183 



In Kirby's " European Butterflies " it is also said to occur in May and 

 June ; whence it would appear to be double-brooded. Godart, however, tells 

 us that the last autumnal specimens hybernate and re-appear in the spring 

 —an anomalous event amongst the Eritillaries, thereby approximating in 

 habits to the Vanessa. 



The caterpillars are said to hybernate small, as do others of the genus, and 

 to feed up in the spring. 



Argynnis lathonia is widely distributed in Europe, Northern and Western 

 Asia to the Himalayas, and North Africa. It does not extend to the Polar 

 regions but is common in Sweden and Norway. It frequents lanes and roads 

 in woods, and its flight resembles that of Ilipparchia megara, bat is more 

 rapid. It sometimes settles on the pathway, and has been seen in clover 

 fields. In England it is a very scarce species, appearing at uncertain inter- 

 vals, and generally in places on the coast of Kent, leading us to the conclu- 

 sion that, like Pieris daplidice, it is but an occasional visitor. A stray 

 specimen was taken near York, and another near Scarborough, which are the 

 most northerly records for Britain. A single specimen was taken on August 

 10th, 1864, at Killarney, in Ireland. 



The first record we have of its being a British species is in John Bay's 

 "Historia Insectorum," published in 1710, as follows: "Papilio Eigensis 

 aureus minor, maculis argenteis subtus, pubelle notatus. The Lesser Silver- 

 spotted Fritillary. Species est pulchra, et ab aliis congeneribus satis dis- 

 tincta. A. D. David Kreig Riga transmissam primb accepit D. Petiver, 

 postea etiam a D. Yernon, D. Antrobus, et aliis circa Cantabrigiam inventa 

 est." 



James Petiver, in his "Papilionum Britanniae," records it as being 

 observed about Cambridge. 



Moses Harris, in his " Aurelian's Pocket Companion, 1775, names it the 

 Queen of Spain, and records it as occurring in Gamling Gay Wood, near 

 Cambridge. 



Lewin, in his "Insects of Great Britain/' 1795, writes: "With the 

 natural history of this rare English insect we are not in the least acquainted, 

 and we have only two or three instances of the butterfly's being taken in this 

 country. Mr. Honey, of the Borough, has a good specimen in his extensive 

 collection of English insects, taken by him in his garden in the month of 

 August. The figure of the caterpillar, with the description, I have added 

 from the elegant and correct work of Sepp : ' The eggs of this butterfly are 

 ribbed and oblong; the broadest end being fast glued to the plant on which 

 it is laid. The female lays them not in clusters, but separate ; and it is re- 

 markable that she lays only in the sun, ceasing whenever she is by any means 



