ART. 11 NOTES ON THE MELITAEID BUTTERFLY— CLARK 11 



SO that it almost seemed to be part of it. This, therefore, represented 

 a condition intermediate between hibernation in a part of the feeding 

 web and the construction of a distant isolated web. 



At Essex the Clielone was more or less scattered in rather thick 

 grass nearty as tall as it. At Waltham it was in much larger patches 

 and was taller than the surrounding herbage. It may have been that 

 at Waltham the caterpillars did not have so much temptation to 

 wander off the food plant. 



It may be mentioned that the turtlehead is a singularly brittle plant 

 and therefore much less safe a place for hibernating webs than grasses, 

 Euimtorium, or the other plants on which we found them. We may 

 also in this connection call attention to the somewhat curious fact 

 that after hibernation the caterpillars will not remain upon the tur- 

 tlehead except when actively engaged in feeding, and therefore are 

 much more often found on othor plants, especially dead leaves and 

 twig's. 



We found in the locality in Essex that the hibernating webs always 

 contained caterpillars of very nearly the same size; the smaller and 

 weaker ones apparently were left behind. The number in the webs 

 was never very large, commonly less than 100. 



While the feeding webs, large and loose and conspicuously situated 

 at the summit of the Chelone stalks, are easy to see, the hibernating 

 webs, much smaller and more compact, built nearer the ground, and 

 usually more or less hidden by the grass, are difficult to find. 



On our return to Washington early in September, 1925, we made 

 a search for turtlehead, and found it growing abundantly in a field 

 south of the Conduit Road just 2 miles beyond the Cabin John 

 Bridge. In a moist hollow about midway between the road and the 

 canal there was a large patch roughly 20 feet long and 15 feet broad, 

 the plants in the wetter portion being exceedingly vigorous and close 

 together, those in the drier portion smaller and more scattered. Be- 

 yond this moist hollow there runs an old drainage ditch parallel to 

 the road, and all along this ditch are small patches of Chelone. 



Certain that this insect was to be found here, we made a careful 

 search for it on several different days; but we found not the slight- 

 est trace of webs, nor did any of the plants show any evidence of 

 feeding. 



Older caterpillars. — In the first week in September, 1925, we brought 

 with us to Washington from Essex, Massachusetts, a number of cat-- 

 erpillars inclosed in a hibernating web. 



These were kept outside until February 25, 1926, when they were 

 brought into the house and supplied with succulent shoots of Lonicera 

 japonica which had been forced in water. For nearly a week they 

 wandered about without eating; then most of them attacked the plants 

 and began to grow rapidly. 



