240 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



food for them. The weather was cold, nights frosty and the leaves of their 

 food plant (Aspen) were fallen to the ground before the cases were 

 reached. I was confident at the time that the larvae would have perished 

 out of doors, and that the existence of the species wholly depended on 

 the larva? from eggs laid by the earlier emerging females. And I believe 

 now that the late emerging females are either sterile, or if eggs are laid 

 later than 20th x\ugust, the larvse perish prematurely. In nine years out 

 of ten, the equinoctial storms come on between 15th and 20th Sept., and 

 what the weather is thereafter, all dwellers in the mountains well know. I 

 have seen a foot of snow here in Virginia on 26th Sept. 



Now in N. Hampshire, in the White Mts., I have never supposed the 

 climate was milder than in the Catskills. Mr. Scudder makes his second 

 brood of butterflies emerge from chrysalis about ist Sept. How much 

 time is to be allowed for the eggs to mature, and to be impregnated and 

 laid, is not stated. My own opinion is that this would require not less 

 than 20 days, even in mid-summer. I know it takes all of that in case of 

 the allied species, Disippiis. But we will Say 10 days, lest winter be upon 

 us. This brings us to about loth September, when the eggs are laid. Ten 

 days more before hatching, and we reach 20th, just in time to enjoy the 

 equinoctial storms. Then if haply any larvas survive, three weeks, at the 

 very least, must be allowed for growth to the hibernating stage, and we are 

 in October, clear, cold, windy, and very likely a good covering of snow 

 upon the ground I x\nd yet Mr. Scudder says the existence of this species 

 is due to these September caterpillars — poor little belated, benumbed, 

 frozen and perishing creatures ! 



If Arthemis is really double-brooded in the White Mts., with a flight 

 in September, then of course it must be so in some part of Canada. We 

 surely cannot be asked to believe that it could be double only in one 

 locality out of its vast range. Therefore I have written several of the 

 lepidopterists of Quebec and Ontario on this matter, and I give their 

 replies. 



1. Mr. H. H. Lyman, of Montreal, whom I requested to present the 

 case to the members of the Natural History Society, and collect their 

 testimony. " I was obliged to delay my answer till after the October 

 meeting of our Society. I have never seen any specimens of Arthemis 

 in the neighborhood of Montreal in Aug. or Sept., nor have any of our 

 Montreal entomologists." 



2. Rev. Thos. W^. Fyles. of Cowansville, P. Q-, writes: ^'Arthemis 



