128 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



OVIPOSITING IN THE GENUS ARGYNNIS. 



BY HENRY SKINNER, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



I wish to make a contribution to the literature of the subject of " egg 

 dropping," and place on record in an entomological journal an observa- 

 tion I made nine years ago. I do this with the object of calling general 

 attention to this subject, which I think an interesting one, and in hope 

 that lepidopterists may be on the look out for this method of ovipositing 

 in all the species of the genus. In the Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phil., vol. 

 35, p. 36, I called attention to the fact that Argynnis cybele deposited its 

 eggs while on the wing, or in other words, dropped the eggs from a 

 height to the herbage below. Mr. Scudder in Butt. East. U. S. and Can., 

 vol. I, p. 560, says : "The eggs are laid upon the leaves and stalks of 

 the food plant, and not, as stated by H. Skinner, dropped from a distance 

 upon the herbage." He further says : " It is not an altogether 

 uncommon thing for an egg to become attached to the scales at the top 

 of the abdomen of a butterfly, or upon one of the hind legs ; and it is 

 possible that in the movement of the wings in flight or poising, such an 

 egg might have been swept or brushed off during Mr, Skinner's observa- 

 tion." Mr. Scudder tries to disprove my statement by a very ingenious 

 supposition. I call attention to the method of ovipositing he describes, 

 to see if anyone has ever observed it. I did not state that Argynnis 

 cybele invariably dropped its eggs, but I have since learned that this 

 method is by no means uncommon in the genus. I have repeatedly 

 observed A. myrina hovering over wet fields, where violets grew in the 

 herbage, dropping its eggs indiscriminately about. In this journal, vol. 

 XXL, p. 130, will be found some remarks on this subject, and in a foot 

 note it is stated that Mr. Aaron has observed the same habit in A. bellona, 

 and is strongly of the opinion that strange motions frequently observed in 

 A. diana in Tennessee are to be accounted for in the same way. The 

 subject under discussion was brought fresh to my mind by reading the 

 very interesting article by Mr. Wright (Mar. No., vol. 24) who says : — 

 " Different species of Argynnids have different methods of ovipositing, 

 but none that I know of require a plant. Other species, as semiramis, 

 oviposit oti the wing without ever alighting, but hovering over suitable 

 places dropping the eggs at pleasure." I was greatly pleased too, on read- 

 ing the above, to find my early observation confirmed by such an acute 

 observer. I can give no reason for this method, and Mr. Wright's reason 

 for such actions would hardly hold good here. He says : — "The reason 



