356 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAXI). 



throuo-hout the month, and on pleasant days may be found on the wing m 

 o-radiially dmiinishing numbers until the middle of October. No eggs 

 whatever are laid by these butterflies during the season in which they are 

 born. Kepeated examination of the abdomen of specimens taken at stated 

 intervals through the season proved that the eggs are then entirely un- 

 developed. Before the end of October they have all hibernated, probably 

 in hollow trees, as their haunts are woodland roads. I attempted to carry 

 two females through the Avinter by enclosing them in a box (of about 160 

 cubic cm.) and placing it in a cold storage warehouse, where the tem- 

 perature was uniformly 35° the winter through, but they did not 

 survive the test. 



Comparison with the life history of P. c-album. The European 

 c-album, erroneously considered by some European entomologists as 

 identical with the present species, is said by the late Meyer Diir to have two 

 generations, the first from the last of May to early July, mainly from 

 hibernating pupae but also from hibernating butterflies ; the second from 

 the middle of July until September ; the latter brood is said to have less 

 angulated fore wings and brighter ground colors than the spring genera- 

 tion ; the larva is said to live on nettle, elm, currant and gooseberry. 



In answer to direct enquiries. Dr. Meyer Diir wrote that he had never 

 really obtained any hibernating pupae of the European species, but that he 

 based his belief above mentioned on the ground ' ' that in the early spring 

 (March and April) not only rubbed and battered, but also quite fresh in- 

 dividuals are to be found." Now this does not seem to be the case with 

 faunus in the White Mountains, for all specimens seen during the month 

 of June show that they have hibernated, and the June and July caterpillars 

 come from these hibernators. For further notes on the subject see the 

 recent paper by Mr. W. H. Edwards (Can. ent., xix : 2-4). 



In this same paper Mr. Edwards speculates on the probable genetic re- 

 lationship of these two forms by supposing both species to have been 

 derived from a common stock at the north, inhabiting both continents, but 

 afterwards becoming separated : — 



When the separation took place, the European branch split into numerous varieties, 

 and became double-brooded, yet retained its identity as one species (that is, if the 

 European lepidopterists of to-day are right in their views) , and shows nowhere differ- 

 ences between any of its preparatory stages — one multiform species. And the other 

 branch, on the western continent, threw off diverse forms, several of which have come 

 to have very different caterpillars from the original type. These also came to be two 

 to four-brooded, and two, at least, became seasonally dimorphic in coloration. But 

 one form, faunus, remains single-brooded, and shows no tendency to vary, and may 

 be presumed to be nearer to the primeval type of the species than any of the forms 

 that now compose the group. Of course, this one-brooded, non-varying form is to-day 

 not the same thing as the two-brooded, very variable form found in Europe. They 

 have come to be two distinct species. 



Habits, flight, etc Although very quick and active in its move- 



