890 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Mr. Saunders reports that it is "comparatively common" at Montreal* 

 "where edwardsii is either unknown or comparatively rare" and it has also 

 been found at London, Ont. (Saunders, Reed) and Ottawa, abundant 

 (Billings, Fletcher). 



It seems to occur throughout most of New England, but has been 

 taken in Maine only at Norway (Smith) ; in New Hampshire it has oc- 

 curred at Walpolc "quite common" (Smith) and Milford (Whitney) ; in 

 Vermont at Bellows Falls (Merrill) ; in Massachusetts at Andover 

 (Treat), Woburn (Shute), Dorchester (P. S. Sprague), Wollaston and 

 Quincy (F. H. Sprague), Cape Cod (Fish), Amherst (Parker), Spring- 

 field abundant and Mt. Tom (Emery), Leverett, Mt. Toby and Montague 

 (F. H. Sprague) ; in Riiode Island at Providence (Packard), and in 

 Connecticut at Plantsville (Shepardin Yale Coll. nius. ) and New Britain 

 (Hulbert). 



Food plant and habits of caterpillar. Mr. Saunders has bred this 

 caterpillar upon oaks, and ]Mr. Abbot states that it feeds on red oak 

 (Quercus rubra Linn.) and other oaks (in his British Museum manuscripts 

 Q. falcata Michx. is figured) ; and he adds that it feeds also on hickory 

 (Carya), a member of a neigiiboring family. Dr. Packard has found ()rc- 

 sumably this species on Carya glabra Torr., and Mr. Hulbert has bred it on 

 the allied butternut, Juglans cinerea Linn. Boisduval and LeConte, how- 

 ever, state that it feeds on species of Crataegus, a genus belonging to 

 another division of angiosperms, and this somewhat doubtful statement has 

 been extensively copied without verification ; a sjjecimen of the imago in 

 the museum of the Michigan University, however, is labelled "thorn"; 

 and I find in Abbot's manuscript a statement that it feeds on "parsley 

 haw," by which a Crataegus is probably meant. 



It devours the leaves by eating holes through them, not touching the 

 edge ; it is rather slow in its movements, differing considerably in this 

 respect from T. edwardsii. It is a cannibal, too, in its small way and 

 when short of food has been seen to devour its younger and weaker 

 brethren . 



The caterpillar varies greatly in markings, as may be seen by our il- 

 lustrations, in which extreme types are represented, one being grass 

 green and almost immaculate, the other of an impure color and marked 

 with a broad and greatly interrupted dorsal stripe ; no one would at first 

 take them to be identical. 



Seasons. The butterfly makes its first appearance toward the end of 

 June, and continues to emerge from the chrysalis until after the first week 

 in July — the females probably throughout July. It is much more abun- 

 dant during July than subsequently, but occurs also during the whole of 

 August and has even been taken in the first week of September, but 



*Caulficld says, generally rare, but abundant in 1874. 



