PlKinXAE: Kl^HYMUS INTERIOR. 1100 



nu't witli in the woodland and mountain regions in tlic interior." So, too, 

 at \cj)igon it was not found next tiie sliorc of tiic iiay in fields where 

 E. eiirvtheine occurred, iiut in places hcttcr protected from the wind, 

 along the railway cuttings and in the grassy channels hy their side ; and at 

 just such ])laces along the railway, did the species abound further east. 



Food plant. Tlie food of this caterpillar ren)ains unknown. Mr. 

 Fletcher was the first to obtain the esrir, and, curious to relate, it was by 

 manipulating tiie abdomen of n feniale that had refused to lay, until an egg 

 passed througii the ovipositor. lie has since tried this plan upon various but- 

 terflies with equal success and fairly opened a new method with refractory 

 butterflies, which may yet prove of the highest importance. This cater- 

 erpiliar refused in turn Trifolium repens, hybridum and pratense. Last 

 vear he ol)tained many eggs, and the liistory of the larvae that resulted, 

 which were divided in equal parts between Mr. Edwards, Mr. Fletcher 

 and mvself. I will jrive in his own lanifuage : — 



"We all tried them with every kind of leguminous plant we could ob- 

 tain, but all failed to get the larvae to feed. Some eggs were left upon 

 the clover where they were laid, until they hatched ; but they like the 

 others refused to eat, and after wandering about for two days, dried up. 

 Some were placed in a refrigerator at once upon hatching [hoping they 

 wished to hibernate] , but they fared no better than the rest. It seems to 

 nie worth mentioning, however, that in one jar whore young larvae were 

 confined with leaves of several plants, they all gradually congregated upon 

 leaves of a Desmodlum and three specimens spun a small crescent of silk 

 somewhat similar to the silken path spun by young Colias eurytheme and 

 C. philodice, to the end of wliich they go to feed and upon which they 

 retire to rest. These three larvae which spun these little silken crescents 

 also passed a tiny pellet of pink excrement. They would not feed, how- 

 ever. The only Desmodium available was D. canadense, a hairy species, 

 and it is possible they could not get at the leaf on account of the hairs. 

 At any rate the indications are that Desmodium is a possible food plant. 

 A confirmatory fact is that one of Mr. Scudder's larvae did exactly the 

 same as my three and sjiun its little crescent upon a leaf of Desmodium. 

 Lathyrus ochroleucus. Astragalus, Vicia, Pisum, Trifolium all were re- 

 fused. Mr. Scudder tells me that in Europe a species of this genus feeds 

 upon Vaccinium and a noticeable feature of all the localities where I have 

 taken interior is that bushes of this genus are abundant." 



The European species referred to was E. palacno, which is aclosely related 

 form and therefore more likely to feed oa an allied plant. In my own case, I 

 placed the egLi's in closed tumblers, each furnished with fresh leaves of 

 two ditferent kinds of leguminous plants, in all six or more genera ; 

 amjng thein Lat'iyrus, Desmodium, Lupinus, Lespedeza and Gleditschia, 

 besides Gaylussacia. Desmodium was placed in two of them, and in one 



