492 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



is well represented in the United States, one third of the total number being found 

 amongst us. They are, however, peculiar to the western slope of the continent, C. 



californica and C. galactina being extremely abundant 

 in California and Oregon. Neonympha is found on 

 the Atlantic coast. 



The Dauainae comprise a large group of butterflies 

 in which the wings are streaked with black, mostly 

 alono- the course of the nervures, as in Danais. or are 



~ ' ' 



shaded with purple, and spotted with white, as in 

 Euplwa. They are found all over the world, Asia, 

 however, leading in point of numbers. 

 The genus Hestia is composed of very large insects, in which the ground-color of 

 the wing is white or smoky, with the nervures broadly black, and with black spots 

 variously distributed over the whole surface. They are all natives of the East Indian 

 archipelago, and are very curious-looking insects. If. itea is the best-known species. 

 It is about seven inches in expanse of wing. Danais is represented in this country 

 by the well known D. erippus (=- D. archlppus), which is abundant everywhere 

 throughout the United States, and which has gradually worked its way through the 

 Hawaiian Islands to the Fijis, thence to the Friendly group, and finally to Australia, 

 where it is said to be now quite abundant. The means of these migrations is scarcely 

 known ; but it is assumed that the insects make their long flight in crowds, from land 

 to land, being probably kept upon their course by the aid of the wind. The cater- 

 pillar of the last-named species, with its yellow and black transverse bands, and its 

 black filaments, and its beautiful chrysalis, looking like green ice spotted with gold, are 

 well-known objects, while the perfect insect is, in summer, conspicuous upon every 

 wayside, where its food-plants, the various species of Asclepias (milk-weed) are found. 

 An admirable memoir on the anatomy of this butterfly has been published by Mr. 

 Edward Burgess of Boston, which may be regarded as a text-book for the structure 

 of the whole group. Several beautiful species of Danais are found in India and 

 Australia, and one of these, specially worthy of remark, is D. limniace, which has 

 been wrongly regarded as an Euplwa, and has been referred to by writers as E. 

 hamata. This is the celebrated bugong moth of the natives of New Holland, so much 

 prized by some of the tribes as an article of food. Dr. George Bennett, of Sydney, 

 author of "Wanderings of a Naturalist in New South Wales," was the first to call 

 attention to the singular facts connected with this insect, and we cannot do better than 

 to give his own words. " The Bugong ' moths ' (sic) collect upon the surfaces and 

 also in the crevices of the masses of granite in incredible quantities. To procure them 

 with greater facility the natives make smothered fires underneath those rocks about 

 which they are collected, and suffocate them with smoke, at the same time sweeping 

 them off, frequently in baskets-full at a time. A circular space is then cleared on the 

 ground, on it a fire is lighted, and kept burning until the ground is considered to be 

 sufficiently heated, when, the fire being removed, and the ashes swept away, the moths 

 are placed upon the lieated space, and stirred about until the down and wings are 

 removed ; they are then placed on pieces of bark and winnowed, to separate the dust 

 and wings mixed with the bodies. They are then eaten, or placed in a wooden vessel 

 and pounded by a piece of wood into masses, or cakes, resembling lumps of fat, and 

 may be compared, in color and consistence, to dough made from smutty wheat mixed 

 with fat. The bodies are large, and filled with a yellowish oil, resembling in taste a 



