60 [May 



black brunches aud whitish setae, and arranged as follows : none on 

 the first segment ; on the second aud third segments, four each — the 

 subdorsal ones exceeding all the others in length ; on the fourth seg- 

 ment, six spines; on the remaining segments, seven each ; those of the 

 substigmatal row have, in some instances, a dull red spot at their base 

 above : the spines are not in a transverse line — the dorsal one occupy- 

 ing the anterior of the segment, the substigmatal one the posterior, 

 and the subdorsal and superstigmatal ones in range intermediately. This 

 arrangement of spines is uniform in all the Vanessas. Legs, black ; 

 prolegs, fulvous ; stigmata barely discoverable even under a lens, ex- 

 cept when bordered, as sometimes, with whitish. 



Ohysalis, 1 in. in length ; beaks of head-case, short and conical ; 

 thoracic projection of medium height, nearly ranging anteriorly with 

 the frontal beaks ; dorsal spines, long, quite acute, and excepting the 

 last, nearly equal; anterior humeral projection, elevated, acute; wing 

 cases, slightly depressed, and with a very moderate projection on the 

 inferiors; terminal spine, short, flattened and quite broad. 



Thebutfe7-Ji^ frequently hybernates, and has been seen abroad the 23d 

 of March. It has three annual broods. The Jirst, from the chrysalides 

 of the Fall brood, appears in May. The second brood is seen the lat- 

 ter part of July. A colony of larvae, numbering about thirty, which I 

 took on a small twig of Willow, early in July, after undergoing their 

 last molting, were found on the morning of the 14th, to have sus- 

 pended themselves during the night, preparatory to their change ; at 

 the close of the day they had all assumed the chrysalis state. In eight 

 days thereafter the butterflies emerged. Of the tkh-d brood, I have 

 obtained chrysalides the middle of September, and the butterfly the 1st 

 of October, after sixteen days — a longer time being required for the 

 change, at this period of the year. A portion only of the chrysalides 

 of this brood — those which were the first to reach that stage, or such 

 as may have had positions more favorable for their development. — 

 disclose their butterflies at this unfriendly season, when the cold autum- 

 nal winds so soon compel them to shelter themselves in winter retreats. 



An interesting peculiarity of this species — not observed by me in 

 any other diurnal, and not to the same extent among the nocturnals 

 where it is of frequent occurrence — is its habit of counterfeiting death. 

 When newly emerged, within the breeding cage, it may be taken be- 



