CARNIVOROUS BUTTERFLIES — CLARK 493 



Single butterflies far away from alders were seen in Newtonville, 

 in a field and in the front yard of my house ; in Essex in a bog ; and 

 in Manchester on the tennis courts of the Essex County Club. 



Mr. S. H. Scudder wrote that this butterfly is found only in the 

 neighborhood of water where alder grows, and is most frequently 

 seen where roads cross some little alder-lined stream or are carried 

 by an embankment over marshy ground fringed with alder bushes. 

 It is consequently a very local insect, and apparently rarely wanders 

 more than a few rods from its birthplace. 



In the Connecticut Valley it is recorded as being found about 

 small running streams and in places protected from the wind, and 

 at Norway, Me., as " resting upon the leaves of trees and bushes 

 growing along the banks of a river." 



Abbot said that in Georgia it frequents swamps and oak woods, 

 and is most frequent in Big Ogechee sAvamp. 



In West Virginia Mr. W. H. "Edwards found the butterfly gener- 

 ally up the branches of the creeks in the valleys between lofty and 

 abrupt hills flying about the stones in the nearly dry beds. In one 

 day, on July 4, 1868, he caught no less than 24, and on this occasion 

 the butterflies persisted in visiting a large stone and were so tame 

 that he caught most of his specimens in a bottle. He adds that, so 

 far as he knows, there were no alders within a mile of the point 

 where the butterflies had been abundant. There were plenty of 

 beeches, and he remarked that the probability is that any trees or 

 shrubs on which there is a good supply of aphids would attract the 

 females. 



In my experience this species flies with the greatest activity and 

 in the greatest numbers on hot and sunny days. It is most active 

 from about 10 o'clock until about 3, when it seems suddenly to dis- 

 appear. When at its best among the alders this is not at all an easy 

 butterfly to catch. The flight is rapid, nervous, and highly irregu- 

 lar, with frequent rests. As it dodges and skips about among the 

 alder branches it suggests a small and very active satyrid of the 

 Satyrodes canthus type. Its flight about the exterior of the alder 

 thickets has been compared to that of Orgyia antigua, and I have 

 sometimes confused it with the males of gypsy moths. If badly 

 frightened it flies off very rapidly in an irregular spiral, the axis of 

 which commonly rises at an angle of about 30°. From this it would 

 seem that its general habit is much like that of the species of Gerydus. 

 It is very fond of flying up and down paths through alder thickets 

 or through the near-by woods. 



On three occasions I have met with this butterfly in open ground a 

 very considerable distance from any alders or other source of food. 

 The insects were flying slowly in a straight line a foot or so above the 

 grass tops and showed no inclination to rest. All three were easily 



