THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 205 



purchase to all who are seeking for it throughout the length and breadth 

 of our Dominion. I have the honor to be, 



yours very sincerely, 



Wm. Saunders. 



ON THE LENGTH OF LIFE OF BUTTERFLIES. 



[Read before the Ent. Sub-Section of the Am. Ass'n at Cincinnati, 19 Aug., 1881.] 

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



Not long since I received a letter from a correspondent in Europe, 

 asking what my experience was in regard to the Hfe of butterflies, and this 

 led to much thinking of the matter and reference to my note books, in 

 which for more than fifteen years I have put down everything that has 

 come under my observation relating to butterflies. The current opinion 

 has been that the life of such butterflies as did not hibernate was short, 

 and that in case of hibernators their existence ended soon after copulation 

 in the ^ , and after laying their eggs in the $ . Dr. Boisduval says, Spec. 

 Gen., I, p. 28 : " The existence of lepidoptera in the perfect state is 

 generally of brief duration ; the male perishes some days after copulation 

 and the female after having finished her laying of eggs." Kirby and 

 Spence, Introd., London, 1856, p. 41, say of the perfect insect : " Its 

 almost sole object is now the multiplication of its kind, from which it is 

 diverted by no other propensity ; and this important duty being performed, 

 the end of its existence has been answered, and it expires." 



I believe that this is a correct statement for a general one. On the 

 other hand, Mr. S. H. Scudder, in various publications, has spoken of 

 butterflies of the summer generations as living for months— 2 to 3 months 

 at least. 



With regard to the hibernating species, I believe it is the last brood 

 only which hibernates, so that the individuals begin their existence about 

 the month of September. They lay eggs in the spring as soon as the food 

 plant is ready to receive them, and shortly die. Therefore their existence 

 would be limited to 8 or 9 months at the outside. Per contra, Mr. 

 Scudder asserts that Danais Archippus lives from a year to 1 5 or 16 months. 



