96 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



owe this impoi'taiit advance in our knowledge of the species. Dr. 

 Chapman has estabhshed a universal reputation among lepidopterists 

 by his researches and discoveries in the life- histories of the Lycaenids 

 among other groups. When Lang's ' Butterflies of Europe ' was 

 published in 1884, of over a hundred of the described species of 

 western palsearctic Ehopalocera the life-histories were pronounced 

 unknown, and, of those described, many were sketchy in the extreme, 

 or based on guesswork of the most obvious kind. In the " blue " 

 genera, lumped together under Lycana, seven and twenty were 

 included in this category. Dr. Chapman has attacked the " alpines " 

 with his customary vigour and success. His observations, and those 

 of other scientific workers, have reduced the " wholly unknowns " by 

 more than half, and to him, with other Britisli entomologists, belongs 

 the lion's share of the credit. 



The association of L. alcon of the Bretagne "Icoides" w'ith ants 

 had long been suspected by M. Oberthiir, following upon the dis- 

 coveries in connection with L. avion. In September, 1917, therefore, 

 with the assistance of two of his grandsons and Mr. Powell he traced 

 the exodus of the young alcon larva from the flowers of its food-plant, 

 Gentiana pne.2nno7ia7ithe, and its reception into the nests of two ant 

 species, Tapinoma erraticwn and Tetramorium C(?spit.um. Their 

 observations, and the deductions drawn therefrom by M. Oberthiir 

 and Mr. Powell, are contained in the two papers inmiediately preced- 

 ing Dr. Chapman's — " Observations relatives a la Biologic de 

 Lyccena alcon" and " Compte Piendu de la Recherche des Chenilles 

 de Lyccena alcon " {op. cit., pp. 269-276). Mr. Powell also established 

 the further fact that the larva w^ould imbibe the fluids of ant pupae. 

 With this to work upon Dr. Chapman received larvae from Rennes in 

 the third instar which he installed in observation nests of Myrmica 

 scrahrinodis, and he gives us, in minute detail, the results of the 

 experiment from September 9th, 1917, to^August 2nd, 1918, when the 

 sole survivor, a male, emerged, being the first imago of alcon ever 

 bred under artificial conditions. This example had pupated in the 

 nest on July 10th. We cannot enter here with more particularity 

 into the extraordinarily interesting account of the treatment of 

 guest by host. Dr. Chapman lias proved beyond doubt that the 

 bionomics of alcon are quite parallel with those of avion, but with 

 this amazing difference : Alcon leaves the food-plant in its third 

 instar — to all appearances an ordinary third-stage Lycaenid larva. 

 " Like avion., however," he writes, " it undergoes no further ixioult, 

 and presents the remarkable and, I believe, unique character of a 

 Lycaenid larva that has only two moults (three instars)." 



Dr. Chapman's paper is accompanied by six photographic plates 

 illustrating the ova, larva, larval skin, and pupal integuments. To 

 all concerned with this epoch-making contribution to our knowledge 

 of the symbiosis of the Lycaenid and the ant we offer our warmest 

 congratulations. H. R.-B. 



