142 TAMPHILA COMMA. 



Pamphila COMMA. 



(One of the few larv86 of which there is no figure in 



this volume.) 



On the 6th of September, 1880, I received five eggs 

 of this species laid in a chip-box and adhering to the 

 lid, side, and bottom. These were laid by the female 

 butterfly at Geneva, about the 1st of September (the 

 butterfly had been captured on the 28th of August by 

 the Rev. John Hellins by the Mer de Glace, near 

 Chamounix, in Switzerland.) 



The egg is dome-shaped, with a small circular de- 

 pression on the summit, the surface apparently smooth, 

 colour creamy white, though in three instances ap- 

 pearing more or less speckled from some dark scales 

 from the parent adhering to them. On the 10th of 

 September, without growing darker, their colour 

 became of the faintest possible tinge of bluish-green. 



On the 18th of December I sent one egg to Mr. 

 Hellins to examine with his microscope, and he re- 

 ported that the dark spot in the central depression at 

 the top of the egg (which was then visible in all the 

 eggs, though not when I first had them) to be com- 

 posed of minute black scratches or irregular lines. 



The shell is of the shape of a button or drop, 

 broadest at the base, where it is about -^g- of an inch 

 wide, top rather flattened, about - 6 ^ of an inch across ; 

 the height is about ^ 3 - of an inch ; the shell slightly 

 roughened all over, very much like the shell of a hen's 

 egg ; colour dead white, with a slight blue tinge. 



Unfortunately none of these eggs hatched, though I 

 kept them for more than a year. (W. B., Note-book, 

 IV, 46.) 



