■""■ 



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15 



remaining without losing their vitality for several years, until a favourable oppor- 

 tunity of their being brought into existence arrives." 



A long and interesting account of the ravages of this insect is published by 

 Kollar, in his work upon obnoxious insects, (translated by Miss Loudon, p. 183), 

 from the observations of the Canon Schmidberger. 



The perfect insect appears to select the Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum, as 

 Mr. H. Newman states, that on the 23rd of July, 1835, this butterfly was so abundant 

 at Oldenbarn, near Leominster, that he took nearly thirty specimens with his fingers 

 from that plant on which they had settled, {Entomol Mag. No. 12, p. 208). It 

 appears to be confined to the southern parts of England, being wholly unknown in 

 Scotland. 



The caterpillar of this insect has been observed to devour the shell of the egg 

 from which it had been just previously hatched, {Bonnet (Euvres, ii. p. 18). When 

 full fed they prepare for pupation by spinning a thread around the middle of the 

 body, as well as by affixing themselves by the tail. Their proceedings during this 

 operation have been carefully observed and described by Reaumur. 



THECLA QUERCUS. THE PURPLE HAIRSTREAK BUTTERFLY. 



Plate X. fig. a — g. 



Synonyms. Papilio (Pleb. Rur.) Quercus. Linn, Syst. Nat. ii. 788. Lewin Papil. pi. 43. Donovan 

 Brit. Ins. 13. pi. 460. Wilkes Eng. Moths and Butt. pi. 116. Haworth. Albin's 

 Ins. pi. 52. fig. a— c. 

 Thecla Quercus. Leach, Stephens, Curtis. Duncan Brit. Butt. pi. 3. $. nee $. 4. 

 $ . nee $ . 



Upper Side. The female is somewhat larger than the male, her wings are totally of a dark 

 shining purple ; but the male hath a lovely blue spot on each side of the superior wings, near the 

 thorax : the rest of the wing being of a dark colour, nearly black. I have shewn the male at (d), 

 and the female at (e). 



The under side is seen at (g), which are in both sexes nearly alike. 



The caterpillars feed on the oaks, which grow by the sides of woods ; and are taken by heating 

 the bouo-hs with a pole, when they with other caterpillars fall into a sheet spread on the ground for 

 that purpose. When full fed, as at (a), they are about the size and form of a millipede or wood 

 louse, of an orange brown colour. They change into chrysalis, by fastening themselves at the 

 tail and round the middle, like the last mentioned species. This happens about the beginning 

 of June ; and the butterfly appears in about twenty-one days. 



The caterpillar at (/) is represented as one which having been pierced by the ichneumon, 

 the maggots are making their way out through its skin, after which they spin themselves up 

 in white cases, as at (h), and after a few days they appear in the winged state. 



Expansion of the wings lj— 1J inches. 



This handsome little butterfly is very common in the southern parts of the king- 

 dom, but is rarely found so far north as Scotland. There has been a general mis- 

 apprehension entertained as to the sexes of the species, the individuals with the large 

 bright purple patch on the wings having by almost all writers (including Harris) 

 been regarded as the males. Dr. Horsfield, however, by an anatomical investigation 



