THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. Ill 



crumpled butterflies, form A^es;/ecta. The box was then returned to its 

 hiding place. On 26th ^^arch. '85, I brought the box to the house, the 

 day being warm and spring-like. In ordinary years spring is fully opened 

 by end of March — fruit trees in blossom. I found several of the chry- 

 salids dead, changed in color to yellowish-brown, and light in weight. 

 But others had weight and were of good color. There were no indica- 

 tions of the wing markings through the shells. Lest the warmth of the 

 house should dry the chrysalids, they were placed on a shelf outside, 

 shaded from the sun. For several days thereafter cold weather, frequently 

 with snow, prevailed, but about middle of April pleasant days came 

 again. On i8th, I saw the first Z. Violacea on the wing, and I then 

 looked at the chrysalids. Several showed the black margins of female 

 through the wing covers, and I expected the butterflies to emerge forth- 

 with. But as none came, two days later I brought in the box and 

 examined the chrysalids one by one. None of them now had any per- 

 ceptible weight. On opening the shells, one after another, the butterfly 

 was dead, but with full color of form Fseiidargiolus., wherever there was 

 any color at all. The bodies were exhausted of fluids and flattened, but 

 were flexible, and the wings were not dry, but could be readily separated. 

 One live butterfly only appeared, and on removal of the shell, it crawled 

 up a bit of cloth on side of the box. But the wings did not expand and 

 the insect soon died. Its body was as thin as the others, and plainly it 

 would have quickly died in the chrysalis. It had not the strength to 

 break out, and the shell, and all the shells, were hard. There was no 

 example in these butterflies of form Violacea. The experiment was satis- 

 factory, though I would have been glad of the perfect butterflies. As 

 stated in But. N. A., Violacea, the earliest of these forms, originates 

 Neglecta of July, and the late Neglecta hibernate in chrysalis and give 

 Violacea in March and April the next year. But the bulk of the Violacea 

 chrysalids must hibernate, though the actual proof by the <;hrysalids is yet 

 wanting. I have had, the same difficulty in carrying them through the 

 winter as with those of Pseiidargiohis. The singularity of this compli- 

 cated species is that the form Pseudargiolus is stuck in between Violacea 

 and Neglecta, in the spring, with no direct relation to either. This form 

 perpetuates itself, but gives rise to some Neglecta in the late summer, and 

 these last produce Violacea the next spring. If this late connection were 

 severed, as is conceivable, Pseudargiolus would stand alone, separated 

 entirely from the other forms of the species, and there would be nothing 



