THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



153 



THE DISIPPUS BUTTERFLY— Limenitis disippus, Godt. 



(Lepidoptera, Nyniphalidas). 



This is another butterfly (Fig. 6S) which is well known in the 

 Mississippi Valley. It belongs to a family which agrees with that to 

 [Fig. 6S.] which the previous insect 



\ 1/ ^-gg&^M^ belongs, in the front pair 

 j of legs being more or less 

 ^^functionally impotent, but 

 differs remarkably from 

 ^SuS^^^^i it in the large cell in the 



centre of each wing never 

 being closed externally 

 by a distinct tubular vein, 

 and in its being generally 

 open towards the outer margin of the wing : also in lacking the small 

 nervule at the base of the front wing, spoken of on page 143. 



The food-plants of the Disippus butterfly are Willow, Poplar and 

 Plum, and though not as numerous as the Archippus, it is yet toler- 

 ably common in the Mississippi Valley and occurs sparingly all over 

 the United States and in the West Indies. As will be seen by re- 

 ferring to the figure*, though belonging to an entirely distinct family, 

 it nevertheless bears a great general resemblance to the Archippus 

 butterfly, and this resemblance is rendered more striking by the col- 

 ors of the two insects being identically the same. 



The natural history of this species is fully as interesting as that 

 of the Archippus butterfly— if not more so. The egg which, so far 

 [Fig- 69.] as I am aware, has never be- 



^lEfbre been described and 

 If figured, differs remarkably 

 ^ from that of the Archippus 

 ^butterfly and is well repre- 

 I sented at Figure 69, a show- 

 ! ing it greatly magnified, c of 

 the natural size and d giving 

 a greatly magnified view of 

 one of the cells with the filamentous processes from each angle of 

 the hexagon. The color is at first pale yellow but soon becomes gray 

 as the embryo within develops. It is usually deposited singly near 

 the tip of the leaf, generally on the underside but often on the upper 

 side ; and I have exceptionally found as many as three together, and 

 sometimes one on either side of the leaf, opposed t o each other. 



* In Figure 68, which represents the Disippus butterfly, the left wings represent the upper sur- 

 face, and the right wings, which are detached from the body, represent the lower surface. The 

 difference in the coloration of the two surfaces is but slight in this species, neither does it amount 

 to much in the Archippus butterfly ; but in some butterflies and in others belonging to the same 

 genus, it is very considerable. 



