SATYRS. 



83 



but is sometimes entirely absent; tho fourth 

 is larger and almost invariably distinct : the 

 rust coloured band of the hind wings is divided 

 into compartments by the wing-rays, which 

 are of the dark-ground colour; each of the 

 three principal compartments contains a cir- 

 cular, small, and ill-defined round black spot, 

 with a white pupil. The under side of the 

 fore wings is dark brown, with a broad fulvous 

 band parallel with the hind margin ; in this 

 band are the same ocellated black spots as on 

 the upper side : the hind wings are blue gray 

 or fulvous gray, with two broad transverse 

 bands of a darker tint ; the first of these is 

 median, the second marginal ; in the area 

 between these bands are two, three, or four 

 minute white spots, each with a dark circum- 

 scription. 



Obs. It would, perhaps, be more precise to 

 describe the under side of the hind wings as 

 divided transversely into four compartments, 

 of which all except the basal compartment 

 are in the form of bands ; the third compart- 

 ment is always lighter than the second and 

 fourth, but is not always of the same colour; 

 it is sometimes fulvous brown, and sometimes 

 blueish ash coloured ; the first or basal com- 

 partment of the wing generally corresponds in 

 colour exactly with the third ; but this is not 

 always the case, for in several specimens in my 

 collection the first compartment is perfectly 

 concolorous with the second. The different 

 tinting of these compartments has induced 

 entomologists to establish numerous varieties, 

 but the propriety of this course seems to me 

 rather questionable. On this subject Mr. 

 Wailes has remarked, at page 41 of the first 

 volume of the " Entomological Magazine," 

 " that the mules never have the broad brown 

 band underneath the hind wings instead of 

 the blueish ash one, whilst the females may be 

 considei'ed as divided into two great varieties 

 equally common, distinguishable not only by 

 the colour of that band, but by the greater 

 distinctness of the ocelli 5 ' Accepting this 

 view, it would appear that the normal colour 

 of the third compartment in the male is 

 blueish ash, but that a variety of the female 

 frequently occurs in which it is fulvous brown. 



Obs. 2. It seems desirable to notice the 

 change of a familiar name : the Blaudina of 

 Fabiicius, published in 1794, is the same as 

 the Medea of the Vienna Catalogue, published 

 in 1776 : Mr. Doubleday has | ointed out this 

 fact, and we have no choice but to revert to 

 the older name. 



LIFE HISTORY. At page 199 of the third 

 volume of the " Transactions of the Tyneside 

 Naturalists' Field Club," Mr. Wailes first 

 announced the discovery of the eggs and cater- 

 pillars of this species. The eggs he does not 

 describe, but Mr. Buckler has supplied this 

 omission at page G5 of No. 75 of the " Ento- 

 mologists' Monthly Magazine " : Mr. Buckler 

 says, " The egg may be called large for the 

 size of the fly, and is nearly globular, though 

 somewhat ovate in shape, and placed on end ; 

 the shell is glistening and ribbed, but not 

 deeply, with about thirty longitudinal ribs, 

 and with vei-y shallow transverse reticulations, 

 in colour pale greenish -yellow, afterwards 

 pale pinkish-gray, speckled with claret- 

 brown." To proceed with Mr. Wailes's dis- 

 covery, that gentleman says, "I have succeeded 

 in obtaining a few EGGS, which hatched about 

 fourteen days after they were laid, and the 

 young caterpillars fed freely on several species 

 of meadow grass (Poa) in October, when they 

 ceased feeding preparatory to hybernation ; 

 they had undergone their second moult, and 

 were then pa'e green, with a dark green or 

 brownish stripe down the back, and two 

 white ones narrowly bordered by the same 

 dark colour on each side. In the lower white 

 stripe on each side are the spiracles : the pos- 

 terior extremity is attenuated and slightly 

 furcate, as in other caterpillars of the family." 

 I am able to add the description of a CATER- 

 PILLAR when full fed, which was on the 1st of 

 July, 1870 : it rested in a nearly straight 

 position on the stilks or leaves of the brown 

 bent grass (Agrostis canina), and it fed in 

 confinement exclusively on the latter, but I 

 cannot say whether this is the case in a state 

 of nature : these leaves appear to possess a 

 revolute margin, and hence to assume a some- 

 what tubular character : when annoyed the 

 caterpillar seemed to grasp more tightly with 



