjlomcrata, and apparently on most 

 of the common wayside grasses, preferring tlie young blades. 

 Like the butterfly, somewhat irregular in its times of feeding, 

 and may doubtless be found, in mild weather, in almost every 

 month of the year. I have found it full grown in the early 

 spring ; the Rev. J. Hellins secured his at the end of March ; 

 and ]\Ir. Harwood points out that larvas may be found feeding 

 on mild spring mornings before any of the perfect insects 

 have appeared. Mr. F. W. Hawes found that his larvfe, from 

 eggs laid by a butterfly of the autumn brood, fed contentedly 

 all the winter, nibbling a little at any fresh root of grass, 

 ■which was renewed once a fortnight. These fed up early in 

 April. Yet it seems that the pupa state is sometimes 

 assumed late in the winter or very early in the spring, and 

 that from these pupa? the first butterflies appear ; those fed 

 up later in the spring emerging in the middle of May. Larvae 

 are again feeding before the end of June, and again in the 

 autumn, with occasionally an intermediate brood in August. 



Pupa stout and rather blunt, rounded up at the back of the 

 thorax, and with raised knobs at the shoulders of the wings ; 

 abdomen moderately rounded with rather a long flat anal 

 spike, well furnished with hooks for suspension. Pale sea 

 green ; wing cases edged with whitish or yellowish, and the 

 angles also yellowish ; down each side of the abdomen is a 

 row of white, bright yellow, or golden spots. But sometimes, 

 instead of green, the pupa is of a more or less dark brown, 

 or even sooty-brown, almost black, but the bright yellow abdo- 

 minal spots are generally conspicuous; and no difference 

 whatever is observable in the butterflies resulting from these 

 differently coloured pupae. Usually suspended to a blade or 

 culm of grass. 



A very bright and 'lively species, especially attached to 

 lanes and road sides. This doubtless arises from its love of 

 sitting on dry places on sheltered sunny banks and walls ; 

 and the sunny sides of banks bounding fields and woods, 



