NYMPHALIM: 55 



In the first-named variety the spots on the f.-w. 

 are confluent. 



Pyromelas is simply a small form of the species. 



HABITAT. Both forms are met with in the same 

 localities as the type. 



OBSERVATION. Sometimes in bright weather hyber- 

 nated specimens may be seen on the wing. 



V. TJrticae. 



TIMES OF APPEARANCE. From January to December. 



HABITAT. Common everywhere. 



OVUM. " Oblong, and depressed at both extre- 

 mities ; at the upper extremity is a circular operculum, 

 which is pushed off, and disappears at the time of 

 hatching ; there are generally eight longitudinal keels 

 or ridges, extending from the operculum to the base, 

 but this number is not constant, varying to seven and 

 nine." Newman. 



In colour they are green, resembling the leaves of 

 their food-plant. These eggs are laid in batches of 

 sixty or eighty and sometimes a much larger number, 

 by hybernated females, in May and June. 



LARVA. Gregarious under a web, on Urtica dioica 

 (Common Nettle), and, on the authority of The 

 Entomologist., January 1892, on Humulus iitpulus 

 (Hop), in June and July. 



OBSERVATION. Occasionally aberrations of Urticae 

 occur, in which the dorsal and median spots on the 

 f.-w. are in abeyance, somewhat resembling the 

 variety Ichnusa ; but these varieties have not the 

 same outline as Ichnusa, which is confined to Corsica 

 and Sardinia. 



