1008 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



grass blade, in the shade, aiul witli the head up, the wiugs drooped to an acute, in- 

 stead of a right angle with the Ijody. It certainly sleeps very soundly, and when 

 aroused does not become so active as in the middle of the day. 



I have waked aud disturbed one. . . six times, each time immediately after it liad 

 settled down after a former awakening, and even the last time it flew but ten steps or 

 so, and settled down as before. 



I once counted seven perched for the night on grass bhides, witliin an 

 area of four square feet. I have generally found them on buffalo or 

 herd's grass, about half way down the stalk, but with the head don- nu-aj-d, 

 the costal edges of both wings together, the abdomen bent back at an 

 angle of 135° with the thorax, the antennae straight forward, parted at 

 an angle of about 15°. 



Dimorphism. According to Pryer, H. phlaeas is very strongly affected 

 bv temperature ; the first brood, which appears in Japan in March, is very 

 brightly colored ; while the later summer broods are much darker and the 

 male almost black. Zeller makes a similar statement concerning Sicilian 

 specimens, though in Switzerland, according to iSIeyer Diir, the differ- 

 ences are not nearly so great. In H. americana, also, we find such dif- 

 ferences, but whether they vary in the north and south I do not know. 

 Specimens of the spring brood in Massachusetts are of a more fiery red, 

 and the orange band of the under surface of the hind wings is broader ; 

 while in the later broods the markings are less vivid and less distinctly 

 marked, and there is a longer tooth on the margin of the hind wings. 



Miscellaneous. Mr. Gosse records (Can. nat., 220) a curious in- 

 stance of possible hermaphroditism in tliis insect. He says: " There is 

 often considerable diversity in the vividness of colour of different indi- 

 viduals of the same species of butterfly or moth, one being much more 

 beautiful than another ; in the same individual, however, one wing in 

 general exactly corresponds with the other, its fellow. But I once took a 

 small copper in the month of Sejitember, which had a very apparent dif- 

 ference in the colour of the wings, the left fore wing being much lighter 

 on both surfaces than the right, though neither was defaced in any degree. 

 It was resting on a stalk of grass, and was unwilling to fly, the weather 

 being cold with misty rain." 



Dimmock states that the butterfly is an important agent in the fertiliza- 

 tion of the dandelion. 



Enemies. This insect is subject to at least two hymenopterous para- 

 sites. Expecting that so common a species would have its enemies, I col- 

 lected a large number of eggs, laid naturally, at Norwich, Conn., in June, 

 but only one of them had been attacked : the little parasite, Telenomus 

 graptae (89 : 9) ate its way out through the bottom of one of the cells on 

 the side, on June 23. Another parasite is Ichneumon versabilis (88: '2), 

 a much larger insect, which attacks the caterpillar and emerges from the 

 chrysalis ; one came out fifteen days after pupation. Gentry asserts that 



