PAPILIO VIII. B. 



found seemed very susceptible to cold and prolonged darkness or close confine- 

 ment of any kind. 



The first caterpillars were found at Holyrood, at the head of Conception 

 Bay, upon cultivated parsnips. This was on the 28th July, and though some of 

 the caterpillars were in the last stage, the majority of them were young. In a 

 drive of thirty miles across the peninsula to Placentia Bay I found no Brevicauda 

 at points in the interior. Near Placentia, however, there were large patches of 

 Angelica, on which 1 found a few larvae. In the kitchen gai'dens of the vil- 

 lagers one or two larva) were on almost every parsnip plant, and in a small field 

 overgrown with wild parsley I obtained nearly two himdred in the course of 

 one afternoon. This was during the first week in August, and nearly all the 

 larvJB were past the third or fourth moult. Not having expected such good 

 fortune, I was obliged to nearly fill my butterfly collecting box with them, and 

 carry it about a mile to my lodgings. Even this short confinement killed sev- 

 eral of the larvEe and reduced many more to a state of insensibility. In tlieir 

 natural condition, they either rest upon the leaves in full sunlight, or bask upon 

 the stones and coarse gravel among which their food plants grow. These stones 

 are often heated by the sun during the day to a temperature of 90° to 100" F., 

 and retain a part of the warmth overnight. 



These caterpillars were large, measuring two inches in length when at rest. 

 The colors in all were clear apple-green and black, with dots of orange-yellow 

 disposed as figured on your Plate, and showing all intergrades between the varie- 

 ties represented at/, and/''. The larvaj did not seem to object to change of 

 food, but eat wild parsley, Angelica, or parsnip almost indifferently. 



From about three hundred caterpillars I obtained about one hundred chrysa- 

 lids before leaving Newfoundland. They vary from 1.1 to 1.4 inches in length. 

 Fifty-three are gi-een and yellow, as shown on the Plate, fifty-nine are black or 

 dark brown, marked Avith light wood-brown, and two are intermediate between 

 green and brown. One chrysalis gave butterfly within a week of my return, 

 thus not havinu- been in chrysalis more than eighteen davs. This was a fine 

 female, exjjanding a little over three inches, and resembling Fig. 5, Plate VIII., 

 in its color and markings. Four more have just emerged, all males ; two of them 

 show a little fulvous suffusion, while the others are like Fig. 1. 



Yours very trul}', 



THEODORE L. MEAD. 



It is evident from this connnunication of Mr. Mead that Brevicauda is a com- 

 mon species in southern Newfoundland, at least. Also that it might easily be- 

 come double-brooded, if the length of the season permitted, or if it became accli- 

 mated in a more southern latitude. 



