346 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



THE LIFE-HISTORY OF PAMPHILA MANITOBA, SCUDDER. 



BY KEX. THOMAS W. FYLES, SOUTH QUEBEC. 



I think that I am the first man who has witnessed the hatching of 

 the eggs of Pauiphila Manitoba. I take pleasure in the beHef; and I 

 am glad to add another chapter to the history of our North American 

 Rhopalocera. 



' Pamphila Manitoba is a sub-Arctic species. The first specimens 

 taken in the neighbourhood of Quebec were captured by Mr. Hanham and 

 myself in September, 1892 (See 23rd Rep. Ent. Soc, Ont., p. 31). The 

 species had, in previous years, been taken at Riviere-du-Loup en has, 

 Cacouna, Metis, and Gaspe (See Mr. H. H. Lyman's article, 22nd Rep. 

 Ent. Soc. of Ont., p. 27). In 1893, it appeared at Quebec on the 5th of 

 August, and this year a specimen left the chrysalis, in my house, on the 

 2istof July. It would seem as if change of climate and locality were 

 bringing forward the insect's time of appearance. 



In the first week of August, 1894, I confined two or three impreg- 

 nated females of the species, in a gauze cage, over a pot of lawn-grass. 

 I obtained eggs from them on the 8th of the month. The eggs were laid 

 dispersedly on the blades of grass and on the gauze cover. On the 

 approach of winter I sank the pot to the rim in a flower-bed in my. 

 garden, leaving the grass and cover with their precious burden untouched. 

 In the course. of the winter the snow accumulated above them till it was 

 six feet deep. 



As soon as the gauze covering showed itself in the spring, I dug up! 

 the pot and carried it into my study, and then carefully removed the por-j 

 tions of grass, etc., on which the eggs appeared — placing them in a 

 perforated cardboard box with a glass cover, which I set upon my study] 

 table. The eggs, therefore, were after that time constantly under myj 

 observation. 



On the 20th of April I noticed a minute dot on the very summit of I 

 one of the eggs. I brought a magnifying glass to bear upon it, and found 

 that the enclosed larva was biting its way to liberty ; the black head ofj 

 the creature was showing through the opening that it had made. I could 

 detect the motion of its jaws as it enlarged the orifice. It continued the] 

 operation at intervals through the day and following night, and next ' 

 morning, having bitten the shell down till it resembled the walls of a game 

 pie, it crawled out. It left no debris; it had simply made a meal of the 

 upper crust of its shell. 



