ARICIA MEDON. 



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a hothouse they resolutely refuse to feed up the same year. They are 

 very easy to hibernate in captivity. Early in the spring, towards the 

 end of March and the beginning of April, they commence to feed on 

 the new growth. They still feed on the lower side of the leaves, 

 eating the spongy tissue from the lower side and leaving the epidermis. 

 This turns yellow, and as the larvae rarely eat more than the half of 

 any one leaf before going to another, they are easily discovered by 

 examining plants showing the characteristic yellow colour. When 

 searching for larvae, care is needed not to disturb the plants, as they 

 drop very readily and are bad to find. Leaves eaten as above described, 

 and the yellow showing a decidedly greenish tinge, always have a 

 larva beneath (Harrison). The larvae rest along the underside of the 

 leaves of the foodplant, in which position they are very difficult to see, 

 resembling the coloration of the leaves exactly. At rest their heads 

 point towards the base of the leaf. They eat from the underside 

 irregular patches almost through the leaf, and when doing this 

 take up the opposite position, viz., head to point of leaf, afterwards, 

 when nearly fullfed, they eat the edges of the leaves also (Wood). 

 The larva emerged from the egg (September 4th) by eating the whole 

 top of the eggshell and some little of the sides in places, it then went 

 to the other side of the leaf, which was too small a one to 

 accommodate it on the same side with the eggshell, and ate a hole in 

 the under cuticle, and then hollowed out a rather larger area of the 

 central parenchyma of the leaf. It then went and served two other 

 leaves in the same fashion, each excavation being of about the area of 

 a millimetre circular. It is now (September 6th) resting under one of 

 these leaves, which is the last opened one on the little shoot, and has its 

 head and a segment or two buried in the terminal bud, the hole of 

 entry being the stem of one of the two outer enclosing leaves ; the 

 bud is not above l-5mm. long (Chapman). September 4th, 1907, I 

 received two eggs from Mr. A. L. Rayward, one hatching ; I placed 

 the larva on a leaf of Eroditim, two hours later it was seen to have 

 eaten, and was voiding frass. The other egg had a dent in under 

 surface, and contained a well-developed larva. The hatched one was 

 emerging from side of egg, and so left a well-preserved upper surface. 

 September 5th. — The larva has moved to another point of leaf, where 

 it has eaten a small cavity, the place it has left is a cavity about as 

 large as itself, with a minute hole only to other side of leaf. 

 September 6th. — Larva has again moved, this is a proceeding observed 

 also in Rumieia phlaeas, of use probably in not making too conspicuous 

 a mark, or as leaving it as soon as it is conspicuous. The other egg 

 was found hatched this morning, and the young larva placed at 8 a.m. 

 on a leaf of Erodium ; at 10 a.m. it was found to have eaten a small 

 hole and to have voided frass. The newly hatched larva is nearly 

 white, if anything bluish, with black dots of hair bases, conspicuous 

 pale hairs, and a distinctly blue shade of prothorax, due to tinted 

 scutellum and black head beneath shining through. This larva also 

 came out at side and bottom of egg, the egg had a dentin it; both eggs 

 had been removed from surface on which they had been laid, a 

 circumstance that no doubt made the enclosed larvae in some way 

 doubtful as to their orientation (Id.). October 12th, 1907. — A larva 

 of astrarche in second instar is noticed to-day to be entirely within its 

 mine (in leaf of Helianthemum), which occupies nearly all one side of a 



