174 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



named. We have no doubt that they represent a very bright form of 

 U. comma. 



A. var. viridis, Edw., "Can. Ent.," xv., p. 147 (1883); Dyar, "List North 

 Amer. Lep.," p. 50 (1902). — I am satisfied that juba should rank as a species. 

 I have a beautiful variety of juba, a s , sent me by Snow, taken at Los 

 Vegas, N.M., in 1882. The upperside is darker — more fuscous and less fulvous — 

 than any other example I have seen ; the secondaries beneath and the apical area 

 of primaries are densely dusted with golden-green ; the spots white and somewhat 

 smaller than in the type. I call this var. viridis (Edwards). 



Egglaying. — The eggs are laid singly on grass, being so observed 

 on August 1st and 3rd, 1896. The £ feels with her ovipositor several 

 blades of grass before selecting one on which to deposit an egg, which 

 appears always to be laid singly, although a second may be deposited 

 within half-an-inch of the first. The $ s will also lay in confinement 

 if placed in a suitable glass jar with a grass-plant, etc. ; in this condition 

 they will also lay eggs on leaves and stipules of clover (Hamm). An 

 ovipositing £ , after walking for a little time over and among the 

 culms of a tuft of Air a caespitosa, on which she was observed to settle, 

 August 17th, 1900, curved her abdomen down and deposited a single 

 egg on one of the fine hair-like blades, or rather spines, and close by,, 

 within an inch, I found another egg, similarly laid, which, from its 

 darker colour, appeared to have been laid about three or four days 

 previously. Confined over a plant of grass, the 2 s, on August 20th, 

 laid a large number of eggs upon the grass stems and blades (Frohawk). 

 Females were observed buzzing among the herbage, on Ditchling 

 Beacon, early in September, 1902, and careful searching resulted in 

 the finding of several ova (Dollman). The eggs live through the 

 winter, the young larvae not leaving them until the following March, 

 some laid on August 24th, 1867, hatched on March 27th, 1868 

 (Hellins) ; the embryo being fully-formed in early October and lying 

 coiled up in the eggshell until the following spring (Bacot). 



Ovum. — Attached by base which is somewhat flattened. Base almost 

 lmm. in diameter, height about '7mm. In shape a flattened dome, 

 with the faintest bluish tinge on the pearly-white colour when first 

 laid, quickly changing, however, to shiny chalky-white ; a conspicuous 

 slaty-coloured, circular, basin-like, micropylar depression. The shell, 

 under moderate power, minutely pitted. The micropylar depression 

 edged with similar pitted cells ; at bottom of depression the micropyle 

 forms a tiny raised conical point. There is no trace whatever of longi- 

 tudinal or transverse ribbing noticeable. An ochreous tint on the sides 

 of the eggs suggests that the embryo is partly formed (September 16th, 

 1896), although the eggs do not hatch until spring (Tutt). The egg is 

 hardly more than a hemisphere, the base quite flattened, the apical area 

 depressed, the micropyle forming a raised point in the centre of the 

 depression, the colour is, when newly exposed, pearly-white, but it 

 changes almost directly to a shining chalky-white, the apical depression 

 alone retaining the pale coloration. The whole of the surface of the 

 egg is minutely pitted, and, under a lens, has the look and apparent 

 texture of the shell of a hen's egg. There is no trace whatever of 

 longitudinal or transverse ribbing, and the egg is as dissimilar as 

 possible from that of the well-ribbed egg of Hesperia alveus, with which 

 it was compared. [Tutt, described August 18th, 1903 ; Eggs dis- 

 sected from a $ captured at Chamonix same day.] Base lmm. ; top 

 rather flattened -4mm. ; height nearly *8mm. ; slightly roughened like 



