338 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



scanty numbers in Wisconsin (Hoy) , Iowa (Allen, Osborn), Fort Nio- 

 brara, Neb. (Carpenter) and Kansas (Snow), and is even recorded from 

 Texas (Edwards). Reakirt indeed reported it from Colorado, but prob- 

 ably by mistake for some other species then undescribed. In the north, 

 Edwards records it from Fort Simpson, Mackenzie River, British America, 

 which is too far in advance of its ordinary range to be probable ; as he had 

 butterflies from the fort of the same name on Albany River and Jenner 

 Weir reports it from Moose Factory near there, the more southern fort 

 is the probable locality meant. It is found in various parts of Canada, 

 especially toward the east ; — Nepigon, north of Lake Superior (Fletcher) , 

 Lake Cameron (Mead), Ottawa (Billings, Fletcher), Montreal (Caul- 

 field), Compton (Gosse), Quebec, "very common" (Bowles), and the 

 Rouge district (D'Urban) ; — as well as in Nova Scotia " rare" (Jones), 

 and even in Anticosti (Strecker). 



It is found throughout New England, excepting in the White Mount- 

 ain region and perhaps other elevated portions of the northern counties : 

 it has, however, been taken on Camel's Hump, Vt. (Sprague), and given 

 as a probable inhabitant of Norway, Me. (Smith) ; the only other local- 

 ities from which it is reported are Walpole (Smith) and Plymouth, N. H. 

 (Scudder) ; Orono (Fernald), Portland, "rare" (Lyman), and Hallo- 

 well, Me. (Miss Wadsworth) ; the vicinity of Boston (numerous 

 collectors), Amherst (Stearns, Marsh, Scudder), Holyoke and Granby 

 (Scudder), Springfield (Dimmock) and Williamstown, Mass. (Scud- 

 der) ; Farmington (Norton), South Windsor and New Britain (Scudder) 

 and New Haven, Conn. (Smith); and Portsmouth, R. I. (Hambly). 

 It is nowhere a very common insect in New England, ^excepting perhaps 

 in the extreme south. Edwards, however, says that when found it is 

 abundant, and calls it "one of the commonest" butterflies in West Vir- 

 ginia. It is undoubtedly a local species, as Edwards states, but the cause 

 of its restriction is unknown. 



Oviposition. In but a single instance have I found a solitary egg of 

 this butterfly ; in all other cases they have been piled in columns varying 

 from two to nine eggs, the average of those I have seen being a little 

 over four. Very often several columns will be found on a single leaf, 

 and these are probably laid by the same butterfly at one alighting, for the 

 columns are frequently close together, separated sometimes by scarcely 

 more than the width of an egg. They are almost always laid upon the 

 under surface of leaves, though occasionally upon the stem of the plant 

 selected, and Edwards says upon the tendrils of the hop. They gleam in 

 the sun like dewdrops. The egg hatches in four or five days. 



Food plants. The hop (Humulus lupulus), elm (Ulmus americana), 

 nettle (Urtica), and false nettle (Boehmeria cylindrica), all belonging to 

 the Urticaceae, are probably the only food plants of this larva, hop 



