660 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Oviposition. The eggs are laid upon the leaves and stalks of the food- 

 plant, and not, as stated by H. Skinner, dropped from a distance, upon the 

 herbage. Speaking of a single female observed by him Mr. Skinner says 

 "it hovered about a foot in height over a bed of violets, and at intervals 

 would remain stationary and drop an egg from this distance to the food- 

 plant below" (Proc. acad. nat. sc. Philad., 1883, 3fi). It is not an alto- 

 gether uncommon thing for an egg to become attached to the scales at the 

 tip of the abdomen of a butterfly or upon one of the hind legs ; and it is 

 possible that in the movement of the wings in flight or poising, such an 

 egg might have been swept or brushed off" during Mr. Skinner's observa- 

 tion. The butterfly has been seen to deposit its eggs in the ordinary 

 manner and such a wide departure from the common rule must be disbe- 

 lieved in until it has been seen repeated. If Mr. Skinner had seen the act 

 more than once he would have said so. A sino;le such incident must be 

 laid to accident and not purpose. Still it would be less surprising in this 

 butterfly than in some others, as the caterpillar leaves its food plant on 

 hatching and does not seek it until spring. The eggs hatch in from 

 twelve to twenty-four days according to Edwards. Mine have hatched in 

 fifteen. In one instance, Mr. Edwards obtained 219 eggs from a single 

 female. 



Food plant and habits of caterpillar. The caterpillars feed upon 

 different kinds of violets. Mr. Edwards has fed them on "every species 

 of wild violet accessible from the woods, and during the winter cultivated 

 species, and discovered no preference for one more than another. The 

 wild violets were in flower part of the time and the flowers were eaten by 

 the caterpillars with avidity." On one occasion I thought I saw a female 

 acting as if meaning to oviposit on Convolvulus arvensis, but no eggs were 

 found on the plant. 



In escaping from the egg the caterpillar sometimes devours nearly the 

 whole shell before forsaking it ; usually, however, it destroys only about 

 half of it and sometimes it merely bites a hole in the upper half just large 

 enough to crawl through and leaves it. Like all other species of the genus 

 it is a very secretive caterpillar, lying in concealment most of the time, 

 hurrying to its pasture when hunger impels, feeding voraciously and then 

 returning to its retreat. It Avas found by Mr. Saunders in spring "in 

 swampy ground, hiding by day in holes made by the feet of cattle, and 

 concealed also by dead leaves which are more or less filled with holes" 

 (Edwards, Butt. N. Amer.). According to Mr. Edwards, who has reared 

 it on several occasions, it is impatient of confinement, tender and raised 

 only by the greatest care. When about to pupate, it seeks the under sur- 

 face of logs and stones or bark, and making use of this proclivity by scat- 

 tering, in the vicinity of violet patches by the edge of woods, bits of bark 

 with the rough convex side uppermost, Mr. Saunders succeeded in obtain- 



