500 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



in 1875 and July 1876, Mr. Thaxter's a little further north at Cape Med- 

 d(3ck, Me., July 31, 1874, Mr. Lyman's at Portland, Me., August 11, 

 and even one so far north and east as Bangor, Me., where Prof. Carl 

 Braun took a very fair specimen in July, 1883. 



Haunts. The butterfly seems to frequent open grounds, the few New 

 England specimens having been taken in meadows and gardens. Maj- 

 nard says it prefers dry, hot places ; Abbott that it frequents fields near 

 swamps ; Sprague, whose experience is limited to New England, that it 

 seems to prefer meadows and low lands to higher ground. Most of the 

 New P^ngland captures have been within sight of the sea, where in marshy 

 spots, one of its favorite food plants, the Gerardia, best flourishes. I have 

 only seen it close by the sea shore in dry arid spots. 



Food plants. The favorite food plant of the caterpillar appears to be 

 Gerardia purpurea Linn., one of the Scrophulariaceae, on Avhich Abbot 

 represents it as feeding, in the British Museum drawings ; but it also feeds, 

 according to the same, on Linaria canadensis Spreng. another of the same 

 family. Next to these come the Plantagos, it having been found by several 

 persons on Plantago lanceolata Linn., and on what was thought to be 

 P. virginica, according to Riley ; Dr. Wittfeld also found it in Florida, 

 feeding on Ludwigia alternifolia Linn., one of the Onagraceae. 



Larval habits and duration of early stages. According to Mr. 

 Kiley the caterpillars spin no web but feed on the outside of the leaf, and 

 in the early stages at least on the under surface, which in devouring 

 they reduce- to a skeleton. Dr. Wittfeld's observations in Florida in June 

 and July show that the egg state in the second and third broods lasts about 

 four days, the larval about twenty-five, and that the chrysalis hangs about 

 a week. Abbot's observations of the earliest and latest broods, however, 

 show that in Georgia the chrysalis then hangs fully twice as long, from 

 15-17 days. 



Life history. There are several broods of this species in the south, the 

 butterfly hibernating. At least butterflies are found throughout the win- 

 ter in west Florida (Chapman), and they have been taken in eastern 

 Florida in February (Burgess, Schwarz ), March (Schwarz, Scudder, Pal- 

 mer) and April (Palmer, Schwarz). The eggs must be laid early in the 

 spring for Abbot records the imago from chrysalis on May 4 in Georgia, 

 and Mr. Atkinson took a female just out of chrysalis in S. Carolina as 

 early as April 8. Dr. Wittfeld in central Florida obtained the imago on 

 June 23, from eggs laid May 18 (probably the second brood of the sea- 

 son in that place), and again on July 16 from eggs laid June 11. An- 

 other summer brood is indicated in the U. S. agricultural department notes 

 by caterpillars and chrysalids obtained by Comstock in Alabama the last of 

 August, from which the butterflies emerged the 4th and 5th of September, 

 and Dr. Chapman had one emerge September 9th in Appalachicola. Per- 



