THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 287 



Helianthus, which they skeletonize, instead of devouring the whole 

 thickness, as older ones do. They remind me of the young larvae of 

 Vanessa Urticce. The older larvae I send are of a red variety. The 

 larvae are trimorphic, with forms as follows : 

 i. nigra, a. black form. 



2. bicolor, black with broad red dorsal stripe. 



3. rtifa, red form." 



Again: "The Helianthus appears to be the common H. annuus. 

 One finds several larvae (adult) on one plant. Each has a leaf to itself, 

 and they select the large leaves, not the young tops. They rest on the 

 middle of the leaf, feeding by day, exposed to the sun. They must be 

 inedible to birds, as they are very conspicuous. They gnaw holes out of 

 the middle of the leaf. I could not see that they make any sort of web, 

 and when alarmed they drop to the ground. At one place I found three 

 or four, all black. One larva found on a narrow-leafed composite (not in 

 flower) was about to pupate. It may have wandered from a sunflower, 

 though there was none nearer than several yards. It was pupating quite 

 exposed on the leaf." 



On July 29th : " Yesterday, I found some batches of larvae about 

 one-half grown, still gregarious, and for the most part on the under side 

 of the leaves. One batch was entirely of black larvae, but another, to my 

 surprise, contained all the variations mentioned in former letter. In the 

 majority of cases a brood is all of one colour, but at least sometimes the 

 three colours may all appear in one brood. I also enclose a CrocaU 

 butterfly which was caught and killed by a large Asilid fly (Proctacanthus 

 Philadelphicus, Mocq.)" 



Aug. 27th: "Yesterday I was in Juarey, Mexico (across the river 

 opposite El Paso), and got a lot of insects. Among them both typical 

 Crocale and the orange-shaped Adjutrix, as also a very pretty aberration, 

 rufescens. I send all these herewith, as also what I call ab. nigrescens, 

 an unusually black form of Crocale proper, which I bred here in Las 

 Cruces." 



There came two labelled rufescens and considerably unlike. One has 

 a broad red band across both wings reaching nearly to costa of primaries, 

 with marginal red spots on both wings ; the other has the red band on 

 hindwings one-half wider than usual and of deep colour, but there is noth- 

 ing of it on forewing, nor are there marginal red spots. Both these 

 varieties, I doubt not, have received species names. The bred nigrescens 



