go THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES» 



blackish or greenish-black. Occasionally the colour is quite 

 pale, as shown in the middle figure on Plate 61, and some- 

 times it is clouded with greyish. The black spots are apt to 

 run together, and so form bands and blotches. An example of 

 this kind of aberration is shown on the plate. 



Var. char lotto, differs very little from the type on the upper 

 side, but on the under side of the hind wings the basal silvery 

 spots are united, as shown in the upper reverse side figure on the 

 plate. This variety was known to the entomologist of Haworth's 

 time as the " Queen of England Fritillary," and there is a figure 

 of it in Sowerby's " British Miscellany," which was published in 

 1806. 



The egg is yellowish when first laid, and a day or two after- 

 wards violet-brown rings appear above the base and the apical 

 half. It is ribbed and finely cross-ribbed, and some of the ribs 

 are continued to the truncate and slightly depressed top. 



When full grown the caterpillar is shining purplish-grey, 

 thickly mixed with velvety black ; the grey is most in evidence 

 between the rings and along the lower part of the sides. There 

 is a yellow stripe along the middle of the back, and this has a 

 central black line of irregular width ; along the lower part of 

 the sides there is a row of reddish spots, and these are con- 

 nected by a fine yellowish line. The black spines are branched, 

 and, except on the first three rings, which have only two rows, 

 arranged in three rows on each side of the yellow stripe. The 

 head is glossy black, and, like the body, hairy. {Adapted from 

 Buckler?) 



It feeds in May and June on dog-violet, and has been reared 

 on garden pansy. The chrysalis has the head, thorax, and 

 wing-cases black, very glossy, and marked with pale brownish ; 

 the body is pale brownish, and the points black. Suspended in 

 a tent-like arrangement of leaves. 



Moorlands, downs, sea-cliffs, and flowery slopes are the kind 

 of situations most to the fancy of this agile butterfly. It is on 



