LIMENITIS I. 



side by sicle.^ The larvae feed on fhe leaves of willow, aspen, bass-wood, and, it 

 is said, on thorn. In the Catskills, the eggs are laid the last daijs of July or early 

 in August, on 3'oung trees, and but one egg upon one leaf This is placed near 

 the tip (Fig. «), and the newly hatched larva eats away the leaf on both sides of 

 the midrib. When at rest, it is to he found on the stripped portion of the rib, and 

 is easily discovered by this halnt. When two larvJB are hatched on one leaf, as 

 happens when two eggs have been laid in confinement, Mr. Mead has noticed 

 that one of them occupies the midrib, while the other rests on a perch con- 

 structed by itself from the side of the leaf. This perch, he says, is nearly a 

 quarter of an inch long and about one fiftieth of an inch in diameter, irregularly 

 cylindrical and composed of frass and small bits of the leaf, fastened together and 

 covered with grayish silk. 



Limenitis Dis'qj2jus has in all resj)ects larval habits similar to Arthemis, and 

 as I have often watched the construction of the perch in that species, one account 

 will apply to both. The end of the rib is no sooner laid bare than it is coated 

 and wound with silk, and to the extremity are fixed grains of larval excrement, 

 at first l)ut two or three, jjlaced one after the other in line. These are bound 

 together and to the rib, and being small as grains of rifle powder, they form a 

 continuation of about the same dimensions as the rest of the j^erch, and seem 

 effectual to prevent curling as the rib dries (Fig. h). As the larva grows, the 

 process is continued until this artificial portion will measure five or six tenths 

 of an inch, and makes a stout, irregular cylinder, the entire perch reaching about 

 one and a half inches (Fig. h). It is constantly strengthened by additions of silk, 

 the larva almost invariably, as it goes back and forth from its feeding ground, 

 adding threads and patching the weak places. On the perch the larva, in its 

 3'ounger stages, that is, l^efore hybernation, always rests, going to the leaf for 

 food at short intervals. It occupies the middle of the jierch and its usual attitude 

 is a twist, the ventral legs clasping; but the anterior half of the body is bent 

 down by the side of and somewhat under the perch. If two larvte are placed 

 on the same leaf, one always takes possession of the extremity, often with some- 

 thing of a contest and knocking of heads together ; but the other will presently 

 be found on one edge, excavating on either side of a narrow strip which is to con- 



1 The habit of gathering in dense crowds is common to many species of butterflies, an<l, so far as I know, 

 is confined almost if not wlioUy to the males. I mentioned it in my history of Papilio Tunuis ; but about the 

 time that was printed, I saw a vastly larger gathering of Papilios Tiirnus, 'J'l-oiliif. and Ajar, principally of the 

 first of these, than I had described. I was driving along a creek in this neighborhood, 2d June, 1S77, and 

 passed a flat rock by side of the water which seemed to have been moistened by the drippings from a coal seam 

 over it. A space not less than four feet square was crowded with these Papilios. Allowing one inch for each 

 butterfly, which seemed ample, there were upwards of 2,300 in that mass. In course of a few miles' drive 1 

 saw similar gatherings of from scores to hundreds of individuals. 



