LIMENITIS I. 



The hybernacula are liable to be robbed by birds and probably by some in- 

 sects, for those of Disij)2)us may often be found opened near the base, the larvte 

 missing. 



I brought the cases of Proserpina to Coalburgh, and kept them out of doors 

 daring the fall and winter, exposed to the weather, but shaded from the sun, 

 binding them to the twigs of a little tree, and covering the whole with a muslin 

 bag to protect from birds or insects. This method succeeded well. On 10th 

 March, I removed them to the greenhouse, having previously forced willow 

 branches so that a provision of leaves was secured. On the 29th, two came out 

 of their cases, and on the 31st passed the third moult. 



One of the Proserpina larva? came out of fourth moult with only one of the 

 clubbed appendages on third segment, its place being supjjlied by a small tubercle 

 similar to the two inner ones on saiue segment; but there was no deformity in 

 the butterfly which came from this larva. They were voracious feeders, liked 

 best to be in the full glare of the sun, and moved about very little. As they 

 approached maturity, I arranged some arched twigs for them to suspend to, and 

 was able to watch the process of spinning the button of silk and attaching 

 the anal feet to it. This button was thick, rounded, made of white silk, and 

 soon after it was finished the larva turned round, and with some effort got the 

 hinder pair of its ventral legs upon it, moving back and forth till it reached 

 that position, depending entirely upon its sense of feeling. Then it moved for- 

 ward slowly till the anal legs touched the silk ; after which it braced itself on all 

 its thoracic and ventral legs and began, with much muscular action, especially ap- 

 parent in the last three segments, to force the claws of the anal legs into the 

 silk, pushing back, then pulling forward and pushing back again, with repetition 

 for nearly five minutes, till the object was accomplished. Then the larva rested 

 exhausted and perfectly quiet, its head and thoracic segments hanging so that 

 the legs on these segments did not touch the twig, the ventral legs all clasp- 

 ing it. Shortly after, it cast off and hung by the anal pair only, the body straight, 

 the anterior sesruients nearly at ria'ht auo;les, the bend beino- on the fifth ses;- 

 ment. Twenty-four hours later, the bodj? hung in a sinuous curve, and the an- 

 terior segments were roundly bent up, the head resting on second segment. Ten 

 hours after, I observed a muscular movement from tail to head, passing in waves 

 beneath the skin, while the body was nearly straight and much elongated. After 

 some minutes of these throes, the skin burst on the top of the head and down 

 the suture of the face as well as back to the third segment, and the mesonotum 

 of the chrysalis forced its way through the rent, followed by the head case, and 

 by the creeping movement of the body the skin was slowly shuffled back. The 

 rent was oblique, the dorsal side of the chrysalis being exposed three segments 



