BITHYS QUERCtS. 239 



oribus maculis fulvis." Riihl simply notes it as "female, with reddish- 

 yellow spots (' Wische ') at end of the discoidal cell." Ochsenheimer 

 notes (Vie Schmett., i., pt. 2, p. 98) that " the female aberration with 

 two or three reddish-yellow spots on the upperside of the forewings is 

 very rare," and that he has only obtained it by rearing it from larvae. 

 Hiibner observes (Beitrdge, etc., ii., p. 83) that the aberration he figured 

 came from Radda of Vienna. Gebhard states (Soc. Ent., xii., p. 132) 

 that he bred a male of quercus, from Klopfen, that had beautiful 

 yellow-brown spots on the iridescent violet forewings, which was 

 identical with var. bellus, a most remarkable fact, that wants further 

 elucidation. Our notes on its distribution read as follows : Austria : 

 Slavonia — Pakrac (teste Riihl), Hungary, rare — Budapest, Nagyvarad, 

 Pecs, Tavarnok, Pozsony, Lipik (Aigner-Abafi), also in the mountains 

 above Buda (Fountaine). England : Colchester district (Harwood), 

 Drayton Drury (Norgate). France : Maine-et-Loire (Delahaye). 

 Germany : Saxony — Leipzig, the Leina, near Altenburg (Ent. Ver. 

 Dresden)] Rhine Provinces, near Elberfeld (Gillmer) ; Brandenburg, 

 very rare with the type — Finkenkrug, Brieselang, Konigs-Wuster- 

 hausen (Bartel and Herz) ; Posen — the Eichwald at Posen (Schultz) ; 

 Silesia, rare with tbe type in the hills of Wichelsdorf (Pfitzner). 

 Roumania : Grumazesti (Caradja). [Russia: Baltic Provinces — 

 Klopfen (Gebhard).] Switzerland : near Winterthur (Rordorf). 



j8. ab/ iberica, Staud., "Cat.," 3rd ed., p. 71 (1901); Lamb., " Pap. Be]g.," 

 p. 198 (1902). Quercus, Obth., "Etudes," etc., i., p. 19 (1876).— Subtus pallidior 

 signaturis evanescentibus. Iberia cent, et merid. ; Mauretania (Standinger). 



Oberthur's description, to which reference is made by Staudinger, 

 is as follows: "Differe un peu du type francais par la teinte du dessous, 

 qui est plus pale, plus grise, et plus effacee. Boghari (Ach. RafTray)" 

 (Etudes d'Entom., i., p. 19). Miss Fountaine observes that this form 

 swarmed in the oakwoods to the west of Sebdou, early in August, 

 1904 ; the examples captured resemble the type on the upperside, but 

 have the white line on the underside very faint and indistinct. 



Egglaying. — On December 8th, 1906, I made search, with 

 Mr. Tonge, for eggs of Bithys quercus. We soon met with them, and 

 found altogether two or three dozen or so. We, of course, could only 

 examine the lower branches, on which, therefore, we found that eggs 

 were laid, whether or no they are laid on the higher ones also, we 

 could not determine ; we found them up to about 12 feet from the 

 ground, and as low as 3 feet or 4 feet. As regards their place on the 

 twigs, we found them in three situations, most commonly amongst the 

 little group of terminal buds, once or twice at the base of a bud lower 

 down, and several times on the rough ring at the base of the year's 

 growth, where minute buds, very like eggs, were common. When 

 placed on one of the terminal buds, the position was lateral, i.e., 

 rather in the angle between the bud and the central stem, necessarily 

 no doubt, thus to avoid the leaf, which, though now fallen, must 

 have been present when the egg was laid. Sometimes it was on the 

 bud, more often, perhaps, on the bark against a bud. The favourite 

 situation was the south side of the tree, but, with some exceptions, on 

 the north side of the group of buds. One set of branches we found 

 richer than any other we came across ; these were some branches 

 spread out on the south aspect of a dense mass of holly, that must not 



