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A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



Xo. 11. 



JANUARY 10th, 1880. 



Vol. 1. 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



*Y^T is our intention, after the articles 

 | 3fis on " Orders of Insects " are com- 

 ' pleted, to commence a Natural History of 

 British Butterflies, which we hope we 

 shall make attractive as well as instructive 

 to the beginner, and not without interest 

 for the more advanced Entomologist. 

 The plan we propose to follow will be to 

 < some extent original, as it will include 

 (important matters that have either not 

 I been published before, or are so scattered 

 { through Magazines and other works as to 

 be of little service to the working natur- 

 alist. To enable us to make it as complete 

 and as free from error as possible we ask 

 the assistance of every Entomologist — 

 experienced as well as less experienced — 

 and this we doubt not will be fully and 

 cheerfully given. That they may under- 

 stand what we wish to accomplish, and 

 how they can assist, we propose now to 

 lay before our readers our ideas of what 

 is needed, and to point out what informa- 

 tion we are desirous of obtaining. 



In the first place we intend to give as 

 far as possible an account of the parasites 

 ♦ that infest the larvae of our butterflies. 

 > Very little appears to be known about 



them, for butterflies themselves are so 

 easily met with where they occur, and 

 most of the larvae being of very retiring 

 habits, hence they have been little sought 

 for ; and while few Entomologists know 

 the larvae of butterflies so common as 

 Jcmira, Pamphiles, &c., there are still fewer 

 ' who know anything of their parasites. 

 Even the ichneumon that preys on the 

 Small "White, Pieris rapes, appears to be 

 undetermined (see Ent. xii. G2). We also 

 have the impression we once bred a 

 dipterous insect from the same pupa, and 

 if so, the species does not seem to be 

 known. We only know three ichneumons 

 which prey on two species of butterfly, 

 and one dipteron which attacks at least 

 two different species. Collectors who 

 have bred ichneumons, or two winged 

 flies, from butterfly larvae, will greatly 

 oblige if th9y will forward us the names 

 of the parasites, and the species from 

 which they were obtained ; or better 

 still, if they will forward us the specimens 

 themselves for identification. Those from 

 the commonest species will be acceptable, 

 and it will be some satisfaction to our 

 young collectors when the larva, from 

 which they hoped to breed a fine specimen 

 for their collection, proves to be ichneu- 



