NOTES ON PARARGE iEGERIA. 203 



latter part of May till the end of June. The resulting larvae were fed 

 on growing luxuriant food under natural conditions of temperature. 

 The rate of growth was very slow, and it was not until the 29th of July 

 (though possibly overlooked on the 28th) that the first butterfly, a $ , 

 emerged. 



" On the same day the first second-brood wild female was observed 

 in the lane whence the stock had been procured. 



"From the latter part of June till July 29th, the butterfly in a 

 wild state had become very scarce though tiiroughout May and till the 

 middle of June it was extremely common in the lanes. Except perhaps 

 a few worn examples it disappeared in July in 1916, and it may be said 

 that the second brood did not begin to emerge till the end of the 

 month. 



" By the end of July and in early August Dr. Perkins had hundreds 

 of larvfe varying in size from those full grown or nearly so to those still 

 very small, or about in the second and third stages. A few butterflies 

 emerged from August 10th to August 17th, from May or early June 

 eggs, but on August 10th most of them were still in the larval stage 

 and many not more than half grown, some smaller still. On August 

 9th several pupated. Three butterflies emerged from these pupae on 

 -October 1st to 3rd. One of them was a cripple, but the other two are 

 rather small and peculiar specimens. These were bred indoors. The 

 pupae are dimorphic, a beautiful clear green or brown. 



" On September 12th and following days the butterfly was found in 

 great numbers in some of the lanes behind Paignton, many of the 

 specimens being very fresh and perfect. About the same date some of 

 both sexes were bred from early August pupae. The females were put 

 in cages and wild males with them to obtain fertile eggs. Ova were 

 laid by these females till the end of the month but many of them were 

 destroyed by predaceous insects or bad weather, the last butterfly dying 

 ab')ut October 1st, after exposure to several nights of violent rains. 

 The first caterpillar emerged from these eggs on October 5th, and half 

 a dozen or more on the following morning. 



" On the 3rd of October the grass on which the eggs were laid was 

 dug up, potted, and placed in the open window of a loft. 



"The conclusions at which Dr. Perkins has arrived from his 

 observations and experiments during the present year are exceedingly 

 instructive. No very early (March) specimens such as occur some years 

 were seen in 1916, but the first brood of ei/erides appeared without any 

 break or diminution in numbers from early spring till the middle of 

 June. There is little doubt that all of these belonged to one brood 

 derived from eggs laid the previous year. A distinct gap was then 

 observed in the occurrence of the butterfly and it was not until the end 

 of July that fresh specimens appeared. The fact that many of the eggs 

 laid in the latter part of May and beginning of June did not become 

 butterflies till September 12th to October 3rd, while hundreds of larvfe 

 less advanced than these and only half grown in the second and third week 

 in August were thrown away for want of facilities for rearing them, 

 renders the idea of a third brood in 1916 impossible. It seems unlikely 

 that most of these larvae could possibly have produced any butterflies till 

 next year. It would appear then that in 1916, so far from being three- 

 brooded, egerides has been probably only partially double brooded, for it 

 is extremely unlikely that the latest laid eggs of the first brood have 



