224 TFIE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



I made a second trip to Bloomfield on July i ith. Females were now 

 more in evidenc.e, and although in several instances males were about the 

 females, in no case did I observe any pairs in copulation. No hint of 

 egg-laying was obtained. 



Thinking that perhaps I might learn something new from other 

 colonies of dorcas, on the 15th I visited a spot about one mile beyond the 

 Bloomfield bog. Dorcas appeared in good numbers, but as the extent of the 

 cinquefoil was small, the butterflies were less in evidence than in the first 

 location. Females were plentiful, and I observed four pairs in copulation 

 for the first time. I did not succeed in observing a female in the act of 

 egg-laying. About three p.m. some of the males were again seen sunning 

 themselves. 



On July 1 8th I went to Rochester, Mich., walking out to the Parke, 

 Davis & Co. farm on Stony Creek. Here I found the largest area of the 

 fruticosa which I have yet run across. The butterflies of dorcas were 

 abundant, but the males were all worn, and many of the females, although 

 some of the latter were still bright. Again I could not gather from the 

 actions of any female the secret of where she laid her eggs. There was a 

 very little Hypericum perforatum on a hillside above the cinquefoil area, 

 but I never regarded this seriously as a food-plant, for I knew where it 

 grew abundantly within nine miles of the city, without any hint that dorcas 

 lived in the neighbourhood. 



Dasiphora fruticosa has always seemed to me to be the most 

 probable food-plant, for as long as I have known this butterfly (at least 

 twenty years), I invariably found it flying in its vicinity. Accordingly, on 

 my next visit, on July 21st, to the Bloomfield bog, I confined three 

 females over the cinquefoil, and also some over two other plants abundant 

 there, three females over white mint, and two over Ohio golden-rod. I 

 observed no H. perforatum, P. aviculare nor any dock growing near the 

 fruticosa. I brought home six live female butterflies, placing them in a 

 box near a window, with fresh stems of the cinquefoil flowers and leaves. 

 On this trip the males that were flying were all worn, and in less numbers 

 than the females, which were still plentiful. In the middle of the after- 

 noon the males were again observed sunning themselves, and the habit 

 of clustering of both sexes, as previously explained, was also noted. 



On July 24th I found eight eggs on the sprays of cinquefoil in the 

 box with the six female butterflies. On the previous morning I had looked, 

 but could find none. On the 30th I found three more eggs, and the last 

 of these butterflies had died. 



