pa:mphilidi: polites peckius. 1687 



is found througliout every portion of tlie district from the "White Moun- 

 tains to the sea-coast. 



Oviposition. All the eggs I have seen were laid by females imprisoned 

 overgrass and were laid loosely, quite unattached. Besides those so ob- 

 tained myself, others have been sent me in similar condition by Mr. P. S. 

 Sprague, Dr. Minot and Professor Hamlin. Those laid in June hatched 

 in from eleven to twelve, possibly thirteen days, those in August in from 

 twelve to fifteen days. Eggs laid for Mr. Saunders at London, Out., in 

 July, hatched in fourteen days. 



Food and habits of caterpillar. Although Mr. Saunders and I have 

 both fed this caterpillar for a short time on ordinary grass, we have both 

 failed to rear it and this fact and its uneasy habits makes me inclined to 

 think we need to know better its exact food. In one instance a caterpillar, 

 after leaving the egg, remained motionless for several days on a blade of 

 grass without eating and then disappeared. It leads a gypsy life ; it 

 wanders incessantly from its youth up and is uneasy at the least confine- 

 ment ; it makes a nest soon after its escape from the egg, but passes little 

 of its time within it and soon abandons it for another. Its earliest nests 

 are loosely constructed in a single blade of grass by uniting opposite edges 

 with two or three threads ; subsequently they are made of very few and 

 slender threads stretched from leaf to leaf; all its nests are very delicate. 

 It feeds both by day and night and is alarmed at the least motion, starting 

 suddenly back into its nest with a movement quite unlike that of any other 

 species of Pamphilidi, and not venturing forth again for some time. When 

 it moves about, its head trembles from side to side as if it were afiJicted with 

 palsy. 



Life history. It is double brooded in the southern parts of its range 

 and single brooded in the northern portions ; the change in New England 

 will probably be found near the dividing line between the Canadian and Alleg- 

 hanian faunas. Judging by the data at hand, Williamstown, Mass., will 

 probably be found to belong in this respect to the southern half, though this 

 is unexpected. Localities which certainly belong to the district where the 

 buttei-fly is single brooded are Waterville, Me., the White Mountains, N. H., 

 Compton, north of the Vermont border, and London, Ontario. Yet Mr 

 Fletcher assures me that a second autumn brood is found at Ottawa. To 

 the opposite category belong Andover, Boston and Springfield, Mass., Al- 

 bany, N. Y. and points south of these places. In both, the winter is prob- 

 ably passed in the chrysalis state, though possibly in that of a mature 

 caterpillar. In the northern area, where the insect is single brooded, the 

 butterfly appears the last of June or early in July, occasionally by the 

 middle of June in the southernmost districts ; it continues upon the wing 

 until after the middle of August, although by the beginning of the month 



