FAMILY HABITS IN BUTTEEFLY LARVAE THE LYC^ENIDS. 73 



says that, on July 29th, 1903, he saw a young and small larva of this 

 species with its jaws deeply buried into the side of a rather larger one, 

 apparently sucking, that it had made a deep hole in its side, the 

 surrounding surface being shrunken, and liquid exuding from the 

 wound. The development of this cannibalistic habit into a purely 

 carnivorous diet appears to be quite possible ; at any rate the larvae of 

 several Lycaenid species now indulge in the latter, and the feeding-habits 

 of those of Feniseca tarquinius which subsist on plant-lice (fully detailed 

 in the preceding volume, p. 37), of Gerydus chinensis on aphides 

 (p. 38), of Liphyra brassolis (pp. 38-39), of Spalgis epius (p. 39), and of 

 Spalgis signata (pp. 39-40), need not be here repeated, since reference 

 to our account thereof is so easy. [See also Journ. As. Soc. Beng., 

 Ixix., pt. 2, p. 189.] 



There appears to be no really fixed family-habit in the hybernating 

 stage of the Lyca3iiids, nor can this be even approximately expected in 

 so wide-ranging a group. The most usual period for hybernation 

 among the Plebeiids, whose larvae usually feed on low plants, is in the 

 third larval instar, i.e., soon after the second moult, a habit character- 

 istic of Cyaniris semiargus, Polyommatus icarus, Agriades bellargus, 

 Aricla astrarche, Lycaena avion, etc., yet, among our British Plebeiids, 

 Plebeius aegon and Agriades corydon hybernate as young larvae within 

 the egg-shell, as also does Polyomniatus donzelii, whilst the fact that 

 the Nearctic Plebeius scudderii, closely allied to P. aegon, also hybernates 

 as a larva inside the egg (Can. Ent., xxxiv., p. 126), suggests that 

 this natural little group — our genus Plebeius — may have a fixed habit 

 in this direction. The Cupidids hybernate as full-fed larvae ; Hellins 

 records that larvae of Cupido minima, which were full-fed in July, 1872, 

 did not pupate till June 3rd, 1873. The Celastrinids hybernate as 

 pupae, resembling in this respect, as in so many other larval habits, 

 the Callophryids. The species of theNomiadid group proper, Nomiades 

 melanops, N. cyllarus, and the Nearctic N. couperi also all Irybernate as 

 pupae. The hybernation of the Plebeiid larvae in the third instar, 

 usually commences very early, and the larvae remain very small, those 

 of Aricia astrarche are, at the time of hybernation, only about 2mm. in 

 length, and they appear to hybernate low down on the underside of 

 the leaves of Helianthemum vulgare where they remain from mid- 

 November to the commencement of March ; Harrison says that they 

 prefer the dead leaves near the base of the stem. Kay ward observes 

 (in litt.) that larvae of Polyommatus icarus, kept in the open, on a 

 young plant of Lotus corniculatus, during the winter of 1906-7, were 

 found early in March, hybernating low down close to the roots, and a 

 sheltered position here is probably almost ahvays chosen ; the larvae 

 of this species rest about the same length of time as those of A. 

 astrarche. Those of Agriades bellargus are only about 15mm. 

 long in December ; in a sheltered place, however, the latter seemed 

 to feed a little in January and February, and, on sunny days, w r ere 

 observed by Buckler stretched out along the midrib of the upper side 

 of a leaflet of Hippocrepis comosa, so that the hybernating habit of this 

 species appears to be somewhat less complete than that of some of its 

 allies. 



Of those that hybernate as larvae inside the eggshell, we may 

 note that McDunnough (Ent. Rec, xviii., p. 313) obtained a large 

 number of eggs of Polyommatus donzelii on the Piz Languard, 

 near Pontresina, at 6200ft. elevation in early August, 1905, that 



