1756 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW EXGLAXD. 



two specimens seen, a drop of gum used in securing the cocoon to its 

 support had fallen upon this part : at the hinder extremity, in one instance 

 at a distance of 24 mm. from the thoracic loop, a stouter Y-shaped loop 

 was formed, into which the cremaster was plunged ; the forks of the Y are 

 2 mm. long; the stem, which is much stouter than the forks, scarcely 1.5 

 mm. ; at the point of junction the threads of the fork are much thickened 

 and the forks at their extremity 7.75 mm. apart; the stem of the Y is 

 on aline midway between the two attachments of the thoracic loop, so 

 that if the latter is also Y-shaped, the two Y's are reversed in relative 

 position ; in the second example, the hinder Y is similar but the forks of 

 the Y are more widely spread and in the middle portion of the strand thus 

 formed, over a distance of fully a millimetre, it is thickened to double its 

 ordinary size, while the threads of the stem are not made into a single 

 strand but disposed over the whole of this thickened portion and attached 

 over a comparatively broad space at their other extremity, crossing one 

 another to a greater or less degree. 



The pupal period in South Carolina, accoi-ding to Dodge, is seven to 

 eight days ; Wittfeld gives the same period for southern Florida ; Helen 

 King gives nine days for Texas ; Gundlach nine days for Cuba ; but 

 Burmeister says a fortnight (quinze jours) in Buenos Ayres. 



Life history. Data for the history of this insect are excessively 

 meagre. In southei-n Florida the butterfly is on the wing in May and 

 from eggs laid in the middle of the month, the buttei-flies again appear in 

 in the first half of June. In South Carolina mature caterpillars may be 

 found before the middle of June and fresh butterflies from the 12th to the 

 end of the montli. There are, therefore, at least two broods before mid- 

 summer, but liow many more there may be later, or how the winter is 

 passed is altogether unknown. 



The motions of this hesperid are "very rapid," according to Helen King. 

 Mr. Angus says he was attracted to the individual he captured near New 

 York "by the peculiai'ity of its movements on the wing; they wei'e very 

 undulating, much like those of some gnats, as they rose and fell almost 

 perpendicularly and in a very easy manner." Wittfeld says that one of 

 its favorite feeding: times in fair weather is after sundown. 



Desiderata, Persons collecting in warm spots along tlie low country 

 skirting the sea in New Jersey and southward should be on the lookout 

 for this insect to enable us to judge whether the single instance of its cap- 

 ture in New York is due to an accidental introduction in chrysalis from our 

 southern ports or Brazil, or whether it does occur scantily along the whole 

 Atlantic seaboard south of New York. A more careful examination of the 

 cocoon should be made to discover the reason for the different observations 

 of Burmeister and others and also to inquire as to the exact structure of 

 the median girth. The merest fragments of its life history are given above 



