102 POLYOMMATUS (LYCJ]NA) ALSUS. 



very small, shaped like the eggs of its congeners, that 

 is, round, but more flattened than globular, with a 

 central depression on the upper surface ; this depres- 

 sion is the only place in which the pale green ground 

 colour of the egg can be well seen,, because the rest of 

 it is closely covered by a raised white network of 

 rhomboidal meshes, which, when viewed in profile are 

 seen to stand out boldly from the shell. 



The larva escapes by an irregular hole in the middle 

 of the upper surface of the egg, and is a mite of a 

 fellow to look at, dirty whitish-green in colour, with a 

 little black head, a dark place on the second segment, 

 and the tubercles bearing longish hairs ; after a day or 

 two the colour becomes somewhat reddish, and at the 

 end of a week pale brown, with browner dorsal and 

 subdorsal lines. After this there begins to be a little 

 variation in colour in different individuals, some being 

 more of a pinkish-brown, others more of a chocolate 

 colour, the distinct dorsal stripe being of a deeper tint 

 than the ground colour, and commencing as a broad 

 triangular mark on the third segment and becoming 

 gradually narrower up to the eleventh, where it widens 

 out into a lozenge shape, contracting again to a narrow 

 stripe on the twelfth and thirteenth ; the tubercles show 

 paler than the rest of the ground, because the brown 

 hairs on them being divergent allow more of the paler 

 skin to be seen. 



Just below the second row of tubercles comes the 

 subdorsal line, which in fact is composed of a series of 

 dark brown dashes, one on each segment sloping back- 

 wards and downwards so as to let the tubercle stand 

 out in high relief ; along the edge of the lateral ridge 

 runs a whitish stripe, which is continued round the 

 anal extremity ; the belly and legs of the same colour 

 as the back. 



The whole skin is studded with short bristles of a 

 dark brown colour ; the head is black and polished, 

 but with a streak above the mouth, and also the base of 

 the papillae, yellow. 



