67 



seems to be a favourite position, and the eggs are deposited in a com- 

 pact bunch or cluster containing anything up to a couple of hundred. 

 They are bright green in colour, of a shade exactly corresponding 

 with that of the surrounding leaves, and each egg is sculptured 

 ■with eight or nine very bold whitish longitudinal ribs, and the 

 usual lateral rungs. In shape they are upright and somewhat 

 cylindrical, flattened at the base, with a distinct depression at the 

 micropylar end, due to the top ends of the ribs rising slightly 

 above the level of the eggshell itself. Height -Gomm., width -Smm. 



Vauessa io. — Unless the parent is identified with the ova when 

 found wild they will be ver}- difficult to separate from those of 

 T". itrtiar, as both insects choose similar situations and lay in a 

 similar manner, in clusters or batches. The only differences I have 

 been able to note are that the ova of T'. io are more olive green in 

 colour, and that the average number of the longitudinal ribs is 

 inclined to be less, namely, seven or eight. Certainly eight is the 

 more usual. Height, 'Go mm. ; width at widest part, 'io mm. I 

 fancy that the ova of io are slightly less bulky than those of ititica:, 

 but a large number of comparative measurements would be needed 

 before this could be set down as a point of distinction. 



P^/raineia atalanta also lays its eggs on stinging nettle, select- 

 ing the j'oung leaves near the top of the plant ; but unlike the two 

 foregoing species it lays them singly, and on the upper surface of 

 the leaf, in almost any position that hangs conveniently. I have 

 several times watched this butterfly ovipositing in early July, and 

 have picked each leaf the insect rested upon as soon as it had flown 

 to another. So far I have never found more than one egg on a 

 leaf. They are quite vanessid in type, green in colour, and with 

 nine or ten very bold longitudinal ribs carried right up to and over 

 the top to the edge of the micropylar area. The dimensions of an 

 average ovum are "7 mm. x -Somm. 



Annjnnis eitphroiiyne. — I have seen these ova laid wild in late May 

 and early June on both violet and petty whin, underneath the leaves. 

 The number deposited on a leaf varies from one to three, and not 

 infrequently they are attached by the side instead of the base, as 

 though but imperfectly cemented in position by the parent insect. 

 The ovum is a very blunt pointed cone in shape, about -Smm. high 

 and wmm. wide at the widest point, which is just above the base. 

 It has 28 to 30 vertical ribs, about half of which join others before 

 reaching the micropylar area. The sculpturing is not so bold as in, 

 say, Vanesm, and the colour is whitish-green when laid, lemon -yellow 

 later, and dark brownish at maturity. 



