THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



NOTE ON THE EUROPEAN GRAPTA C ALBUM. 



BY W. H. EDWARDS, COALBURGH, W. VA. 



In the Entom. Mo. Mag., xxiii., p. i86, Jan., 1887, is the statement 

 by Mrs. Hutchinson, of Leominster, to this effect : that the writer caught 

 a female C Album which was hovering about currant bushes, and obtained 

 from her many eggs, laid between 27th April and 6th May. The eggs 

 hatched between May 5th and nth, and the larvae were full grown from 

 17th to 23rd June. The first butterfly came from pupa 26th June, the 

 last 3rd July. " Two of the insects paired on June joth, and the female 

 commenced laying on ist July, and continued doing so until the loth, 

 when there were 120 ova in all." (Neither one of this pair then could 

 have more than four days out). From these eggs butterflies were obtained, 

 from 17 th to 27th August. " Several pairs were put together, but no ova 

 were obtained." I do not know whether this last means that actual copu- 

 lation took place or not, but should suppose not, as eggs could not have 

 been formed in the ovaries, these butterflies being of the last brood of the 

 year, and the one which hibernates. 



The interesting point in this narrative is that butterflies will pair in 

 captivity. I myself have never known such an instance, but in Can. 

 Ent., xviii., p. 17, it is recorded that a pair of Satyrus Alope paired when 

 put under a net, as observed by Miss E. L. Morton. Some butterflies 

 come from pupa with eggs mature. I have seen pairs of P. Aj'ax copu- 

 lating, when the wings of the female were not yet dry. In case of Heli- 

 conia Charitonia, the pairing often takes place before the female is clear 

 of the pupa skin. Argynnis Myrina has been recorded as pairing almost 

 immediately after both sexes left the pupae. And the eggs of P. Tharos 

 are fully formed on coming from chrysalis. On the other hand, many 

 species require 10 or 15 days at the least to mature their eggs, as our 

 larger Argynnids, several Papilios and others. It is well worth while to 

 experiment with differejit species in this direction. 



These observations of Mrs. Hutchinson settle the question as to C 

 Album being single or double-brooded. Westwood, in Humphrey's Brit. 

 But., 7846, says the species is double-brooded. But Newman, Brit. But., 

 187 1, p. 50, says that an idea seems prevalent that there are two broods 

 in the year, but that he thinks it is a mistake, and never had satisfactory 

 evidence of it. So that up to 1871, it seems not to have been a settled 



