90 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



of the preparatory states of this insect have 

 been written by as many excellent entomo- 

 logists. Sepp, the inimitable Dutch artist, 

 was the first ; Mr. Logan, of Edinburgh, the 

 second ; and Mr. Buckler, of Emsworth, the 

 third. Mr. Buckler's description is published 

 in the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine" 

 for January, 1866, and is reprinted in the 

 "Zoologist" for August of the same year. 

 It seems, however, that Mr. Buckler was 

 indebted to the Rev. John Hellins, of Exeter, 

 for the details. Mr. Hellins received the 

 EGGS on the 26th of July and 3rd of August, 

 1864. Some of them hatched on the 8th of 

 August, and the young CATERPILLARS conti- 

 nued coming out for three or four days. At 

 first they were fed on that most objectionable 

 of all grasses known as creeping wheat grass, 

 oouch grass, squitch or spear grass (Triticum 

 repens). They were of an ochreous colour, 

 with a black interrupted medio-dorsal stripe ; 

 they were very sluggish, often hiding low 

 down, and hybernating when about four lines 

 in length. One caterpillar only survived the 

 winter, and this was presented to Mr. Butler 

 on the 13th of May. " The caterpillar," says 

 Mr. Buckler, " had shown a partiality for the 

 turfy hair grass (Aira ccespitosa) previous to 

 my receiving it, and on this it was therefore 

 placed, being then about eight lines in length. 

 On the 20th of May I chanced to dig up a 

 rather larger caterpillar of this species from a 

 waste piece of sandy ground near the sea, 

 amongst early hair grass (Aira prcecox) and 

 other small grasses, which rendered the task 

 of rearing doubly interesting, in observing the 

 habits of each, kept separate and on different 

 food. The captured caterpillar, on being 

 placed under a glass in a pot with its native 

 growing food, immediately burrowed in the 

 sandy earth, and the few times it was seen on 

 the grass was always at night, and each morn- 

 ing brought evidence of its doing well by the 

 diminished grass. About the 14th of June 

 these indications ceased, and on the 23rd I 

 searched for the CHRYSALIS, and found it in a 

 hollow space a quarter of an inch below the 

 surface, the particles of sand and earth very 

 slightly cohering together, and close to the 



roots of grass, yet free flora them. The chry- 

 salis was obtuse, rounded, tumid, and smooth., 

 the abdominal rings scarcely visible, and 

 wholly of a deep red mahogany colour. The 

 perfect insect, a male, appeared July 24th. 

 The caterpillar, reared wholly in captivity 

 from the egg, always remained on its rigid 

 food, with its head uppermost, when feeding, 

 which at first it did day and night till it was 

 an inch long, from which time it fed only at 

 night, remaining all day at rest on the grass, 

 with its head downwards, in comparative 

 darkness, amongst the lower parts of the 

 stems. It never showed any disposition to 

 burrow, though the soil was supplied for the 

 purpose, until it was full fed, about the 

 middle of June. The butterfly, a male, 

 appeared on the 5th of August. No material 

 difference existed between the two caterpillars, 

 excepting that the captured one was rather 

 less bright and distinct in colour and markings 

 than the other. The full-grown caterpillar is 

 an inch and a half in length, tapering much to 

 the anal forked extremity and a little towards 

 the head, which is globular. The ground 

 colour of the back is a delicately mottled drab, 

 with longitudinal stripes, broadest along the 

 middle segments, viz., a dorsal stripe of olive- 

 brown, very dark at the beginning of each 

 segment, with a thin edging of brownish 

 white. Three stripes along the subdorsal 

 region, of which the first is composed of 

 a double narrow line of yellowish brown, the 

 second wider, of the mottled ground colour, 

 edged above with paler and below with white, 

 and the third of a similar width of dark gray- 

 brown, edged above with black; the spiracular 

 stripe is broader and of nearly equal width, of 

 pale ochreous-brown, edged both above and 

 below with brownish white. The spiracles 

 are black, the belly and legs drab colour. 

 The head is brown, on which the principal 

 stripes of the body are delicately marked with 

 darker brown." Buckler. 



TIME OP APPEARANCE. Caterpillar In au- 

 tumn, winter, and spring (after hybernation) : 

 chrysalis in June ; and the butterfly in June 

 and July. 



LOCALITIES. Common in stony, rocky, 



