GRAPTA I. 



Comma, nor Fmimis, I presume it was Gracilis, as Mr. Conper conjectureil. It 

 certainly was not Faunus, which is party-colored, in the general style of that 

 of C album and of Zcphijrux, Init with differences. We owe this discovery of 

 Faunus lai-va to Mr. Scudder, who took mature specimens on willow in the 

 White Mountains, in 1873, and who will publish a description and illustration of 

 it in his forthcomiuiJ- work on the " Buttertlies of New Ens-land." Willow is an 

 unusual food-plant for a Grapta, and not set down as one to which C album is 

 addicted. 



It is desirable that the several American species oi Grapta, where the larva? are 

 not already thoroughly known, should be experimented with, and lepidopterists 

 having access to any of them, will do good service if they will take pains to 

 ol)tain the eggs in the maimer I have indicated. Tliis is always practicalile 

 where the food-plant is known, and may Ijc found so where the plant is only 

 matter of conjecture, by testing the buttertly with any or all of the plants on 

 which other Grapta larva? feed. The larvtv are easily raised, l)eing hardy and 

 bearing confinement well, and as they mature rapidly there is vei-y little trouble 

 in breeding them even from the egg. It is easy to determine the female in this 

 genus, apart from the plainer color and lesser degree of ornamentation that 

 characterizes her as compared with the male. In the latter, the aborted forelegs 

 which may be seen folded down upon the thorax are thick and furry ; in the 

 female, thin and slightly clothed. This peculiarity was first pointed out to me 

 by Mr. J. A. Lintner, and I have often had occasion to test its value, especially 

 in cases of abraded spechnens, where the distinctive markings and colors were 

 much obliterated. 



