LIBYTHEA. 



mon species. And yet the late Mr. D. B. Walsh, in a letter to me dated April. 

 1863, says, that in the month of Jnne preceding, he had fonnd this species " in 

 swarms," near Jonesborough, in Southern Illinois, '' along the travelled road." 

 Mr. Scudder gives Dr. Harris as authority for its having been found in Massachu- 

 setts, and informs me that it has also been found so far north as the neighl)orhood 

 of the White Mountains, in New Hampshire. Mr. Saunders mentions its occur- 

 rence in Ontario, Canada. In West Virginia I have seen a few individuals every 

 season, but have regarded the species as one of the rarest. On 1st August, 1872, 

 I noticed a female fluttering about a small tree of CeJt'is occuh'ntaUs, in my gar- 

 den, at Coalburgh, alighting frequently on the ends of the branches, and evi- 

 dently ovo-positing. She made, perhaps, a dozen descents for this purpose before 

 she tlew awav. The es'sxs were laid simidv on the immature leaves at extreme 

 ends of the branches, and I found, on examination, that nearly every branch had 

 its egg. On the 5th, several of these eggs had hatched in the glass to which I 

 had transferred them. But the larvaj were exceedingly delicate, and one after 

 another dropped oft" the leaves till all were dead. I have since experienced the 

 same difficultv in startini»: these larvte in confinement, though those of most 

 other butterflies can be reared from the egg with great certainty. But I was 

 able to replenish the stock I'rom the tree when the larva? had become a few days 

 old, and thenceforwai'd had no difficulty whatever. It was easy to discover the 

 feeding place of one of them from their habit of stripping the sides of the leaf 

 at its extremity, leaving the midrib untouched. There is something in their 

 attitude when at rest that distinguishes them from other butterfly larv*. For 

 hours the}' remain witli the liead and upper segments thrown back and arched, 

 after the manner of the typical Sphhujkhti. Or the anterior segments are raised 

 from the leaf and curved forward, the second, third, and posterior segments being 

 swollen, and the middle ones flattened dorsally, an odd habit 1 have not ob- 

 served in any other species. In 1873, I again found eggs and larva? upon the 

 same young tree, but earlier in the season, making it certain that there Avere 

 two or more broods of the imaoo. The first noticed were on l!8th June, and 

 fresh eggs were found at intervals up to 1st September. 



When about half grown, the larva? in confinement might be seen slowly mak- 

 ing their way up the side of the glass, by means of a zigzag ladder which they 

 spun as they went, and the glass became well coated with this kind of web. 

 After the fourth moult, they began to fasten the leaves loosely together, and 

 stretched several threads across the top of the glass. These threads were quite 

 strong enough singly to bear the weight of a caterpillar, and I have seen one 

 cross the diameter of' the glass in this way, walking feet upward; in this case 

 the traveller proceeded cautiously, stopping several times and throwing a thread 



