NYMPHALIDAE 
190 
prepares for hibernation by spinning together the edges of 
the basal half of a Honeysuckle leaf, upon which it has fed ; 
it carefully draws the sides together and then rests in a straight 
position along the mid-rib of the leaf, always with its anal 
end at the base of the leaf. Before doing so, the larva care¬ 
fully binds the leaf stalk to the stem by spinning a quantity 
of silk round both stalk and stem until firmly secured, thus 
preventing the leaf from falling from the stem in late autumn, 
which would be fatal to the hibernating larva. The larva 
passes seven months in complete torpidity, i.e. from the 
beginning of September until the end of March, when it 
leaves its hibernaculum. 
Egg Laying. When intent on depositing its eggs, the 
female usually enters the depths of the forest, where it slowly 
flutters about in search of trailing Honeysuckle growing 
round and about the tree trunks, or hanging in clusters from 
the lower branches ; also the Honeysuckle growing along 
the edges of the rides in woods provides favourite sites for the 
eggs. In the space of a square yard I have found as many 
as a dozen eggs upon the smaller sprays overhanging the 
ditches bordering the rides in the New Forest. 
The egg is laid singly on the edge of. the upper surface of 
the leaf ; the usual method of depositing is for the butterfly 
to sit across the leaf ; she then curves her abdomen until it 
touches the opposite edge, -when she lays a single egg and 
immediately flies off to another leaf and repeats the process. 
Occasionally two eggs may be found on the same leaf, which 
is the result of two different butterflies selecting that par¬ 
ticular leaf. 
The egg is spherical in shape and 0*91 mm. in diameter. 
The structure is of beautiful formation, being adorned with 
hexagonal cells exactly resembling honeycomb. From the 
angle of each cell rises a moderately long, sharp, transparent 
spine, giving the egg an echina-like appearance. It is olive- 
green, semi-transparent and very glossy. Shortly before 
hatching it becomes paler and the dark head of the larva 
shows through the shell. The eggs are laid in July and 
remain six or seven days in the egg state. Honeysuckle is 
the only natural food plant of the larva. 
Larva. When fully grown after the fourth moult the larva 
