FAMILY HABITS IN BUTTERFLY LARV.E THE SATYRIDS. 49 



plants and concealing themselves under dead leaves or twigs close to 

 the grass, sometimes quite on the ground. 



Among so large a family of the butterflies as the Satyrids (the 

 largest in the world), whose range extends from far within the polar 

 regions, over all the temperate regions, and throughout the tropics, it would 

 be remarkable if there were not considerable variation in the rate of larval 

 development. Even when one confines oneself to the species of the Palae- 

 arctic and Nearctic regions, one would expect to find considerable differ- 

 ence, and we have already pointed out that certain species of the more or 

 less subarctic genus, (Eneis, extend their larval life over two years. On 

 the other hand it is remarkable, considering the wide extent of 

 latitude and altitude covered by many of the Palaearctic species, that 

 the development of " forwards " is, throughout the group, a matter of 

 extreme rarity, even in the most southern species. Only one purely 

 southern European species occurs to us as absolutely double-brooded, 

 viz., the Corsican Coenonympha corinna, whilst, of the central 

 European species, Pararge maera, P. megaera, P. hiera, and P. egeria 

 are regularly double-brooded at low altitudes, adopting a single- 

 brooded habit, however, at high altitudes and latitudes. The 

 common Coenonympha pamphilus has similar larval habits in this 

 direction to the Pararges just mentioned. In the extreme south of 

 their range, Pararge egeria and P. megaera tend to be triple- or even 

 continually-brooded, and so also does Coenonympha pamphilus. In 

 Britain, the number of " forward " larvae in each brood of Coenonympha 

 pamphilus appears to be very small, e.g., Hellins notes that he obtained 

 eggs, May 28th, 1874, that one developed a " forward " habit, fed 

 away from the rest, pupated August 11th, when the remaining larvae 

 were 7mm. long, and the imago emerged in due course; the other 

 larvae fed on slowly, hybernated (in the nibbling stage), becoming active, 

 and being observed sunning themselves on February 13th, 1875. Russell, 

 however, records (Ent. Bee, viii., p. 107) that, from eggs laid in May, 

 1895, about half the larvae developed "forward" habits, fed up, 

 pupated, and the imagines appeared in the autumn, the other half 

 being " laggards," went over the winter, and fed up in the spring, 

 although all were treated exactly alike. As already noted a very 

 large percentage, often the whole of the individuals of a brood, develop 

 "forwards" in Pararge megaera in this country. It is, however, 

 remarkable that so extensive a group should present so fixed a 

 character in this direction, and that species, with a range from the 

 Arctic Circle to the Mediterranean, e.g., Hipparchia semele, Epinephele 

 ianira, Melanargia galathea, Erebia aethiops, etc., should be so 

 absolutely single-brooded. The slow lethargic habits of the larvae of 

 the greater part of the species, especially between July and March, are 

 possibly the real reason. As an example of this fixity of habit 

 being broken through, even in a species with most determined single- 

 brooded habit, we would note that Alderson records (Ent. Rec, 

 xviii., p. 205) eggs (from Cumberland) of Melampias (Erebia) epiphron 

 laid in July, 1906, the larvae of which went on feeding till T 5 ¥ in. in 

 length, that four continued to feed up, became fullgrown and pupated 

 in due course in September, the rest hybernating from August. 



We have already noted the extremely lethargic habits of Satyrid 

 larvae. It is, therefore, possibly worth notice that the larvae of 

 Coenonympha tiphon (davus) are said to differ from those of the 



