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HIPPAECHIA iEGERXA. 



Speckled Wood 



iEGERiA, Linn. iEger'ia, a nymph, who was supposed to have favoured 

 and instructed Nuina Pompilius, third King of Rome. Ovid, Fast. Ill, 275. 



This and Leucophasia sinapis (the Wood White), differ greatly from all 

 our other British butterflies, in choosing shady habitations instead of the 

 open situations so suitable to true children of the sun. 



The wings expand from one inch and three-quarters to a couple of inches, 

 and are of a dark brown, with creamy white patches of variable size, placed 

 irregularly ; the one nearest the tip of each forewing being ornamented with 

 a white pupilled black eye-like spot, and three of them near the hind margin 

 of the hindwings are ornamented in a similar manner. On the underside the 

 hindwings are varied with lighter and darker undulations, and have a row of 

 six white dots, varying in size, near the hinder margin. The females have 

 the larger and more numerous spots. 



Yery few varieties are known. I have one, however, which has the white- 

 centred black spots on the hindwings without the creamy white rings. A 

 named variety, Meone, Cramer, has the creamy white replaced by orange or a 

 tawny hue, and is the common form in Africa and the south of Europe. 

 Another, very closely allied, Ziphia, Faber, is the Maderian form. Another 

 with a bipupilled eye occurs in the Channel Islands. 



The egg, which is deposited singly on blades of grass, is of a whitish- 

 green colour; its shape is ovate, with upright sides and round top, without 

 ribs, but with a very glossy shell, covered all over with fine irregular raised 

 network. 



The caterpillar, which feeds on Dactylis glomerata, and other kinds of 

 grass, is of a dull brownish-green, with a darker dorsal and a paler spiracular 

 line, covered with short hairs, which gives it a soft velvet-like appearance. 



The chrysalis, which is suspended by the tail, is short and dumpy, and of 

 a green or brownish-green, with markings of a darker shade. 



There are apparently three broods of the butterfly during the year. The 

 first is generally on the wing by the middle of April, sometimes earlier. In 

 1868, 1 captured it at large as early as March 25th, and it has been bred from 

 the chrysalis as early as March 7th. The eggs, being laid, soon hatch, and 

 the caterpillars become full-fed in June or July. By the end of the latter 

 month the butterfly is again on the wing. The second brood of caterpillars 

 may be found in August, and feeding up rapidly soon enter the chrysalis 

 state, the third brood of butterflies appearing in September and October j in 

 1866, 1 met with it as late as November 2nd. The third brood of cater- 



