THE MEADOW BROWN 
73 
Europe—except in the Polar regions, Asia Minor, Northern 
Africa, and the Canary Isles. 
Time of Appearance. Although generally a single-brooded 
species, there is not the slightest doubt that it is frequently 
double-brooded, as freshly-emerged specimens commonly 
occur in August, September, and in warm summers as late as 
October. It is on the wing from about June ioth, when a 
few males first appear, until October, its appearance ranging 
for about five months. 
Hibernation. This species undergoes only partial hiberna¬ 
tion as a larva, as if frequently feeds at night during the winter 
when the weather is mild, and during the day it rests on the 
basal parts of the grass stems on which it feeds. 
Egg and Egg Laying. 
The eggs are laid singly on 
the blades of grasses, Poa 
annua , and other kinds. 
The egg is very small, only 
0*50 mm. high and the 
same in width, the shape 
is a truncated cone. It 
has from twenty to twenty- 
four longitudinal keels, all 
starting from a ridge en¬ 
circling the micropyle 
and passing over the flat¬ 
tened top, which has in all three ribs encircling it. The keels 
turn abruptly over the brim and descend the side to the base ; 
the keels are shallow, but the intervening spaces are deeply 
concave, producing a strongly-fluted appearance ; each space is 
delicately ribbed transversely. When first laid, the colour is a 
light primrose-yellow ; when a few days old it is slightly 
deeper in colour and showing faint mottlings, which gradually 
become plainer when a week old. When a fortnight old, 
it is clear ochreous-yellow, beautifully mottled with bright 
rust-red, no two specimens agreeing in arrangement of the 
pattern. When eighteen days old the mottlings are red- 
brown and the ground deep-ochreous; it finally turns a 
smoky-pearl-grey. The egg stage varies considerably accord¬ 
ing to temperature, from fourteen to thirty days. 
The Meadow Brown 
(ab. captured at Ashton Wold, i 9 ° 3 )- 
