RUMICIA PHLJEAS. 



381 



banksides, sides of ditches, depressions of ground. It alights on the 

 plant, and, keeping its wings partially opened, it curves its abdomen, 

 and walks deliberately over a leaf with the abdomen pressed against 

 it. When it reaches a suitable place (generally on midrib, near 

 junction of petiole and leaf) it closes its wings with a jerk, deposits the 

 ovum, flies off and repeats the process. The ovum generally is on 

 the upperside, as above described, but I have found ova in nature on 

 the underside, and on the petiole. The ova are laid singly. (I once 

 thought I saw an ovum laid on Ranunculus repens, in a ditch, but could 

 not verify) (Harrison). On September 29th, 1895, $ s were seen 

 busily engaged depositing their ova on dwarf plants of Rumex acetosella^ 

 and, on examination, a profusion of ova was discovered on them ; ova laid 

 July 8th, 1900, hatched July 17th and 18th, all the imagines emerged 

 between August 21st and 28th, 1900 (Prideaux). Hawes notes 

 (Proc. Sth. Lond. Ent. Soc, 1893, p. 139) that, in September, 1893, 

 in a grassy lane between pasture-land which is dry and open, and where, 

 besides many species of grasses, Lotus, Galium, Cardamine, etc., abound, 

 and where, especially, species of Rumex, common sorrel (R. acetosa), etc., 

 grow in quantity, R. phlaeas was abundant, and that, " on September 

 23rd, the first plant of R. acetosa inspected showed about a dozen ova 

 placed anywhere on the leaves, upper- and undersides, and even along 

 the stalks when exposed. Succeeding clumps were equally productive, 

 and, in some cases, individual leaves of a plant were literally besieged 

 with eggs, e.g., a withered leaf on a long stalk projecting on the foot- 

 path, was found to have twenty-one eggs and four young larvae attached 

 to it ; altogether, in an hour, more than 100 ova were selected, and at least 

 twice as many left for future observation of the larvae. This abun- 

 dance was, in a manner of speaking, quite local. One side of the 

 grassy lane faces the southeast, and catches the early morning sun, 

 there is no ditch, and the sorrel and dock grew quite commonly under 

 a hedge in a dry gravelly soil; here, although dock was equally plenti- 

 ful with the sorrel, the latter plant was always preferred, indeed, on 

 only one clump of dock were ova and larvae found, and these on a 

 young and stiff-leaved plant. The luxurious growths of common dock 

 were entirely neglected, as also were both species of Rumex when 

 growing amongst the turf, or in a damp ditch running the length 

 of the opposite side of the lane." Bird notes of the egglaying 

 of R. phlaeas: "I watched, near Tintern, several females ovi- 

 positing on August 30th, 1906. The females of this species do not, 

 so far as I have noticed, alight directly upon the plant they eventually 

 lay on, but settle on some other plant close by, such as a buttercup, or 

 plantain leaf, a grass stem, etc., where they remain for some little 

 while, perhaps, half a minute or so, resting in the sun. Then, if the 

 sorrel plant be quite adjacent (it is generally within a foot or two of 

 their resting-place), they crawl to it, otherwise they will use their 

 wiogs. After reaching the sorrel they walk all over the surface of the 

 leaves, frequently feeling them with their abdomina, but always laying 

 their ova on the underside. Small plants are invariably chosen (at 

 least, by the second brood), laying even on quite small seedlings. I 

 saw one egg laid on a little seedling that might easily have been covered 

 by a crown piece. One $ I watched I thought had made a mistake 

 and oviposited on grass, but I found, when securing the egg, that she 

 was too good a botanist, or rather her instinct was too strong for her 



