EIsTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



INSECTS COLLECTED IN BERMUDA DURING THE WINTER OF 189i. 



Bv Gamble Geddes, Toronto. 



The paper I propose to read before the members of the Society, will not, I fear, 

 treat especially upon insects, for I have experienced grea*-. difficulty in securing the names 

 of many of the species captured by me in Bermuda during the four months of last winter 

 beginning in January. I can, however, place a number of examples before you for 

 inspection, which may prove interesting in that they correspond so closely to many of 

 our Canadian insects. 



I shall, in the course of the paper, touch upon a few of the food-plants which came 

 under my notice and read a list of the insects named in the only book that I could find 

 on the subject in the Public Library. This list will not, I can assure you, occupy much 

 of your time, as it was published thirty years ago, and very little collecting has been done 

 since. 



In considering the diurnal lepidoptera of the Islands, I shall begin first with 

 Danais Archippus, which species was flying about freely in February aad March. I 

 fancy it must be an all-the-year-round insect as I took eggs and larv;u upon a lovely 

 asclepias {A. Curassavica) at the same time that I captured apparently perfect imagos. 



Of this asclepias I have raised from seed several healthy plants, and was in hopes 

 that I could produce one in bloom. 



Mr Oswald A. Reade, (now a pharmaceutical chemist in London, England), ha.s 

 made his mark as a botanist in Bermuda and elsewhere, and has written a book entitled, 

 "Plants of Bermuda, or Somer's Islands." 



In his description of this asclepias (or Butterfly weed) he states that it is a peren- 

 nial plant, growing from two to four feet high, half shrubby at the base,, the stems being 

 cylindrical and downy. The pods are ovate, smooth and seeds embedded in glos.sy, silky 

 hairs. Distribution, West Indies. Habitat, waste places. He also says flowers showy, 

 scarlet and orange, frequent, July to November. 



I presume when he states those particular months he means that these plants are in 

 their "prime" at this time of the year, for 1 found full grown larvjc, and also, very 

 diminutive larvje, also eggs, upon asclepias during the months of February and March. 



I did not find any of the larva; on the other asclepias, viz., A. LInaria. 



The commonest and only other diurnal I captured was Junonia Cania, and the 

 larvte of this insect fed freely upon the leaves of the common sage bush, {Lanlana Odor- 

 ■ata.) This shrub forms the principal undergrowth of all the Islands from one end to the 

 other of the group. It has been grown to great perfection in many of our hothouses. 



J. Coenia in its flight reminds me very much of the Vanessid:e and is quite difficulc 

 to catch on a sunny day, but easy to net in damp and foggy weather. 



These two species are the only ones taken in winter, but a list wa-i pri'ited in " The 

 Naturalist in Bermuda," by Jno. Mitthew Jones and Major Wedderburn, (late 42 ad 

 Highlanders) and J. L. Hurdis. Esq., in 1863 — thirty-one years ago — which reads as 

 follows : 



Danais Archippus Food plant, asclepias, common. 



do. Berenice do. rare. 



Vanessa Atalanta April to November. 



Cynthia Cardui Early November, abundant 1852. 



Vanessa Antiopa Rare. 



Junonia Cu-nia Gilled Musk Butterfly, common. 



Terias Lisa September, October and November. 



Unknown (185^!, September) Brimstone yellow, tinged with a 



greenish hue large as English Brimstone Butterfly, taken on 

 potato patches. 



