1710 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



confidence. The indications are tiiat it is double broodc(l in the southern 

 and single brooded in tiie nortliern part of New England. In the extreme 

 south of this district tlie first butterflies make their appearance in the 

 earliest days of June, perhaps even in I\Iay ; fresh specimens continue to 

 emerge during the first half of June, but by the middle of the month they 

 begin to decrease and appear rubbed.; they lay their eggs at least as early 

 as this, and have disappeared by the end of the first week in July, usually 

 before the end of June. Tiie eggs are hatched in from eight to eleven 

 days, but the caterpillars do not seem to be very uniform in their growth, 

 some attaining full size only in October and passing the winter in 

 this stage, others changing rapidly (as shown by Mr. Saunders's experi- 

 ence) and producing a second brood of butterflies, the earliest of which 

 appear from the 7th to the 10th of July, laying their eggs within at least 

 a fortnight afterwards, and continuing on the wing sometime into Septem- 

 ber ; the eggs are hatched in ten or eleven days ; probably the caterpillars 

 from them attain maturity before winter, but they very likely vary in 

 this respect. Passing northward, the butterflies of the first brood do not 

 seem to make their appearance in such elevated places as Williamstown, 

 Mass., for example, before the 10th or 12th of June, and it may be that no 

 second brood makes its appearance ; still further north, among the AVhite 

 Mountains and at Nepigon, it is certain that there can be but a single brood, 

 for the butterfly does not make its appearance until the first week in July 

 — a few days only before the advent of the second brood in southern New 

 England . Eggs are here hatched in about thirteen days and caterpillars 

 go into hibernation, in some instances, perhaps always, in their third stage, 

 toward the end of September. 



Habits of the butterfly. The butterfly frequents open grassy fields 

 and like its fellows is very fond of flowers. Guignard tells how he found 

 a lady's slipper, Cypripedium spectabile, in which this butterfly with two 

 other skippers almost entii-ely filled up the great bowl to the lip. When 

 at complete rest its wings are all tightly closed, the base of the costal 

 edges of the hind wings just meeting the costal edges of the fore wings ; 

 the antennae, viewed from above, are curved a little and regularly, the 

 convexities outward, their general course making a divergence of from 

 155° to 165° and the tip of the club turned at right angles backward. 

 When a little alarmed it moves one antenna backward and forward a 

 little ; when alarmed but still resting, the antennae are brought nearer to- 

 gether so as to be at an angle of about 135° apart ; viewed from the side 

 they are quite straight and barely raised above the plane of the body, 

 which itself is elevated about 30°. 



Desiderata. The liistory of this butterfly is still obscure and needs 

 careful investigation in many places before it can be established. It is es- 

 pecially desirable that it should be followed carefully in tlie southern part 



