ART. 11 NOTES ON THE MELITAEID BUTTERFLY CLAEK 15 



the butterflies of the same brood, and overlap by at least three weeks 

 the caterpillars of the next year's brood. Throughout the entire 

 year this insect is to be found in the caterpillar stage, and for at least 

 three weeks the caterpillars of two successive broods exist together. 



On August 3 there were about a dozen webs, which were of all 

 sizes from verj^ small ones 2 to 3 inches long involving only the sum- 

 rait of the Chelone and containing caterpillars in the early days of 

 the first stage to very large ones over a foot long involving half a 

 dozen or more plants and the intervening herbage and inhabited by 

 caterpillars of hibernating size. Two of the largest were deserted, 

 the caterpillars having apparently wandered off to fonn a hibernating 

 web which we were unable to discover. 



The very large straggling nests were formed by the coalescence of 

 two, or in one case of three, adjoining nests. 



Some of the nests were borne mostly by plants other than Che- 

 lone. Eupatorium purpureum, ferns and grasses were frequently in- 

 corporated. But we are sure that in all cases the caterpillars fed 

 only on Chelone, though seeming to prefer to rest in that part of the 

 nest supported by other plants. 



One nest was found on Mimulus ringens, which here commonly 

 grows among the turtlehead. But there was no evidence that the 

 Mimvlus was being used for food. 



On August 7 there were two very small additional webs with very 

 small caterpillars not long hatched. Two of the large webs were in 

 process of being deserted by the caterpillars, which were gathered in a 

 compact mass entirely outside of them below and to one side of their 

 lower ends. The caterpillars were wholly exposed, but rested on a 

 thick flooring of silk which was continuous with the lower end or one 

 side of the web. Evidently these caterpillars were beginning the 

 construction of the hibernating web. 



On August 7 the caterpillars were in all stages from the early 

 days of the first stage to the fully fed hibernating stage. Our obser- 

 vations would indicate that the caterpillars feed for about three 

 weeks and then pass into the resting condition. The different egg 

 masses hatcli over a period of about a month corresponding to the 

 month that the butterflies are on the wing, and similarly the cater- 

 pillars in the dift'erent nests enter the resting stage over a period of 

 about a month, from the first to the last of August. 



On August 28, after more than a week of shower^' days, all the 

 webs had disappeared. Of the largest web there were still a few 

 traces left in the form of a few ragged strands of silk with a large 

 amount of f rass entangled in it ; but these were so inconspicuous that 

 only a close examination revealed their presence. About 2 feet away 

 from the place where this largest web had been there was a fresh 

 hibernating web formed within a leaf of Sagittaria, which had been 



