288 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS 

 THE FAUNA OP PLYMOUTH. 



By Mr. G. C. Bignell, M.E.S. 



(Reprinted by permission of the author from the 

 Transactions of the Plymouth Institution and Devon 

 and Cornwall Natural. History Society, 1881.) 



HYMENOPTERA, ICHNEUMONIDiE. 



Arranged according to the Rev. T. A. Marshall's Cata- 

 logue, published by the Entomological Societv of 

 London, 1872. 



Part I. 

 (Continued from page 208 .) 

 Ichneumon. — 

 submarginatus. 



nigritarius, bred from Abraxas grossula- 



riata. 

 corusoator. 



jugatus, bred from Tephrosia extersaria. 

 vacillatorius, bred from Depressaria hera- 



cliana (12th August, 1878.) 

 oscillator. 



HMbundus, taken at Laira. 



EXOPHANES. — 



occwpator. 

 Amblyteles.— 

 jpalliatorius. 

 oratorius. 

 castigator. 

 fmereus. 



proteus, bred from Choerocampa elpenor. 

 Trogus. — 

 lutorius, bred from Sphinx ligustri out of 



larva taken at Stoke. 

 Alboguttatus, bred from Orgyia pudibunda. 

 (To be continued.) 



BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



By J. E. Robson ; with figures from life by 

 S. L. Mosley. 

 (Assisted by Contributors to the Y.N.) 



MEDON, Esper. } ^ 



r ■ PI. 20. Fig. 4. 

 AGESTIS, W.V. J 5 H 



The Brown Argus. 



" Agestis, W.V., Ages'tis; perhaps a typo- 

 graphical error for Agrestis, a rustic." — A.L. 



Medon, the 17th and last King of Athens, 

 was the son of Codrus. 



ImagO. — PI. 20, Fig, 4. Very dark 

 golden brown, with or without a row of 

 orange spots at the hind margin, a black or 

 white spot at the disc of forewing, sometimes 

 on all wings. Underside, greyish brown, 

 with black spots in white rings, none of 

 which are nearer the base of the forewing, 

 than the central spot ; a row of orange spots 

 at the hind margin. 



Larva.— "Lively pale green, finely whitel 

 haired ; the head black ; the dorsal line pur- 

 plish brown, with two very pale oblique 

 lateral lines and broad purplish-red lateral 

 swellings." (Prof. Zeller, in Stettiner Ent. 

 Zeiting, 1868; translated in Ento. M. Mag., 

 Vol. v., page 187. 



Pupa. — " Slightly polished pale green, 

 on the back darker and purer ; on the abdo- 

 men paler, and shading into yellowish, on 

 the wing covers whitish." (Prof. Zeller, as ! 

 above.) 



Food Plants. — Common Sun Cistus 

 (Helianthemum vulgare), and Herons' Bill 

 (Erodium cicutarium) . The curious fact thai { 

 this larva feeds on a different plant in this 

 country, so far as is known, to that selected 

 on the continent, helped by a mistake as tc 

 the larva itself, prevented Entomologists foi 

 a long time from deciding that the various 

 forms [Medon or Agestis, Salmacis and Artax^ 

 axes) were but local races of one species 

 That is was so, was long suspected, anc 

 latterly believed in by almost every one, but 

 it could scarcely be said to be settled unti : 

 1879. A brief history of the matter seems 

 to come appropriately under this head. I dc 

 not know the earliest authority for the 

 statement that Erodium was the food plan ! 

 of the larva, for Mr. Westwood admitted h< 

 had copied it and had forgotton his autho 

 rity, and he is given as the authority ii 

 Stainton's Manual. In the Zoologist, foi 



