65 



In the description of Papilio Machaon, it will be remembered that a dis- 

 tinguishing mark of the caterpillar, is a reddish coloured forked appendage 

 just behind its head, which, when the creature is alarmed, gives out a strongly 

 scented fluid. According to Dr. Hagen, a somewhat similar process exists 

 on the caterpillar of Corydon and its allies, but this seems attractive rather 

 than protective. Dr. Hagen writes, " You find on the penultimate segment 

 outside and behind the stigmata, two large white spots, each one of which 

 originates a white membranous tube, just like the finger of a glove, the top 

 of which is not entirely drawn out. On the ante-penultimate segment is a 

 large and transverse opening behind and between the stigmata, near the 

 apical border. It looks like a closed mouth with lips, but I have not seen 

 anything protruding from it. These were first, I believe, discovered by 

 Guenee, and the fact that ants hunted the caterpillars, and followed them for 

 the sake of the secretion was first remarked by Professor Zeller. This ant 

 companionship is detailed in a very interesting manner by Mr. Edwards, in 

 his f Butterflies of North America/ under the head of Lycana Pseudo-argiolus, 

 from which much of the above is quoted/' — Extracted from Mr. Jordan's 

 " Eeview of Buckler's Larvae of British Butterflies," in Entomologists 1 

 Monthly Magazine, Vol. 23. 



The chrysalis is short and rounded, and of a pale greenish-brown colour. 



The butterfly appears on the wing in the middle of July, and continues out 

 to the first week of September. In the wet year of 1879, I met with both it 

 and Adonis on the 2nd October, but it must be looked upon in the light of 

 a retarded emergence. The females appear later than the males, and are 

 much less frequent. They lay their eggs in August, and the caterpillars 

 being hatched in September, hybernate small, feed up in the spring, and turn 

 to the chrysalis state in June. 



On the Continent it is found generally in the Central and Southern por- 

 tions of Europe, from Spain to the South of Eussia, and it also occurs in the 

 West of Asia. Though called the Chalk Hill Blue, Corydon is much more 

 widely distributed in England than Adonis. It is most plentiful in the South, 

 but is not uncommon in some places in Lancashire in the West, though it is 

 not found in Yorkshire in the East. It is most plentiful on the chalk and 

 limestone, but is occasionally found elsewhere. It has never been met with 

 in either Scotland, Ireland, or the Isle of Man. 



Petiver figured it in 1702, in his " Gazophylaci Naturae et Artis," and Eay, 

 in his " Historia Insectorum," writes " Hanc in cellibus Banstediensibus 

 prope Epsam invenit D. Petiver; eumden etiam nuperrime observavit D. 

 Dale prope Newport oppidum in Essexia." 



