FAMILY HABITS IN BUTTERFLY LARVAE THE CHRYSOPHANIDS. & 



phron (gordiuH) feed on the underside of the leaves of Rumex 

 acetosa, making inroads into the green substance, and leaving 

 the upper epidermis intact. Those of Gkrysophanus dispar live on 

 the underside of the leaves of Rumex hydrolapathum, from which 

 they first gnaw off the epidermis, but, as they get older, they 

 eat little holes right through the leaves. When newly-hatched 

 Frohawk observes that the larva of the latter species crawls to 

 the undersurface of the leaf, eats into the cuticle, and lies in the 

 furrow eaten out, with the lateral flange of hairs lying flat on 

 the surface overlapping the edges of the furrow. After making 

 a little channel, often not more than its own length, just to lie in, it 

 moves to another spot, and eats out another groove, and so on to 

 another, so that, after feeding for a few days, several little transparent 

 channels of various lengths are cut in the leaf, which is not perforated, as 

 they leave a thin membrane on the uppersurface. If a portion of the 

 leaf is cur-led over so as to leave the undersurface uppermost, they then 

 feed on the upper cuticle ; they are, therefore, indifferent on which 

 surface they feed, so long as they are underneath. Sich observes that, 

 when quite young, they eat out small patches, consuming the lower 

 cuticle and the parenchyma, but leaving the upper cuticle entire, and, 

 at this time, are most inconspicuous on account of their flatness, pale 

 colour, and translucent aspect ; in the third stadium they begin to 

 eat holes right through the leaves, and, in the last stadium, they make 

 large holes, frequently near the midrib, but, though they consume the 

 smaller veins of the leaf, the large lateral veins usually stop them, 

 and often form a margin of a hole. Whilst feeding they keep the 

 edge of the prothorax always close to the surface of the leaves, and the 

 head remains buried in the prothorax. Frohawk also further notes 

 that, in the third stadium, the larvae perforate the leaf, eating large 

 holes all over it, whilst, in their final stage, they eat voraciously and 

 grow rapidly. Selzer observes that, when newly-hatched, the young 

 larvae of Heodes virgaureae make small, oval, transparent spots on the 

 leaves but are rarely to be observed, for, as soon as they have fed, they 

 hide low down on the stalks ; they feed up rapidly, however, and, when 

 about three or four weeks old, devour considerable portions of the 

 leaves, and finally eat the leaf entirely. When quite young the larva 

 of Rumicia phlaeas eats little holes, of about its own size, halfway 

 through a leaf from the underside, or makes a channel about the width 

 of the body and about its length, in which it lies sunk, on about a 

 level with the surface of the leaf, extending this later and eating the 

 green cuticle, which is thicker on the underside than the upperside, 

 after a time leaving only the upper epidermis remaining ; in their 

 earliest stages they are most difficult to detect. When the larva gets 

 larger it may feed from the side of the leaf and throughout its whole 

 thickness, so that, in its feeding-habits, the larva of this species is much 

 like that of Chrysophanus dispar, except that the latter appears very 

 seldom, if. ever, to eat from the side of the leaf. Ruhl says that, when 

 young, the larva of Loweia amphidamas rests on the underside of a 

 leaf of the foodplant, eating at first only the lower parenchyma, but 

 after its last moult attacks the entire leaf. 



The development of " forwards " is most marked in Rumicia 

 phlaeas in all its broods. Raynor observes that, from eggs laid in 

 early June, 1905, the fastest larvae commenced to pupate on July 20th, 



