30 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



Brenthids than in the Argynnids. The. former have, like the latter, 

 essentially violet-feeding larvae, e.g., Brenthis selene, B. euphrosyne, 

 B. thore, B. pales, etc., but there are other species which, although 

 using violet as a pabulum, are reputed to avail themselves of other 

 foodplants, e.g., B. aphirape, which is said to eat Polygonum bistorta 

 as well as violet ; B. amathusia, also on P. bistorta, in addition to 

 violet; B. ino — Rubus idaeus, Spiraea ulmaria, etc. ; B. dia — Rub us, etc. 

 B. frigga is only recorded from Rubus chamaemorus ; B. dapkue is 

 recorded as feeding on Viola by Wilde, and Rubus idaeus and R. fruti- 

 cosus by Ochsenheimer. Unfortunately, modern continental lepidop- 

 terists are mostly satisfied to rely on the records of their century- old 

 ancestors, and modern details on these points are not forthcoming. 



The rapidity of movement and the love of hiding are almost as 

 highly developed in the Brenthid, as in the Argynnid, larvae, and, con- 

 sequently, we find that the natural habits of the larvae are little under- 

 stood, because they have been so little observed. Buckler observes 

 that, when walking, the pace of the larva of B. euphrosyne is very 

 rapid ; it loves to bask in the sun's rays, and, in the case of a 

 larva that he reared, he observes that, as soon as the sun went 

 off, it retired to the underside of a leaf, and remained, apparently 

 without motion, till the next day, when the sun again shone on its 

 resting-place, when it walked about, fed, and basked as before. 

 Strangely enough, Buckler says that the larva of B. selene shows an 

 aversion to the sun's rays, and does not, at any period of its larval 

 existence, care to expose itself to their influence, but reposes either on 

 the underside of the leaves, or, otherwise, on the stems which are more 

 or less shaded by leaves. All the Brenthid larvae appear to agree in 

 hiding when not actually feeding, unless, as in the case of B. euphro- 

 syne, they take a special sunbath. 



Scudder says {Butts. New England, i., p. 582) that the Brenthid 

 larvae " appear to present among themselves greater differences in 

 habit than occur in any other similar group of butterflies, the central 

 European species differing considerably from those of the United 

 States, though all the known species, whether European or American, 

 winter as only partly-grown caterpillars." A careful study of the 

 Brenthid larval habits leads one to entirely opposite conclusions on 

 both points noted, and to surmise (1) that the habits of all Brenthid 

 larvae are particularly alike, and (2) that there is marked similarity 

 between the habits of the North American and European species. The 

 only facts on which Scudder appears to base his statement are those 

 relating to tbe partial-broodedness of many of the species, by means of 

 which two modes of larval life are set up in one brood, resulting in 

 partial double-broodedness (as already noted antea, pp. 7-9), and 

 secondly, the assumption that, because imagines from the spring larvae 

 emerge over a long period of time, they are of different ages when 

 hybernation takes place (antea, pp. 9-10). One suspects, on the con- 

 trary, from the evidence, that the family or general larval habits of the 

 Brenthids are very similar, e.g., everything goes to show that the larval 

 habits of Brenthis myrina,* B. montinus, and B. bellona,* are almost 

 identical with those of our European species, the question of one, two, or 

 even three broods, or rather partial broods, being, in the Nearctic, as 



* Scudcler's theories (Butts. New England, p. 587) on the larval habits of 

 B. myrina and B. bellona appear too far-fetched to be taken seriously. 



