GRAPTA III. 



onlv remain Faniius anrl Kusticus, SUuitis and HySas, whose position can still be questioned. The larva; and 

 chrvsalids of tlie first two of these are of the same general pattern with C Album, but bow close the resemblance 

 between the three I cannot yet say. I hope before this volume closes to see the living larva of Fauniis, as I 

 know it only by doscrijjtion and drawing, and C Alhu/ii only by the very insufficient figures and descriptions in 

 hooks — insufhcient for any comparison. Mr. Scudder wrote me at the time of his finding larva of Faunus, 

 that while there was a close resemblance to C Album, which species he had learned to know well in Europe, 

 there were important differences, and judging by the larva he believed Faunus to be a distinct species ; and as 

 to Rtislicux, between the description drawn of the larva of Faunus by Mr. CauUield, wliich is quite minute in 

 its details, and the description of the other by Mr. Mead, there are considerable differences, both in color 

 and markings, though tlie general pattern is the same. But the resemblance between the larvse of any sub- 

 group of butterflies is likely to be close, as becomes species but one remove from a common ancestor. The 

 larvse of Pror/ne and Zephyrus are very much alike, constructed on same ])lan; so of Comma and Sati/rus. 



It is beyond dispute that the identity of some of the many forms which have passed un(J*r the name C 

 Album has been assumed from an inspection of the dried butterflies only. An example from Siberia or 

 Japan like our Sali/rus is brought in, and it is set down forthwith as C Album. Another like Comma or Zeplnj- 

 rus or Faunus, from China or Thibet appears, and behold I another variety of C Album. I have never 

 read that a C Album female in Europe, of any one of the types in ndiich it is supposed to manifest itself, has 

 discovered in its jirogcny this miscellaneous assemblage of forms. I (ioubt indeed if much knowledge has 

 ever or anywhere been obtained of C J /Jwm by breeding it from tlie female. For a century collectors have 

 amused themselves in rearing s'aterpillars found on tlie food-plant, or from eggs gathered here and there 

 on various plants; but who knew what type of butterfly laid those eggs'? It is not ten years since the 

 fortunate discovery was made in this country that the female might be induced to lay her eggs readily in 

 confinement, so that breeding coulil be conducted with certainty ; and in these years I do not hesitate to say, 

 more has been learned of the life-history of American butterflies than is to-day known of European, though not 

 a district of Europe, but has had a long succession of active lepidopterists and diligent students of dried 

 butterflies. Professor Zeller writes me: " It is certain tliat we Europeans liave been far from executing your 

 method, which seems the only correct one in order to obtain certainty and truth." We had no sooner begun 

 to employ this method than tlie complicated relation^hip of Papilio Ajax became clear, then that of Grapta 

 Interrogalionis ; and from that day to this one species after another has revealed its true history, until there 

 are few instances in the fauna east of the Eocky Mountains in which there is a doubt as to the position of 

 any butterfly. A large number of species are found to be polymorphic, seasonal or otherwise, and some of 

 these forms branch again in one or both se.Kes. Without breeding from llie female, not one of these cases 

 of polymorphism coul<l jiossibly have been proved, however much they might have been suspected. The 

 knowdedge thus obtained is available for other countries, especially where species of like genera are concerned. 

 And it is fair to assume, in the absence of positive proof to the contrary, that the species of Grapta, for ex- 

 ample, will behave in the Old World as they do in the New. I can say as the result of my own large ex- 

 perience in breeding butterflies, and that of others, tliat no Grapta on this continent is known to behave in the 

 way that C jilbum is supposed to do. Every one of them named as a species, whose history is known, breeds 

 true to its type, or types if it is dimorphic, and of those whose history is not known, there have not appeared 

 marked varieties. No collector has reported such, and there is no evidence that they exist. Comma has never 

 been known to produce a Sali/rus, though it belongs to the same sub-group, and though it lias produced a 

 dimorphic form Dri/as, considerably unlike itself ; and each of these remains distinct, though they may ap- 

 pear in the same brood. So Sati/nts has never jiroduced Comma or Dryas or Faunus, though it has devel- 

 oped a second form .^Tdrsyas. Faunus ranges over the northern half of the continent, at least to the east 

 of the Kocky Mountains, but an example from Newfoundland is not distinguishable from that taken in the 

 Catskills of New York. The one I sent Mr. Stainton was from the Catskills, and he pronounced it to be the 

 same as tlie Museum example from Hudson's Bay. From localities therefore separated by thousands of miles, 

 across lakes, rivers, plains, and great mountain chains, comes the single type known as Faunus, though in part 

 of this territory Comma abounds, and in jiart (Ontario) Satyrus is known to live. No one has ever reported a 

 liybrid between any two of our species of Grapta. Possibly butterflies resembling every one of the .'Vmerican 

 species in this genus may be found in one part or other of Asia or i'^urope; but I not only doubt, but do not be- 

 lieve that these are simply varieties of any one species. Knowing what I do of our own Graptas, it is to me 



