THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



183 



much attention being paid to the Rhopalocera 

 except by students. 



The species are various shades of brown, 

 and generally have eyed spots on one or both 

 wings. 



JBGERIA, L. — (PI. 14. Fig. 1.) 

 The Speckled Wood. 



'• .Egkria, I-., Eger'ia (/Egeria), a nymph 

 who was supposed to have favoured and in- 

 structed Numa Pamphihis. Ovid,Fast. 111.. 

 275/ -A. L. 



Imago — PI. 14. Pig. 1. — Dark brown, 

 with about nine irregular pale yellowish- 

 brown spots (sometimes nearly white) along 

 costa and hind margin of the fore wing, and 

 one on the costa of the hind w ing. The spot 

 at the tip of the fore wing has a white- 

 centred black spot within it, and the hind 

 wing has at the hind margin three pale 

 yellow rings, also enclosing white-centred 

 black spots, and one more at the tip, in which 

 the black spot is often wanting. 



Larva. — PI. 14, Fig. ia. — Dull brownish- 

 green ; dorsal stripe darker, and bordered by 

 a paler line ; spiracular line pale, w ith darker 

 line above. In some specimens there is 

 (another line between these. The entire sur- 

 face is rather rough and warty, and covered 

 with short hairs. 



Pupa. — PL 14, l 7 ig. 16. — Green or brown- 

 ish-green, with darker marks. Rather short. 

 Suspended by the tail. We are indebted to 



I Miss Sotheby for the larva and pupa to 



[ figure. 



Food Plant- — Various species of grass. 



Times of Appearance.— in ordinary 



I seasons the Butterfly emerges from the pupa 



' about the middle of April. The eggs are laid 

 singly on the grass blades, and soon hatch. 



I The larvae are full fed in June or July, and 

 pupa may be found in the latter month. It 

 remains but a few- days in this state, and by 

 the end of July the insect is again upon the 

 wing. The second Brood of larvae may be 



t found at the latter end of August or in Sep- 



i tember, when they are generally understood 

 to hybernate and feed up in early spring. 

 On this point some doubt was thrown in a 

 paper by Mr. Pitch, in the Entomologist for 

 1879. Miss Sotheby (Entomologist, vol. ii., 

 251) had some larvae in 1878, one of which 

 turned to a pupa on 10th October of that 

 year. The Rev. Joseph Greene also, in his 

 well-known paper on " Pupa Digging," says 

 he has several times met with the pupa of 

 this species, w hich " passes the w inter in that 

 state." In neither case are we informed 

 when the Imago emerged, and it may be 

 that in forward seasons, as stated by Lewin 

 nearly a century ago, that there is a third 

 brood of the species, or that the autumn pupa 

 I produce barren imagines, as we know occurs 

 in other cases. It is not much to the credit 

 British Entomologists that there should be 

 any doubt as to the state in w hich so common 

 I a species passes the w inter, particularly w hen 

 1 we have so few Butterflies to study. 



Habitat. — Woods and shady lanes. Is 

 said to be common everywhere but in the 

 north of Scotland, but it seems to have dis- 

 appeared from many of its former habitats, 

 j and is now certainly not common in many 

 I places where it was formerly abundant. It 

 j is generally distributed throughout Europe, 

 I and one form occurs in Western Africa. 



Varieties. — Three named varieties are 

 ! given in Kirby, viz. : Tints, Godt. ; Meone, 

 Cram. ; Xiphia, Faber. I know nothing of 

 Tims or Xiphia, but Meone is a form found in 

 South Europe and in Africa, which has the 

 light marks of an orange or tawny hue. In 

 Staudinger's catalogue this form is con- 

 sidered to be the type, and is called dSgeria, 

 with Meone as a synonym, while one northern 

 form is considered to be a variety, and is 

 called Egcvidcs, Abnormal forms are not 

 common. The pale spots vary in size, but I 

 have seen no other aberrant specimens. A 

 variety with bipupilled eye is said to be com- 

 mon in the Channel Islands, but I have not 

 seen one. 



Parasites- — I know of none. 



