408 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Nov. , '08 



Notes on the Early Stages of some Pamphila. 



BY PHILIP LAURENT. 



Several years ago the writer on observing a species of Pam- 

 phila depositing her eggs on a blade of grass made up his 

 mind to try and see if he could not do something towards un- 

 raveling the life history of some of these interesting butter- 

 flies, a genus of butterflies of which there is comparatively little 

 known of their early stages and yet so easy to find out if one 

 will but go to the trouble. The reason that the preparatory 

 stages of many of the species mentioned in this article are not 

 complete, is not because the species are hard to raise; but to 

 the fact that business or something else always called me 

 away about the time I should have been at home attending to 

 my larvae. It is true that, on several occasions I took my 

 larvae along with me, but as a rule I had very little success 

 when I did this; this is particularly true of Pamphila aaronii, 

 the larvae of which I carried from Philadelphia to Johnson- 

 City, Tenn., only to loose them on my arrival at the latter 

 place by the lid of the jelly jar becoming loose. The eggs of 

 Pamphila are easily secured ; the larvae are easy to raise ; and 

 the food plant (grass in nearly every, if not in every case) can 

 be found by every one. With care in keeping the cages (which 

 should consist of test tubes or jelly glasses during the early 

 stages) free from moisture, there is no reason why one should 

 not be successful in rearing Pamphila. To secure the eggs, 

 plant a small piece of grass sod in a flower pot and cover the 

 same with netting the high, wire fly-traps answer admirably 

 for this purpose. In the cage place your female "skipper," and 

 the chances are that in forty-eight hours or less time eggs 

 will be found on the blades of grass. As a rule, the eggs are 

 deposited during the night. In securing the butterflies I follow 

 the same method as if I was collecting specimens for my 

 cabinet; with the exception that, when the butterfly has suc- 

 cumbed to the effects of the cyanide, I immediately remove 

 the insect from the jar, placing each one in a separate pill box. 

 On arriving home you will find that your butterflies have recov- 



