THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 227 



though still alive, was revealed in the very centre of a stump cosily mixed 

 up with the damp saw-dust left by the ants and other borers. 



An egg of Archippus is a very tiny thing, and not easily found, even 

 when sought for, and as Mr. Edwards says, " there are thousands of 

 Asclepias plants to one Archippus butterfly," especially a successfully 

 hybernated butterfly, as probably not one in ten of the hosts of September 

 and October flies live to leave their hybernacula in the spring. 



How many people have found eggs of Hemaris Thysbe ? Yet in most 

 places Thysbe is as common as blackberries, and the larvse are often to 

 be found on the snow-ball bushes, though not one in a dozen ever reaches 

 maturity. Once I spent an hour looking for the egg which I saw Thysbe 

 deposit on a tiny bush which might have been covered by a three quart 

 pail, yet had to depart without it in the end. 



Mr. Marsh, though an unusually intelligent and original observer, only 

 succeeded in finding one egg, which goes to prove that Archippus eggs 

 are harder to find than the larvse or butterflies. 



Mr. Fritz Senff, another very intelligent and accurate observer, though 

 a recent acquisition to our small band of students and collectors, tells me 

 he saw two perfectly fresh examples of Archippus, July 3rd and 6th, one 

 flying in the veranda of his home in New Windsor, the other, which he 

 caught, in a field not far distant ; these were, doubtless, the first brood 

 from the eggs of the hybernators ; besides these, we saw while driving 

 June 19th, 1888, five or six examples, none of which were broken or faded, 

 though we were not near enough — that is, we had none in our hands, so as 

 to be able to distinguish that rich plum-like bloom so dear to the collector 

 of cabinet specimens, but which no butterfly ever carries having once flown 

 even "for a few short hours." 



Every collector or exchanger well knows how perishable is that same 

 bloom, and how utterly different is any hand-raised specimen, from a poor 

 wind-blown, grass-scratched passe imago, or even one who has dragged 

 its undeveloped wing through the sharp blades of grass to find a resting 

 place whereon to expand them. 



Surely Archippus is one of the most perishable species, for the "bloom" 

 is as ephemeral as the dew of a summer morning, or the purple down of 

 all the Hemaris tribe ; one slight breath and it is gone forever ! 



As to any species laying " for a month or so," what collector or breeder 



