736 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



almost past belief. Millions is but feebly expressive; — miles of them is no exaggera- 

 tion. On the island is a strip of ground from 150 to 400 yards wide, and about two 

 and one-half miles in length, overgrown with Myrica cerifera. After three o'clock 

 these butterflies, coming from all directions, began to settle on the bushes, and by 

 evening every available twig was occupied. To see such multitudes at rest, all sus- 

 pended from the lower sides of the limbs, side by side, as is their well known custom, 

 was something well worth seeing;. One evening I travelled more than half the dis- 

 tance of their encampment, and learned that it extended the whole length and breadth 

 of the bushes. In the morning they gradually separated and did not appear unusually 

 numerous during the day, ])ut in the afternoon they came again as described. I found 

 them on the second, the day of my arrival, as related above, and this was repeated daily 

 till tlic sixth, the forenoon of which was rather calm and sultry. A storm of wind and 

 rain came on about two o'clock, p. m., continuing till midnight. The next afternoon 

 few came to camp ; the great army had disappeared. But how? when? where to? Dur- 

 ing the next few days they appeared again in considerable numbers — about as they had 

 been observed in former Septembers, — but insigniflcant Avhen compared with those 

 that preceded. The males and females were about equal in numbers. Not a single 

 stalk of their food plant (Asclepias) grows on the island. (Can. ent., xvii : 204.) 



Mr. J. A. Moffat, of Hamilton, Out., describes what he saw of these 

 butterflies while away from home, but in what locality or at what season 

 he does not inform his readers : — 



Several years ago I saw them congregating in a bit of woods in the neighborhood of 

 the city which I was visiting at the time. . . . They were hanging in a listless kind of 

 manner to the under side of branches in immense numbers, with their wings closed, 

 and not noticeable unless disturbed, very few being on the wing. Their favorite rest- 

 ing place seemed to be dead pine twigs, which would be drooping with their weight, 

 and in more than one instance I saw one too many light, and the tAvig snap and send a 

 dozen or moi'e into the air to seek for another perch. (Can. ent., xii : 37.) 



Afterwards, describing more particularly some of the details, he re- 

 marks : — 



There was a general uneasiness pervading the whole flock, rather ditticult to describe. 

 It did not come from a working of the wings, but of the feet, as if the foothold was 

 not good, and they were trying to secure a better, which produced a rocking motion, 

 whilst continuously throughout the swarm one and another was dropping ofl' to make 

 for the edge of the woods and join in the gi'and procession. (Can. ent., xx : 138.) 



Dr. C C. Abbott, one of the happiest observers of the ways and whims 

 of our native animals, writes thus from his New Jersey home : — 



An acre or two of neglected meadow reaches to the creek's shore, a half mile 

 distant, and now it is broAV deep in boneset. It was scarcely penetrable, and a para- 

 dise for butterflies and bees. ... A small sassafras sapling was so covered [with the 

 milk weed butterfly] that they appeared to outnumber the leaves, and gave the tree a 

 prematurely frost-bitten appearance. I cautiously drew near, and counted one hun- 

 dred and seven of them, and there were almost as many more. Then giving the tree 

 a vigorous shaking they all took flight, and made a distinct rustling noise as they 

 did so. They did not mount the air to any height, but scattered over the snowy bone- 

 set blossoms, and reminded me of an October shower of painted leaves. 



A migration of what was unquestionably this species of butterfly took place near by, 

 in September of 1881. They flew at a height of probably two hundred yards only, and 

 moved in a long, narrow body, that took an hour to pass a given point. The migra- 

 tion, is known to have extended twenty-five miles and if the dii'ection was not changed, 



