8 



others similar are in a few private collections. There is also a variety with 

 the veins of the hind wings obscured by the ground colour. The red of the 

 eye-spot, at the anal angle, sometimes shows more or less between the veins 

 on the hind-margin. A variety named Sphyrns, which occurs in the South 

 of Italy and in Algiers, has more black on the fore wings, and less blue on 

 the hind wings than the type. 



I he egg, which is laid in June or J uly, is globular, of good size, and with 

 an apparently smooth surface. When first laid it is of a greenish yellow- 

 colour, quickly turning green, and soon after tinged with violet-brown, grad- 

 ually deepening to purple, and faintly showing the embryo through the shell, 

 which in a day or two turns entirely purplish-black, a process of change simi- 

 lar to that shown by a ripening black currant. The shell next assumes a 

 light pearly transparency, and the dark embryonic caterpillar coiled round 

 within is plainly visible, and in a few hours hatched (Buckler). 



The caterpillar, which is a very handsome creature, is found feeding on 

 umbelliferous plants, among which its chief favourites in this country, appear 

 to be the wild carrot (Daucus carotd), the March milk parsley (Peucedanum 

 paluslre), and the wood angelica {Angelica sylvestris). In colour it is bright 

 green, with black velvet rings, which are spotted with yellow. When young 

 it is much darker. A distinguishing mark of this caterpillar is a reddish 

 coloured forked appendage just behind its head, which, when the creature is 

 alarmed, gives out a strongly scented fluid. Bonnet says : " When I pressed 

 this caterpillar near its anterior part, it darted forth its horn as if it meant to 

 prick me with it, directing it towards my finger, but it withdrew it as soon 

 as I left off pressing it. This horn smelled strongly of fennel, and probably 

 is employed by the insect, by means of its powerful scent, to drive away the 

 flies and ichneumons that attack it. This remarkable V shaped scent organ 

 is situated at the anterior margin at the back of the second segment, close 

 to the head, from which, at first view, it seems to proceed. At the bottom 

 it is simple, but divided towards the middle, like the letter Y, into two forks 

 of a fleshy substance, which it can lengthen, as a snail does its horns, to 

 five times their ordinary extent, or retract them within the stalk so as wholly 

 to conceal them. Sometimes it protrudes one fork, keeping the other re- 

 tracted ; and often withdraws the whole apparatus for hours together under 

 the skin, and its place is only marked by two tawny coloured dots, so that an 

 ordinary spectator would not suspect the existence of such an instrument.'" 

 The chrysalis again is very pretty, especially when of its ordinary colour, 

 which is a lively green, shaded in some parts into bright yellow, but there is 

 a frequent variety marked only with various shades of brown and buff. In 

 shape it is angular, with the head slightly bifid. 



