FRITILLARIES. 



discovered, from a careful scrutiny of a small 

 bit of moss at the foot of an oak in a wood, 

 by the Rev. A. Fuller and a friend of his, 

 who had previously observed a worn female 

 settled on it. The egg was given to me early 

 in August, and by the 1st of September, 

 1861, it hatched small black caterpillar, 

 which fed on the dog violet until November, 

 when I could no longer see it on the plant : 

 it had previously been about three lines in 

 length : a fine web seemed drawn about the 

 base of the stem of the plant, over the moss 

 which was potted with it, under a glass 

 cylinder, and placed in a sunny window : I 

 cannot affirm that the web was spun by the 

 caterpillar. In April, 1862, it appeared again 

 on the plant, about four lines in length, and 

 continued to feed well ; and on May 5th it 

 had attained about an inch in length, when I 

 took it out to figure, and to change the plant 

 for another. On the 18th May it had arrived 

 at its full growth, when I took a second figure 

 of it, and two days later it had attached itself 

 to the side of the glass cylinder, and became a 

 chrysalis, brown, with burnished gold spots ; 

 and the butterfly, a male, appeared on the 

 30th of June, 1862." 



TIME OF APPEARANCE. The caterpillar lives 

 through the winter : I have always found the 

 chrysalis in June, and the butterfly is on the 

 wing at the end of that month, or in July. 



LOCALITIES. Although it may be seen skim- 

 ming over a green meadow now and then, or 

 even venturing into a cottage garden, the 

 Silver-washed Fritillary is decidedly a wood 

 insect, and I imagine occurs in almost every 

 extensive wood south of the Tweed ; prefer- 

 ring, indeed, the outskirts or the open spaces, 

 but it is truly a native of woods, and its 

 earlier states are spent in deep shade, 

 although when mature it delights to bask in 

 the sunshine, and to feast on the flowers of 

 the blackberry. It is found more or less 

 abundantly in all the English and Welsh 

 counties, from which, through the kindness 

 of correspondents, I have received lists, and 

 ita non-appearance as a native of the others 

 implies rather the absence of observers than 

 the absence of the butterfly. It is reported to 



me from Ireland by the Hon. Emily Lawless, 

 Mrs. Battersby, Mr. Fetherstonhaugh, Mr. 

 Birchall, and Mr. Marsden, as an inhabitant 

 of the counties Dublin, Wicklow, Cork, Kerry, 

 Mayo, and Westmeath : at Glenmore, Cross- 

 molina, and Killarney, it is abundant ; and 

 Miss Lawless informs me it is wonderfully 

 abundant in Recess Woods, Connemara, 

 settling in thousands on the brambles ; also 

 at Castle Hacket, and in several Gal way 

 localities. In Scotland it is apparently rare ; 

 but Mr. Birchall informs me he has taken it 

 at Arrocher ; and as it occurs not uncom- 

 monly in our northern English counties, 

 Northumberland, Cumberland, and Durham, 

 it may be inferred that its rarity in Scotland 

 is rather apparent than real. 



LOCALITIES OF THE VARIETY VALEZINA : 



Devonshire. This grand variety was tirsc 

 taken in England by Mr. Dale, who captured 

 it in the New Forest ; it was added to the 

 list of Devonshire insects by Mr. Rogers, of 

 Plymouth, who took it in Bickleigh Vale. 

 Reading's Catalogue. 



Dorsetshire. It occurs at the Caundle 

 Holt, about three miles from Glanvilie'a 

 Wootton. J. G. Dale. 



Hampshire. Of the black variety of the 

 female Paphia we captured twenty specimens 

 in. the New Forest, besides missing several 

 others. H. Ramsay Cox. 



Kent. We met with a fine specimen in a 

 wood near Sturry, in Kent, several years ago ; 

 the net caught in a thistle, and consequently 

 the butterfly escaped. H. Ramsay Cox. 



2. DARK GREEN FRITILLARY. The costal 

 margin of the fore wings is regularly arched, 

 the tip obtuse, and the hind margin nearly 

 straight ; the hind margin of the hind wings 

 is scalloped, but not deeply so : the colour of 

 the upper surface is bright sienna-brown in 

 the male, duller and very frequently suffused 

 with smoky black and metallic green in the 

 female : all the wings are ornamented with 

 black spots in both sexes, and the position of 

 these spots will be best seen and understood 

 by examining the figures : the fringe is spotted. 

 The under side of the fore wings is fulvous, 



