1644 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



I.IC mm. The flattened space on summit is nari'ower tlian in E. mctea, being only 

 about one-third the diameter of the base of the egg. 



Caterpillar. First stage (73:7). Head darlc, blaelvish brown, sliinins, with numer- 

 ous sliallow pnnctures, from apparently only a few of which rise hairs about .00 mm. 

 long; ocelli black: mouth parts blacl\ish; first joint of antennae pale, second fuscous, 

 third Ijlack. Body white; the flrst tlioracic segment witli a brownish fuscous, dorsal 

 shield, black at tlie posterior border and narrowly margined with 1)lack in front; 

 ranged bristles wineglass-shaped, pale fuscous, pellucid at tip, the sul)dorsal series in- 

 clined inward, all .045 mm. long; legs and prolegs concolorous with the body; claws 

 fuscous; the last segment with two pairs of subdorsal bristles, long, recurved, reach- 

 ing as far back as the anterior margin of the seventh abdominal segment, and closely 

 depressed on the back. Length, 3 mm. ; breadth of head, .05 mm. ; of body, .5 mm. 



Distribution (30 :•">). This butterfly is a member of tlie Alleglianian 

 fauna where it readies from the Atlantic to Colorado, and in addition fol- 

 lows the Appalachians to their southern extremity. It has been found in 

 a comparatively narrow belt of country stretchino; westward ; in New York 

 it has been taken in scanty numbers at Albany, Bethlehem, and Schoharie 

 (Lintner), and on Staten Island (Davis) ; it has also been found in 

 northern Illinois (Worthington), Wisconsin, not rare (Hoy), Iowa 

 (Allen), Nebraska (Dodge) and in Colorado at Clear Creek Caiion 

 (Uhler) ; south of this belt it has been reported but from a single locality, 

 Georgia, where Abbot says it is common and from which state I have seen 

 specimens ; in all probability it will be found along tlie whole extent of the 

 Appalachians. 



It has been rarely found in the northern half of New England, the only 

 localities known being Norway (Smith), Hallowell (Miss Wadworth) 

 and Brunswick, Me. (Packard), and in New Hampshire at Milford where 

 Whitney says it is common, and on the southern side of the White Moun- 

 tains at Bartlett (Scudder) ; the other known localities are in Massa- 

 chusetts, — Williamstown (Scudder), Andover (Sanborn), the vicinity of 

 Boston, very common in sucli localities as Maiden, Winchester, Prospect 

 Hill and Turkey Hill, Milton (Sanborn, Faxon, Tliaxter, Minot, Harris, 

 Scudder), Walpole (Miss Guild) and Springfield (Emery) ; farther 

 south it has been found in ISIassachusetts on Cape Cod ( Sanborn ) , in 

 Rhode Island at Providence (Sanborn), and in Connecticut about New 

 Haven (Verrill, Smith). 



Food and habits of caterpillar. The caterpillar is easily bred on 

 common grasses. Mr. Abbot specifies the crab grass — Panicum sanguin- 

 ale Linn, as its food plant in Georgia. The larva is more plump than 

 many other grass feeding Hesperidae. 



The caterpillar is sluggish at the beginning of its life as afterward. It 

 takes it from twelve to eighteen hours to effect its escape from the egg, and 

 it remains nearly a fortnight in its very first stage. In this stage it gets 

 between the leaves of grass close down to their union with the stem and 

 uses the mere crevice for a nest, apparently without any silken fastenings. 



