TtlE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 6l 



by the road-side, which from its peculiar jerky flight, was evidently a Thecla, 

 A brief chase resulted in its capture, when it proved to be Thecla s?niiacis 

 Boisd., = aubttrjiiana Harris, never before, to our knowledge, recorded as 

 occurring in Canada. As we approached the extremity of the Point, we 

 left the swamps behind us and with them the multitudinous hosts of the 

 larger Neuropterous insects, but several of the smaller species were present, 

 associated with Dipterous insects, in prodigious numbers, flying in clouds 

 from every tree and bush we touched, the vibration of their many wings 

 causing a loud roar or buzz. The sides of houses and barns were so 

 thickly covered with them as to almost hide the wood they rested on, but 

 they did not venture inside the buildings. 



The next day was unfavorable for collecting ; the rain poured in tor- 

 rents until early in the afternoon. As soon as it had ceased, we wandered 

 several miles along the sandy roads and shores, and found many inter- 

 esting plants and trees, but there were very few insects on the wing, 

 excepting those belonging to the Neuroptera, which were everywhere in 

 abundance. Late in the afternoon, while beating about among the bushes 

 on the sand hills on the eastern shore, a yellow butterfly started up which 

 at first was thought to be a pale C. phi/odice, but there was something 

 unusual about its appearance and manner of flight which led us to pursue 

 it until captured. Imagine our surprise when we found it to be a female 

 specimen of Terias Mexicana Boisd, 



In W. H, Edwards' Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera, Thecla smilacis 

 Boisd. is said to be found in the Atlantic States, Mississippi Valley and 

 Texas, while the localities given for Terias Mexicana are Texas to 

 Arizona ; California, occasionally in Kansas and Nebraska. 



Since both these butterflies are new to our Canadian lists, we append 

 descriptions of them. 



Thecla smilacis is thus described by Boisduval : " Upper side blackish 

 brown, with a pale whitish spot near the middle of the costal edge j the 

 secondaries have two thin tails as in the analagous species. 



" Under side greenish, often washed with a little reddish, with a trans- 

 verse whitish ray sinuous on the primaries, tortuous on the secondaries, 

 bordered in front by a ferruginous tint. Between this ray and the base, 

 the secondaries have another short transverse sinuous ray of the same 

 color. The extremity is marked by two or three ashy crescents, of which 

 the intermediary is black in front, and the third in a line with two or three 



