EUPLOEINAE: ANOSIA PLEXIPPUS. 745 



and I have seen it flying within half an hour of sunset. It appears to 

 be most active, says D'Urban (Can. nat., ii : 352) 



when the atmosphere is charged with electricity, and often, in the death-like calms 

 which precede a thunder-storm in the country, when not a breath of wind ruffles the 

 glassy surface of the water, and the lurid clouds are hurrying up from the horizon, 

 one of these splendid butterrties may be seen floating past on the sultry air, like a her- 

 ald of the approaching storm. 



D'Urban adds in the same place that it had been named to him in his 

 youth as the " storm fritillary" ; and if it be really an independent idea, 

 the following quotation from Moffat, read in the same connection, is of 

 particular interest. 



I regard it as a particularly interesting creature in every respect ; although so com- 

 mon, it is never "vulgar," never in a hurry; it has the easy grace of the leisurely 

 class. I have thought that one Avho has seen it only in an open country can form ])ut 

 an inadequate conception of the diversity of its movements on the Aving. To see one 

 on a bright summer day, when a stifl' breeze is blowing, disport itself about the wide- 

 spreading top of a high tree, is a choice pleasure. It seems to fairly revel with de- 

 light in a gale; now it rolls and tosses and heaves, always heading against the wind; 

 now it spreads its sails to the breeze, and is hurried violently backward and upward; 

 again it furls them, and, slowly descending and advancing, it describes a variety of the 

 most charmingly graceful curves and waves and undulations imaginable ; a thing of 

 beauty to look at, and a joy to think of forever after. Attempts have been made to 

 attach to it common names. I have thought, when watching one at such a time, that 

 " the storm king" would be very appropriate, and quite befitting its regal character. 

 (Can. ent., xx: 137.) 



AVhen settled and on the alert, the edge of the hind wings rests upon 

 the ground, while the body is raised anteriorly to the height of the length 

 of the middle tibiae and tarsi; the wings are in constant motion, being 

 slowly lowered and rajjidly raised, while the antennae, bent downward 

 close to the base, are extended on a line with the body ; the latter are 

 nearly straight but a little sinuous, and are di vergent at an angle of 100° 

 the club being bent downward and outward, the tips 30 mm. apart. When 

 the butterfly is at complete rest, the wings are tightly closed, overlapping 

 so as to conceal all the brighter parts of the fore wings ; the antennae, 

 while retaining the same curve and divergence as before, drop to an angle 

 of about 40°. When settled on a flower, the wings droop heavily. 



The l:)utterfly has a curious habit of occasionally moving one of its palp 

 outward over the eyes and back again, while turning its head in the same 

 direction . 



Miscellaneous* The butterfly has, as INIr. Riley writes, a rank but 

 not very strong smell. Experiment shows that all the scales have a car- 

 roty odor, and that those in the pouch of the hind wings diflfer from them 

 only in being stronger scented with a slightly honied character. It is well 

 known that this odor or some nauseous taste or both render the insect dis- 

 tasteful to insectivorous creatures, and that they serve, to some degree at 



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