OF BUTTERFLIES 119 



upon the stem close at hand ; but when, as in some 

 cases (only known among Lycaenidae), the Q^g 

 remains all winter, the butterfly selects the stem, 

 and, as an additional protection, chooses a spot 

 next a leaf-bud, or other projection, or tucks the 

 Qgg in some crevice of the bark. It is even stated 

 by Salesbury, according to Rennie, and repeated 

 by European writers, that the Qgg of the Black- 

 veined White (Aporia crataegi) may last three 

 years and then hatch, but the statement seems to 

 me fairly open to doubt until verified. For ordi- 

 narily the eggs of this species are laid in clusters 

 (whether on leaf or twig I find no statement), and 

 give birth the same year to caterpillars which win- 

 ter in small clusters in webs. All butterflies 

 which winter as eggs feed as caterpillars on trees 

 or shrubs, never so far as known on herbaceous 

 plants. As a general rule the eggs are laid singly, 

 but in not a few cases, oftenest found in the 

 Nymphalidae and Papilionidae, they are laid in 

 clusters of from two or three to several hundreds. 

 Sometimes these are rude bunches piled loosely or 

 in layers one upon another ; sometimes they are 

 laid in more or less regular single or double rows ; 

 sometimes in a single column of three, or four, or 

 even as many as ten eggs, one atop another; or 

 they may girdle a twig like a fairy ring. 



