GENUS NEOPHASIA 91 



At Mazatlaii, on the west coast of Mexico, I have seen and taken 

 plenty of Philenor, and in the winter time, at that : and there, too, 

 the Aristolochia vine is abundant. 



The prehminary stages are already well known. 



Genus NEOPHASIA 



32. Neophasia Menapia. 



Plate V ; Figures 2,2, a, b. 



Fig. 32, Male, Sisson, Cal, July 25, 1885 ; Author. 



a. Male, underside, \^ancouver Island, July, 1891 ; 



Author. 



b. Female, underside, Sisson, Cal., August, 1891 ; 



Author. 



Menapia is a very tender and delicate butterfly. It flies in Ore- 

 gon and Washington in inconceivably large numbers, and extends 

 north into British Columbia in lesser numbers, as well as coming 

 south into the mountains of Northern California, extending along 

 the high peaks of the Sierra Nevadas as far south as the Lake 

 Tahoe region, which is its southernmost point. 



The larvae feed on the leaves of pine and fir, and are in places 

 so numerous that the leaves are stripped from whole forests. The 

 female appears in late July and August, laying its eggs on the 

 younger leaves of old pine trees, high up in the air ; the leaves are 

 placed in rows of ten or a dozen eggs on a leaf. When she be- 

 comes tired, or the supply of mature eggs is exhausted, she flut- 

 ters slowly down to the ground, to feed on flowers, looking, as she 

 descends, like a big snow-flake coming down. The eggs do not 

 hatch till the next spring ; the larval life is rapid, and when mature 

 they pupate on the bark of the trees : but whether the chrysalides 

 ever disclose the same year or not is not known ; probably not, and 

 all the chrysalides probably hibernate on the bark till next sum- 

 mer : if so, the preliminary stages occupy two years, from the lay- 

 ing of the egg to the disclosure of the butterfly. 



33. Neophasia Siiffusa. 



Plate V ; Figures 33, b, c. 



Fig. 33, Male, Sisson, Cal, July 25, 1885; Author. 



b. Female, Sisson, Cal, July 27, 1885 : Author. 



c, Female underside, Sisson, Cal., July 2-j. 1885; 



Author. 



