FAMILY HABITS IN BUTTERFLY LARV.E THE LYC^ENIDS. 



69 



devouring the contents ; in their last stage, the larvae, in confinement, 

 feed greedily on the blossoms of common white and red clover, one 

 larva, in confinement, being observed to eat up the whole of the petals 

 of a head of red clover in two days, and appearing to feed almost 

 continuously day and night. The larvae of Cupido minima eat little 

 holes through the calyx and corolla of the flowers of Anthyllis vulner- 

 aria, in order to reach the immature seed-vessels, leaving one 

 floweret when cleared and entering another. As they get older, their 

 bodies cannot be wholly contained in the corolla, and they may be 

 seen with their heads thrust into the flower, the hinder part of the 

 body hanging out, but still difficult to distinguish among the dense 

 inflorescence of the flower- bud. Sich observes that, when the young 

 larva of Lycaena alcon leaves the egg, it bores through its base into 

 the gentian flower-bud on which it is laid, eating the petals quite 

 through, on its way, just as L. avion larva will eat into a flower- 

 bud of thyme. 



Having thus far traced the mining-habit in the so-called leaf- and 

 flower-eating larvae of the Lycaenids, one readily understands the 

 perfection of the boring-habit attained by the larvae of some species, e.g., 

 the larva of Lampides boeticus that may feed either on, or in, the blossoms 

 oi'^Spartium j unce urn , JJlex nanus, etc., but also bores into, and completely 

 enters, the pods of Colutea arborescens, Crotalaria striata, C. laburni folia, 

 Phaca baetica, etc., as well as those of almost all species of cultivated 

 peas and beans, clearing out the seeds, and only leaving the pod for 

 the purpose of pupation. The larva of Lampides phaseoli, taken in 

 Claremont Island, off the coast of Queensland, is described by 

 Mathew (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1889, p. 312) as feeding in the 

 flower-buds of a leguminous plant closely allied to our scarlet- 

 runner. The larva of Virachola isocrates, which bores into the fruits 

 of Randia dumetorum, Eriobotrya japonica, Psidium guava, but whose 

 usual food is the fruit of the pomegranate, Punica granatum, has 

 often been referred to as a most extreme instance of possessing the 

 boring-habit in the family. The larva is described as having a pro- 

 trusible long neck, small head and strong jaws, particularly well-adapted 

 for the work required in making its home. When quite young, it bores 

 for itself a little clean-cut round, hole, from the outer rind of the 

 fruit of Punica granatum to the heart. In this hole it spends its days 

 with its head inside, eating away at the green or ripening pips, and 

 enlarging the hole as it increases in size. Sometimes three or four 

 larvae may be found in one pomegranate. When at rest it plugs 

 up the outer hole deftly with the shield on its tail (Wylly). When 

 fullgrown, the larva spins a slight, but strong, silken web, with which 

 it binds the fruit to the stalk to prevent its falling off, should it 

 wither before the insect emerges, as it often does ; the operation 

 completed the larva pupates within the cavity which it has 

 excavated inside the fruit (Aitken). The habits of the larva of the 

 allied V. perse are very similar. It feeds inside the fruit of Eandia 

 dumetorum, and the two abruptly-cut and flattened anal segments 

 are largely used by the larva, when at rest inside the fruit, to close 

 the orifice through which its frass is ejected. The fullfed larva has the 

 same curious instinct as that of V. isocrates, in fastening the fruit to 

 its stalk, and needs it more, for the fruit of B. dumetorum withers 

 at once when attacked, and would inevitably fall before its tenant had 

 reached the pupal state, if not artificially supported (Aitken). 



