168 TllK BLTTERFLIES OF NEW EN(;LAN1). 



seen specimens or received notes of its capture, are Xoruay (Smith) and 

 Portland, Me. (Lyman), Tliornton and Slielhournc, N. II. (Faxon) and 

 Sudbury (Scudder) and Stowe, Xt. (Miss Soule). Mr. Jones states that 

 it is also found at Annapolis, and Mr. Fletcher that it has been taken by 

 Downs at Stenacke, Xova Scotia, while ]\Ir. Edwards records it from 

 New Ijrunswick. 



Haunts. It occurs in open woods and orchards, as well as along 

 roadsides and stone walls, especially such as are overgrown with brambles 

 or skirted by shrubl)ery : also in grassy meadows. 



Larval habits and food. In escaping from the cg<^, the caterpillar 

 bites around the uppermost part of the sides of the shell, throwing off 

 the summit as a sort of lid and generally leaving it attached to the shell 

 by a slender hinge ; the egg is then left intact, and the young larva 

 emerges, [)rcsenting an odd ap[)earance, with its long, bent hairs directed 

 some for\\'ard, others backward. 



The food plant is ordinary grass, upon which ripe females will readily- 

 lay in confinement. The caterpillar, hatching late in the season, at once 

 descends to the base of the plant on which it is born and hibernates, tasting- 

 no vegetable food \mtil the next spring. It is exceedingly lethargic in 

 action and e\en when full grown moves with exceeding slowness, by 

 almost impcrce[)tible, nervous, forward twitches. 



Life-history. In the southern parts of New England the butterfly 

 makes its appearance early in July. Dr. Harris records it in his manu- 

 script as taken July 1, 1831, and I once thought I saw this species at 

 Granby, ^lass., on the same day of the month ; but it is very seldom seen 

 before the 5th, and in the immediate vicinity of Boston, the 10th or 12th : a 

 few davs later, sometimes not luitil the 17tli or 20th, it appears in the 

 more elevated parts of ^Massachusetts and in southern New Hampshire ; it 

 continues to emerge from the clij-ysalis throughout the Avliole of July and 

 remains abundant throughout most or all of August and may be taken 

 until the middle of September ; the females appear less than a week after 

 the ad^•ent of the males, but do not begin to lay eggs* until toward the 

 middle of August, — a long time after their first appearance, and continue 

 depositing luitil far into September. The earliest that I have myself 

 recorded were obtained by Mr. Emery at S[)ringfield, ^lass., from the 22d 

 to the 27th ; others Avere secured by ]Mr. Minot in the vicinity of Boston, 

 and by Mr. Foster in York. Me., on the 29th ; still later ones were sent 

 me by Mr. Whitney from Milford, X. II., on September (i, and I have 

 obtained them at Nantucket as late as September 10. Mr. Mead, how- 

 ever, secured eggs between August 10 and 18 at Martha's Vineyard, and 



*Tlii^ oji'.n' was fii>t broii^lit t(i my notice liy Ueiicis aellu of the Swiss Alps; and Mr. 



Mr. Spraguc, who found one laid by the insect Fletcher showed nie an Oencis jiitta which had 



nponher own middle tarsus; I have seen a managed, in continement, to lay one upon her 



similar instance in our Siieyeria idalia and in own antenna near the base! 



