210 
NYMPHALIDjE. 
and heathy places, ascending to a great elevation in the moun- 
tains. As a British insect local, hut common where it is found. 
Larva.— Blackish brown, with two pale yellow dorsal lines and 
reddish brown lateral spots ; spines blackish. Feeds on Viola 
canina in May and June. 
VARIETY. 
Charlotta, Haw. Lep. Brit. i. 32 (1803) ; Sow. Brit. Misc. 
i. t. 11. — Caroletta, Jerm. Vade Mecum p. 107 (1827). — An aberrant 
form in which the silver spots on the under side are larger than in 
the type, there being especially three large basal silvery blotches ; 
occasionally the spots of the central row coalesce to form bands. 
Described by the old English authors as a distinct species, and I 
believe found nowhere else but in Britain. Staudinger does not 
notice it in his Catalogue. 
20. — A, Niobe, Linn. Syst. Nat. x. 481; xii. 786; Esp. 18, 4; 
Hbst. X. p. 56 ; 0. i. 1, 83 ; Godt. ii. 7, 3, 4. 
Expands from 1-75 to 2-0 in. The wings above very much 
resemble those of the last species ; but the female has the ground 
colour duller fulvous and the markings darker, especially towards 
the base. Under side : Fore wings duller in colour than in the last 
species, with the black spots strongly marked and with greenish 
yellow markings upon the costa, and extending from the apex for 
a short distance along the hind margin ; but there is usually an 
absence of any silvery blotch. Hind wings yellowish, with a slight 
tinge of green mixed with brown. The pale sj^ots are only slightly 
silvery in the typical form, and between the central and hind- 
marginal rows there is a row of reddish brown spots with silvery 
centres ; near the bases, between the two rows of spots, there is 
always a dot or spot, either silvery light yellow or black. 
PI. L., 1. 
Times of Appearance. — July and August. 
Habitat. — Throughout Europe, and Northern and Central 
Asia. It is very doubtful whether it has ever occurred in Britain, 
but it has lately been reputed British and introduced into some 
lists of British Lepidoptera ; the j^i'obability is that specimens of 
