144 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



dampness, they being placed on stems of violets growing in pots. But 

 the alternation of warm with cold weather during the fall and winter was 

 unsuitable for the larvae, the leaves damped off, or the plants died, and 

 there was a constant loss. After the survivors were brought into 

 a warm room later in the winter they were not healthy, but lingered along, 

 every stage being protracted, many perishing even up to chrysalis and 

 imago, or the butterflies perhaps came out crippled. In 1873, starting 

 with more than 300 young larvae of Diana, I obtained but a single 

 butterfly. From as many eggs of Cybele I got three butterflies, and of 

 Aphrodite one chrysalis only, which died before imago. 



Encouraged by the results obtained by freezing the larvae of Satyrus 

 Alope in winter of 1878-79, I determined to try the effect of cold on the 

 larvae of Cybele, and availing myself of the kindly offered aid of Prof. C. 

 H. Fernald, I sent a considerable number of recently hatched larvae to 

 him at Orono, Maine, to be placed in ice-house. They were in small 

 paper pill boxes, the unglazed sides of which afforded foothold. I had 

 found that the eggs or larvae of Alope escaped mould in such boxes, while 

 others on cloth were destroyed. These little boxes were placed in a flat 

 tin box, which was deposited in the sawdust beneath the ice, " frozen 

 sawdust," as Prof. Fernald wrote. Five months later, on 5th March, 

 1880, I received the boxes by mail. The larvae were found to be nearly 

 all alive — not more than one or two dead — and when first seen several 

 showed some movement, though only three days from ice. Others were 

 lethargic some hours longer, but by the 6th nearly all had left the boxes 

 and betaken themselves to the plants of violet amid which I had laid 

 them. They crawled at and down the stems, and disposed themselves in 

 the concave sides just as they do in the fall when about to go into leth- 

 argy. On 10th March one of the larvae was found to have passed 1st 

 moult, several days in advance of any other, and it continued in advance 

 to maturity, passing 2nd moult 18th, 3rd 27th, 4th 4th April, 5th 12th 

 April, suspended 23rd, pupated 24th, and gave imago, Cybele °. , 14th 

 May. The whole period from ice to butterfly was 73 days. The other 

 larvae passed 1st moult 19th March, 2nd 29th March to 2nd April, 3rd 

 4th to 6th April, 4th nth to 12th, 5th 16th to 19th April, and the butter- 

 flies issued 1 2th to 27 th May. 



What loss of larvae there was occurred before 1st moult, partly by 

 escape, as it seemed, but paitly, as I thought, from having been intro- 

 duced to a warm room too abruptly. But after the moult I lost none. I 



