THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



207 



female may be noticed ovapositing. The j 

 eggs are laid singly on the grass blades, and 

 Ihey hatch in about a fortnight. They feed j 

 slowly for a short time, and then retire for 

 hybernation. With the warm weather of 

 May it comes from its retreat, and feeds up 

 quickly, being full fed by the end of the 

 month, or early in June. It remains three or j 

 four weeks in pupa, 



Localities- — One of our most generally 

 distributed Butterflies. It swarms in every 

 lane, meadow, or grassy place, and is com- ; 

 mon in all parts of the island. Jt does not, 

 however, occur at any great elevation above 

 the sea. It is found all over Europe, except 

 in the I'olar regions, in those portions of Asia 

 bordering on Europe, and in Northern 

 Africa. 



Variation — Janira is subject to variation 

 of a very peculiar kind, one or more of the 

 wings often having a patch, a spot presenting 

 quite a bleached appearance, almost as if the 

 colour had been removed artificially. Various 

 suggestions have been made to account for 

 these aberrations, that most generally received 

 being that the discolouration has been caused 

 by the rays of the sun, concentrated by a 

 drop of dew. I cannot see that the explana- 

 tion is satisfactory for the bleaching is as 

 often on the hind wing as on the fore wing, 

 and as the one covers the other in the pupa 

 case, the hind wing could not be bleached 

 from this cause, without that part of the fore 

 wing above it also being affected. Besides, 

 if a dewdrop could thus concentrate- the rays 

 of the sun, like a burning glass, the pupa-case 

 would be first affected, and the insect so in- 

 jured as not to be likely to emerge. I have 

 seen no other species marked in the same 

 way. except one specimen of Ercbia JEihiops 

 (Blandina ) in my own collection, which has 

 the left hind wing so affected. Mr. Yaughan 

 has one of these bleached specimens, which 

 is equally marked on both sides, and on all 

 four wings. It was taken at Chattenden in 

 1877. Tug well has a very remarkable 



example with the right fore wing quite white, 



except the eye, and a few yellowish streaks 

 near the middle. The hind wing, on the 

 same side, has a yellowish white band, cor- 

 responding with the pale band of the under- 

 side. The wings on the opposite side are 

 very different, the fore wing being marked 

 more "like the ordinary female, but yellow 

 instead of fulvous, while the hind wing 

 resembles that on the right side, but the band 

 is yellow instead of white. Another verv 

 extraorciinary form i ; in the collection of Mr. 

 C. A. Briggs. It has the wings all a verv 

 pale brownish drab, except a small irregular 

 fulvous patch surrounding the eyed spot near 

 the tip of the fore wings. This was taken at 

 Folkestone in 1S77. Many other very curious 

 abnormal forms might be described, did space 

 permit. Dr. Staudinger names two varieties 

 Hisputla, Hb. , which is a lar^e richly coloured 

 form, occurring in the South of Europe, and 

 in Africa. The finest I have seen was taken 

 at Morocco, and expands nearly two inches 

 and a half: the black spot at the tip is very 

 large, the light markings of a deep orange 

 tawny, and the veins are broadly darker ; the 

 hind wing has a distinct tawny band. The 

 second is Tclmessia, 3, occurring in Asia 

 Minor and Bulgaria, and which is described 

 as "minor, dilution " Kirby names four 

 varieties: Brig^itta Ljungh, Pallexens Butler, 

 Hispulla (already spoken of) and Janirula, 

 Esp. : I know none of these forms. Linne 

 gave a different name to the sexes of this 

 insects, believing them to be distinct species : 

 he called the male Janira, and the female 

 Jurtina. Kirby adopts the latter as the name 

 of the species, but Janira is more generally 

 used, and, so far as I know, the name of the 

 male has been adopted as the name of the 

 species in other cases where a like error has 

 been made. 



Parasites. — Ichneumon raptor ions is stated 

 to have been bred from this species by Har- 

 rack. See Entom., XIII, 302. The larva of 

 Janira is easily found at dusk, and should be 

 looked for now when, no doubt others would 

 be obtained. 



