82 



The egg is globular, shining, of a pinkish grey colour, and covered with 

 very delicate, black, diamond-shaped reticulations. 



The caterpillar, instead of being long and spiny, like those of the true 

 Fritillaries, is short, thick, and of a woodlouse shape. Its colour is reddish- 

 brown, or a pale olive brown, with tufts of hair of the same colour and black 

 dots, black spiracles, and a greenish-yellow spiracular line. It feeds on the 

 leaves of the primrose and of the cowslip, from June to September, when it 

 then enters into the chrysalis state. 



The chrysalis differs from that of the true Fritillaries as much as the cater- 

 pillar does, being attached by the tail, and with a belt of silk round the 

 middle, to the underside of a leaf of the food-plant. In that state it remains 

 over the winter. It is of a pale yellowish brown colour, with numerous 

 distinct black spots and marks ; it is short and stumpy, and covered with 

 hair in the same manner as the caterpillar. 



Lucinais common in woods in many parts of Central and Southern Europe, 

 extending from the South of Sweden to the Northern parts of Greece and 

 and Turkey. It is generally distributed over England, but does not occur 

 in the two counties at the north-eastern boundary Durham and Northum- 

 berland. On the other side, it has been met with in the counties of West- 

 moreland and Cumberland. It has not been found in Ireland or the Isle of 

 Man, and only in the extreme South-west of Scotland. 



It was figured by James Petiver in his " Gazophylacii Naturse et Artis," 

 in 1702; and also in his " Papiliorium Britannise," 1717. Of it he writes, 

 " Papilio Fritillaria minor. Yemen's small Fritillary. It's the least of all 

 the Fritillaries yet known. Found in several woods round London." 



Moses Harris, in his <( Aurelian," published in 1775, writes "The Duke 

 of Burgundy Fritillary, commonly called the Burgundy, is one of the four 

 Fritillaries which want the silver spots, and is the least of them all. They 

 always fly in woods not very high above the grass. Their most plentiful 

 time of flight is about the middle of May. They are very nimble, yet I can- 

 not say they are difficult to take/' 



In Ray's " Historia Insectorium," 1810, we read, " This was first observed 

 by Mr. Yernon, about Cambridge, afterwards in Horn&ea Wood, near Lon- 

 don, by Mr. Handley, and by Mr. Danbridge at Boxhill, and is pretty com- 

 mon about Dulwich." 



Why this little butterfly was named the Duke of Burgundy must remain a 

 mystery, as the high sounding and sex-quipedalian name is by no means in 

 harmony with the diminutive size of the species, but " Parvum parva decent," 

 says the proverb. The Rev. F. G. Morris, in his " History of British 

 Butterflies," informs entomologists generally " that it is not his province to 



