1120 THK RUTTERFLIKS OF NKW ENGLAND. 



He adds tliat lie al\va3's finds the eggs on fresh, l)riglit green leaves 

 that are rather young and tender, and they are [)laced toward the centre 

 of the leaf distant from the edge. 



Mr. James Angus noticed that in laying her eggs upon clover leaves, 

 the female generally alights on the central lobe facing the apex ; then 

 closing her wings she bends her abdomen forward, under the thorax, and 

 deposits an egg, never laying more than one on a leaf; this accomplished, 

 she flies a few yards, then realights to repeat the operation. Only a few 

 seconds, I'cckoning from the moment of alighting, are required for each 

 deposition, and she lays often sdjout four eggs a minute (P. S. Sprague). 

 If the clover be partially co^-ered with weeds she pushes her way through 

 until she i-eaches the clover. Mr. Clapp has observed the females thus 

 busy at all hours of the day, from seven in the morning until four in tlic 

 afternoon. 



I have observed that the eggs arc laid singly, never more than one upon 

 a leaf, upon or near the middle of one of the halves of the upper surface, 

 in the case of clover leaves. In one instance of 59 e"-gs laid in confiue- 

 ment by a single female, about one-sLxth were laid on the under, the rest 

 on the upper side of the leaves. Riley observed a female laying eggs one 

 -"about every minute, always on the upper surface, in tlie hot sun." On 

 cXnother occasion he obscr\'cd one laying about two a minute. 



Females will lay readily in confinement, and though sometimes a large 

 number may be laid by one in a single day, yet I have found that egg 

 laying was generally interru})tedly performed, several days often inter- 

 vening between batches of eggs, with no apparent cause from the weather ; 

 on one occasion one laid two or three eggs daily for five days. This would 

 seem to indicate, what field observation makes more than probable, that 

 the female is usually a fortnight or three weeks in depositing all her eggs. 



I have received eggs of this species from Messrs. Angus, Clapp, Sprague, 

 and others. They are erect or slightly inclined upon the leaf, and hatch 

 in from four to ten days, according to the season, usually in five in central 

 New England. 



Food plants. The caterpillar feeds upon many species of papiliona- 

 ceous Lcguminosae, but seems to prefer clover, and in my own experience 

 the yellow and white species, Trifolium agrarium Linn, and L. repens 

 Linn. Mr. Edwards, however, thinks it prefers the red clover, T. pratense 

 Linn., and not unlikely it may occur more abundantly on one or the other 

 in particular places. I once found a caterpillar only two or three days 

 old on Baptisia tinctoria Brown and raised it on that plant, and found 

 that when in last stage it preferred very dry leaves of Baptisia to fresh 

 leaves of white clover ; as an individual may thus develop a prefer- 

 ence to the food it has always had, so this taste may well be inherited and 

 geographical preferences arise, — the forerunner, it is possible, of struct- 



