抄録
The young stages of Melitaea diamina protomedia MENETRIES are similar to the other species' of the same genus, as the following: Eggs are upright and slightly tapering in shape, with a small depression on the blunt top and a flat base. There are about eighteen longitudinal keels, not reaching half-way up the side ; the spaces between the keels are smooth. Down the side, they are covered with a very coarse, slightly raised network. At first they are yellowish-white tinged with green, but as the caterpillar matures within, they become brownish-yellow. They are laid all in a batch, of 40-200, on the underside of the leaves of Patrima scabiosaefolia, in July. The caterpillars hatch out about 12〜14 days after the eggs are laid, and eat up their own eggshells from which they came a moment ago except the flat bases. Soon they form colonies corresponding to the number of eggs that hatch in any one batch, and then proceed to prepare a dwelling-place con-jointly by drawing together with silk two or three leaves of the food-plant, on which they feed until the supply is exhausted. They then immigrate in company to fresh leaves and construct a larger retreat, the better to accommodate their growing bodies. At the fifth instar, towards the mid-August, and while still quite small, they spin a silken home, hibernaculum, with two or three leaves, in which they go into hibernation on the silken carpet for the winter. The caterpillar in its first instar is brownish-yellow with light brown head, while as it repeats moulting its body with glossy black head gradually becomes dark, except its light brown underside.
