HELICONIA I. 



again, two or three at a time, and would only yield to force, always returning. 

 On the third day, at daybreak, only a trifling bit of tlie empty shell was left, and 

 the butterflies were all gone." 



I replied to this, asking how the butterflies attached themselves. Did they 

 actually rest on the chrysalis, holding on Ijy the legs ? Also, was I to under- 

 stand by bits of empty shells remaining, tliat the imagos had come from the two 

 chrysalids ? I suggested, if this last was not what was meant, that perliaps the 

 butterflies had disco%'ered the chrysalids to be dead and decaying and came to 

 them as to carrion. 



On tliis Dr. Wittfeld agaiu wrote : " In each case the butterfly emerged from 

 the chrysalis. The chrysalis looked natural but was growing darker, and the day 

 before the emerg-inii:, the comiuQ- live insect could, to some extent, be distiu- 

 guished. There was nothing dead or decayed or partly eaten about it. All the 

 legs of the guarding butterflies had firm hold of the clirysalis, and it required a 

 little effort to remove them with the fingers. They sat firmly, not lightly upon 

 it. To frighten them off did no good, it required force to remove them. After 

 having been picked off they did not stay long away, but flyiug around a few 

 times (I having removed to some distance), returned to the chrysalis and attached 

 themselves to it just as they had done before." 



I wrote Dr. Wittfeld. urging him to try again, and especially to ascertain 

 whether the free butterflies and the imago in the chrjsalis were always of oppo- 

 site sexes or not, and whether females were attracted to a chrysalis in any case. 

 I received his further report, as follows: "With regard to tlie clirysalis found 

 May 28th, of which I wrote you, I add, that there was found hy me on the 

 ground, on the morning the butterfly emerged, a female with wings but jiartly 

 expanded, yet paired with a perfect male. Also, when I discovered that the but- 

 terfly had come from the second chrysalis, that of June 27th, I found a similarly 

 undeveloped female on the ground near by, paired with a free male. I lifted 

 both and placed them on a twig. The male flew off in course of two hours, but 

 the female remained, though a cripple and unable to move. 



" After receiving your letter, for a long time I could obtain neither eggs nor 

 caterpillars of Chnritonla, but at last, near the end of September, I hung out a 

 chrysalis. A heavy rain storm setting in, no butterflies were flying that evening, 

 and next day, six A. M., I found the empty shell of the chrysalis and imago gone. 

 On October 1st, I suspended another chrysalis. Soon a number of butterflies ap- 

 peared, flying around and touching it. None however attached themselves to it 

 as in previous observations. I caught one after another of these butterflies, as 

 they came, and put them in a bag. Aljout eleven o'clock, the imago came from 

 the chrysalis, and as it clung to the empty shell, au occasional free Initterflj 



