1850 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



and about eqaally on the two sides, narrowest at base and widening gradually to the 

 tips of the ocellar prominences; these 'are long, subpyramidal, divergent, the space 

 between excavated roundly ; mesonotnm low, the sides very little convex, on the top a 

 very small, pyramidal elevation ; surface all finely granulated ; color variable ; one phase 

 shows the whole dorsal side a delicate green, with a darker green medio-dorsal stripe 

 from mesonotum to last segment; below mesonotnm two subdorsal low red tubercles, 

 one on either side; on either side of the abdominal segments two rows of dnll lilac 

 points, forming a cross row of four to 'each segment; whole ventral side one shade 

 of green, a little darker than dorsum and less yellow ; the lateral ridge cream color 

 more or less marked by a red line, which 'broadens on the process of head ; on the 

 ventral side below the head two red dots near the middle line; a series of white dots 

 along the margins of wing cases ; below the ridge, on last segments, are traces of blue 

 spots. Length, 35.5 ram. ; breadth, 9.6 mm. 



Another resembles the above described, except that there is a yellow shade over the 

 dorsal elevation and the medio-dorsal stripe is red. Others are quite unlike these ; the 

 head case and mesonotum are yellow brown, and the rest of the dorsal side is yellow- 

 brown with a pink tint ; the stripe and the ridge brown ; the dorsal spots blue, and 

 dull blue spots below the ridge; whole under side light yellow-brown. 



This fine butterfly seems to be confined to the southern half of the 

 United States, east of the Mississippi, not extending into Texas nor reach- 

 ing northward beyond Virginia so far as known. Cadet, Missouri, is the 

 westernmost point from which I have heard of it. It appears to be pecu- 

 liarly a butterfly of the southern Atlantic coast, where it is very common. 



There would seem to be some doubt about the food plant of the cater- 

 pillar. Edwards quotes Dr. Wittfeld as obtaining the eggs and feeding 

 the larvae on red bay, Persea carolinensis, a plant which Edwards could 

 not obtain, but he reared them readily on Sassafras, a very closely allied 

 genus of plants. Dr. Wittfeld, however, writes me that the food plant 

 is Magnolia glauca, which he calls "red bay" (more properly "sweet 

 bay") and Abbot long ago figured the larva upon Magnolia glauca. 

 Possibly both of these plants are fed upon by it, but j^lainly Lauraceae 

 form a part of its dietary. 



In Florida there must be at least three broods annually, and the winter 

 is passed by part in the chrysalis, by part in the imago state ; for Dr. 

 Wittfeld had the butterflies escape from wintering ehrysalids early in Feb- 

 ruary ; obtained eggs, which must have come from at least a second brood, 

 on June 6 : these gave the butterflies at the end of July ; other eggs ob- 

 tained in the middle of August gave caterpillars which went into chrysalis 

 for the winter in September ; some September ehrysalids gave the imago 

 the same year, some early in the next. The egg period is five days in June ; 

 the caterpillars require about a month to mature and the chrysalis state 

 lasts fifteen or sixteen days in July. Edwards found the egg-period four 

 or five days in West Virginia and the successive larval stages four, two, 

 three, four and nine days. 



The eggs are usually laid on the upper side of tender leaves. The cat- 

 erpillar lives exposed on the upper side of leaves, according to Dr. Witt- 

 feld. Edwards says "they are sluggish, like the larvae of troilus, and in 



