148 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



At the end of about the tenth day the dark colors of the future butter- 

 fly begin to show through the delicate and transparent skin, and sud- 

 denly this skin bursts open near the head and the new-born butterfly 

 gradually extricates itself, and, stretching forth its legs and clamber- 

 ing on to some surrounding object, allows its moist, thickened and 

 contracted wings to hang listlessly from the body. Under the direct 

 influence of the air, the circulation quickens so that the fluids of the 

 body are driven into every portion of these wings, and they visibly 

 expand under the eye, while the other parts of the body gain in 

 strength and firmness. In less than an hour, and often within half an 

 hour, the wings are ready to perform their intended work and our 

 gay Archippus takes his first lesson in ceronautics. Ah! what an 

 enviable fellow is he, 



Lazily flying 



Over the flower-decked prairies, "West ; 

 Basking in sunshine till day-light is dying, 

 And resting all night on Asclepias' breast ; 



Joyously dancing, 



Merrily prancing, 

 Chasing his lady-love high in the air, 



Fluttering gaily, 



Frolicking daily, 

 Free from anxiety, sorrow and care ! 



THE LARVA ENJOYS GREAT IMMUNITY FROM THE ATTACKS OF BIRDS AND OTHER 

 PREDACEOUS ANIMALS. 



Many of our insects, from one cause or another, enjoy a wonderful 

 immunity from the attacks of predaceous and parasitic animals and 

 there exists a curious relation between color and edibility. It is a 

 very general rule that those which have such an immunity from the 

 attacks of enemies, are conspicuously colored and feed openly upon 

 the plants they attack; while those which are persecuted are generally 

 of sombre and evasive colors, and often possess some protective 

 resemblance to the objects upon which they occur, or hide themselves 

 in one way or another. For several years past Mr. J. Jenner Weir, of 

 London, England, — a gentleman whom I had the pleasure of meeting 

 some eleven years ago — has made numerous experiments with the 

 direct view of ascertaining what species of insects are eaten by birds 

 and what species are rejected; and the results of these interesting 

 experiments are recorded in the Transactions of the London Ento- 

 mological Society (1869, pp. 21-26 and 1870 pp. 337-9). They point 

 conclusively to the facts above given, and Mr. A. G. Butler of the 

 British Museum made corroborating experiments, with, lizards, frogs 

 and spiders. Prompted by these experiments made in England, I was 

 led to make similar ones with our gaily colored Archippus larva, and 

 the result fully accords with that obtained by Mr. Weir ; for neither 

 turkeys, chickens, toads or snakes would touch it. The reason why 

 predaceous animals refuse these gaily colored larvae is not always 



