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VI. The food-plant of Callophrys avis. 

 By T. A. Chapman, M.D. 



[Read February 7th, 1912.] 



I TOOK my first specimen of Callophrys avis at Hyeres in 

 1906 and a second in the same district in 1907. In 1909 

 I took it at Amelie-les-Bains and there found its food- 

 plant to be Coriaria myrtifolia ; Prof. Reverdin took a 

 specimen near Cap Negre (some 20 km. east of Hyeres), 

 so that the capture of three specimens in the Hyeres 

 region of the Riviera made me feel sure that Coriaria 

 must grow there, and the statements of the botanists that 

 it did not, led me to think it might be possible they had 

 overlooked some restricted colonies of the plant. 



In 1910 and 1911 I visited Hyeres at the proper season 

 in hopes of solving the questions raised, did Coriaria grow- 

 near Hyeres ? had avis some other food-plant in that region? 



In 1910, I utterly failed to meet with a single specimen 

 of C. avis, and though bad weather might account for this 

 to some extent, it proved that C. avis was very rare there, 

 for I certainly worked over the ground where I had pre- 

 viously taken it, though, as a matter of fact, I did not 

 know the spots with any precision. I satisfied myself 

 that there was no Coriaria anywhere near where I had 

 taken the butterfly nor anywhere in the district in which 

 Prof. Reverdin's specimen was taken. There was there- 

 fore certainly an alternative food-plant. In 1911 I again 

 tried to investigate this point, but again bad weather may 

 take some blame for my failure to secure the first step in 

 the investigation, viz. to meet with C. avis. At the end 

 of the season, with fear of being too late, I went to 

 Amelie-les-Bains and succeeded in obtaining a few eggs 

 of C. avis, with a view to approach the problem in another 

 way. 



A point by the way is interesting. 



I brought home two C. avis $$ taken on April 28. One 

 of these proved to be infertile and died on May 23. 



The other one laid two eggs about May 22, and three 

 afterwards (about May 30), was still alive on June 1, but 

 died by June 3, It thus lived five weeks in captivity. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1912. — PART II. (OCT.) EE2 



