THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 179 



NOTE ON HABIT OF LARVA OF P. ATALANTA. 



BY W. H. EDWARDS, COALBURGHj W. VA. 



In C. Ent., 14, p. 223, I Stated that Newman, in Nat. Hist. Br. But,, 

 described the mature larva as pupating in a case specially prepared for the 

 purpose on the plant it had been feeding on : " from the roof of this the 

 caterpillar suspends itself and becomes a chrysalis." Also quoted from 

 Harris, who says the larva " seeks a suitable place in which to undergo 

 its transformations." In the conclusion of the paper, vol. 15, p. 19, I 

 said that I had never found a case with pupa in it, though I had often 

 taken cases with the larvae in earlier stages, and I ventured the conjecture 

 that both Harris and Newman were right, but that in our climate the larva 

 pupated differently from its habit in England. 



On 24th July last, I received from Mr. Philip Laurent, of Philadelphia, 

 about a dozen cases of At al ant a, each made of a single nettle leaf and 

 containing a pupa suspended from the top. Mr. Laurent wrote that in 

 1 88 2 this butterfly was very common, and that in a short time, on one 

 occasion, he found 125 pupae in leaf cases ; and that as far as observed, 

 the larva selects a large leaf for its last case, in which it transforms ; that 

 as a rule it makes its last meal out of the outer end of the case, eating 

 about an inch thereof; that he has however taken many tliat were not 

 eaten at all ; has also seen several in which pieces were eaten out of the 

 side of the leaf 



I am glad to have this positive evidence ; my opinion was based on 

 the fact of never having found such a case, together with the testimony of 

 Dr. Harris, as I imderstood it. But it is probable that I was wholly mis- 

 taken, and that the American habit of the species is like that in England. 

 Atalatita was abundant here in 1881, but I have seen few individuals 

 since. Just so P. Cardui was the most common butterfly here all through 

 the season of 1884, and this year I have not seen one. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Dear Sir : While out for an ornithological ramble here on Cote des 

 Neiges Mountain this afternoon, I observed a large number of Danais 

 archippus congregated together \ numbers were clustered on dead branches 

 of trees and underbrush, also on ferns. I could easily have caught a 



