938 TIIK BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Other plants. Of those which are its proper food may be instanced Cinii- 

 cifiK'a racemosa, according to Edwards (Rannnculaccae) ; sumach, on 

 which Miss Morton has seen it lay eggs (Cruciferae) ; Ceanothus ameri- 

 caniis, on which Mr. Mead found larvae (Rhamnaceae) ; Aesculus ealifor- 

 nica, according to 13ehr (Sapindaccae) ; Erythrina herbacca and Apios 

 tuberosa, according to Abbot (Leguminosae) ; Spiraea salicifolia, on the 

 blossoms of which Mr. P. S. Sprague found the full grown larva and 

 about which I have often found the butterfly hovering ; I have also 

 obtained eggs from females enclosed over Amelanchicr canadensis, on 

 which they laid in preference to Cornus ; but the young larvae would not 

 touch the leaves and died (llosaceae) ; Cornus, on which the larva was 

 first found by Mr. Saunders and afterwards the eggs by Mr. Edwards, and 

 on which the female was seen to lay eggs by Dr. Howe (Cornaceae) ; Vi- 

 burnum acerifolium, on which Professor Corastock took the larvae (Caprifo- 

 liaccae) ; Verbesina helianthoides and Actinomeris squarrosa, on both of 

 which, but especially on the last, Messrs. Mead and Edwards found eggs 

 and larvae, and the cultivated Diraorphantes mantchuricus, on which Mr. 

 Edwards found a caterpillar (Compositae) ; Vaccinium corymbosum, on 

 which Dr. Dimmock found and raised the larva, and perhaps another species 

 of Vaccinium on which confined females lay freely for me, but the leaves of 

 which the young larvae refused (Ericaceae) ; finally, Ilex, on which Abbot 

 found it. But besides these it has been fed in confinement with more or 

 less success on Nasturtium — Edwards (Cruciferae), Rhamnus cathartica 

 — Scuddcr (Rhamnaceae), Trifolium — Edw^ards (Leguminosae), Salix — 

 Saunders (Salicaceae), and Begonia and Asclepias — Edwards; making 

 a total list of nineteen species of plants, of fifteen families, — a list much 

 more extended and varied than that for its European congener. I have 

 also seen the female hovering about alder as if seeking a place to lay eggs. 



The extent of the list is no doubt due to the fact that the caterpillar 

 feeds upon the buds and flowers of the plant ; and as several successive 

 broods appear, the same plant can hai'dly furnish blossoms at the proper 

 season for such an unprincipled guest ; the liutterfly accordingly chooses 

 a plant in or soon to be in flower. Mr. Edwards believes that its princi- 

 pal food in the spring is Cornus, in June Cimicifuga, and in the autumn 

 Actinomeris ; but this must of course vary according to the region in the 

 wide territory ovo- wliicli tlie butterfly ranges. 



Habits of the caterpillar. In emerging from the egg the caterpillar 

 simply bites a circular opening through the top sufficient to make its escape, 

 and rarely touches any more, though it sometimes eats a little larger hole 

 than is really needed. Mr. Edwards, who has studied this species with 

 great care and perseverance, gives full accounts of the habits of this 

 caterpillar in various places, from which we put together the following 

 extracts : — 



