1006 THE BUTTERFLIES OE SKW ENGLAND. 



month. The eggs are probably hiid during the hist week of July and the 

 first half of August, as pairhig is then common, the eai-liest caterpillars 

 become full grown toward the middle of August, while the chrysalids con- 

 tinue for a longer pci-iod than in July, sometimes for nineteen days. The 

 third generation of butterflies is much the most abundant and appears in 

 the latter part of August, generally by the 26th, but sometimes not until 

 the early days of September ; the butterflies continue to emerge from the 

 chrysalis until the middle of September when the brood is most abun- 

 dant, but it has generally entirely disappeared by the close of the month. 

 The eggs of this brood are deposited in September, are hatched in eight 

 days, and the larva probably changes to chrysalis before winter. Some 

 of my caterjjillars, however, did not reach their last stage until October, 

 and such may possibly hibernate in this condition, or as Mr. P. S. 

 Sprague believed, perish altogether. 



Where the butterfly is double brooded, the first generation does not 

 make its appearance until June — usually between the 4th and the lOth, 

 though a few specimens may occasionally be seen in favorable seasons late 

 in May ; it becomes common by the 19th or 20th and lasts until nearly 

 the middle of July; in the extreme north, however, as at Quebec and 

 Cacouna, it does not seem to appear before the last of June and probably 

 continues throughout July. The period of the earlier stages is undeter- 

 mined excepting that the chrysalis genei-ally lives about twelve days, but 

 the second brood of butterflies is first seen between the 6th and 12th 

 of August, and continues to emerge until the close of the month and flies 

 until the end of the third week of September ; the eggs are probably laid 

 late in August and early in September*, giving the caterpillar ample time 

 to attain its growth and change to chrysalis before winter ; the chrysalis 

 is found hanging upon the under surface of stones. 



Habits and flight- The butterfly alights on stones or twigs and suns 

 itself, or flits away among tlie clover heads. It never flies long distances, 

 nor rises more than a foot or two above the ground, but flutters rapidly 

 from side to side, with a peculiar motion ; after each flutter the wings are 

 apparently closed an instant, for during flight their under surface is 

 distinctly visible. It is very pugnacious, attacking and pursuing larger 

 butterflies, and even assaulting the monster Carolina locust (Dissosteira 

 Carolina) in its short and heavy flight. When two of the Heodes meet, 

 they circle rapidly and coquettishly about each other, always keeping near 

 the gi'ound. In keeping with its activity is the fact that it is one of the 

 fii'st butterflies to appear after sunrise, and one of the latest to disappear 

 at nightfall. It is on its vmceasing rounds the livelong day. 



»w*jmi*«. -1-^/ *u \ju jio ciiavjv^cfcOJiAii; Av/nuvia m»^ n\ y^iyjui^ 



* Gosse wriliiig from Compton, Canada, laid uiue eggs ; they were . . . flesh-colored.' 

 says that in September '"one that I had taken (Can. uat., 221.) 



