THE HIBERNATION OF BUTTERFLIES. 



289 



France during the past ten years. We have, as a matter of fact, 

 for the period 1887-189G, the dates of appearance of the hiber- 

 nating species noted for each year with the greatest care, as 

 shown in the following table. 



As will be seen, neither the long and snowy winter of 1887-88, 

 nor the great winter of 1890-91, nor the hard and prolonged 

 winter of 1891-95, seems to have exercised the least influence, 

 except, of course, as regards the earliest and latest date of 

 appearance. 



HlBEKNAT- 





















ing Species. 



1887. 



1888. 



1889. 



1890. 1891. 



1892. 



1893. 



1894. 



1895. 



1896. 



Vanessa 





















c- album 



Mar. 7 



Apr. 1 



Mar. 23 



Mar. 13 Feb. 22 



Mar. 17 





Mar. 21 



Mar. 19 



Mar. 14 



polyddoros 



» 5 



Mar. 23 



Apr. 5 



Feb. 20 „ 28 



»i 20 



Mar. 22 





„ 23 



» 11 



urticce 



Feb. 26 



„ 8 



Mar. 9 



„ 18 „ 21 



„ 17 



„ 21 



Mar. 21 



„ 17 



Feb. 9 



Io 



Apr. 18 



Apr. 1 



„ io 



Mar. 28 „ 27 



Feb. 20 



i, 12 



n 28 



Apr. 5 



Mar. 15 



A ntiopa 



,, 18 



Mar. 28 



Apr. 10 



,, 27 Apr. 10 



Mar. 17 





,, 27 



„ 5 



„ 23 



Atalanta 



Mar. 7 



Apr. 18 



„ 19 



., 27 



„ io 



„ 21 





„ 24 





Apr. 27 



car did 























rhamni 



Feb. 4 



Mar. 8 



Mar. 9 



•Jan. 5 Feb. 20 



Jan. 30 



Mar. 21 



Mar. 1 



Mar. 18Feb. 11 



1 



It may perhaps be a matter of surprise that we did not 

 succeed in taking a single hibernating specimen of V. cardui 

 during the whole ten years. Such is the case nevertheless, and 

 we cannot alter it. Other parts of France doubtless are more 

 privileged than ours from this point of view. The appearances 

 of this Vanessa are, moreover, always more or less irregular. 



It should be remembered that the earliest normal broods of 

 Vanessa usually appear in June and July, rarely towards the end 

 of May, and only with V. urtiece, at least so far as our experience 

 goes. 



There are other hibernating Lepidoptera which appear regu- 

 larly after or even during winter, amongst which we may name, 

 for example, Rhodocera rhamni, R. Cleopatra, Macroglossa stella- 

 tarum, Gonoptera libatrix, Larentia dubitaria, and Tinea misella. 



Rhodocera rhamni (the "citron" of Geoffroy) is the most pre- 

 cocious of all. We have seen it on the wing on the 5th January, 

 1890, and the 30th January, 1892.* 



Translated from the ' Revue Scientificme ' for August, 189G. 



