78 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Varieties. The species is not subject to 

 variation, but some remarkable varieties have 

 occurred. Mr. Thomas Marshall, one of our 

 oldest and most assiduous entomologists, men- 

 tions one such at page 471 of the second 

 volume of the "Zoologist." He says : " At 

 the latter end of last July I captured a very 

 remarkable specimen of Melanagria Galathea 

 in a fiVld on the heights between Dover and 

 Walmer. The specimen is a male of a clear 

 milky-white colour, and h:is not either on the 

 upper or under side of the wings the smallest 

 speck of black. Its thorax, body, and palpi 

 are also entirely clothed with white. This 

 specimen is in perfect condition." 



LIFE HISTORY. The parent female does 

 not select any particular species of grass or 

 herbage on which to deposit her EGG, but 

 settles indiscriminately on any leaf or stalk 

 that may be nearest at hand, and drops her 

 eggs at random, careless what species of grass 

 may happen to receive it : only one egg is 

 extruded at a time, and when this is disposed 

 of, the female flies a few inches or a few feet 

 and repea's the operation. Mr. Bignell, to 

 whom I am indebted for this information, 

 watched a number of females thus employed 

 on the 26th of July, 1869. The eggs, extruded 

 one by one, find their way by the simple power 

 of gravitation to the roots of the grass, 

 there to take their chance of hatching and 

 future well-doing. The ejjg, which is perfectly 

 hard and dry, and free from any glutinous 

 covering, is white and almost spherical, but is 

 slightly flattened at both its poles : the young 

 CATERPILLAR emerges in about three weeks, 

 and, after feeding for a short time, hybernates 

 very early in the autumn, and while yet 

 extremely small : it conceals itself towards 

 the roots of the herbage, and very near the 

 surface of the ground : it feeds again towards 

 the end of April or teginning of May, and 

 attains its full size by the end of the latter 

 month. When full fed it rests on a blade of 

 grass in a nearly straight position, the back 

 slightly raised, and the head slightly bent 

 under ; if annoyed it falls to the ground in a 

 curved posture, which can scarcely be called a 

 ring, but lies motionless, feigning death, until 



the prospect of immediate danger is past, 

 when it slowly resumes its ordinary position, 

 and reascemls its food-plant. The head is of 

 nearly the same width as the second segment, 

 and is beset with scabrous points which emit 

 hairs : the body is obese and somewhat fusi- 

 form, increasing in size to the fifth segment, 

 thence it gradually diminishes to the anal 

 extremity, which terminates in two parallel 

 points above the anal flap, and directed back- 

 wards; the segmental divisionsarenotstrongly 

 mai-ked, and each is divided transveisely into 

 sections, which are also obscurely indicated ; 

 the sides in the region of the spiracles are 

 slightly, almost imperceptibly, dilated; every 

 part of the body is beset, like the head, with 

 scabrous points and short hairs : those of the 

 head and second segment are slightly arcuate 

 and bending forwards, those of the third seg- 

 ment nearly straight and erect, and those of 

 the remaining segments arcuate and bending 

 backwards. The colour of the head is pale 

 dingy green or pale reddish brown; of the 

 body paler dingy green or wainscot-brown, 

 with a pretty clearly defined narrow medio- 

 dorsal darker stripe ; the dorsal area on each 

 side of this dark stripe is very pale, and its 

 exterior margin almost white ; a narrow 

 sinuous reddish stripe intersects each division 

 of this pale area ; the lateral area is pale fer- 

 ruginous, intersected by a narrow whitish 

 stripe below the spiracles, which are intensely 

 black ; in addition to this principal broad 

 lateral stripe or area, there are two other very 

 inconspicuous stripes, the one above, the other 

 below it ; all the stripes unite, and terminate 

 in the anal points, which are slightly tinged 

 with pink ; the ventral surface, legs, and 

 claspers are pale fen uginous. On the 14th 

 of June my caterpillars left their food, and 

 lying at the bottom of the gallipot, underwent 

 pupation two days subsequently, without 

 attaching themselves in any way to the grass 

 or other object ; in fact they seemed to make 

 no preparation whatever for the change : the 

 CHRYSALIS is short and obese ; the head is 

 rounded and without any appearance of cars; 

 the thorax convex, but neither keeled nor 

 angulated ; the ventral ? irface is very gibbose, 



