90 



chrysalids hybernate. The eggs are laid on Dogwood, Cornus, in 

 April. This was ascertained in 1878 only. On tying a female 

 over the end of a branch, about 40 eggs were obtained within a 

 few hours, laid among the flowrets. This was 14th April. The 

 duration of the egg stage wa^ 5 days, of the larval, 24 days, and 

 the first pupation took place on the 13th May; on 6th June, or 

 24 days after pupation, there emerged a Neglecta ? . The whole 

 period, therefore, from egg to butterfly, was 53 days, and obser- 

 vations in successive years show that the duration of the egg and 

 larval stages is just about the same as in the case stated ; that is, 

 29 or 30 days. I have never had a butterfly from Violacea chrysa- 

 lis except in this one instance. Som-e of the chrysalids of 1878 

 were alive late in the summer, and the presumption is, would 

 have successfully hybernated, if I had had the skill to manage 

 them properly. But about middle of September all were found to 

 be dead. And in subsequent years, I have lost them without 

 getting a butterfly. They either dry up or mould. In nature, 

 these larvae fall to the ground when full grown, and no doubt 

 conceal themselves under sticks and stones for pupation. I made 

 my plans for the present season (1882) to breed from Violacea and 

 Pseudargiolns largely, with the hope of clearing up any yet obscure 

 parts of their history, and received advice from Mr. William 

 Buckler, of England, who has had great experience in rearing 

 lepidopterous larvae, as to the way of preserving a just medium 

 between dryness and too great dampness with the chrysalids, but 

 have been able to do nothing, getting neither eggs nor larvae. 

 Inasmuch as Violacea is so excessively abundant in April, it is not 

 possible that the few late females of Pseudargiolns y which lay eggs 

 in September, can be the parents of all this host, and I infer, in 

 consideration of the fact that the hybernating chrysalids of the 

 May generation {Psciidargiolus) produce their own form of but- 

 teriiy only so far as yet known, and also that the larger part of 

 the chrysalids of Violacea appear to hybernate, that nearly all the 

 butterflies of the first generation must come in direct descent 

 from their own form of the year before. 



4. Eggs laid hy Pseudargiolns y^xodiVLze the same form the same 

 year in very small numbers, but most of the chrysalids hybernate 

 to produce the same form the next spring. The {e\^ butterflies 

 which emerge the same summer are sometimes as large as the 

 parent female, but usually are smaller. I have never actually car- 

 ried one of the chrysalids over the winter to imago in the spring, 

 but there can be no doubt that Pseudargiolns of May come from 

 hybernating chrysalids, and I will make it clear that any other 

 assumption is impossible. The food plant of PsendargioliLS is 

 Rattle-weed, or otherwise called black snake-root, Cimicifugarace- 

 mosa. That the females laid their eggs on this was only ascer- 

 tained in 1877, ar^d early in July, I had got about 30 chrysalids by 

 raising the larvae. (The duration of the several stages are as fol- 



