194 



On the upperside, the wings are of a deep fulvous, tesselated with brownish 

 black, and with a row of black spots on the hind-wings. On the underside, 

 the hind-wings are of a pale straw colour, with two fulvous bands edged with 

 black, and have several rows of small black spots. The width across the 

 wings is from one inch and nine lines to a couple of inches. 



This Fritillary is most subject to variation on the underside of the hind- 

 wing by the enlargement or diminution of the black spots. In some speci- 

 mens they are like larger black blotches or streaks, while in others they are 

 almost wanting, especially on the central pale band. In others, the upper- 

 side varies, like the preceding genus, by the enlargement of the black spots 

 or the suffusion of the wing with black, but the variation of the underside is 

 much more frequent. Two varieties, occurring in Sweden, have been named 

 Fulla and Delia. 



The egg appears to be undescribed. 



The caterpillar is intensely black, being very slightly spotted with white, 

 and has a red band and claspers, the legs being black. Each segment has 

 eight warts, from which proceed tufts of short bristly black hairs. 



The chrysalis is short and stout, of a very dark colour and almost smooth. 



The butterfly emerges during May and June, sometimes being quite out 

 at the beginning of the former month. The eggs are laid in batches during 

 May and June on the leaves of the food-plant, the narrow-leaved plantain 

 (Planlago lanceolata), and the caterpillars are hatched towards the end of 

 July or in August. They feed rather slowly during the autumn months, and 

 as the cold, weather approaches, they spin a kind of tent or covering of silk 

 among the grass stems and plantain leaves, in which they pass the winter. 

 This tent is very compact, and almost of a globular form, the caterpillars in 

 each mass varving considerably in number. In some there are fifty or sixty ; 

 in others not more than a dozen. The web is very ingeniously constructed, 

 the blades of grass, as well as the leaves and flowering stems of the plantain 

 being interwoven, and thus rendering the mass firm and compact. The cater- 

 pillars when examined in the winter are about a third of an inch long, and 

 directly they are disturbed roll up into little balls. Early in the spring they 

 leave their winter quarters and feed up rapidly. At the end of April they 

 attach themselves by the tail to plantain stems, almost close to the ground, 

 and change into chrysalides. 



Melitcea cinxia is well spread over Europe, being only absent from the 

 polar regions. It occurs also in Asia Minor and Siberia. In the British 

 Isles it occurs in but few localities, and all of them on the Southern coast. 

 It is or was abundant in the Isle of Wight, where it was discovered by Mr. 

 E. Newman, on the Undercliff, near Sandown, in 1824. It also occurred at 



