FRITILLARIBS. 



head is wider and larger than the second seg- 

 ment, shining, but beset with nipple-shaped 

 warts, each of which emits a bristle from the 

 summit ; the body is almost uniformly cylin- 

 drical but spiny, the incisions between the 

 segments are marked with considerable dis- 

 tinctness, the sections of the segments being 

 also defined by transverse lines, each section 

 having a series of minute warts, and each 

 wart emitting a slender hair from its summit : 

 with the exception of these spines ind warts 

 the surface of the body is velvety : the an- 

 terior half of the dorsal surface of the second 

 segment is shining, but scabrous, warty, and 

 bristly, the posterior half is velvety; this 

 segment is without spines, but its pectoral 

 surface has an oblong median aperture exactly 

 between the fore legs, and somewhat resem- 

 bling an enlarged spiracle, the margins of which 

 have been produced and elevated ; the third 

 and fonrth segments have each two dorsal 

 spines placed transversely, distant and rather 

 spreading ; the fifth has four spines, two dorsal 

 and one on each side lateral ; the remaining 

 segments, the sixth to the twelfth, both in- 

 clusive, have each six spines, two of them 

 dorsal and two on each side lateral ; and the 

 thirteenth has four spines arranged in a 

 trapezoid, and all of them directed back- 

 wards ; in those instances in which six spines 

 are present three on each side the middle 

 one of each three is placed a little in advance 

 of the other two ; it must be borne in mind 

 that there is no medio-dorsal series : the fifty- 

 two spines the situation of which I have at- 

 tempted to describe are very similar to each 

 other; all of them possess a polished and 

 acutely-pointed shaft, and all emit a number 

 of lateral bristles : the head and body are 

 black, the spines also black, and the warts 

 white, while the hairs emitted from the sur- 

 face are gray ; the legs are black and shining ; 

 the claspers are pitchy brown, with paler 

 extremities ; along the top of each clasper is a 

 fringe of gray hairs curving downwards. The 

 CHRYSALIS state is assumed during the first or 

 second week in July, and the transformation 

 takes place, in confinement, on the cover 

 pf the vessel, whatever it may be, iu which 



the caterpillars have been fed. They spin 

 little humps or hillocks of silk on the glass 

 cover, and from this suspend themselves by 

 the anal claspers ; on the third day the back 

 of the chrysalis may be seen projecting 

 through a slit in the skin behind the head of 

 the caterpillar, and the contrast in colour be- 

 tween the green and newly-formed chrysalis 

 and jet-black skin of the caterpillar from 

 which it is now disengaging itself is very 

 striking. In a state of nature the chrysalis 

 may sometimes be found suspended among the 

 leaves of the nettle, but generally on other 

 plants or objects at some distance from its 

 food. The head of the chrysalis has two 

 pointed ears, or rather cases, containing the 

 future palpi ; these are very distant, and their 

 tips are rather curved outwards ; the back has 

 a thin keel, which rises to a point in the 

 middle ; the shoulders of the wing-cases are 

 also pointed, and there are two series of sharp 

 points on the dorsal surface of the body, each 

 series consisting of six points, of which the 

 anterior pair, those nearest the thorax, are 

 considerably the smallest. The colour of the 

 chrysalis is green, the cases of the head and 

 wings being bright apple-green, and the body 

 ochreous green ; all the points are darker : as 

 the chrysalis hardens, its colour deepens, but 

 the green tint is never entirely lost. Dr. 

 Lucas, Mr. Merrin, Mr. Biggs, and Mr. West, 

 have most kindly and liberall)' suppled me with 

 caterpillars expressly for this work. Newman. 



TIME OF APPEARANCE. The caterpillar is 

 to be found on nettles in June and July ; the 

 chrysalis in July and August; and the butter- 

 fly in August, continuing on the wing more 

 or less abundantly until it hybernates : speci- 

 mens occurring in the spring have certainly 

 hybernated. 



LOCALITIES. A butterfly of almost univer- 

 sal distribution : as regards Ireland, Mr. 

 Birchall says "it is common in Leinster, 

 Munster, and Connaught, but apparently rare 

 in Ulster ; " and as regards Scotland, Dr. 

 Buchanan White observes, "it is by no means 

 common in Perthshire, its sole claim as a 

 native resting on a few specimens taken near 

 the Bridge of Allan : it occurs as far north as 



