POLYOMMATUS (LYCENA) ADONIS. 107 



I kept their cage in a garden-frame without bottom 

 heat, but in a warm situation, and thus sheltered them 

 through the winter, and on sunny days the larva3 

 could be seen enjoying the heat, stretched out — if that 

 term may be applied to such diminutive dumpy crea- 

 tures — along the midrib on the upper side of a leaflet. 

 Up to December they remained less than one-sixteenth 

 of an inch in length, but in January, 1874, some were 

 grown to nearly one-twelfth of an inch, and were not 

 only marking the leaflets with larger blotches, but were 

 also beginning to nibble their edges. 



About the middle of March I noticed that they had 

 increased somewhat in length, and considerably in 

 stoutness, and that they were now eating the leaflets 

 in the usual way ; and by April 1st they were quite 

 one-eighth of an inch long, and could eat a whole 

 leaflet at a meal. Through this month they grew 

 rapidly, the warm weather suiting them well, and they 

 ate voraciously, till, by the 30th, several of the most 

 advanced in growth had hidden themselves under the 

 loose soil for pupation. After waiting eight or ten 

 days they changed, and finally the butterflies came out 

 between June 2nd and 15th. 



Mr. H. Terry, of St. Marychurch, Torquay, 

 informs me that he finds the first flight of Adonis on 

 the wing by May 20th, and the second about the 

 middle of August; the two broods, therefore, taking 

 respectively nine and three months out of the twelve 

 to complete all their transformations. 



The egg of Adonis resembles those of its congeners, 

 being small, round, and flattened in figure, the shell 

 covered with raised reticulation, having prominent 

 knobs at the angles ; the central portion of the upper 

 surface looks sunk, being covered with finer reticula- 

 tion with no knobs. The colour is a light dull grey, 

 the reticulation and knobs white. 



The larva escapes through an irregular and rather 

 large hole in the upper surface of the egg, and the 

 empty eggshell looks whitish ; the young larva is pale 



