268 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



Captures near Liverpool. — Yesterday 

 (Friday) evening, June n, I took the follow- 

 ing insects on the Wallasey Sandhills, most 

 of the geometras and' tinerina being in 

 abundance, in fact I never remember to have 

 seen the sandhills so crowded with small 

 insects. A crony eta rumicis at sugar, Xylophasia 

 UthoxyUa at sugar, Mamestra albicolon, Noctua 

 augur at sugar, Noctua rubi (bell) from under 

 the over-hanging bushes. I see Stainton in 

 giving the time of appearance of this insect 

 gives in addition to August, June ? Acidalia 

 remutata, Emmelesia albutata, Eupithecia absyn- 

 thiata, Melanthia ocellata, Melanippe galiata, 

 Melantppe subtristata, Melanippe montanata, 

 Coleoptera, two species ; Gelechice, about half- 

 a-dozen species, &c, &c. I also found about 

 a-dozen larvae of Orthosia upsilan ascending 

 one of the willows which I had sugared, two 

 or three of the larva being engaged drinking 

 the sugar. On Thursday evening I tried 

 sugaring a few trees near Aigburte, but with- 

 out any other success than a specimen of 

 Acronycta megacephala, and one battered speci- 

 men of Taniscampa gothica. My friend, Mr. 

 Curzon, who was with me, had the good 

 fortune to find a luminous centipede (Gymne- 

 tron electricus) which had just been attacked 

 (and bitten) by a beetle, Nebria brevicollis. 

 which scuttled off directly a light was pro- 

 duced. The centipede in addition to shining 

 itself had left a luminous track on the ground 

 over which it had crawled. — John W. Ellis. 

 34, Paddington, Liverpool. 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



. By J. E. Robson ; with figures from life by 

 S. L. Mosley. 



(Assisted by Contributors to the Y. N.) 



4, EDUSA, Linn, PI. 3, Fig. 1. 

 The Clouded Yellow. 



" Edusa, a Roman divinity, worshipped as 

 the protectress of children, and supposed to 



bless their food (edere, to eat)." — A.L. 



ImagO.— Plate 3, Fig. 1, male and female. 

 Deep orange yellow, with a broad black 

 border. Disc spot on fore wing black, on 

 hind wing yellow. The female has the black 

 border of both wings spotted with yellow, 

 paler than the ground color. In the male, 

 the veins are yellow through the border. 



Larva. — PL 3, Fig. ib. Velvety green, 

 with a yellowish spiracular line, a red spot 

 on each segment below the spinacles, and a 

 whitish mark on the upper part. In general 

 appearance it is very like the larva of Pieris 

 rapa, but the red marks at the spiracles are a 

 safe guide for distinguishing them. We are 

 indebted to Mrs. Hutchinson, of Leominster, 

 for the larva rom which our figure was taken. 



Pupa. — PL 3, Fig. ib. Green, not so 

 angular as that of the whites ; the wing cases 

 appear very long in proportion. 



Food Plants.— Clovers, Bird's-foot Tre- 

 foil (Lotus corniculatus), Lucern, and many 

 other leguminiferous plants. 



Times of Appearance.— Great diver- 

 sity of opinion exists on this point. We 

 believe that as a rule the imago hybernates to 

 re-appear in May or June. The larvae are 

 not often found, but they feed up in July and 

 the beginning of August, and the insect 

 appears in August or September. In the 

 South of Europe it is certainly double 

 brooded, and the imago has been noticed as 

 early as February. It has been known to 

 pass the winter in pupa in England, and per- 

 haps in favorable years there may be two 

 broods. In the "great Edusa year," 1877, 

 there was supposed to have been a third 

 brood, some very small specimens being 

 taken very late in the season. From the very 

 fine condition of the spring specimens that 

 year, it is probable they passed the winter in 

 the pupa state, yet their simultaneous appear- 

 ance in so many localities where they were 

 not usually seen, was more like the arrival 0 f 

 one of those migratory swarms we have 

 spoken of, than a normal occurrence of the 



