86 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



the North Sea with a fair wind, from almost 

 any part of the Continent ; but this does not 

 solve the difficulty .because our British 

 Antiopa nearly always have a much whiter 

 border than Continental specimens. Those 

 found in Sweden, it is true, have a border simi- 

 lar to ours, but while it might be possible for a 

 migratory swarm from that country, to 

 reach our shores under very favourable cir- 

 cumstances ; we cannot conceive it possible 

 that this should happen, and the species 

 never cross from the much closer French 

 coast, where it is always abundant. 

 It has been conjectured that the eggs " may 

 occasionally lie dormant for several seasons, 

 and not hatch until some extraordinary but 

 undiscovered coincidences awake them into 

 active life." We cannot accept this solution 

 for as Mr. Newman points out " the eggs of 

 the Vanessidae pass so few days in that state, 

 and would, of necessity, fall with the falling 

 leaves of the willow, and the young cater- 

 pillar in emergence would be irretrievably 

 separated from its food plant." We would 

 rather believe that the hybernating imago 

 remains dormant, as we suggested in reference 

 to P. cardui, " until some extraordinary but 

 undiscovered coincidences, awake them into 

 active life." It is seldom seen in spring, but 

 little can be deduced from that. P. Aialanta 

 which is known not to pair in the autumn is 

 but rarely noticed after hybernation, though 

 it is so common an insect. We have a speci- 

 men of Antiopa taken on 8th February, 1869, 

 crawling out of some burning underwood near 

 Castle Eden Dene. This was too early for it to 

 be seeking to deposit its eggs, and had its tor- 

 pidity been very great it would scarcely 

 awake from it in time to escape death under 

 such circumstances. The difficulties of the 

 case are not lessened by the fact that the 

 larva was never observed, even in those years 

 when the imago was most abundant. The 

 larva is said to feed in June and July, and the 

 pupa to be formed in July or August. 



Habitat-— No special habitat can be as- 

 signed to Antiopa \n this country. It seems 



to have occurred with equal irregularity in all 

 sorts of places. Its English name implies 

 some connection with the suburbs of London 

 but there is certainly no special abundance 

 of the species in the neighbourhood of Cam- 

 berwell now. On the continent, it is said to 

 be a wood insect, which from the larvae 

 feeding on trees seems but natural. It 

 occurs all over Europe, in northern Africa, 

 in Asia, and over part of America. (We have 

 specimens from as far south as Venezuela). 



Variation. — The form of this insect 

 that occurs in Britain, has, as we have already 

 said, a whitish border to the wings, This is 

 the variety Hygi.v.i, Hdrch., the true Antiopa 

 having an ochre-yellow border. We lately 

 received a number of bred specimens from 

 North America, which we noticed had the 

 yellow border much suffused with black 

 scales.]^ especially at the projections of the 

 margin. Tnis may be the var. Lintnen. 

 Fitsch. which Kirby names as being found in 

 the United States. We have not seen any 

 abnormal departures from the type. 



Parasites. — None known to us, 



THE FOUR SEASONS: 



A Story from the Book of Nature. 

 By Lucy Fern. 



Chap. VII. 



SPRING DEVELOPS INTO SUMMER. 



We pass over a brief period in the history 

 of the two personages who have been our 

 .companions through the foregone chapters of 

 this story, and we now find them in the 

 happy position to which all look forward in 

 their younger days ; that of being united 

 under one name, and " for better or for worse" 

 being each others partner through life. In 

 this case let us hope that it was all "for 

 good." The beginning augured well, for John 

 had ceased to cram himself with books, and 

 in the field of nature he took almost as much 

 delight as Spring herself. By a turn of 



