88 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



last the 2 settles, he will drop instantly so as to sit an inch or two 

 behind her, the wings of both, as a rule, vibrating rapidly all the time. 

 As he approaches her, she usually faces him, and they will then push 

 each other head to head, round and round in eddying circles, never 

 losing their foothold on the leaf or other object, the 2 generally keep- 

 ing her abdomen well raised, and both with the wings some little 

 distance apart. When she rises .they continue the movements in the 

 air, eddying swiftly around each other in small circles, sometimes 

 rising to a great height, and then falling almost simultaneously, the 

 $ taking up a position behind the 2 as before, the hindwings vibrat- 

 ing all the while. The continuous raising of the abdomen of the 2 

 appears to be a signal for the withdrawal of the $ ; sometimes two or 

 three S s may be thus seen gyrating round a single 2 , but usually 

 one $ drives the others away so that he is left in sole possession, but 

 he, too, leaves her later, for this is not a prelude to pairing, the 2 

 having already paired, and we have yet to learn the meaning of the 

 sexual attraction which the $ s and 2 s of almost all species appear 

 to have for each other when there is no possibility of pairing being the 

 ultimate result. The pairing habit of this species is usually exceedingly 

 simple and rapid. We have often observed it, and it is very similar 

 in almost all cases. On August 1st, 1909, near St. Anton, in Vorarlberg, 

 about 9.30 a.m., on a flowery bank in the hot sun, 2 J A. coridon 

 were observed hovering a moment just in front of us, and then dropped 

 almost simultaneously on the stem of a plant upon which a newly- 

 emerged 2 was observed with her wings fully expanded but hardly 

 dry, so that the hustling of the $ s pushed the rather soft wings from 

 side to side ; the $ s settled first one on either side of her, each extend- 

 ing its abdomen to the utmost, curling it round in a widely-extended 

 curve with the pale brown clasps fully distended, and turning them 

 round in an attempt to catch hold of the end of the abdomen of the 



2 ; at this time the 2 kept her abdomen well covered by the inner 

 margins of the hindwings, and slowly moved up the stem on which 

 she was standing, the $ s following her up, and heading in exactly the 

 same direction, continuously pushed her from one side to the other, 

 until at last she dropped from her perch and fell a few inches upon an 

 almost upright slab ; both the $ s lost her and circled round evidently 

 attempting to pick up the scent ; at first they failed entirely, but, after 

 perhaps a couple of minutes, one of them dropped quickly to her left 

 side and immediately protruded his claspers, curled round his body, 

 and running alongside her as she moved upwards, attempted to catch 

 hold of the abdomen which was now hanging below the hindwings, the 

 ovipositor being clearly visible ; the other $ flew down by the side of 

 the first $ , and curving his abdomen, the tw T o J s interfered a great 

 deal with each other ; suddenly the second $ pushed forward the first 



$ , and almost at the same moment caught hold of the tip of the 

 abdomen of the 2 with his claspers ; the first £ flew T to the other 

 side of the 2 , but, although he was a larger and apparently stronger 

 specimen, he failed entirely to remove the claspers of the other $ , and in 

 a few seconds flew off; the other $ now placed himself behind the ? 

 facing in the opposite direction, and thrust upwards with his abdomen 

 two or three times before union was permanently effected ; this being 

 done both butterflies were placed in a large glass-topped box, and were 

 still paired when next looked at about 6 p.m. They were, however, 



