230 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



black. The body is covered with whitish 

 hairs, emanating from the usual warts. 



Pupa. — PI. 16. fig. 2b. Very short and 

 stumpy, pale brown, marked and spotted 

 with darker. Head rather rounded. 



Food Plants- — Grasses. The larvae 

 have been found on various species, but Mr. 

 Newman noticed that in confinement it 

 selected the common Couch grass (Triticum 

 repens ) in preference to others. 



Times of appearance.— This butterfly 

 emerges from the chrysalis in the early part 

 of July, and continues on the wing until 

 August. The egg is laid singly on the grass 

 stems, and hatches in about fourteen days. 

 The young larvae feed very slowly during the 

 HUtumn, and conceals itself at the bottom of 

 the herbage when very small. It appears 

 again early in Spring, and feeds slowly until 

 about the end of June, when it suspends itself 

 by the tail, and changes to pupa. In mild 

 winter it may be found in March, or even 

 earlier, but being a night feeder requires 

 searching for with a light. 



Habitat-— I have never found this but- 

 terfly except in wodds or their immediate 

 vicinity. It is very local in some districts, 

 but appears to be more generally distributed 

 in the better wooded parts of the island. In 

 Ireland it is very local, and in Scotland does 

 not occur in the more mountainous parts. 

 It is found all over Europe, except in the 

 extreme north. It occurs in Asia, but only 

 in some of the districts bordering on Europe. 



Variation. — Hypemnthm varies on the 

 upper side only in the greater or less dis- 

 tinctness with which the eyed wings of ^the 

 underside show through. Sometimes these 

 marks are entirely wanting, and the upper 

 side is uniformly dark smoky brown. The 

 underside varies greatly in the size and num- 

 ber of these characteristic marks. There are 

 generally three on the fore wing and five on 

 the hind wing, but some specimens have six 

 on the hind v. ing, while they may be found 

 in every intermediate form, until the only 

 traces of the ocelli are the white centres, and 



even those disappear from some specimens. 

 The form in which the eyed rings are repre- 

 sented only by the white spots of the centres 

 is called Arete, Mull., and in Dr. Staudinger's 

 large catalogue the only locality given for it 

 is the valley of the Amoor, but Mr. Sydney 

 Webb takes it not uncommonly at Dover, 

 and I have specimens from other places also, 

 including one taken at Crimdon Dene, three 

 miles from Hartlepool, in which there is 

 only a very faint trace even of the white spot. 

 Another variety is named in Kirby's catalogue 

 Vidua, Mull., but I know nothing whatever 

 about it. 



Parasites. — None recorded as yet that I 

 have seen. 



BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR 

 NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. Mosley. 



HOBBY. 



Falco subbuteo, Linn. 



Hebog yr Hedydd (Anct. Brit.) 



Subbuteo. — Sub (L) under, The inferior 

 of Buteo — The Buzzard. 



Size- — Length of male about 13 in., ex- 

 panse of wings 22 in. ; the female expands to 

 about 24 in. 



Plumage. — The adult male has the 

 whole of the upper surface, wings, and tail 



1 dark slaty blue, with a pale streak over the 

 eye. The throat is white, increasing to 

 reddish towards the feathers of the thigh. 

 On the belly each feather has a dark stripe 

 down the centre. The bill is horn-colour. 

 The cere and legs lemon-yellow, and the eyes 



i hazel-brown. The legs are feathered a little 

 below the knee. 



The following is a description of a fine 



j female killed several years ago. in May. at 

 Kingsbury, in Middlesex: — "Bill blue horn 



! colour, tip darker, cere yellow tinged with 

 green, back and upper parts bluish black, 

 each feather with a narrow black line down 



