EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



27S 



of the grain and the covering shonld be made ready so that the bin can 

 be (luickly closed. The bin must be made tight in the first place. Paper 

 pasted or tacked on the inside will help greatly to close up cracks and 

 crannies. When all is made ready, pour in the liquid and close the bin, 

 breathing as little as may be of the fumes, and being careful to do it all 

 in the absence of fire. The bin should be opened after twenty-four hours 

 and the grain should then be aired, after which the bin should be kept 

 tightly closed to prevent future infestation. 



THE BANDED PURPLE BUTTERFLY, 



{BasilarcJiia arthemis.) 



Strange as it may seem, we have to record injury done young apple 

 tree.«) bv one of the most beautiful butterflies in the country, the Banded 



Fig. 24. -Folded leaves or hibernaculi in which the .small larvaj of the Banded Purple butterfly pass 



the winter, enlarg-ed. Original. 



Purple {Basilarchia arthemis). In only one location, and under peculiar 

 circumstances, was the injury done. In the central part of the Upper 

 Peninsula, few apple trees exist, and there this butterfly feeds in its im- 

 mature condition, on wild foliage. An attempt to set out a young 

 orchard at Chatham, on the sub-station grounds, was followed by an at- 

 tack by this insect. Later, when the trees become partially grown, the 

 tax levied by the larvae of this butterfly, will not be noticeable. 



The life history of this insect difl'ers slightly from that of most of our 

 species. Instead of passing the winter in the adult, or in the pupal con- 

 dition, as most butterflies do, this insect, in common M'ith others of its 

 genus, builds a retreat or hibernaculum out of the base of a leaf bound 

 up with silk, and passes the winter therein while still very small. Fig. 

 24 shows several such hibernaculi considerably enlarged. 



Specimens of the hibernaculi were received from -Mr. Leo Geismar. 

 Superintendent of the sub-station at Chatham, who writes that they were 

 very numerous indeed on the young apple trees. They were controlled by 

 hand picking in this case, although the ordinary spray of paris green, 

 applied before the buds opened, would have killed the young larvae. Mr. 

 Geismar wrote that the larvae attacked the buds almost before they 

 opened, later feeding on the foliage. 



