74 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Trifolium (Boisduval, Guenee, Newman); clover (Doleschall, Frionnet, 

 Goossens); Plantago (Martorell). Of all these reputed foodplants, one 

 suspects that only three are based on actual knowledge, viz., Hippo- 

 crepis comosa (Boisduval, Buckler), Coronilla varia (Zeller), Astragalus 

 glycyphyllus (Speyer), and perhaps a fourth, Coronilla minium (Koch). 

 As for the rest of the plants, one suspects that the records have been 

 based on various errors botanical .and otherwise. Gedge notes (Ent. 

 Mo. Mag., iii., p. 70) that the larva eats Hippocrepis comosa, but 

 refuses Lotus eorniculatus. Doubleday also observes (op. tit., p. 91) that 

 larvae that he had refused Lotus eorniculatus. Zeller notes (Ent. Mo. 

 Mag., vi., p. 11) that the foodplant is certainly Coronilla varia at 

 Glogau, Frankfort-on-Oder, and Meseritz, where there is neither chalk 

 nor Hippocrepis, but, in the higher parts of Carinthia, where Hippo- 

 crepis grows in the greatest profusion in all the meadows where the 

 butterfly occurs, there is no Coronilla (except C. emerus). Zeller also 

 throws doubt (Stett. Ent. Ztg., 1852, p. 425) on the reputed foodplants 

 enumerated by Boisduval — Trifolium, Lotus, Hedysarum onobrychis, as 

 well as Hippocrepis comosa, on which, however, he afterwards found 

 larvae. Krodel states (Allg. Zeits. fur Ent., ix., p. 104) that larva? sent 

 to him by Jimgling from Regensburg, and found on Hippocrepis 

 comosa, refused other allied plants belonging to the family of the 

 Papilionaceae, viz., Lotus eorniculatus, Onobrychis sativa, Trifolium 

 pratense, T. repens, Medicago sativa, M. falcata, Melilolus officinalis, 

 Coronilla varia, which he offered them in the hope that they would 

 find among them a foodplant to their taste. He adds that his 

 expectation was, however, delusive, they would die sooner than touch 

 any one of the plants. Even Coronilla varia, which is quoted in all 

 works on lepidoptera as a foodplant, and on which Zeller reared his 

 A. coridon larva? exclusively, was refused. He says that he had no 

 course left but to continue feeding them on H. comosa, unless he were 

 willing to give up rearing them altogether. Gillmer, on the other 

 hand, states (in litt.) that at Kriichern, in the Cothen district of 

 Anhalt, the larva feeds only on Coronilla varia ; Hippocrepis comosa, 

 he says, does not occur in Anhalt. 



Parasites. — Blepharidea vulgaris, Fin., Exorista con fin is, Fall., 

 bred 1909, and identified by Mr. C. J. Wainwright (H. Wood, in litt.). 

 [See also preceding vol., p. 370.] 



Pupa. — Pale ochreous in tint, with faint blackish shading over the 

 abdominal segments. Length ll*7mm., width (across 4th abdominal 

 segment) 4mm. Ventrally, the portion beyond end of wings is 2*5mm., 

 and looks very short (or the wings long). [Comparison is made with 

 pupte of A. thetis (bellargus), chiefly because living specimens of these 

 are available.] A pupa of A. thetis (bellargus) 10-omm. long, has this 

 portion all but 3mm. long. The wings have rather a solid appearance, 

 but the eyes show no change; a pupa of A. thetis (bellargus) with similar 

 wings, has eyes black, and antennae, etc., dark. The greatest width 

 is I mm., and it is 8'7mm. at wing spines, so that the pupa tapers very 

 little forwards, less than . /. thetis (bellargus). The portion of the antenna 1 

 beyond where they cover the maxillse, seems shorter than in A. thetis 

 (hell argils), a shade under 2"5nim., against 2'5mm. in the smaller . •/. thetis 

 (bellargus). The number, size, and distribution of the hairs, agree 

 closely with those in A. thetis (bellargus), and the black portion of the 

 hairs is much the same; there seems to be considerable variation in 



