10
THE CHALKHII.L BLUE
' RECORDS OF FOOD-PLANTS.—Tutt in his exhaustive treatise on this species (Tutt, 1910-14) gives a large number of food-plants, but it should be noted that most of his records are of Continental origin, and it is possible that the habits of the European L. coridon are different from those of the British insects. Tutt states that on the continent the two vetches Coronilla varia and Astragalus glycyphyllus are common food-plants of the species. These two plants are local and scattered in this country, but it would be interesting to experiment with British insects on these plants ; in a similar way it would be instructive to try Continental insects with the common British Birdsfoot Trefoil and Kidney Vetch. Other SufFolk Naturalists might like to carry out further experiments in the years to come. The butterflies are not now found in Suffolk, unless possibly on the chalk near the Cambridgeshire border, but they are quite common along the Devil's Ditch at Newmarket. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Tutt, J. W. (1910-14).
British Butterflies, vol. IV. London : Stock. Stokoe, W. J. (1944). The Caterpilars of the British Butterflies. London: Warne. Allan, P. B. M. (1949). Larval Food-plants. London: Watkins and Doncaster. Frohawk, F. W. (1934). The Complete Book of British Butterflies. London : Ward Lock. S. BEAUFOY.
NOTES ON REARING LEPIDOPTERA, 1954 PURPLE EMPEROR (Apatura
iris Linn.).—Of the six larvae which hatched in August, 1953, from ova found in Suffolk (vol viii, p. 130), five entered into hibernation on the same Sallow sapling as had been used for a similar purpose during the previous winter. Of thesefive,two died in the spring of 1954, and the others produced males in July. These butterflies were released in the wood in which the ova had been found. No other Purple Emperors were seen by me in this wood this summer (the weather did not allow many visits), but they are still there, as after a short search I found one egg on the same bush where a few had been found the previous year. This egg was brought home, and the resulting larva is, at the time of writing (22.9.54), about to enter its third instar.