Genus POLYGONIA, Hubner , 1818 
THE COMMA BUTTERFLY 
Polygonia c-album (Linn. 1758). 
(Plate XVI, facing page 189) 
The Comma presents a remarkable feature which is unique 
among British butterflies. It is double brooded and hibernates 
in the imago state. Pairing takes place after hibernation. 
The females start depositing in April and continue throughout 
May ; of the total number of eggs laid by a single specimen, 
between 30 and 40 per cent., and always the first eggs laid, 
produce butterflies of the ab. Hutchinsoni, while the whole 
of the remaining eggs produce the normal type. The 
Hutchinsoni pair at once and produce the second brood, all 
of which are the normal type. These start emerging in 
August and continue until October. All of the ordinary type 
hibernate and pair in the spring with the hibernated examples 
of both the first and second broods. As a rule, the normal 
type of the first brood enter into hibernation very early, very 
shortly after emergence. It will be seen that two distinct 
types of butterflies, both in structure and colouring, are the 
offspring of the same parent. It was always considered that 
the ab. Hutchinsoni belonged to a distinct brood and was 
called the summer brood, as it was the first form to emerge, 
until I disproved this by rearing a large number of both forms 
from the same parent. 
Haunts and Distribution. Until the last four or five years, 
this elegant butterfly had become during the past half-century 
very much scarcer than formerly, having from some mysterious 
cause disappeared from nearly all its former haunts, and 
became almost wholly confined to the Wye district of 
Hereford, Monmouthshire and Worcestershire. But from 
some unaccountable cause, it has, within the past few years, 
suddenly reappeared in various parts of the southern and 
midland counties and has now appeared in the outskirts of 
London, where it has bred and produced broods in a wild 
state. In July larvae were found feeding on hops in a garden 
at Norbury, S.W., and these produced butterflies in August 
of the same year. It is still extending its range over the 
