33 



This species is, as Mr. Scudder says, exceedingly abundant, and many thousands 

 must fly upon the mountain every season. Then the number of entomologists on this 

 continent is so small, and so few are able to visit the mountain, and most of those who 

 get there can only stay such a short time on account of the expense ; so few days are 

 favorable for collecting, and so many are bad ; the rock strewn slopes are such difficult 

 collecting grounds, and so few of the butterflies one starts up are secured, that there is 

 really very little cause for alarm lest they should fail to maintain themselves in their 

 mountain fastness. But when I attend an entomological meeting in a city of over half a 

 million inhabitants, and find ten or a dozen men gathered around a table, while the great 

 "world outside cares for none of those things, I have more fear for the extermination of 

 entomologists than for that of any but the rarest of the objects of their study. 



When I began catching this species I treated it with my usual care for fear of dam- 

 aging the specimens ; but I soon found that, in contrast to such species as Macounii and 

 C hryxns, s,Vic\\ care was quite unnecessary, and that it was quite possible to take them by their 

 closed wings between the thumb and fingers and examine the genital organs before consignino 

 them to the cyanide bottle or pill-box without causing any damage whatever. Returnin<' 

 to the summit with my catch, my first care was to prepare a cage, which I did by plant- 

 ing a small sod of the carex upon which the species feeds in an empty tomato can. I 

 made the mistake of using a couple of wires crossing each other to support the net, the 

 disadvantage being that any eggs laid upon the wires were practically lost, as I found it 

 impossible to remove them without destroying them ; whereas they could have easily 

 been removed from sticks or twigs. In the afternoon another visit was made to Bigelow's 

 Lawn, but with less success than in the morning. Mr. Scudder remained near the sum- 

 mit and was so fortunate as to find a nearly mature larva in the last stage, and he also 

 stocked two cages out of doors on growing sedge as mentioned in his paper on " Experi- 

 ments with Alpine Butterflies." Psyche VI., 129. 



Next day, the 21st, Mr. Scudder being very anxious to find out whether A. Montinus 

 was on the wing or not, we walked down the stage road to the fifth mile post where we 

 separated, Mr. Scudder going down to the Lodge while I struck across the slope towards 

 Huntington'^ Ravine, where I had seen and taken it in 1889. 



We were both unsuccessful in our search for this butterfly, but I took a specimen 

 of Colias Intericr and saw several other individuals which probably belonged to this 

 species. 



In the afternoon we first examined Mr. Scudder's cages in the open air, three eggs 

 being found in the one near the stables of the stage line bat none in the other where the 

 sedge was very long and rank in growth. The whole of the twelve females were then 

 placed in the cage near the barn and handed over to my care, and then we went on down 

 to the Alpine Garden but met with little success, though Mr. Scudder had found Semidea 

 swarming there the day before. We looked for eggs to learn, if possible, how they were 

 laid under natural conditions but none were found. 



Next morning, the 22nd, Mr. Scudder went down by the early train, carrying his 

 small flower-pot cage with him, and I took charge of the one near the barn and added a 

 few more females to those already in it and also to my tomato-can cage. 



That morning I again collected on Bigelow's Lawn, and in the afternoon spent over 

 an hour searching for larvje of Semidea but without success. Afterwards I took a walk 

 over to the summit of Mount Clay and saw a few Semidea at different points on the way. 

 One that I started up on the shoulder between Washington and Olay flew with the wind 

 and I made sure it would be carried down into the Great Gulf, but just after being carried 

 over the edge it dropped in a wonderful way into a comfortable nook on the sheltered 

 slope, which shows, I think, that they are not so helpless in a wind as is sometimes sup- 

 posed. 



I examined the cages several times that day but could see only a very few eggs, and 

 began to fear that I should secure but few, but the next morning, the 23rd, I saw at a 

 glance that a large number had been laid in the one out of doors and a number in the 

 small cage also. 



3 (EN.) 



