100 Dr. G. B. Longstaff on 



themselves correctly so as to turn their tails to the sun. 

 Of the minority, the one-fourth that settled otherwise than 

 with tail to the sun, two were settled on the flowers of the 

 wild hyacinth or "blue-bell" {Scilla nutans, Sm.), and of 

 these one was facing the sun. A third specimen, settled 

 on flowers of lilac {Syringa pcrsiea), appeared to be quite 

 indifferent to the sun's direction. The fourth was at first 

 settled facing the sun, but it very soon moved, settled 

 again, and at once adjusted its position so as to be perfectly 

 oriented with tail to the sun. I subsequently watched the 

 same butterfly settle three times, the first time with tail 

 turned to the sun correctly, but the second and third times 

 it alighted on " blue-bells " and did not orient itself. 



Vcmessa uriiccV, L., was far less common and only two 

 specimens offered themselves for observation, of whicli the 

 first was twice seen to adjust itself to correct orientation, 

 but the second, on the same lilac bush with the V. io 

 mentioned above, appeared like it to be indifferent to the 

 sun's direction. 



From tlie preceding observations it may fairly be in- 

 ferred that Vanessa io (and probably also V. urtidv) when 

 settled in full sunshine, except sometimes when feeding on 

 flowers, habitually places itself so that its tail is directed 

 towards the sun. As however the butterflies were not 

 seen to close their wings over their backs nothing can be 

 said as to the shadow question. 



The next . species that came under my notice was 

 MeliLva aurinia, Rott., which was very abundant in a 

 restricted North Devon locality. All the specimens 

 observed were settled on flowers or low plants. In the 

 great majority of cases the wings were fully expanded, 

 thouoh a few had the fore-wins^s drawn back so as to form 

 an approximation to the " Deltoid " shape. In order to 

 secure perfect fairness my method was to record the 

 position of every specimen seen so long as the sun was 

 sliining brightly. Three series of observations were thus 

 made, with the following results : — 



Total 



111 



17 



3 



Adjustments after settling were often noticed, occa- 

 sionally repeated adjustments. When there was a wind 



