Cljc dlaiiabian ^tttomologbt. 



VOL. IX. LONDON, ONT., AUGUST, 1877. No. 8 



ON THE PREPARATORY STAGES OF SATYRUS NEPHELE. 



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



I have tried for several years past to raise larvae of Satyrus nephele to 

 maturity, but met with no success till this last spring. It is very easy to obtain 

 the eggs by confining the female with a tuft of grass. I tied a gauze bag 

 on such a tuft set in a flower pot, while in the Catskills, and 21st 

 August, 1876, obtained perhaps fifty eggs. Some were laid 

 on the blades and stems of the grass, but many w^ere dropped 

 loose on the ground. The eggs hatched about the 21st of September, 

 and the young larvae without feeding entered upon their hybernation. I 

 brought them to Coalburgh and transferred theni to grass set in a pot. 

 They were not so sound asleep but that they were able to attach 

 themselves to the stems. The plant was placed in as cool a 

 room as I could give it, and allowed to die, the larvae remaining 

 on the dried stems. On 29th Jan'y I found that about one-third 

 of the larvEe were still alive, and I placed them on fresh grass in the green- 

 house. These were feeding ist February, as I could see by the bits cut 

 from the edges of the leaves. The color of the newly hatched larvae was 

 carnation, marked by horizontal carmine lines, but very soon after 

 beginning to feed they turned to pale green, and the stripes changed from 

 red to a green darker than the ground. The appearance of the larva at this 

 first stage is very singular, owing to the long curved bristles which arm 

 the back and sides, giving a general resemblance to a fish bone. The ist 

 moult was passed 26th Feby and next following days. The 2nd on 21st 

 March ; the 3rd, 3rd April ; the 4th, i8thx\pril ; the first chrysalis formed 

 1 6th May, and the butterfly emerged 30th May. The stages were 

 unusually long, but I find that characteristic of all species of Saiyridce 

 that I have bred. And the larvae are sluggish, moving very little and 



