186 [July, 



whether English or Swiss, are not so dilapidated, and it appears au 

 open question whether they may not belong to an early brood ? C. 

 Hyale is decidedly double-brooded, but no one has ever suggested its 

 hibernation ; the winter sleep o£ G. Edusa seems to me " not proven :" 

 perhaps my doubts may bring these proofs forward from other 

 observers. 



All the Vanessce are more or less torpid during the winter, but 

 this torpidity is very different in degree in different species ; for 

 example, Vanessa urticce retires to rest very early in the autumn, long 

 before warm days are ended, when many other butterflies are on the 

 wing, yet it is more easily aroused from sleep than any of the others, 

 and may, not rarely, be seen on some sunny day even in January ; it 

 can always be found in sheltered valleys during March and April ; 

 the same remarks as to early hibernation and early reappearance apply 

 also to Vanessa lo, though by no means so forcibly ; they apply in a 

 still less marked degree to Vanessa polycliloros. Vanessa c-alhum 

 appears very late in the autumn, but soon commences its winter sleep, 

 to fly again in early spring ; Vanessa Antiopa is common enough in 

 many Swiss valleys in June ; all the specimens being, however, very 

 much the worse for wear, yet the autumn migrations to our island in 

 occasional years show that its early days of life are not passed in 

 idleness. In all these species hibernation is the rule, and au autumn 

 death exceptional, but the other two of our native species, V. Atalanta 

 and V. cardui, though undoubtedly living through the winter, are never 

 found in any numbers after this time, however abundant they may 

 have been in the October previous. V. Atalanta is a hardy insect, 

 often in the south of England to be seen feasting on the ivy blossoms 

 early in November. These are the superficial facts about the sleep of 

 these Vanessce ; but have we authentic and positive information as to 

 when impregnation takes place, and when and where the eggs are 

 laid ? we presume in the spring, but has this presumption any basis of 

 fact ? It is difficult to fancy that no eggs are deposited by Atalanta, 

 saving by the comparatively few which survive the winter. Pupae and 

 full grown larvae of 2^olycJiloros have been found by me in May, both 

 in Belgium and Germany, probably from eggs of early spring. These 

 are the only British butterflies which pass the winter months in 

 torpidity. Lyccena Phlceas certainly does not hibernate, it may be 

 sometimes caught late in October, and again see.n very early in May, 

 but these last ai'e only exceptional instances, where the larvae have fed 

 up and pupated during a mild winter, and the insect has been pro- 

 duced before its usual time of appearance. 



