l82 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



As the fore legs of the male butterfly are aborted, and are 

 therefore useless for walking, the species would seem to come 

 near the Nymphalidae, in which the fore legs of the butterflies, 

 in both sexes, are reduced. In its early stages, however, the 

 species seems to be most nearly related to the Lycaenidae. 



';**»>%!■ The Duke of Burgundy Fritillary (Nemeobius lucina). 



**'"** jj^ This butterfly is figured on Plate 120. The male is black, 



tu w * tn tnree transverse tawny bands on the fore wings ; these 



vJ*^ 4 * are crossed by the black veins, and so form series of irregular 



V%!a*t s P ots - Those on the outer margin have black centres ; on the 



toll} k mc ^ wm 8 s there are three or four tawny spots on the disc, 



J*^^ and a series of black centred tawny spots on the outer area. 



rtk The female is similar to the male, but the tawny markings are 



o* a wider, so that the fore wings appear to be of this colour, with 



<"*fa a black patch at the base, two black irregular lines, and a 



J^Vt series of black spots on the outer margin. On the under side 



yi*. of the hind wings there are two transverse series of whitish 



9 V spots, and a series of black spots on the outer margin. The 



Jj^* wings of this sex are always broader than those of the male, 



and the apex of the fore wings is not so distinctly pointed. 



Variation is not usually of a very pronounced character, and 



in a general way it consists mainly in a greater or lesser amount 



of black in the male, and this more particularly on the hind 



wings, and an increase in the tawny colour in the female ; in 



the latter sex, outer marginal black spots are sometimes absent 



from all the wings. Barrett mentions two extreme aberrations. 



In one, a female, the usually dark spaces, bands, and veins are 



of an exceedingly pale brown, suffused with fulvous, so as to be 



comparatively indistinct ; another example, a male, has the 



basal area of the fore wings pale, and the first transverse dark 



band absent. 



The eggs of this species are to be found at the end of May 



