THE QUEEN OF SPAIN FRITILLARY. 91 



the wing in July and August, and is much more easily seen 

 than caught. However, it is rather fond of perching on the 

 taller kinds of thistles, and is then not difficult to capture, if 

 quietly approached. It is common locally in most of the 

 English and Welsh counties. In Ireland it seems to be chiefly 

 attached to the coast, and is plentiful in some of its localities. 

 In Scotland it occurs in many suitable districts, but Skye is the 

 only one of the isles from which it has been reported. Its dis- 

 tribution extends through Europe and Asia to Amurland, China, 

 and Japan. 



The Queen of Spain Fritillary (Argynnis lathonia). 



In shape and in general appearance this butterfly is not 

 unlike a small example of the Silver-washed Fritillary ; the 

 large silvery, or sometimes pearly, blotches on the under side of 

 the hind wings at once reveal its higher British rank. When 

 flying it has a curious resemblance to the Wall, and sometimes 

 it has been taken when the captor supposed that he was netting 

 a specimen of that plebeian butterfly. The black markings on 

 the upper side vary somewhat in size, and occasionally those on 

 the front area, or those on the inner area of the fore wings, are 

 more or less confluent ; very rarely the wings are suffused with 

 a steely-blue or bronze colour. The specimens occurring in 

 this country do not, however, exhibit so much variation as has 

 been observed in this butterfly abroad. 



I have not seen any of the early stages. The figures of the 

 caterpillar and the chrysalis (Plate 58) are after Hiibner, 

 and the following descriptions of the egg and other stages are 

 adapted from the detailed life-history of the species by Mr. 

 Frohawk, published in the Entomologist for 1903 : — 



" The egg is one-fortieth of an inch high, of a rather straight- 

 sided conical form, widest at the base, where it is smooth and 

 rounded off at the edge. There are about forty longitudinal 



