BUTTERFLIES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 79 



but soon return to the road again, often at a considerable distance — 

 100 feet or so — from where they left it. 



These roadside males are rather shy and difficult of approach, espe- 

 cially if resting on the ground. But they seem to feel safe upon 

 the wing and as a rule are easily caught as they fly by. One must be 

 rather quick, however, as they are very agile and are likely to dodge 

 the net. Practically all of them have more or less broken wings. 



Good specimens of this butterfly are easily secured by raising 

 them from the caterpillars, which are common and easily found. 

 They are to be looked for about the middle of May or in the last 

 half of July or later near the tips of the branches of small isolated 

 willows or poplars. The caterpillars found on willow are of various 

 delicate shades of green, while those found on poplar are much 

 darker and largely brownish. Mr. Scudder long ago noticed the 

 difference in the caterpillars found on these two food plants in New 

 England, and it seems to be equally marked here. 



Seasons. — The viceroy first appears about the middle of May and 

 becomes common in June and early in July. Later in July fresh 

 mdividuals appear, flying together with worn examples of the first 

 brood. From this time on throughout the summer it is always to 

 be found, and its numbers gradually increase, reaching a maximum 

 about the middle of September. It disappears in the second week 

 in October. The butterflies seen late in September and in October 

 probably are representatives of both a second and a third brood, 

 for late in July both worn and fresh butterflies are on the wing, 

 while the caterpillars are to be found in all stages. There is a speci- 

 men in the National Museum taken on willow September 8, 1899. 



Genus JUNONIA Hubner 



JUNONIA LAVINIA COENIA (Hubner) 



Buckeye; American Peacock Butterfly 

 Plate 7, Figures 1 to 4 



Occurrence. — Not very numerous until after midsummer, when it 

 becomes common, and late in summer in some years very abundant, 

 throughout the District. 



The buckeye is most frequent in hot dry areas, especially if ex- 

 posed to winds, along open roads, and in moist fields or marshy 

 hollows in open country. In some years late in summer it is often 

 seen in all the parks and open spaces in Washington, and occasion- 

 ally in the busiest of the city streets. I have a fine specimen that I 

 captured on June 30, 1928, on the corner of Fourteenth and F Streets 

 while waiting for a street car. 



There are three specimens in the National Museum taken on 

 August 2. 1919, August 28, 1899, and October 14, 1914, the last by 

 W. H. White, in Washington. 



