EASTERN UNITED STATES. 45 



females of most, if not of all, of the species of butter- 

 flies when caught and confined with the proper food- 

 plant will readily deposit eggs. If the plant be small, 

 it may be transferred to a flower-pot, and the whols 

 covered with a Swiss muslin bag, supported by two or 

 three sticks set in the dirt in the pot. If the food-plant 

 is a tree or bush, then a limb may be enclosed in the 

 bag with the butterfly in it. The female placed in the 

 bag may not deposit eggs at once, but in most cases she 

 will do so within two or three days. Some species do 

 not lay their eggs till some time after their emergence 

 from the chrysalis, as the eggs are not sufficiently 

 matured in the ovaries. With such species it is better 

 to take a specimen which by its worn appearance shows 

 that it has been some time from the chrysalis. It may 

 be desirable to keep the butterfly alive for several days, 

 and this can be done only by feeding her, as without 

 food she would starve. A method recommended by 

 Mr. Edwards is to put raw dried apples into a small 

 dish with a little sugar and water. The insect will eat 

 this readily, and by this means eggs may be secured 

 when they would not be otherwise. 



If the food-plant is not known, several plants may be 

 tried till one is found upon which the butterfly will 

 oviposit. Often a food-plant may be guessed by know- 

 ing what an allied species feeds upon ; though this does 

 not always hold true. In the part of this work devoted 

 to the descriptions of species, the food-plants of the 

 species are given so far as known. As will be seen, there 

 are a number of species of whose preparatory stages 

 nothing is known, embracing, among others, nearly all 

 of tlie Hesperidae. 



