Cljc dlanaliian d5ntomolopt« 



VOL. XIII. LONDON, ONT., DECEMBER, 1881. No. 12 



IS LIMENITIS ARTHEMIS A DOUBLE-BROODED SPECIES? 



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



In Butterflies of N. A., Vol. 2, Part 8, 1879, I gave the history of 

 Art/iemis, and stated that it was single-brooded ; that the first butterflies 

 of the season appear in the Catskills about the end of June ; that they are 

 abundant during July ; that the eggs are laid last of July and early in 

 August ; that the larvje from these eggs pass two moults and then go into 

 lethargy in cases of their own construction ; that they come from these 

 cases in spring and moult twice before chrysalis. I related my own experi- 

 ence in breeding, and I particularly say that the existence of the species 

 is due to the eggs laid in July and early in August, because eggs laid later 

 than this, although by females of the same generation of the butterflies, 

 cannot give larvae which shall be able to reach the hibernating stage before 

 cold weather sets in. 



Mr. Scudder, in a paper read before the Appalachian Club, at Jackson, 

 N. H., July 1 2th, 1 88 1, and printed in The Mountain Echo, 30th July, upon 

 Arthemis, under the name of Basilarchia Arthemis, gives a very different 

 account ot the species, and declares it to be two-brooded. " Twice a year 

 it runs the cycle of its changes . . . . As a general rule its first 

 appearance here (in W. Mts.) is between the i6th and 20th of June, and 



its second late in August About the middle of August the 



caterpillars now feeding will be rapidly changing to chrysalis, and in 10 or 

 12 days afterwards the butterfly will again be on the wing and the cycle 

 recommences." 



Mr. Scudder goes on to say : " The history I have now given does not 

 agree with Edwards' account of the insect. He would make it out single- 

 brooded, having never seen or heard apparently of the September butterflies"' ; 

 adding these words in explanation of my error: "and so it probably is 

 (i. e., single-brooded) in the southern part of its range, for all the butter- 

 flies taken south of this region of their abundance have been of the first 

 brood ; that thev have not flown thither from these northern parts is proved 



