1132 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Food plants. The two buffalo clovers of the west, Trifolium reflexum 

 ami T. stoloiiiterum, seem to be tlie staple food of this larva, wliich readily 

 takes also to white clover, T. repens, but refuses the red, T. pratense. 

 Behr says it feeds in California on Trifolium tridentatum and he also gives 

 Hosackia as a food plant. It is further said to feed on two species of 

 Astragalus, A. caryocarpus and A. crotalariae, and a female in confine- 

 ment laid an egg on Medicago denticulata, but it is not stated whether the 

 caterpillar fed on it or not. 



Habits of the caterpillar. These do not differ in any special way 

 from those of E. philodice. I notice, however, that the action of the full 

 grown larva when on its food plant is singularly like that of Euphoeades 

 troilus, in that it moves forward in a series of scarcely perceptible starts. 

 The hibernating caterpillars seem, Mr. Fletcher writes me, during the 

 early part of their hibernation, to be in a sort of restless sleep, and though 

 they may remain motionless for days will, if breathed upon, start as if 

 alarmed. 



Life history. Mr. W. H.Edwards, who has studied this l)utterfly 

 most carefully, finds some variation in its life history in different places. 

 Thus among the mountains of northern Colorado, the butterfly is digo- 

 neutic, flying in June and again in July and August, and "probably the 

 species is here preserved by the sui'vival of some of the last butterflies" 

 through the winter. In Nebraska and Illinois it is trigoneutic, and both 

 butterflies <ind larvae hibernate. In the lowlands of California it is either 

 triple or quadruple brooded and the butterflies and probably caterpillars 

 also hibernate, while the upland races are only digoneutic and considerable 

 mixture is the result. In Texas, according to Boll, it flies from Novem- 

 ber on, but totally disappeai's in June, and is not seen again until No- 

 vember, and in this short season there are no less than four broods. So, 

 too, the clover that nourishes the caterpillar dies down to the ground 

 before the last butterflies of June appear and only springs up again after 

 the October showers. Probably the hiatus is bridged over by the cater- 

 pillars. It would seem that in similar localities the seasons of this but- 

 terfly and E. pliilodice almost exactly correspond or it may be the present 

 species is a trifle later. In general it would appear that the egg state 

 varies from four to nine days, the caterpillar may grow to maturity in a 

 fortnight or, not including those that hibernate, may have its stages so pro- 

 longed in the latter part of the season as to extend to four or five weeks, 

 and the chrysalis hangs from nine to fifteen days. Eggs laid atNepigon, 

 north of Lake Superior, on July 10 gave the butterfly at Ottawa, August 

 13 to September 1. 



Habits of the butterfly. The butterfly occurs in open fields. Mr. 

 Thaxter was attracted to the specimen which he took at Mt. Desert by the 

 orange color of the wings, and says that the butterfly was apparently 



