222 [March, 



hody ; but as the chrysalis is mucli shorter than the caterpillar, it is 

 yet at some distance from tlie tuft of silk, to loMcli it must climh. To 

 do this, it extends the rings of its body as far apart as possible, then, 

 bending together two of them above those by which it is suspended, it 

 catches hold of the skin higher up, at the same time letting go below, and 

 hy repeating this process with different rings in succession, it at length 

 reaches the tuft" &c. " We may see the A\hole process in the cater- 

 pillars o£ Archippus,''' &c. Dr. Harris drew his description from nature, 

 and was too careful an observer to commit himself in a case like this 

 beyond what he thought he clearly saw. 



In Butterflies of N. America, toI. i, I gave an account of the 

 transformation of Grapta comma, taken strictly from my own obser- 

 vations. In this I find no mention of the climbing by the aid of the 

 successive pairs of segments, described by Dr. Harris as taking place 

 in Archippus, but otherwise my statement agrees substantially with his. 

 I had previously read of the transformations of biitterflies in various 

 works, and so was doubtless prepared to receive the common version 

 of the mode, but I described precisely what I thought I saw. I have 

 heretofore repeatedly witnessed this process in various genera ; but I 

 find by recent experience that it is impossible with a single observation, 

 or by half a dozen, to determine all the details, and only by watching 

 one point in one example and another in the next, and verifying each 

 again and again, could I feel sure that I had made myself acquainted 

 with this part of the history of a single species. ' I have watched 

 sixteen transformations of itiferrogationis and two of Archippus during 

 the last few days, and will describe at length what I have seen. It 

 may serve to show how the error spoken of originated and has been 

 perpetuated by so many observers, and for more than a century, with 

 no suspicion of wrong till Dr. Osborne made his discovery .\v In in- 

 terrogationis the period of suspension varies from six to twenty-four 

 hours, according to the state of the weather and degree of warmth. My 

 first observations were made under a clear sky, and mercury about 

 80° Pahr., in the middle of the day ; the latter ones in cool and rainy 

 weather, with cold nights. The larva of this species is suspended from 

 a button of pink silk. At first it holds itself in a circular shape, its 

 head turned in against segments 11 and 12, the lowest part of the curve 

 being at 7th. After two hours, more or less (in warm weather), the 

 curve is relaxed, and the attitude resembles figure 6, the dorsum on 

 last segments being convex, the head turned in opposite 8 and 9, the 

 lowest part of the curve being at Gth. Two or three hours later the ' 

 body hangs straight, and the four anterior segments are bent almost 



