370 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



surrounding ground colour ; in A. bellargus they are dull, less clearly denned, and 

 along the lateral ridge much more extensive. 



3. The hairs and setse of A. coridon are whitish, tinged with a reddish shade ; 

 in A. bellargus they are reddish at the base, and distinctly black towards 

 the tip. 



4. The skin-points in A. bellargus are also very conspicuously black, much 

 more so than in A. coridon, giving the larva a darker appearance, and this is 

 superficially, perhaps the chief point of distinction between the species. 



The larva of A. bellargus is full-grown at a time in the spring when 

 that of A. coridon is still quite small, so that there is little risk of 

 mistake in the field, should one chance to meet with either. The 

 fact that the two species arrive at maturity at different times, increases 

 the difficulty of denning the characters in which they differ, and it is, 

 of course, a very easy thing to imagine differences where one has to 

 trust to memory ; the points given, however, have been confirmed by 

 a number of observations, and are probably in the main correct 

 (Ray ward) . 



Foodplants. — Hippocrepis comosa (Zeller, Buckler). [Want con- 

 firmation — Genista sagittalis, bloom only (Ochsenheimer, Nickerl, 

 Richter, Koch, etc.), Genista sp. (Krieghoff, Horner), Genista (Moschler, 

 Stange), Sarothamnus (Meess and Spuler), Cytisus (Hofne:'), Trifolium 

 (Ochsenheimer, Richter, Moschler, Hofner, Meess and Spuler), 

 Trifolium, several species (Nickerl), clover species (Schultz), Lotus 

 (Hofner), Coronilla varia (Wocke, Krieghoff, Hofner, Biittner, Rothke, 

 Meess and Spuler), Coronilla montana (Krieghoft). One wonders how 

 much ot this is copied by one author from others, and how 7 many of 

 the original records were mere guesses that the larva? found belonged 

 to this species, and did not. Prideaux notes (in litt.) that larvae, 

 temporarily deprived of Hippocrepis comosa, refused Lotus and Trifolium, 

 which were provided as substitutes ; only one larva survived at tbe 

 end of a fortnight, out of a considerable number, and this eventually 

 produced an undersized $ .] 



Parasites. — Exorista confinis, Fall, {teste Wainwright). A $ of 

 this dipteron emerged September 7th, 1909, from a pupa, the larva of 

 Avhich came out of a larva of A. thetis {bellargus), August 16th or 17th, 

 1909, just as it was full-fed. Chapman observes that this larva of 

 A. tltetis had been raised at Reigate on a growing plant, under a per- 

 forated zinc cover, so that how it got stung is not evident, but probably 

 when the larva was resting on the zinc as it might be apt to do at a 

 moult ; the nearest habitat of A. tint is was a mile distant at least, 

 although Polyommatus icarus and Rumicia phlaeas occur close by. 

 Wainwright, who identified the specimen, reports it as a rare Briiish 

 species, only two other native examples being known ; on the con- 

 tinent it has been recorded from several species of lepidopteia — 

 chiefly " hairstreaks." 



Larva in quiescent stage preceding pupation.— The larva oiAgriaties 

 thetis (bellargus) laid up for pupation, assumes largely an ochreous 

 tint, the yellow of the dorsal flanges becoming whitish, with a brownish 

 surrounding and sublying region, which seems to be the insect proper, 

 the lateral flange region being translucent, and apparently filled with a 

 faintly bluish transparent fluid between the skin and the body of the 

 insect, the black spiracles are still conspicuous, the prothorax remains 

 greenish or bluish-green (Chapman). The quiescent period of a larva 

 under observation was noted to extend from October 2nd to October 8th, 



