LIFE-HISTORIES. 263 



means that can be recognised scientifically, viz., by actual breeding 

 experiments from the egg. 



Pupal skin and hairs of Thecla w-albnm [u-ith plate). 



By De. T. a. chapman, F.Z.S., F.E.S. 



Plate ix., showing the pupal skin and hair of Thecla ic-albwn, 

 may be compared with that of a similar portion of the pupa of 

 Zephyr us guerciis {antea, pi. x). The magnification here is only half 

 that of the plate of Z. quercics. The region shown is practically the 

 same, viz., the spiracular region of the 3rd abdominal segment. (In 

 the plate illustrating Z. querciis it was the 2nd abdominal.) 



The hairs here are a fairly ordinary form of spiculate hairs, yet 

 their close relationship with the trumpet-hairs of Z. querciis is obvious, 

 so that we cannot help concluding from the intermediate forms offered 

 in that species, that the trumpet-hairs are modifications of ordinary 

 spiculate hairs. The hairs in Thecla w-album are 0'3mm. to 0-35mm. 

 long, are spiculate for their whole length, and end in a sharp point. 

 We may, perhaps, fancy that there is just a tendency to the trumpet 

 development, in the fact that many of the hairs are thicker at some 

 distance from their extremities than near their bases. 



The abundance of lenticles round the spiracles is well-shown in 

 the plate, and the area being larger than in that of Z. quercus, there 

 are also included some of the stellate points with their appended ribs, 

 enough to illustrate, what is obvious on an examination of larger 

 areas of the pupal skin, that these points are often connected together 

 by their ribs, but that they always avoid any association with hairs or 

 lenticles ; this we found also to be the case in the other pupfe so far 

 illustrated. 



In the pupa of T. w-album the lenticles are freely distributed over 

 the whole surface (except appendages), and the stellate points and ribs 

 are correspondingly curtailed, differing, therefore, from Z. quercus, 

 in which lenticles are abundant only near the spiracles. 



ElOTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARY^, &c. 



Ovum of Lyc.ena alcon, F. — On July 17th, 1906, I received from 

 Herr Max Gillmer some ova of Lycaena alcon, F. These he took on 

 July 14th, in the Wornitz, on the border of the Mosigkauer Haide, in 

 Anhalt (see Ent. Bee, vol. xviii., p. 102). They were found on the 

 flowers of Gentiana pneumonanthe, L., mostly on the calyx, or corolla, 

 but also on the stalks and leaves, laid singly. The gentian in the 

 Wornitz only grows in the damp parts of the meadows, but luxuriantly, 

 reaching a height of over eighteen inches. Of the eggs received, seven 

 were laid on the corolla, and eight on the catyx. They were all on the 

 unopened flower-buds, some of w^hich were still green, while others 

 already showed a purple corolla. The white ova were very conspicuous 

 and firmly attached. They do not appear to change colour. On 

 examining the gentian buds one day, I was surprised to find a Lyca?nid 

 larva on one of them, as none of the eggs had apparently hatched. 

 Further examination revealed the fact, however, that, on the contrary, 

 nearly all the eggs were empty, and I found that the larva, instead of 

 breaking through the micropylar area or the waU of the egg, as most 



