NVMIMIAI.IXAE: I'OLYCOXIA l.\Ti:i:i!()(;ATI()XIS. 329 



August, pr()l)al)lY .seldom earlier than the 21th in the vicinity of Boston, 

 and eontiniie to emerge from the chrysalis until at least the middle of 

 October. [)erhaps hecause the chrysalids of this brood, as shown by Dr. 

 Harris, sometimes continue twenty-six days. This is possibly Doublcdav's 

 authority for saying ((ien. diurn. Lep. i : li)7) of the whole g-enus that "the 

 duration of the pupa state varies with the temperature from eleven days to 

 a moatii." The length of this stage in the autumn and the occasional 

 exceedingly late emergence of the butterfly — Oct, 20 (Harris), Nov. 10 

 (G, Dimmock) — would lend plausibility to the hypothesis that this insect 

 may sometimes winter with us as a chrysalis. 



In the south there are at least three broods, and Mr. Edwards thinks 

 that in Florida there may be four or five. The butterfly passes the winter as 

 in the north. Doubleday says {loc. clt.), "in east Florida, the beautiful 

 sunshiny days of December and January prevent the torpid hibernation of 

 most species of Lepidoptera which live through the winter, and, like 

 many other butterflies, Grapta interrogationis is not unfrequently seen in 

 those months. It is only the few cold and wet days of February that 

 prevent its ap[)earance on the wing for a short time," In West Vir- 

 ginia, says Edwards (Can. ent., xiv : 204) : — 



Ejigs laid by hibeniatiug females give butterflies last of May ; this is the first brood 

 of the season. Eggs laid eai'ly in June give buttertlies early in July, the secoud 

 brood. Eggs laid last of July give butterflies in September, the third brood. Eggs 

 laid through September give butterflies in October. Individuals of each brood are 

 emerging for some weeks, say for a month, so that the eai'lier females may be laying 

 eggs while the later members of the same brood are coming from chi-ysalis. But in 

 the case of the fourth brood, it often can be only the earliest hatched larvae which 

 produce butterflies, because by first of October we are apt to have frost and cold 

 weather, and the food is thereby destroyed. ... I think it probable that the butterflies 

 of the third bi'ood do not hibernate, but that the continuance of the species depends on 

 the individuals of the fourth Ijrood, usually but few in number. 



Habits, flight, etc. The buttci-fiy flies, as Maynard says, "with a ner- 

 vous, rapid motion of its wings, and when it alights has the habit of rais- 

 ing [and lowering] them and moving about in a restless manner." It is a 

 fearless insect. One female laying her eggs on an elm twig, flew to it and 

 continued her maternal occupations after it was plucked, e^•en under the 

 very eyes of no less an entomologist than ]Mr. Kiley. Mr. Mead states 

 that "one afternoon while preparing my baits for evening [sugared cloths 

 for moths] , a fine Grapta intei-rogationis hovered around the tree for a 

 moment and then lit close l)y, and unrolling its proboscis, feasted on the 

 nectar. AVhile engaged in the absorbing operation I readily captured it 

 between thumb and finger" (Can. ent., v : 80). 



Dimorphism. This butterfly ]n-esents a most interesting case of dimor- 

 phism, first elucidated by Mr. Edwards. The two forms differ so greatly 

 and constantly from each other, not only in coloring but in the form of the 

 wings and even in the abdominal appendages that they have been consid- 



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