PEITILLAKIES. 



of these caterpillars under my notice nine out 

 of every ten were infested byichneumonideous 

 parasites; these emerged from the lepidop- 

 terous caterpillars in the caterpillar state, 

 and spinning little silken cocoons outside the 

 lepidopterous caterpillar, fastened down the 

 wretchedly atrophied but still living victim, 

 and, fixing it immovably, left it to perish miser- 

 ably : the number of these parasites in each 

 caterpillar varied from ten to twenty-six ; the 

 cocoons which they spun were of a pale sulphur 

 colour, and were elongate-oval in shape : the 

 majority of them emerged between the 18th 

 and 25th of May, and proved to be a species 

 of Microg aster. It would appear that but a 

 small proportion of the caterpillars ofMelitcea 

 Artemis escape this formidable parasite. The 

 full-fed caterpillar of Artemis generally selects 

 some curled leaf or mass of tangled herbage, 

 and thus concealed, spins a slight silken coat- 

 ing over the surface of the object selected, 

 and suspending itself by the anal claspers, 

 changes to a chrysalis, which hangs in the 

 same way. The CHRYSALIS is short and obese, 

 the head being transversely produced in front 

 and broadly truncate ; the base of each wing- 

 case is slightly produced: the back is very 

 convex, its anal extremity bent under towards 

 the extremity of the wing-cases, and the 

 dorsal outline being almost semicircular; the 

 caudal extremity is attached by its little hooks 

 to a slight web spun about the margin of the 

 scabious leaf : the colour of the chrysalis is 

 creamy white, changing, as the time of meta- 

 morphosis approaches, to a deep orange, varie- 

 gated with black and orange markings ; the 

 cases of the legs have black markings only, but 

 those of the antennae are black and orange 

 alternately, the latter colour in very small dots; 

 the back of the thorax has two conspicuous 

 black lunate marks, each having a yellow dot 

 behind it : the eight abdominal segments have 

 each a transverse series of lunate black mark- 

 ings, and behind each of these, and partially 

 enclosed by it, is a bright yellow spot with a 

 nipple-shaped excrescence in the middle j the 

 wing-cases are adorned with black markings. 

 Prior to the final change the chrysalis assumes 

 richer hue, approaching to dull 



orange, and exhibiting beneath the wing-cases 

 the colours of the butterfly. I am indebted 

 to Mr. Merrin, of Gloucester, for a liberal 

 supply of this very imperfectly-known cater- 

 pillar : the same gentleman has most kindly 

 furnished me with materials for compiling its 

 history. Newman. 



TIME OF APPEARANCE. The butterfly makes 

 its appearance in about fourteen days after the 

 change to a chrysalis ; this period, however, 

 depends in some measure on the temperature, 

 a cold April delaying their final change for a 

 few days : if the spring is warm and vegeta- 

 tion forward, the caterpillars have a better 

 chance of feeding up early, and the male but- 

 terflies begin to appear the second week in 

 May, most of the females emerging some days 

 later : this butterfly has a slow and gentle 

 flight, and is very easily captured ; it delights 

 in damp meadows, and is fond of resting in 

 the sunshine on leaves and flowers with ex- 

 panded wings, and apparently enjoying the 

 warmth : in cloudy weather it will allow itself 

 to be taken by the hand from a flower on 

 which it is resting, and at no time does it fly 

 to any considerable distance from its birth- 

 place : in the damp meadows near Leominster 

 it occurs year after year in the same spot, and 

 may be met with from the middle to the end 

 of May with the greatest certainty. 



LOCALITIES. Frequents damp meadows in 

 which the devil's-bit scabious grows, and is 

 very widely distributed, but at the same time 

 very local : it may exist in all the English 

 and Welsh counties, but from this peculiarity 

 have escaped notice. I have enumerated a 

 few of the localities below. In Ireland, as I 

 am informed by Mrs. Battersby and Mr. 

 Birchall, it is common, occurring in the county 

 Wicklow, also in Galway and at Killarnny ; 

 and is abundant at Glen Lough and Cromlyn 

 Bog, in Westrneath, where it is very highly 

 coloured and very various in size ; in Scotland 

 it seems rare and local, but has been taken 

 at Dunoon and Oban by Mr. Chapman. Dr. 

 Buchanan White says it has hitherto been 

 found in very few localities in Perthshire, but 

 thinks it probable that it has often been over- 

 looked owing to its very local habits. It has 



