24 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Valezina: in this variety all the usual black 

 spots are visible, and towards the tip are some 

 pale blotches. Nearly the whole of the upper 

 side is shaded with smoky-green, but through 

 tliis shade all the usual markings are distinctly 

 visible. 



LIFE HISTORY. The EGG is laid towards 

 the end of July, and sometimes as late as the 

 beginning of August, on dead leaves or moss, 

 or on the living leaves of dog violet ( Viola 

 canina) and sweet violet (Viola odorata) : the 

 female, when engaged in the duty of oviposi- 

 tion, seeks out shaded places under the 

 brush-wood, while the male may be seen 

 sunning himself and displaying his brilliant 

 sienna-brown wings as he rests on the blos- 

 soms of the bramble, from which he extracts 

 his favourite food : the young CATERPILLAR, 

 which is hatched in about fourteen days, ap- 

 pears quite black at first,but very soon exhibits 

 the markings which are its characteristics 

 when full-grown; indeed, the fulvous stripe- 

 like markings on both back and sides are per- 

 haps more strongly pronounced at this early 

 period than subsequently when arrived at its 

 full size. In September it descends towards the 

 roots of the herbage, and there, as near as 

 possible to the surface of the ground, spins a 

 loose covering, apparently more for the sake 

 of affording a sure hold for the claspers than 

 for protection ; and in this situation it passes 

 the winter months, emerging and crawling up 

 the petioles of its lowly food-plants as soon as 

 the new leaves have made their appearance in 

 the spring. It appears to be full-fed during 

 the third and fourth weeks in May ; at that 

 period, if disturbed, it falls immediately from 

 its food-plant, bending its head and leg-bear- 

 ing segments under its body until they come 

 in contact with its ventral claspers ; but the 

 terminal segments remain straight, and are 

 not generally incurved. The head is some- 

 what scabrous, rather narrower than the 

 second segment, and most decidedly narrower 

 than those which follow ; the body is of nearly 

 uniform substance, but slightly attenuated 

 towards either extremity, having the incisions 

 of the segments deeply and clearly marked : 

 there are three spines on each side of each 



segment ; each spine arises from a bulbous 

 base, and is narrowed to a point at the distal 

 extremity, emitting throughout its length a 

 number of ascending brihtles ; two of these 

 spines on the second segment are longer and 

 somewhat more slender than the rest ; they 

 are strictly dorsal, and are seated immediately 

 behind the head, over which they are por- 

 rected. The colour of the head is black, 

 delicately reticulated with brown, and having 

 the crown of a still paler brown: the body is 

 black, with two yellowish, approximate, dorsal 

 stripes, each about equal in width to a medio- 

 dorsal black stripe by which they are sepa- 

 rated ; the sides are bl.tckish, adorned with 

 rust-coloured anastomosing lines, extending 

 from spine to spine, in three longitudinal 

 series ; all the spines, except two, are rust.- 

 coloured, but originate in the black area of 

 the sides ; the two excepted are those which 

 project over the head : these are also rust- 

 coloured, with black tips ; they originate in 

 the yellowish dorsal stripes already described : 

 the legs and claspers are smoke-coloured. 

 Towards the end of May it attaches itself by 

 the anal claspers to a slight silken coating it 

 has previously spun on the stem of a bramble 

 or the twig of some low shrub, and, suspended 

 with its head downwards, it changes to an 

 obese, humped, and angulated CHRYSALIS, 

 having a divided or eared head, an elevated 

 ridged thorax, and two rows of lateral abdo- 

 minal tubercles, six in each row, and all 

 having much the appearance of aborted spines, 

 and being very evidently the representatives 

 of the spines so conspicuous in the caterpillar ; 

 the two porrected spines on the second seg- 

 ment are also represented by two tubercles 

 just behind the head : the colour is gray, 

 delicately reticulated with darker shades, and 

 often adorned with spots and washes of the 

 most brilliant and glittering metallic lustre. 



Obs. In making my description of this 

 caterpillar I have been greatly indebted to a 

 coloured drawing from the inimitable pencil 

 of Mr. Buckler, who has also most obligingly 

 furnished me with the subjoined more precise 

 information respecting the identical individual 

 he has 6gured : " A single whitish egg was 



