lA'CAKNIXAK: K.riDKMlA KPIXAXTIIK. 989 



08 some species of Persicnriii. or iicrhapti the swiuiip dock, Rumex verti- 

 cilliitiis Linn. See, however, the ne.xt paragraph. 



Life history. It appears to he single brooded. The earliest hiitterflies 

 appear ilio ia.-it of June — alxmt the 2.")tli, and they heeonie al)undant dur- 

 incj the first week in .lulv, but are evidently still emerging from the ehrv- 

 salis during the third week in .July and may be found until at least the end 

 of the first week in August. In (Quebec Mr. iiowles has found them only 

 in August, but at Ottawa, Mr. Fletcher has found them abundant by July 1. 

 The eggs are laid after the first week of July, but tiie subsequent stages 

 are altogether unknown : as esss obtained bv Mr. Saunders were laid 

 only on tlie cover of the chip box in which they were confined, it is proba- 

 ble that the female deposits naturally on tlic under surface of leaves or twigs. 

 As none of these eggs, laid July 8, ever hatched (though the caterpillars 

 formed within), and the buttei-fly appears but once a year and then as late 

 as July, it is probable that the eggs do not hatch until the succeeding 

 spring, in which case they would certainly not be laid upon leaves of herbs 

 but upon stems or twigs of some woody shrub. It may, flierefore. well 

 be doubted whether they feed upon Polygonaceac at all. Possibly we 

 should look instead to some of the neighboring family, Lauraceae ; Gosse 

 says he met with it in Xewfoimdlaiid "ciiieily on some low shrubs, un- 

 known to me, wliose leaves have an aromatic odor somewhat like that of 

 the orange tree." Could be have had IJenzoin in mind? It is a frecpien- 

 ter of suitable localities for this insect. 



Habits and flight. The butterfly flies very near the ground and fre- 

 (piently alights on sumac and cranberry; ^laynard calls it "quite slug- 

 Srish," but Saimders observes that the butterflies soon become much worn 

 by frequent combats and speedily diminish in numbers. Nevertheless it is 

 a far less active insect than Ileodcs hypophlaeas, which it much resem- 

 bles in appearance, flight and attitudes. It is thought by some that it is 

 far more abundant in some years than in others. 



Desiderata. The local habits of this insect render our knowledge of its 

 gcogra[)hical distribution very imsatisfactory : of its earlier stages we 

 know nothing except the structure of the egg and the probabilitv of its 

 hibernation. It would be almost vain to search for the caterpillar in any 

 spot where the butterfly had not been observed ; and as a first step to a 

 knowledge of the early stages, the discover}' of the food plant is essential. 

 The above account of the appearance of the butterfly rests upon far too 

 meagre d.ata, for the insect may prove to be double brooded ; a single 

 specimen taken in Hampton on July 8 was greatly worn, while large 

 numbers found July 22 were in very fair condition, — facts which certainly 

 look in that direction. The parasites of the insect and the flight and pos- 

 tures of the butterfly also need investigation . 



