34 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



the 'iiargin. Each of these last has a silver 

 <*>,( just above it, and each of these dots is 

 mr/ounded first by a dark brown ring, and 

 then by a red brown space ; between this 

 series of silvery dots and the base of the wing 

 are about ten brilliant silver spots, which are 

 very various in size and shape, but two of 

 them are conspicuously larger than the rest. 



LIFE HISTORY. The EGG is laid in the 

 autumn (August or September) on the wild 

 heartsease ( Viola tricolor^) and other species of 

 violet, and the CATERPILLAR is hatched in 

 r.bout a fortnight : it hybernates when very 

 tfmall at the roots of herbage, and does not re- 

 ippear until quite late in the spring ; it then 

 feeds again on the leaves of the heartsease, 

 and is full fed about Midsummer : it is then 

 about an inch in length ; the head is slightly 

 hairy, and the body has several longitudinal 

 series of short conical spines ; there are two 

 of these spines on the second segment, four 

 on the third, and six on the following seg- 

 ments ; the thirteenth segment has but two, 

 and these are directed backwards : the colour 

 of the head is brown, of the body brown, with 

 a mediodorsal stripe of a dirty white and a 

 side stripe of nearly the same tint, but more 

 inclining to yellow. The spines are yellowish 

 white. Sepp's Figure. 



Obs. I know nothing of this caterpillar 

 except from books. 



TIME OP APPEARANCE. September. 



LOCALITIES. This common continental 

 species has always been considered, and still 

 remains, a great rarity in this country : the 

 English localities are rather numerous, but 

 the number of specimens captured is very 

 small : the maritime position of most of the 

 localities suggests the idea of the specimens 

 having migrated from the Continent : Dover, 

 Eamsgate, Folkstone, Ventnor, &c., seem to 

 support this conclusion ; while others, such, 

 for instance, as the celebrated locality at Birch 

 Wood, are so truly inland that we cannot hesi- 

 tate to believe that the specimens have been 

 bred on the spot where they were captured. I 

 think we may fairly conclude that, like many 

 of our resident birds, such as the goldfinch and 

 skylark, of which thousands of dozens are 



annually captured on their arrival on our 

 southern coasts, that accessions to the number 

 of Lathonias take place every year. Mr. 

 BIrchall informs me that "a single specimen 

 was taken at Killarney, in Ireland, on the 

 10th of August, 1864, in the lane leading from 

 Muckross to Mangerton, near a limestone 

 quarry on the left of the road;" a very im- 

 portant and interesting fact, since no doubt 

 can now be entertained of the species existing 

 in the Killarney district in a perfectly natural 

 state, although the constant humidity of the 

 atmosphere may interfere with its appearance 

 on the wing. From Scotland I have no 

 report of its occurrence. I record a few of 

 the instances in which the species has been 

 taken in England : they are chiefly extracted 

 from the "Entomologist." 



Cambridgeshire. One specimen was taken 

 in 1844 by the side of the road near New- 

 market, and one near Fulbourn, the same 

 year, in September Thomas Brown. 



Devonshire. One specimen in Roseberry 

 Wood, near Exeter Tkomas Lighten. 



Essex. I have taken four in different years 

 in the neighbourhood of Colchester, and have 

 seen three others taken, two of them by one 

 of my brothers ; Mr. W. Harrington and Mr. 

 Robert Halls have each taken single speci- 

 mens; others have been taken at Berechurch 

 by the late Dr. Maclean and Mr. Lawrence 

 Black W. II. Harwood ; one at Brain tre 

 on the 19th September, 1865 B. -Holland ; 

 one at Bury-St.-Edmunds A. H. Wratislaw ; 

 three at Southend J. Eussell. 



Dorsetshire. Two specimens at Swanage 

 in the summer of 1852 Henry Reeks. 



Hampshire. Ashford, near Petersfield 

 H. II. Crewe. 



Kent. One specimen at Easting, and an- 

 other on Breeze Hill, near Canterbury W. 0. 

 Hammond ; eight specimens on the flowers of 

 the broad-leaved hawkweed (Hieracium sabau- 

 dum) near Birch Wood B. Standish; three 

 of these were taken in one year the others 

 only one during each year ; I have often looked 

 for the insect in the same spot when the hawk- 

 weed was in bloom, but without success Jf. 

 Newman ; twelve specimens on the blossoms 



