74 ARGYNNIS SELENE. 



away at once on the leaves of the violet ; for a time 

 they kept abreast, all feeding well, and with the view 

 of trying to procure by artificial means a rapid devel- 

 opment and so to avoid the dangers of hybernation, I 

 had a portion of them placed in a hot-house. 



I did not, however, confine my attention to this por- 

 tion alone, but attended to all the larvae carefully, and 

 by the 18th of July was rewarded by finding one of 

 those not in the hot-house plainly giving tokens that 

 he was bent on outstripping his fellows. By the 24th 

 he had gained a length of half an inch (all the rest, 

 whether in the hot-house or not, remaining — as I have 

 found so many broods in former years remain — at the 

 length of about three-eighths of an inch, and apparently 

 meaning to hybernate) ; and by the 30th it had attained 

 its full length of nearly an inch. On the 6th of August 

 it fixed itself on a bramble- stick, and on the evening of 

 the 7th became a pupa. 



The egg is of a dumpy blunt sugar-loaf shape, with 

 a thin soft glistening shell, which is ribbed with about 

 eighteen ribs, and transversely reticulated, but not very 

 boldly ; its colour at first is a subdued pale yellow, next 

 becoming more drab ; afterwards the lower part of the 

 egg becomes dirty whitish, and the upper part purplish 

 black, no doubt from the head of the larva showing 

 through. 



The newly hatched larva is a little pale olive crea- 

 ture, with shining black head ; the pale brownish 

 tubercles distinct, and bearing each a pale, longish, 

 jointed bristle. By the time it is about two lines in 

 length the skin looks translucent, the colour is more 

 greenish, the tubercles are larger — bearing the long 

 bristles or hairs as before, and there now appear four 

 pairs of opaque brown spots placed on the sides of the 

 fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh segments. By the 

 time the length of a quarter of an inch is attained there 

 is another change, for then the fine bristles give way 

 to black hairy spines ; the colour is smoky-olive on 

 the back, with a paler stripe of almost a dull yellow 



