THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 155 



except in the somewhat greater length of the horns. In the third period the horns acquire their 

 mature proportions, and the whole larva becomes more granulated. In the fourth or last the blue 

 points appear and the lateral rows of tubercles lose their conspicuousness to a great extent. 



ITS WINTER QUARTERS. 



One of the most interesting features in the life-history of our 

 Disippus butterfly is its mode of hibernating. A great many moth 

 larvae pass the winter in the larva state sheltered in one way or 

 another; but no other-American butterfly has hitherto been recorded 

 as hibernating in this state, except the closely related Ursula butter- 

 fly,* though no doubt the few other species belonging to the same 

 genus possess a similar habit. Misled, perhaps, by the fact that the 

 butterfly is seen flying about so early in the spring that it could not 

 have had sufficient time to hatch out from the egg and acquire its full 

 larval growth the same season, and with its wings so bright and un- 

 worn that it could not have hibernated as a butterfly as some other 

 closely allied species are known to do ; Dr. Harris, in his work on In- 

 jurious Insects (p. 282) asserts that it hibernates in the pupa state, 

 though he subsequently, in the year 1S50, became aware of the facts 

 in the case.f 



In reality the larvae of the autumnal brood, when about one- 

 fourth or one-third grown, build for themselves curious little houses 

 (Fig. 70, c), in which they pass the winter. First and foremost — with 

 wise forethought, and being well aware through its natural instincts, 

 that the leaf which it has selected for its house will fall to the ground 

 when the cold weather sets in, unless it takes measures to prevent 

 this — the larva fastens the stem of the leaf with silken cables securely 

 to the twig from which it grows. It then gnaws off the blade of the 

 leaf at its tip end, leaving little else but the mid-rib, as shown in Fig- 

 ure 70, d. Finally, it rolls the remaining part of the blade of the leaf 

 into a cylinder, sewing the edges together withsilk.J The basal por- 

 tion of the cylinder is of course tapered to a point, as the edges of 

 the leaf are merely drawn together, not overlapped ; and invariably 

 the lower side of the leaf forms the outside of the house, so as to 

 have its projecting mid-rib out of the way of the larva, as it reposes 

 snugly in the inside. The whole when finished (Fig. 70, c) has 

 somewhat the appearance of the leaf of a miniature pitcher-plant 

 (Sarracenia), its length being 0.50-0.65 inch, and its diameter 0.11- 

 0.11 inch. 



*There is good reason to believe, however, that some of those butterfly larva? which habitually 

 protect themselves by a sort of loose cocoon, made by drawing together or rolling up the leaves of 

 their food-plant; likewise pass the winter in the larval state. At least I have known an oak-feed- 

 ing larva of Nisoniades juvenalis, Sm. and Abb., kept by a lady friend of mine, to remain in the 

 larva state nearly all winter before transforming to the chrysalis. But there is not strict analogy 

 between such a case and that of the hibernation of the immature Disippus. 



f Harris Correspondence, p. 245. 



X In the article in the Am. Entomologist — which was the greater part of it written by Mr. Walsh, 

 with my own facts and experience inserted here and there — it is stated that the "gnawed portion of 

 the leaf forming the flap, is bent down and fastened by silken cords, so as to act as a door to the 

 house." After fuller experience, I find that this is very seldom the case, but that the orifice is 

 more often left open. 



