FAMILY HABITS IN BUTTERFLY LARVAE THE SATYRIDS. 47 



roughly into two pupal groups, those that suspend themselves by 

 the tail, and those that go on, or under, the ground to pupate, 

 it would seem that the former tend to feed on considerably before 

 the winter, and to keep in a more or less nibbling condition 

 during the mild weather in the winter, whilst the others hybernate 

 small and pretty completely, but that, in both groups, there are numbers 

 of exceptions. Still, as bearing on this point, it may be noted that 

 Marloy observes that the larvae of Satyrus (Hipparchia) circe, S. 

 briseis, S. semele, and S. fidia hybernate small, and commence to feed 

 actively by night in March ; whilst similarly Gillmer states (in lift.) 

 that Satyrus (Hipparchia) hermione, S. alcyone, S. arethusa, S. 

 statilinus, and S. dryas, also do so. Buckler notes a larva of S. semele 

 hybernating in the autumn of 1864, when only four lines long; it had 

 only reached eight lines by May 13th, I860. The Melanargiid larvae 

 also hybernate similarly. These all pupate on or beneath the ground. 

 On the other hand the Parargid larvae are a good size when they 

 commence to hybernate, but, against this, is the case of Epinephele 

 tithonus, which, hatching September 15th, 1873, had only reached a 

 length of 3^mm. by January 21st, 1874 (teste Hellins). Among the 

 Erebias, as we have already noted, the larva of Erebia aethiops 

 hybernates small, so also does that of E. ligea, whilst those of E. 

 neoridas, E. zapateri, and E. melas, are reputed to do so ; on the other 

 hand the larva of E. lappona is said to hybernate of fair size, as also, as 

 we have already noted, does that of E. epiphron, the former section 

 emerging late in low latitudes and altitudes, and the latter emerging 

 earlier at high altitudes. E. aethiops is recorded as hybernating when 

 about 2mm. long (Buckler) ; E. zapateri does not pass its first moult 

 until the first week of February (Powell). The Melanargiid larvae 

 hybernate particularly small, e.g., Melanargia galathea is not more 

 than 3mm. long in late autumn; some observed March 31st, 1864, were 

 only 6mm. long, and had then been on the move a considerable time. 

 Of the larva of M. lachesis, Powell observes (Ent. Bee, xviii., pp. 302-3) 

 that eggs, from Albarracin, hatched on August 28th, 1905 ; the larvae did 

 not seem at all anxious to feed, and he thinks that, in their native haunts, 

 they may wait some weeks before doing so, until, in fact, the grasses 

 have been freshened by rain. If they do eat during this period, it is 

 very little, and he found that they touched no grasses that he gave 

 them for the first ten days of their lives, though he thinks they nibbled 

 some Festuca later, but it was not till October 29th that, on examining 

 the plant, he found eight larvae on the leaves, still in the first stadium 

 and quite small, a tinge of green on the fore part of the body, and the 

 freshly-eaten leaf-ends, showing that they were feeding. After that 

 date they were several times observed up in the grass in the daytime, 

 and, when startled, they assumed a most unusual attitude for Satyrid 

 larvse, coiling the head under in the form of a note of interrogation (?), 

 loosening their hold except by the fourth and anal pairs of prolegs, 

 curving the body and bringing the head well down beneath the 2nd 

 abdominal segment as represented (Ent. Bee, xviii., pi. xiv., fig. 3). 

 At the end of November they were quite healthy but no larger. 



The larvae of the four closely-allied Pararge species, P. maera, 

 P. hiera, P. megaera and P. egeria, are somewhat similar in 

 their larval habits. Apart from the unusual habit shown by 

 P. egeria of occasionally hybernating as pupa, the larva of this 

 species, as well as those of its congeners, feeds on gradually until 



