NYMPIIALINAE : BASILARCIIIA ASTYANAX. 285 



beinn^ Dublin (Faxon), Sunoook "two or three" (Thaxtcr), and Milford, 

 N. II., "connnon" (Whitney), and Williamstown, Mass., not rare (Sciid- 

 der). Mr. Lyman, who took specimens about Portland, Me., which he 

 once considered astyanax, now looks on them as proserpina. 



Stoir in his first illustration of the butterfly reports it from Africa ! 



Ovipositiou. The eggs are laid on the upper surface of leaves at the 

 very tip, after the manner of the genus. I am indebted for specimens to 

 Miss Guild and Messrs. Angus and Emery. 



Food plant. The caterpillar is polyphagous, living on the leaves of 

 several families of exogenous plants, very diverse in structure. It appears 

 to be particularly addicted to liosaceae, having been found feeding or 

 laying eggs on plum, wild cherry (Abbot, Edwards), haAvthorn, apple 

 (Harris, Edwards, Dimmock, Lintner, Jack), pear (Angus, Miss Guild), 

 and quince ; it was also found by Abbot on gooseberry (Grossulaceae), 

 and on Vaccineum stamineum (Ericaceae) : while among the apetalous 

 families, the Cupuliferae are represented by the hornbeam (Carpinus ameri- 

 cana), and the scruboak (Quercus ilicifolia), on which Harris and Lintner 

 found it; and the Salicaceae by willow (Abbot, Kirtland, Edwards, 

 Mundt, Jack), poplar (on which an enclosed female lay for me), and 

 aspen (Edwards). 



Habits of the caterpillar. While feeding, it rests upon the upper 

 surface of the leaf, eating the edges from the apex to the base, invariably 

 returning to the same spot at each meal until all is devoured excepting the 

 basal half of the midrib, when it passes to the adjoining leaf. 



After eating, the caterpillar assumes a very peculiar posture, which the 

 contour of the body renders still more grotesque ; the anterior half of the 

 body is strongly arched, the upper portion of the front of the head just 

 touching the ground ; the thoracic horns are thus thrown menacingly for- 

 ward and all the true legs and the anterior pair of prolegs are raised above 

 the ground ; nor is this all, for the hinder extremity is also raised, the 

 prolegs of the sixth abdominal segment barely touching the ground, and 

 the parts behind lifted high in the air and thrust horizontally backward, so 

 that the tubercles of the eighth and ninth abdominal segments are brought 

 on a level with the anterior himch ; while the anal prolegs are so retracted 

 as to be nearly concealed. 



Life history. The history of this species, as I translate the facts, is 

 similar to that of B. arthemis. It is partly single, partly double brooded, 

 the half-grown caterpillars hibernating. These probably resume feeding 

 as soon as the leaves of their food-plant begin to burst, but they feed 

 slowly; Dr. Harris once found one, apparently in its third stage ("not 

 more than .6 of an inch long'') as late as June 17 ; it was "very slug- 

 gish, ate very little and grew slowly," not changing to chrysalis until 

 July 8. The caterpillars change in June and July, the pupal state con- 



