THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 167 



terologists in breeding the different species of this perplexing family, and 

 their efforts have been crowned with such success that only a few remain 

 about which nothing is known of the primary stages. It is about the life 

 habits in the perfect state of some of these that I propose to address you, 

 and if my paper does no good, it certainly cannot do any harm, as you 

 will see by the subjoined list of my captures of the different species of 

 Coliadne that I have a right to express an opinion in this particular direc- 

 tion. Every entomologist knows that the only true way of ascertaining 

 bona fide species in any family of diurnals is by breeeding from the egg 

 and noting the different stages of metamorphoses, and although so much 

 has been accomplished in this genus Colias by enthusiastic collectors, yet 

 a great deal remains, and where we have not the means at hand to watch 

 the progress of an insect from its earliest stage, we must content ourselves 

 with the appearance first, and next, the habits of the perfect examples 

 that are thrown in our way. 



The extreme difficulty of obtaining eggs and carrying or forwarding 

 them from long distances is only too well known to active collectors in 

 outlandish places in our vast Dominion, and my personal opinion has 

 been, and is, that when I have captured what I know to be a rare or a 

 doubtful female of any kind, the correct thing is to kill it and pack it safely 

 in cotton wool and paper, and not to run the risk of attempting to take the 

 eggs and breed the insects. The fact of keeping the insects alive in a 

 box with the food-plant and travelling by stage or on horseback, as my 

 principal journeys have been made, almost compels the insect to damage 

 its wings, and to such an extent that it will be difficult to recognize. 



By enclosing what I supposed to be the food-plant of the butterfly 

 with the female, I have lost, on many occasions, specimens which I would 

 like to possess now. 



There are other risks to be run. The females may or may not lay eggs, 

 and these eggs may or may not prove fertile, and the young larv^ may or 

 may not live after they come to light (this I regret to say has been my 

 great trouble), and in every event I have always regretted the fact that I 

 had not killed and preserved the^female. 



One instance I may here give of the few specimens of C. Elis 

 which I was fortunate enough to take. Of this species I did not take 

 many examples, and I have always congratulated myself since upon the 

 fact that the few I did take are now safe in the hands of our leading col- 



