PAPILIO XII., XIII. 



n.inlino, has paid close attention to its habits and larval history during the past 

 year, ISSo, from early spring to November, taking a vast deal of trouble ex- 

 pressly that he might aid me in making known this history by plates and text. 

 Mr. Wright repeatedly obtained eggs from females tied in bags over branches of 

 willow, which were sent me through the mail, aud from these came larvae which 

 reached chrysalis and imago at Coalburgli He has written notes on the species 

 in substance as follows : " The first brood of Rutuliis butterfly appears in the 

 interior valleys of southern California early in March, the earliest examples fly- 

 ing in the canons of the mountain side, in the equable thermal belt, at an eleva- 

 tion of a few hundred feet above the low-lying plain, and yet below the colder 

 altitudes. In a week or two, they are seen in all the willow thickets of the 

 valley, and along the tree-lined roadsides. The males are out a week before any 

 females appear. This first brood lasts but a short time, having wholly disap- 

 peared by the last of April. The second brood comes in May, and thenceforward 

 the broods doubtless overlap, as there are always ])lenty of -butterflies through- 

 out the summer, and into November. In July and August the females are more 

 plenty and more prolific tliau earlier. The food plant of the caterpillar is willow 

 of several species, chiefly Salix lasiolepis, and S. lasiaudra, or what are locally 

 known as white willow, from the smooth white bark. The Ijutterflies never go 

 near S. nigra, nor the narrow, silvery leaved Argyrophylla, or Ilendsiana. I 

 know of several copses of these black willows, and iiave not during all this season 

 seen any Rutulus near them. Their habit, in laying eggs, is to hover in rapid 

 flight about the lower branches of the willows, and drop one egg on the upper 

 side of a leaf, then fly rapidly to another plant. The color of the egg being 

 exactly that of the leaf, it is not easy to find one, even when the laying is ob- 

 served. 



" Having agreed to do what I could to get eggs for Mr. Edwards, the chase 

 began before any females were abroad, and was kept up almost daily for three 

 months or more. The feuiales of the first brood were all small-bodied, and could 

 lay but few eggs. They also proved very unruly and almost always refused to 

 lay when in confinement. As at first it was thought that apple or cherry was the 

 food-plant, females were unsuccessfully confined over these and allied plants; but 

 at length one was detected in the act of laying on willow, so that farther mis- 

 take was avoided. But even on willow they so steadily refused to lay, that from 

 several dozen butterflies of the first brood I only got ten eggs, all of which were 

 sent to Coalbnrgh. 



" The males of the first brood were fond of feeding on blossoms of the running 

 blackberry, and occasionally were seen on couiposites, but I did not see a female 

 of that brood feeding on any flower. By the time the first brood had gone, their 



