96 BULLETIN 15 7, V. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The hop merchant is especially a butterfly of open deciduous woods, 

 where it is seen flying among the trees or playing about the clearings 

 and along the roads, and from which it seldom wanders. 



Habits. — The habits of this butterfly resemble those of the ques- 

 tion mark {P. interrogationis) ^ but it is more strictly confined to 

 woods and is more active, wary, and alert, with a more pugnacious 

 disposition. 



Its flight is usually rapid and excessively irregular, and it is prone 

 to dart viciously at other insects, including butterflies of other 

 species. But it is sometimes seen flying leisurely through the woods 

 at a height of 4 or 5 feet, at the rate of 10 to 12 miles an hour, zig- 

 zagging along, progressing by a series of quick flaps followed by a 

 more or less extended glide, always keeping to the same general 

 direction. 



In sunning itself it prefers to rest on the bare ground of woodland 

 roads, though, like the question mark, it is often seen on leaves, 

 especially early in the morning and after rains. 



If disturbed it will dash away with a precipitate and most irregu- 

 lar flight, sometimes rising above the treetops, sometimes circling 

 about and alighting head down on the trunk of a near-by tree, then 

 dashing off again, but often returning to the exact spot from which 

 it started. 



In open country, where it is seldom seen, this butterfly usually 



flies low, at the height of about a foot above the ground, traveling 



rapidly in an almost straight line, alternately flapping and sailing. 



Like the Camberwell beauty, the hop merchant often feigns death, 



lying quietly on its side with the wings closed above the back. 



Seasons. — ^With the first warm weather in spring the hop mer- 

 chant emerges from hibernation and is to be seen coursing in a 

 zigzag fashion through the woods. It appears on warm days in 

 March and flies through April and into early May. These spring 

 examples are almost exclusively worn individuals of the light form 

 {harrisii), but I have a specimen of the dark form taken May 12, 

 1929. After the middle of June fresh butterflies appear, and these 

 continue to emerge for about a month, or until after the middle of 

 July. They are practically all of the dark form {dry as). From 

 the first to nearly the middle of September more or less worn 

 examples of the dark form {(hyas) are found with fresh examples 

 of the light form {han^ii). I interpret the dark specimens as 

 representatives of a brood appearing about the middle of August 

 and originating from eggs laid by the earlier individuals of the 

 summer brood; in other words, a supplementary brood, the eggs 

 from which will, if the season be sufficiently delayed, produce butter- 

 flies of the light form in October. The light individuals, which 



