1452 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



vantage. It maybe mentioned in this connection that when a male of one 

 of these species is taken between the fingers, tlie insect frequently en- 

 deavors to use this apparatus as an organ of defence, or perhaps it might 

 be said, of aggression, much after the manner of a Panorpa or a Staphy- 

 linus. 



An examination of the androconia concealed in the costal fold of the 

 fore wing in the species of this genus has brought to light some very curi- 

 ous facts, showing how closely, as far as these scales are concerned, some 

 of the species are related to each other and how very distinct some that were 

 supposed to be doubtfully separable. This has led to some further exami- 

 nation of the eccentric abdominal appendages of the males, and to a new 

 arrangement of the groups proposed by Mr. Burgess and myself (Proc. 

 Bost. soc. nat. hist., xiii : 282-306, pi.) when we fii-st desci-ibed these 

 organs. The table given on a subsequent page brings out the more strik- 

 ing features and arranges the New England species in a more logical order 

 than before ; a new distribution of the species will be found in the text. 

 Ausonius, a somewhat anomalous species, is included here because found 

 upon the confines of New England. The only known specimen having 

 been only partially examined (Mr. Lintner kindly permitted me to remove 

 enough scales to study the more prominent characteristics), it is impassible 

 at present to locate it with precision. 



Life history and habits. These butterflies are among our very earliest 

 species, being preceded only by a few Lycaeninae, and in this respect differ 

 widely from most of our other Hesperidae, but few of whicli appear until a 

 month later. Some of the species are single, some double brooded, and one 

 even in part triple brooded, but the second generation of the double brooded 

 species seem to be generally far less numerous in individuals than the first; 

 the chrysalids producing the second brood eclose the imago in a week or ten 

 days, while those giving birth to the early spring butterflies continue in this 

 state from three to six weeks, the larva always hibernating full fed and 

 changing at the first indication of the lessening rigors of winter. In this 

 and the neighboring genera we have, I believe, the only instances among 

 Lepidoptera in which very early imagos have hibernated in the caterpillar 

 state. The eggs are laid singly and the caterpillars live isolated in little 

 nests which are made upon the under side of leaves either by cutting and 

 folding over a fragment of the leaf, and fastening it securely to the other 

 portion by strong distant bands of silk, or by uniting several leaves. 

 These nests are always scrupulously clean ; the whole interior of the nest 

 is lined with silk and this is always suflficiently large to permit the in- 

 habitant to turn about. The caterpillars of some species eat little irreg- 

 ular holes or slits upon either side of their nest, and this becomes a ready 

 mode of discovering the insect. 



The caterpillars feed mostly upon leguminous plants, but not infre- 



