THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 123 



SOME NOTES ON THE COLLECTING SEASON OF 1893. 



BY J. ALSTON MOBFAT, LONDON. 



After the long, steady and severe winter we had in this locaHty, every 

 one hoped for an early spring j but in that we were disappointed, things 

 generally being no further advanced at the end of May than they usually 

 are in the middle. June came in warm, but with such continuous rains 

 as to prevent collecting to any extent. Towards the end of the month 

 the weather became more favourable and insect life appeared in profusion; 

 belated species mingling with some that seemed to have emerged before 

 their time. During the first three weeks of July one might have collected 

 all day and night with profit, and as that was impossible, one could see 

 that opportunities were being lost which only occur now and again after 

 long intervals. August was hot and very dry, which seriously affected 

 vegetation and had a correspondingly injurious influence on autumn 

 collecting. 



Of the Diurnals, the most notable to me were, Limenitis Ursula, quite 

 plentiful but difficult to secure; Pier is oleracea, abundant in one locality; 

 Papilio cresphontes was reported in July, and during August it was fre- 

 quently seen. On the 8th, I took a trip to Windsor and Detroit. On 

 the way I saw many fine fresh specimens feeding on flowers by the way- 

 side. At Windsor and Sandwich, several were observed, but at Belle 

 Isle they were numerous. I saw six of them feeding on one flower-bed 

 at the same time. It was about the only large butterfly on the wing there 

 at that time. Toward the end of the month battered specimens were 

 seen on the streets of London. On the 26lh, I captured three broken 

 specimens that had been flitting about a prickly-ash bush in Mount 

 Pleasant Cemetery. On the 17th of October, I found a number of larviB 

 on that same bush, and took three of them. On the 21st, the largest of 

 them pupated, the others perished for want of food. I visited that bush 

 on the 20th, the larvje remaining had about doubled their size, but had a 

 greasy look ; there had been some hard frosty nights. On the r3th of 

 February, 1894, that pupa gave forth the imago, a female, extremely 

 small, measuring three inches in expanse of wing, and one and three- 

 fourths from the front of the head to the end of the tail on hing wing. A 

 number of reports have been published of the appearance of cresphontes 

 last summer in new localities, or in increased numbers in old ones, indi- 

 cating that it is spreading north and west and becoming more firmly 



