THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Vol. XX.] JANUARY, 1887. [No. 284. 



NOTES ON THE GENUS LYCMNA. 



By Richard South, F.E.S. 



(Plate I.) 



The well-known tendency to variation exhibited by certain 

 species of Lyccena has marked them out as the particular quest of 

 the "variety hunter." I have myself given many hours to the 

 examination of such species as L. icarus and L. corydon in their 

 natural haunts. My object, however, was not so much the 

 acquisition of extraordinary forms as a desire to obtain a 

 knowledge, as far as this was practicable, of the whole range in 

 the variation of these species in particular South of England 

 localities. I need hardly say that, with such purpose in view, 

 capture with the net would have either entailed a considerable 

 expenditure of time or necessitated wholesale slaughter of " the 

 innocents." As I could not afford the one and was unwilling to 

 efl'ect the other, a line of operation was adopted, which though 

 sometimes difficult to conduct,* was nevertheless attended with 

 very satisfactory results. 



Having first ascertained the best places for work, i.e., places 

 where the species were most numerous, these were visited on dull 

 days, or after 5 p.m., when the insects were either asleep or 

 preparing for sleep. Working against the wind, all examples of 

 icarus or corydon that could be got hold of were examined, and the 

 required aberrations " pill-boxed," the rejected ones being cast to 



* As, for instance, when the butterflies rested on the herbage growing on 

 steep slopes, such as those below Beachy Head at Eastbourne. 



ENTOM. — JAN., 1887. B 



