BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Under side. 



8. GREASY FRITILLARY. The costal mar- 

 gin of the fore wings is almost straight, the 

 tip rounded, and the hind margin rather 

 convex. This species has three colours on the 

 upper surface; burnt sienna brown, dull 

 ) ellow, and black : the hind margin is black, 

 surmounted in the hind wings by a series of 

 six pale yellow crescents, each bordered with 

 black ; above, and adjoining these, is a broad 

 brown band, divided into compartments by 

 the black wing-rays, and in each of these 

 compartments there is an obscure yellow spot 

 in the fore wings, and a black spot in the hind 

 wings. The underside has a greasy appear- 

 ance, as though oily, or as if the scales had 

 been rubbed off; the underside of the fore 

 wings is dingy brown tesselated with dull 

 black, of the hind wings reddish brown tessela- 

 ted with dull yellow, each yellow spot being 

 bordered by a black line; parallel with the hind 

 margin is a series of six black dots, each of 

 which is obscurely surrounded with yellow. 



LIFE HISTORY. The EGGS, which are some- 

 what flattened on the crown, are laid on the 

 underside of the leaf of devil's-bit scabious 

 (Scabiosa succisa), those leaves nearest the 

 ground being selected for this purpose ; the 

 usual period of oviposition is from the be- 

 ginning to the middle of June. In about a 

 fortnight that is, from the middle to the end 

 of June the young CATERPILLARS emerge ; 

 they have then black heads and ochre-coloured 

 "bodies : almost immediately after emergence 

 thoy begin drawing together two or three 

 leaves of the scabious or of the neighbouring 

 herbage, and spin a slight gauzy web over the 

 interstices ; enclosed in this domicile, they de- 

 vour, in company, the underside of a scabious 

 leaf, leaving only the epidermis which very 



soon becomes brown in blotches : as soon as 

 the little community has extracted all the 

 nutriment from the leaf or leaves included 

 within the first enclosure, it moves to other 

 leaves, and by united labours the caterpillars 

 construct a much larger dwelling, sometimes 

 even extending over the leading stem and en- 

 closing the flowering stem of the scabious 

 with its apical flower- bud. Towards the end 

 of summer the caterpillars, then scarcely half- 

 grown, become sluggish, and, ceasing to eat, 

 descend low down among the herbage, where 

 they again spin a silken domicile, beneath the 

 shelter of which they pass the winter : as 

 soon as the plant begins to grow in the spring 

 these caterpillars break up their winter esta- 

 blishment, and each seeks its own provisions 

 independently of the others, and without the 

 protection of a web ; indeed, they seem quite 

 fearless of exposure, often indulging in a noon- 

 day siesta in bright sunshine on a dried leaf, 

 or in any other exposed situation ; this con- 

 tinues until the end of April, when, being 

 full fed, the caterpillar existence terminates : 

 at this period the creature rests in a straight 

 position, but falls off its food-plant when 

 touched or disturbed, and forms a loose ring, 

 the head tucked in and the anal extremity 

 protruding. The head is scarcely narrowei 

 than the second segment, semiporrect, and 

 garnished with stiff bristles : the body is 

 obese, and the incisions of the segments are 

 well marked; the second segment has two 

 short bristly obtuse spines on each side below 

 the spiracles ; the third and fourth segments 

 have each eight spines ; the fifth and succeed- 

 ing segments have each nine spines, the addi- 

 tional spine being mediodorsal, and the aggre- 

 gate of these mediodorsal spines forming a 

 mediodorsal series ; all the spines are short, 

 obtuse, scabrous, and furnished with bristles 

 The colour of the head is black ; of the body 

 velvety black, sprinkled with circular whitt 

 dots, which are irregularly ranged in three 

 principal but ill-defined series; one medio- 

 dorsal, the others spiracular ; each white dot 

 emits a black bristle from its centre ; the legs 

 are black ; the claspers pale smoke-coloured. 

 It is worthy of remark that in a large number 



