PIKIKNAK: XANTlllDlA NR'IPPE. 1071 



These last records would of themselves render it probable that it would 

 occur in New England, but it has very rarely been found here ; the only 

 instance that has come to my personal notice has been a specimen obtained 

 at Norwich. Conn, by Mr. Theodore McCurdy. and a report by Mr. W. 

 H. Edwards that from the railway train he saw one Hying near Brockton, 

 Mass., July 25, 1877, — the same year, it will be noted, in which it was 

 common on the Hudson. 



Abundance and haunts- The butterfly, according to Doubleday, 

 frerpients opi'ii plains near forests and clover fields, associating in the latter 

 with Eurymus philodice and Zerene coesonia. It is variable in its abun- 

 dance, at least toward the limits of its range. Thus Miss Morton found it 

 on the banks of the Hudson more common than even Eurymus philodice 

 in 1877, but not a single specimen in the following years ; a similar state- 

 ment is made by W. N. Tallant of Columbus, Ohio, who did not see a 

 single specimen in 1879, while in 1S<S0 they were more numerous than 

 Eurymus philodice. 



Oviposition. The eggs are laid as a rule on the lower side of the leaf, 

 but they may also be found upon the upper side, and less care is taken in 

 choosing the more tender leaves than Callidryas employs (Riley). Many 

 eggs are sometimes dotted over the surface of a single leaf, according to 

 Edwards. 



Food plants. Cassia marylandica. the wild senna, in the northern and 

 Cassia tora and C. occidentalis in the southern half of its range seem to be 

 the favorite or only food plants. Messrs. Riley and Edwards find it on 

 the frost. Abbot and Dr. Chapman have raised it on C. tora, C. 

 occidentalis. Dr. Chapman thinks, is what Abbot meant by "yellow 

 indigo," and Gundlach finds it on both the latter two species in Cuba. 

 Boisduval and LeConte say it feeds on different species of Trifolium and 

 Cassia and many other Leguminosae : but none have been specifically 

 mentioned and I have found that the larva will starve rather than touch 

 Coronilla or Tephrosia. 



•'The larvae commence to feed on the tip of the leaf, eating the ex- 

 treme leaflets first" (Riley). 



Life history. The annual life history of this common butterfly has 

 never been properly worked out by any one, and the memoranda at hand 

 are insufficient to speak with precision. It undoubtedly hibernates as 

 a butterfly, as specimens have been repeatedly known to emerge from the 

 chrysalis at the very end of the season ; they appear occasionally on the 

 wing in midwinter in the extreme south, and, in the spring, but few are 

 seen until the first, comparatively late, fresh brood of the year appears. 

 Moreover in the winter of 1875-76, Mr. W. H. Edwards of West Vir- 

 ginia placed butterflies which had emerged late in October in his cellar, 

 and on January 24 found them all alive and in the same positions in which 



