THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



No. 65.] MAY, M.DCCC.LXIX. [Price 6d. 



Life-history of Argynnis Euphrosyne. — The females may 

 be observed, during the months of May and June, busily 

 employed in examining the leaves of the dog-violet, for the 

 purpose of selecting one exactly adapted to their taste for 

 the deposition of their eggs. The egg has been observed by 

 many entomologists ; but I have never had the good fortune 

 to possess one, and therefore adopt the description lately 

 published by Mr. Buckler in the ' Entomologist's Monthly 

 Magazine,' a journal of great usefulness and value, more par- 

 ticularly in the present day of multiplied observations, when 

 it would be utterly impossible to compress them all, espe- 

 cially those relating to technical and exotic Entomology, 

 within the narrow compass of the ' Entomologist :' indeed, the 

 "press of matter" and the accumulation of "important papers 

 long in arrear," so pathetically bewailed by the P^ditors of 

 the ' Magazine,' suggests the propriety of the establishment of 

 a third Journal, an arrangement that would admit of an 

 earlier publication of "important papers," as well as a better 

 classification of them than can exist under present circum- 

 stances. To return to Euphrosyne. Mr. Buckler, in de- 

 scribing the egg, says it is "of a blunt conical shape, with 

 its lower surface, which adheres to the leaf, flattened ; its 

 sides are ribbed : at first it is of a dull greenish yellow- 

 colour, becoming afterwards brownish. Towards the end of 

 June the larva is hatched, then being of a pale greenish tint; 

 after its first moult it becomes browner green, and about the 

 middle of July attaches itself to the stem of the plant, and 

 ceases to feed." Mr. Buckler failed in keeping the larva 

 through the winter, but delayed the hybernation of one indi- 

 vidual until the end of July by keeping it in a hot sunny 

 window: "it- was then half an inch long, black and spiny, 

 with a faint indication of a dull whitish stripe along the sides 

 above the feet." At this stage the larva was killed by mould, 



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