LYCAKNIXAE: KENISECA TARQUINIUS. 1021 



fringed witli alder Imshos. It is consoquontly a very local insect. The 

 obijervation.s of nuiiit'rous observers are nearly identical ; one says it is 

 found "alioiit sniali, ninning- streams and in places protected from the 

 wind" ( Dimmock) : another "in channels of dry streams between lofty 

 and abrii|)t hills in W. Va." (Edwards) ; it "frequents swamps and oak 

 woods" in Georgia, "most frequent in Big Ogcchee Swamp" (Ahbot), 

 "resting upon the leaves of trees and bushes growing along the banks of 

 a river" (SmitJi) . 



Oviposition. Miss Morton several times observed the butterfly laying 

 her eggs, the first seen being deposited "right in the middle of the 

 aphides" upon a bough of alder. Subsequent observation showed that 

 she "lays her eggs generally close to or among a bunch of aphides, but 

 occasionally on the leaf if it rests on the aphides." In searching for them 

 by brushing away the plant-lice a dozen were found, all on the under side 

 of twigs. Mr. Fletcher also observed a female depositing her eggs and 

 states that "the eggs are generally laid right amongst the aphides, but 

 sometimes outside on the bark, and one egg was laid on a leaf, two inches 

 away from the cluster." The three I have myself found were in identical 

 situations. Several observers have noted the mother's alighting not merely 

 upon _alder but upon the plant-lice themselves. The eggs are covered 

 during deposition with a thin coagulated albuminous deposit, which on 

 hardening covers the egg like a thin but irregular veil, rendering it difficult 

 to get any view of its texture ; in one instance Mr. Fletcher noticed it 

 "drawn out like a thread of fine silk." The eggs hatch in from three to 

 four days. 



Larval food. The reason of all this appears in the fact that plant-lice 

 are the sole food of the caterpillar and that it particularly affects the species 

 which occurs in clusters on alder stems — Schizoneura tessellata. Accord- 

 ing to Riley it has also been found by Mr. Pergande associated with Pem- 

 phigus fraxinifolii and P. imbricator, which feed respectively on ash and 

 beech, both uf which, like Schizoneura tessellata, "produce much floccu- 

 lent and saccharine matter." Mr. Pergande also found the larva on witch- 

 hazel . It has also fed in captivity on aphides taken from willow and wild plum 

 (Edwards). Perhaps its natm-al range is really much greater, for before 

 its carnivorous habits were known it was credited with feeding not only 

 on alder but also on arrow wood, probably a species of Viburnum, "win- 

 ter huckleberry," a Vaccinium ?, "wild currant tree," Ribesia, and Cratae- 

 gus — all on the authority of Abbot, in various published and iinpul)lished 

 notes. Probably plant-lice feeding on these plants in Georgia will be found 

 among its victims. The discovery of its true food was made almost simul- 

 taneously by several observers. Late in July or early in August 1880, 

 Misses Soule and Eliot, then summering at Stowe, Vt., brought into the 

 house a branch of alder, white with aphides. "It was left in a corner for a 



