THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



143 



NOTES ON MILITVEA 

 ARTEMIS. 



By Mrs. Battersbv. 



In or about the month of April (for much 

 depends upon early or late seasons) the little 

 black larva oiMelitcea Artemis begin to leave 

 their winter covering of white silky-looking 

 web, they are then seen a short distance from 

 their discarded home, sunning themselves 

 upon blades of withered grass, or tufts of 

 moss, after a short time they scatter, and 

 begin to seek their food plant, which is in- 

 variably Scabiosa succisa (the Devil's bit 

 Scabious), although other plants are men- 

 tioned in entomological books, such as plan- 

 tain, common scabious, woodbine, &c. A 

 careful study of several years has convinced 

 me that they invariably reject any other food, 

 in fact they will sooner starve in the absence 

 of their favourite scabious, which is usually 

 found in marshy meadows, where the female 

 Artemis lays her eggs, and the web is usually 

 discovered on a " Tussock " of grass raised a 

 little above the more spongy soil. I have 

 tried various experiments with the young 

 larvae, such as removing a colony to a more 

 convenient spot well stocked with scabious 

 roots, or endeavouring to keep a web in the 

 house during winter, but they invariably 

 failed. The best time for obtaining larvae is 

 when they begin to scatter, and I should not 

 recommend more than two. or at most three 

 dozen to be kept in one cage, for they do not 

 seem to thrive so well in large companies. 

 They are rather difficult to rear, for they are 

 most impatient of disturbance, in fact some 

 soft substance, such as bog moss, must be 

 placed in the cage, for however gently the 

 Severing is removed, all the larva? fall down, 

 and as this frequently happens after they | 

 have begun to "hang up," such larva turn 

 into chrysaides upon the moss, and it is the I 

 only chance of their not emerging cripples. 

 In order to avoid frequent disturbance, rooted \ 

 plants of scabious, which will keep fresh till j 



j they are all devoured, will be found very 

 useful. Even then, unless each bunch of 

 j plants is fastened securely with moss into 

 the jam pot, the larvre will slip through, and 

 get drowned, and though they will not thrive 

 without some degrees of moisture in the moss, 

 if it is too wet they become mildewed, and 

 , do not live to spin up at ail. 



I once tried an experiment with a large tin 

 box lined with a layer of bog moss, with 

 numberless withered stems of grasses, etc., 

 placed upright here and there through it, a 

 large quantity of scabious plants, were 

 I fastened securely in a bowl of water, and a 

 ! covering of half muslin and half crape placed 

 over the box. I found a very few changes 

 of food sufficient, and though larvae appa- 

 rently got on well, choosing the crape for 

 ) hanging their chrysalides upon in preference 

 j to the muslin,. but very few imagos rewarded 

 j my care, in fact a large proportion generally 

 j die in the chrysalis state ; at first looking 

 quite hopeful, but gradually shrivelling into 

 half their proper size ; the proportion of 

 crippled insects is also large. The chrysalis 

 is remarkably pretty, speckled with black 

 I and yellow, a;:d a reared Artemis butterfly is 

 a lovely object. It is a good plan to have the 

 I lately emerged imago in the sun for a time, 

 to harden its wings, for instance upon a blind 

 I cord in a sunny window, otherwise they do 

 j not set well, but if left too long they will 

 either probably be found upon the carpet, or 

 indulging pussy with a game of " hide and 

 seek," very much to her amusement, and 

 their disadvantage. In their natural habitats 

 the chrysalides are found attached to the 

 under leaf of the food plant. 



The female Artemis is much larger than the 

 male, and sometimes very brilliantly colored. 

 Of late years these butterflies have almost 

 entirely disappeared from our neighbourhood, 

 indeed between being "drowned out" by 

 several successive floods, and " ploughed 

 out" by cultivation of their habitats, our 

 beautiful Artemis seems nearly extinct. 



