Abstract
1) Ovipositing in captivity was studied on some Lycaenid butterflies at Aomori Pref. in 1974 and 1975. The well-conditioned females of Neozephyrus sniaragdinus and Wagimo signata were alive over a ten-day period, and laid eggs 100 or more in captivity with a sleave covering the food-plants. 2) The natural history of W. signata in the district of Aomori is as follows: This species is essentially single-brooded and hibernates as an egg. July and August are the usual months for the butterfly. Both sexes of this butterfly are on the wing contemporaneously in early June. It is exceptional, as a member of the Japanese Theclini, in that the male-to-female ratio is 1:2 in the natural conditions as well as in breeding ones. They copulate during 4-6 P.M. from the end of July to early August. 3) Two forms, f. signata and f. quercivora, of W. signata inhabit in the same areas of Aomori district. Of sixteen copulations found in the fields, one was signata×quercivora. One female of signata, verified to have copulated with quercivora, laid 66 eggs in total. The hybrid offspring comprised 20 quercivora and 15 signata. They showed marked individual-variations in size, ranging from near-normal to excessively small.
