200 MOTHS AND BUTTEIIFI.IES. 



with the fingers. Like many other insects it is very partial to the 

 hlossoms of the different kinds of milkweeds, deliberately moving 

 about over the clusters of flowers and extracting their honey, paying 

 not the slightest attention to the bees, wasps, beetles and flies that 

 usually swarm about these strong-smelling blossoms. One of my 

 brothers had the good fortune early in July to find a locality in Con- 

 cord, Mass., where this and two or three other species of Tlteda were 

 very abundant, and where lie obtained a large number in a short 

 space of time. They were first seen on the roadside, but on entering 

 the scrub an open space was found, of })erha[)s half an acre in extent, 

 in which many plants were in bloom. On the flowers rested dozens 

 of specimens of this and the following species, most of them in very 

 perfect condition. Specimens of TJieda tUxs were also seen and cap- 

 tured, but they were ver}- wild and had to be a])proached in the most 

 careful manner. The finding of such a locality as this is a veritable 

 mine to the collector, who may here lay in a supply of perfect speci- 

 mens with which to excliange with other collectors for their duplicate 

 specimens. One gentleman with whom I am acquainted, living not 

 far from my home, has in this way obtained a very fine collection 

 numbering many hundreds if not thousands of both native and exotic 

 butterflies and moths, never having procured a specimen exce})t in 

 exchange. 



The lai'va of Tlteda calitiius feeds on the oak. The species inhab- 

 its the eastern half of the country, exce[)t the extreme south. It also 

 runs well up into Canada. 



Tliecla edwai'dsii. 



A closely allied insect, inhabiting the same localities and easily 

 mistaken for the preceding species, is Thecia edwardsii. Tliis Initter- 

 fly also has two tails, although the up})er pair are scarcely more than 

 points. The genei'id color of the upper side is not so dark a, brown 

 as in TItechi cahniiis. There is the same l)la('k line along the lower 

 margin of the lower wings, edged with Avhite. Above and between 



