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XXII. Notes on ihe earhj stages of Scolitantides orion. Pall. 

 By T. A. Chapman, M.D. 



[Read October 6th, 1915.] 



Plates CIV-CXVII. 



The full-grown larva of Scolitantides orion is very well 

 known and has been figured, but not altogether satisfac- 

 torily. Most of the other details here reported are more 

 or less still undescribed. 



The butterfly lays her eggs freely in captivity on various 

 Sedums, telephium perhaps for choice. 



The egg is of ordinary Lycaenid shape, flat on top with 

 rounded sides, in short, cheese-shaped, 0*65 mm. wide and 

 just half that height, viz. 0"325 mm. ; the rounding of the 

 sides reduces the flat top to 0"45 mm. across. The network 

 has little or no knobbing at the junctions of the lines, the 

 special peculiarity of the egg is that the meshes of the net- 

 work are, on top, radially long, very narrow across, and on 

 the sides of very similar form, but the long axis is horizontal. 

 The result of this sudden change of form of the cells at the 

 margin of the top is to give the appearance of a raised border 

 or crown, which is not strictly the fact. 



The larva as soon as hatched burrows into the substance 

 of the leaf, which is thick and succulent, generally just under 

 the cuticle, but sometimes deeper. The larvae are prac- 

 tically colourless and take the colour of their food, so that 

 it requires a very careful search to detect them. On one 

 occasion I had some eggs sent me and received the empty 

 shells, but believed the larvae had died or otherwise been 

 lost. Luckily I kept the plant, and after a time the 

 larvae were accounted for. 



Scolitantides orion, newly hatched May 26th, 1912, is 

 about 1"2 mm. long, slaty grey or nearly colourless, with 

 conspicuous black spiracles and black bases to trapezoidal 

 hairs ; hairs I are dark, the rest nearly colourless. As it 

 grows it acquires a reddish-brown dorsal band, and when 

 full-fed in this skin shows some dark markings on " slope." 

 When waiting for moult the dorsal band is triangular on 

 each segment, narrow at front of segment, wide behind; 

 TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1915, — PARTS III, IV. (JUNE) 



