86 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



kind by feeding and growing until they eventually passed 

 through all the stages and emerged perfect butterflies in Sep- 

 tember and October of that year. Something similar occurred 

 in a brood that he was rearing in the autumn of 1895, but on 

 this occasion only one caterpillar continued to feed beyond the 

 normal time. 



The English name by which we now know this, the largest 

 of the six British Argynnids, seems to have been given to it by 

 Moses Harris in 1778. Sixty years or so before that date it 





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Fig. 25. 

 Aberration of var. valesina. 



was called the ''Greater Silver-streaked Fritillary." Fortu- 

 nately, in this case, as in others where the vulgar tongue is 

 entomologically concerned, the law of priority does not apply, 

 so that the name Silver-washed, which so well expresses the 

 under-side ornamentation, may be retained. 



The butterfly is probably to be found in most of the Southern 

 English and Welsh counties, especially where there are ex- 

 tensive woods. In North Devon, however, it occurs in places 

 where there is not much in the way of woodland. It is abundant 



