40 



Although, on account of the prevalence of the house ant {Mononiorium 

 pharaonis), 1 was unable to breed indoors the butterfly from the egg, 

 still I bred many imagos from the half or nearly full-grown larvae, and 

 frequently young larvse from the eggs, but in no instance did I obtain a 

 single parasite from the eggs, larva? or pupse. The butterfly seems 

 likewise to enjoy perfect immunity from natural enemies, since it can be 

 readily approached and captured with the hand. Still, nature has pro- 

 vided against an undue multiplication of this butterfly. If plenty of 

 young shoots happen to be on one plant every one of these, or at any 

 rate most of them, are covered with the eggs, and the caterpillars have 

 defoliated the plant long before they are full grown. They then 

 begin to migrate in search of new food, not in a body, but scatter- 

 ing in all directions, and, since the plants are usually not so very 

 close together and the rocky ground most unfavorable for locomotion, 

 most of these migrating caterpillars perish from starvation. Moreover, 

 untold thousands of them are destroyed by the fires which frequently 

 sweep through the pinewoods. 



In regard to the geographical distribution of Eumceus Mr. Scudder 

 has already pointed out that it does not extend so far north as its food- 

 plant. This last occurs still around Crescent City, but the butterfly is 

 even no longer to be found on the southern end of the Indian Eiver, nor 

 did I see it in the pine woods opposite Lake Worth. It was still quite 

 abundant about 3 or 4 miles north of Miami River, but here the 

 coral formation rapidly sinks below the level of the ground, and the 

 pine woods assume the character of what is known as " flat woods," 

 where Zamia does not occur. It is thus safe to assume that Eumceus 

 atala does not attain the northern end of Biscayne Bay. Scudder 

 mentions its occurrence on Key BiScayne, which is almost due east of 

 the mouth of Miami River, but I think this must be a mistake, since the 

 narrow strip of sand which forms Key Biscayne did not harbor at the 

 time of my visit a single specimen of the food-plant. Southward it oc- 

 curs on Elliott's Key and Key Largo and on the mainland perhaps so 

 far south as Cape Sable, but is absent on most of the smaller keys 

 south of Key Largo. In southwestern Florida, as I have been informed, 

 the food-plant extends so far north as the still terra incognita. I can 

 not tell whether or not the butterfly occurs there. 



The accompanying figure, which Professor Riley has had drawn by 

 Miss L. Sullivan, does not need any further explanation, nor is it the 

 intention of the writer to enter here into descriptive details. The silken 

 thread which girdles the pupa has been accidentally omitted in the 

 photo-electrotype. 



