SATYIU'S II.. IIJ. 



inclosf tViiiales in hatj-s over o-niss, and l)efoi-e 18th, had y-ot 125 eu'ii's, which were 

 sent nie. I mention this, because it fixes tlie time at whieli the females lay 

 their i'i;\U's after they have left their clirysalids. as it has Ijeen stated that ovipo- 

 sition does not talce phice till five or six weeks after that event, which is erro- 

 neous. 



On the prairies of Illinois and Wisconsin, and doubtless t'arther west to its 

 limit, Nejiheh'-Oltpiipm abounds. Dr. J. P. Hoy, of Racine. Wi.sconsin, writes: 

 '■' Nej^heh is the most abundant butterHy on the prairies four miles west of Ra- 

 cine, the most common species in midsununer." 



Nothing, however, was known till recently of the pre|)aratory stages of Alope 

 or JVephele, except what was stated in Harris, 3d ed., 1862, where we read of 

 Alo^Je : '"The caterpillar is pale green with dark green strijie ; the liead is 

 round and the tail ends in a short fork. The chrysalis is elono;uted. roundish at 

 tlie sides, with the head notched." In 1877, in the Canadian Entomoloiiist, 

 vol. ix.. p. 141. 1 gave the full history of NcpJiele, having bred one butterlly 

 from a lot of about fifty eggs laid liy a female taken in the Catskills the previous 

 year. The caterpillars from the Martha's \'iueyard eggs of 1877 all died during 

 the winter, from my not having learned how to take care of them. I)ut in 1878, 

 I determined to try again, and a])plied to several correspondents for eggs of 

 Alope, NepJidc, and the Illinois type, and succeedfd in getting many. At this 

 time Alope and JSfepheh were regarded liy our most experienced lepidopterists 

 as two distinct species, and it was thought that the iutergrades did not bridge 

 over the chasm which .separated them. I was anxiovis to determine the position 

 of these intergrades^ and had begun to suspect, from what 1 liad seen at Martha's 

 Vineyard, where Nephele seemed to run into Alope. that we had here another 

 case of dimoi'|)hisni. 



Professor Lintner and Dr. James A. IJailey sent eggs of Alopie from All)any, 

 New York : Kev. (Jeorge D. Hulst sent eggs of Alope from females caught, 

 at Hobokeu. New Jersey; eggs of JVephele were obtained from the Catskills, 

 and Mr. Charles K. Worthington sent many of ^ephele-Oli/tnpi'S from Chicago. 

 Besides these, 1 was able to secure Alope eggs myself at Coalhiu'gh. West Vir- 

 ginia. In every case tlie eggs were laid by typical females, not iutergrades, con- 

 fined over growing grass, and the females were sent me, that I might note the 

 type. These five localities are separated by considerable distances : Hoboken 

 is one hundred and fifty miles south of Albany ; the Catskills, at the point from 

 which eggs were sent, are thirty-five miles southwest of Albany, but have two 

 thousand feet greater elevation ; Coalbnrgh is eight hundred miles southwest of 

 All)any , and Chicago is one thousand miles west of Albany and eight hundreil 

 northwest of Ct^alburirh. 



