LIFE-HISTORY OF ARGYNNIS LATHONIA. 301 



kindly sent me the only female specimen be obtained during his 

 visit to Switzerland last summer. This he captured at Zermatt 

 on Aug. 2nd, and at once despatched it to me, arriving on Aug. 

 6th. When I opened the small box containing it, I found it in a 

 very feeble state, and one leg missing, and I must say I had very 

 slight hope of obtaining eggs from this female, especially as she 

 had but three legs, as I have generally found a difficulty in in- 

 ducing butterflies to deposit if they have sustained injury to 

 their legs. However, "where there is life there is hope." I 

 immediately set to work to restore her by feeding her with sugar 

 and water, and while she was feasting for about fifteen minutes 

 I potted up a plant of wild heartsease [Viola tricolor) for her 

 reception. Upon this I put her as soon as she had finished 

 drinking, and placed it in the sun, when gradually she revived, 

 but owing to the day turning dull no eggs were laid ; but the 

 following morning was bright and sunny, so I carefully watched 

 her movements, and saw the first egg laid at 9 a.m., and by 

 10 a.m. she had produced about three dozen, and during the day 

 about one hundred were deposited ; these were laid singly, and 

 mostly on the plant, but many on the gauze covering as well. I 

 fed her again each succeeding morning, but no more eggs were 

 deposited, and she died on the seventh day. 



The egg is 5I5 in. high, of a rather straight-sided conical form, 

 widest at the base, where it is smooth and rounded off at the 

 edge. There are about forty longitudinal keels, irregularly formed 

 and of different lengths, some not reaching half-way up the side, 

 and others running the entire length from base to crown, where 

 they terminate abruptly, and form a series of triangular peaks 

 round the summit surrounding the granulated micropyle; the 

 spaces between the keels are finely ribbed transversely. When 

 first laid it is of a very pale lemon-yellow colour, inclining to 

 ochreous, appearing almost white in certain lights ; the colour 

 gradually deepens, becoming yellower with a greenish tinge. On 

 the fifth day the crown of the egg assumes a dull grey, finally 

 changing to a lilac-grey. All the ova hatched on Aug. 14th, 

 remaining in the egg-state seven days. 



Directly after emergence the larva measures j^^ in. long. The 

 body is cylindrical, and the segmental divisions are deeply de- 

 fined, each segment swelling in the middle. There are ten longi- 

 tudinal rows of shining olive-coloured irregularly-shaped warts, 

 five on each side, i. e. three above the spiracle and two below ; 

 the first dorsal and last lateral ones are bilobed ; each of the 

 lobes and the other warts bears a long serrated bristle; the 

 longest and most curved are those on the dorsal surface ; all 

 curving forwards, the smallest being the anterior one of the 

 dorsal pair. All these bristles are shining black, with whitish 

 transparent tips. The head is shining black, and beset with 

 similar but shorter bristles ; the entire body is densely sprinkled 



