LEPIDOPTERA. 215 



next to the body are deep yellow ; the back is black, and the 

 antennas are blackish, with narrow white rings, and ochre-yellow 

 at the tips. The wings expand about two inches. I have seen 

 these butterflies in great abundance during the latter part of July, 

 and the beginning of August, in pairs, or laying their eggs for a 

 second brood of caterpillars. The chrysalids produced from this 

 autumnal brood survive the winter, and the butterflies are not dis- 

 closed from them till May or June. In gardens or fields infested 

 by the caterpillars, boards, placed, horizontally an inch or two 

 above the surface of the soil, will be resorted to by them when 

 they are about to change to chrysalids, and here it will be easy to 

 find, collect, and destroy them, either in the caterpillar or chrysa- 

 lis state. The butterflies also may easily be taken by a large and 

 deep bag-net of muslin, attached to a handle of five or six feet in 

 length ; for they fly low and lazily, especially when busy in laying 

 their eggs. In Europe the caterpillars of the white butterflies are 

 eaten by the larger titmouse (Parus major), and probably our own 

 titmouse or chickadee, with other insect-eating birds, will be 

 found equally useful, if properly protected. 



We have several kinds of small six-footed butterflies, some of 

 which are found, during the greater part of the summer, in the 

 fields and around the edges of woods, flying low and frequently 

 alighting, and oftentimes collected together in little swarms on the 

 flowers of the clover, mint, and other sweet-scented plants. 

 Their caterpillars secure themselves by the hind feet and a loop, 

 when about to transform ; but they are very short and almost 

 oval, flat below and more or less convex above, with a small head, 

 which is concealed under the first ring ; and the feet, which are six- 

 teen in number, are so short, that these caterpillars in moving seem 

 to glide rather than creep. The chrysalids are short and thick, 

 with the under-side flat, the upper side very convex, and both ex- 

 tremities rounded or obtuse. They belong to a little group which 

 may be called Lycenians (Lyc^nad^), from the principal genus 

 included in it. 



The heads of the common hop are frequently eaten by the little 

 green and downy caterpillars of a very pretty butterfly, which has 

 been mistaken for the Thecla Favonius, figured in Mr. Abbot's 

 " Natural History of the Insects of Georgia" ; but it differs from 



