CELASTRINA ARGIOLUS. 431 



as to mine out the contents of the green berries, but, in my experience 

 the leaves of the ivy are never touched, either in captivity or at large, 

 by the larvaB of this species (Prideaux). On May 16th, 1907, wishing 

 to give a larva just entered on its third stadium some fresh food, I 

 was a little rough, and, in its haste to free itself from the bud on which 

 it had begun to feed, it showed quite a large blob, looking almost like 

 fluid, between the pro thorax and the head, which it could not at once 

 disengage from the hole in the bud. Very shortly after it had attacked 

 a new bud, the larva looked as if resting on the bud, the lateral flange, 

 where it passes round the front part of the larva, touching the bud, 

 and hiding the head; the head, however, was inside the bud. The larva 

 in fact was actively feeding, yet no evidence whatever of movement to 

 betray its presence appeared. The long extensile neck of the larva 

 enables the interior of a holly- or ivy-bud to be cleared out as far as 

 desired (in the first stage, it is not cleared out, the reach not being 

 sufficient) by the mere stretching of the neck (membrane between head 

 and thorax); the remainder of the larva continues outside and appears to 

 be at rest (pi. xix., fig. 5). [Other Lycaenid larvae, e.g., Gallophrys rubi, 

 introduce the prothorax, and even further segments, into the buds (of 

 Cytisus, etc.). In this matter there is no doubt much difference in indi- 

 viduals, according to the actual foodplant, in species like Callophrys rubi 

 and Celastrina argiolus with very varied foods, but there is also a specific 

 difference, of which these two species almost mark the extremes, C. 

 argiolus making a very small hole and staying outside if circumstances 

 at all favour, C. rubi making a comparatively large one, and going in 

 if it possibly can.] When this larva was rearly to moult, it spun a 

 small pad of silk, and the group of holly-buds it left to do this has 

 eight buds that look sound, but each has a small hole and is quite 

 hollow. The larva appears always to eat the cast skin at its moults. 

 This larva is as typical as any of the Lycasnids in its way of feeding 

 (Chapman). Some larvae (hatched May 19th, 1871) were supplied, 

 with the tender young shoots of holly, on the soft leaves of which they 

 immediately began to feed, settling themselves on the underside of 

 the leaves. They moulted for the first time on June 2nd, and the 

 second time on the 12th. By the 20th they appeared to be fullgrown, 

 and to be preparing to enter the pupal state, the succulent leaves at this 

 time exhibiting the operations of the larva, in the form of small round 

 holes, like shot holes, on the disk ; on no occasion were the margins of 

 the leaves observed to be eaten. When fullfed, the larvae rest on the 

 young leaves of the holly in a flat position, with the ventral surface 

 appressed to the polished surface of the leaf, and the head, legs, and 

 claspers entirely concealed. If annoyed they fall to the ground and lie for 

 a few seconds with both extremities slightly incurved. Only two moults 

 were observed ; no opinion is expressed as to this being the normal num- 

 ber (Newman). Summer brood: The larva of the second brood gnaws 

 a hole in the centre of the egg, but the rim is left entire, nor is the 

 shell subsequently eaten ; the young larva is cylindrical at first with 

 long white hairs pointing backwards, but, after a few meals, and 

 before the first moult, it becomes stouter in the middle, and soon 

 develops the usual Lycaenid shape. In nature, a tiny larva was dis- 

 covered, just hatched, on one of the pedicels of an umbel, the larva 

 resembling, at this stage, with wonderful fidelity, the small concave 

 bracts which occur at the base of each pedicel on the umbel, this fact 

 rendering the changing of their food, when in captivity, anything but 



