104 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



THE EAELIER STAGES OF LYCjENA ARION. 

 By F. W. Frohawk, M.B.O.U., F.E.S. 



On July 22nd, 1895, my friend Mr. A. B. Farn very kindly 

 sent rue some ova of Lycana avion, which he had just found 

 deposited upon the flower-heads of wild thyme. The following 

 interesting extract is from his letter received at the time : — " The 

 ova deposited by females under perfectly natural conditions are 

 laid singly (except in one case), and are inserted somewhat deeply 

 among the clusters of buds of thyme. I could not discover any 

 ova on thyme in full blossom, and it would seem that the buds 

 are chosen so that the hatching of the larvse and the opening of 

 the buds should be contemporaneous." 



Again, on July 9th, 1896, I received several more ova from 

 Mr. Farn. These hatched on the following day. The ovum 

 measures one-forty-eighth inch in width, and one-eightieth inch 

 in height. It is of a very compressed globular form, sunken in 

 the centre ; so much so, that, to the naked eye, the operculum 

 appears as a dark central spot. The entire surface is finely and 

 beautifully reticulated by an irregular net-work pattern. The 

 colour is pale bluish white. 



July 13th, 1896. I placed the larvae upon thyme blossoms, 

 and found they soon began to feed. The next day I saw one 

 eating into the base of the calyx, so that only the last few 

 posterior segments of its body were exposed. On the 18th I 

 noticed a few feeding, and a good deal of frass was adhering to 

 the blossoms, which were more or less eaten, especially the 

 petals. 



July 22nd. Examined the flower-heads, and found only two 

 larval ; one in the second stage measuring one-twelfth inch long, 

 and one in the third stage one- eighth inch long. The following 

 is a description of the former. The first and last segments are 

 flattened, projecting, and rounded, overlapping the head (which is 

 withdrawn while at rest) and the anal claspers. The body is much 

 arched, having a medio-dorsal ridge considerably elevated ; the 

 sides are flattened and sloping to a lateral ridge ; the under 

 surface is also flattened ; the ground colour is of a pearly-white, 

 thickly studded with very minute blackish points ; and scattered 

 over the whole surface are a number of bristles, varying in length, 

 all having bulbous dark shining brown bases ; the longest are 

 situated on the dorsal and lateral regions ; the spiracles are 

 shining dark brown ; the segments are beautifully marked with 

 purplish pink, forming longitudinal stripes, the most conspicuous 

 being the medio-dorsal and lateral stripes; the three other 

 stripes, two above and one below the spiracles, are made up of 

 oblique markings. The head and prolegs are brown, and the 

 claspers whitish. 



