124 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



the theory was abundantly proved by the 

 sequel, for the caterpillars produced a beauti- 

 ful weevil (Hyperafasdculata) ; nevertheless, 

 I am quite prepared to admit that the cater- 

 pillars of Medon were probably present in 

 company with those of the weevil, and that 

 Mr. Harding piloted the way to the discovery 

 of the life history of tins species. The reader 

 who feels an interest in this question, and has 

 leisure to do so, is recommended to read the 

 controversy on this subject in the volume of 

 the " Zoologist," from which I have already 

 quoted, pp. 6211, 6246, 6248, 6270, 6277, 

 6278, and 6310. In quoting Professor Zeller's 

 account of this insect, from page 73 of No. 40 

 of the " Entomologists' Monthly Magazine," 

 I would invite attention to the fact that this 

 truly eminent entomologist was on the very 

 eve of repeating Mr. Harding's mistake as to 

 the caterpillar of a beetle. " After several 

 attempts, which I made in the beginning of 

 the summer of last year, to observe the female 

 whilst ovipositing, and which, from the state 

 of the weather, were always fruitless, I at 

 last succeeded on the 22nd of August. A 

 female settled on a fallow field on the bare 

 ground. Having observed in her vicinity 

 some seedling plants of the storksbill, I did 

 not disturb her ; consequently, I saw how she 

 approached towards one of these plants, and, 

 after a short rest, curved her abdomen, and 

 deposited an egg on the under side of a leaf ; 

 having done this, she flew away. This EGG 

 had the ordinary form of those of the gonus 

 Lyccena ; it was greenish- white, and retained 

 this colour till the 31st August, when it 

 became pure white, and had on its upper side 

 a large kidney-shaped hole, through which 

 the caterpillar had escaped. The plant with 

 the egg I had fastened with a pin to a larger 

 plant in a flower-pot, so that it should not 

 dry up. Suspecting that more eggs had pro- 

 bably been deposited in the same locality, I 

 revisited the place on the 5th September, and 

 cut off about a hundred plants (which were 

 now rather larger) close above the roots, 

 without shaking them, and placed them in a 

 pocket-handkerchief. On the following day, 

 hen they were becoming rather withered, I 



shook them out, and, in addition to suim.y 

 green aphides, and some caterpillars and chry- 

 salids of Syrphus, I obtained eighteen onisci- 

 form caterpillars. These were from one to 

 two lines long, dull pale greenish, with rather 

 long white hairs, the lateral margins rather 

 paler, the head black. They remained half 

 an hour or longer before they crawled away 

 from the spot where I had placed them ; they 

 repaired to the under side of the leaves, and 

 ate during the sunshine the tips of the primate 

 leaves, leaving only the upper skin remaining, 

 which soon curled up and withered. On the 

 llth September, I tried the same plan of 

 operations on a sunny slope, where the but- 

 terfly had not been scarce in the spring. 

 Here T found what I took for the full-grown 

 caterpillar, only I was struck by its shape 

 being so slightly onisciform, since the body 

 was narrow and gradually attenuated behind. 

 The largest were pale green, with the head 

 honey-yellow, spotted with black ; a pale 

 roso-coloured dorsal stripe on each segment, 

 an elongate black spot on each side ; beneath 

 the black spiracles ran a wavy pale red longi- 

 tudinal stripe ; the prothorax was yellowish. 

 Yet I supposed this to be the Medon caterpillar 

 I was seeking, till I observed the following 

 day that it had no anterior legs : I believe it 

 was the caterpillar of one of the Curculionldce. 

 As they were eating up my food unnecessarily, 

 and I did not feel certain that they might not 

 be disposed to make a meal of one of my true 

 Medon caterpillars, I turned them away alto- 

 gether. I had, however, amongst them truly 

 obtained some caterpillars of Medon. By a 

 third expedition I increased my stock to more 

 than fifty, so that now there seemed good 

 hopes of bringing some safely through the 

 perils of winter. I distributed them into three 

 flower-pots ; but I had great difficulty with 

 the food-plants, since the young plants died 

 quite as soon as the old ones planted with in- 

 jured roots. At the same time, the caterpillars 

 grew very slowly ; however, by degrees, they 

 as iimed the colouring and markings of the 

 adult caterpillar. Early in December, when 

 frost set in, I arranged the three flower-pots 

 for the winter : two, covered with gauze, were 



