HIBERNATION OF PYRAMEIS ATALANTA. 41 



bouse, one Saturday afternoon in February, 1907, two or tbree 

 slates bad become loose, and were banging partly over the 

 gutter; tliese I removed, and tbere were tbe butterflies in various 

 positions clinging to tbe woodwork under the slates. Atalanta 

 was in a horizontal position, tbe bead only slightly lower than 

 tbe body, tbe upper wings nearly covered by tbe lower pair. 

 From the difficulty in removing it, I should imagine tbe booklets 

 and spines were both firmly embedded in tbe tiny interstices of 

 the wood. The insect showed no signs of movement until it had 

 been in a warm room for some time, when, after a considerable 

 amount of vibration, it flew about the room. For some days it 

 fed freely off moistened sugar, but died before the spring. 



" (2) A gardener trimming a thick holly hedge near by in 

 January, brought to me a holly branch on which were two 

 sleeping G. rhamni, both males. Tbe hedge was a very old one, 

 and the dead leaves bad accumulated in a thick mass through 

 tbe middle, forming a rainproof covering to tbe lower portions, 

 from which the rhamni were taken. The day following the 

 gardener called me to look at another kind of butterfly in the 

 same hedge. This turned out to be a very fine female atalanta, 

 fixed head downwards on a dead leaf under the thick covering 

 already mentioned. At tbe same time I found a female rhamni 

 also attached to a dead leaf, which it very closely resembled. 

 Tbe last time I saw atalanta at rest was under the eaves of my 

 house in early November, 1908. A week later when I went to 

 examine it, I found only three wings, the insect bad evidently 

 been devoured. All tbree atalanta were females, and the position 

 taken up was different in each case." 



The following notes are from Captain Purefoy's observations, 

 watb which he has been good enough to supply me. 



" The summer and autumn of 1908 were chiefly devoted by 

 us to experimenting with this insect {atalanta). Most of October 

 was very warm, and atalanta had fine opportunities of feeding 

 up. When tbe weather turned cold certainly a number of tbe 

 insects became quite torpid while clinging to bark, which they 

 greatly resembled. They remained very exposed, but not more 

 so than C. album. Both at Christmas and in January, and 

 again in March, they met with terrible weather. Twice tbe 

 whole roof nearly collapsed under tbe weight of snow, and tbe 

 temperature dropped to zero. But for tbe exceptional cold I am 

 sure that at least a dozen insects would have survived our long 

 winter. We started with about a hundred. As it was, two 

 beauties were seen flying strongly in February, and three others 

 actually survived the whole winter. They worked out their own 

 salvation. 



" Tbe female atalanta is the strongest and most vigorous 

 butterfly I know, and, although our winter climate is unsuited 

 to tbe species, I am sure that an occasional female does survive. 



ENTOM. — FEBRUARY, 1913. E 



