24 TWENTY-THIRD REPORT ON THE STATE CABINET. [156] 



its proper food-plant can hardly have made its appearance thus early 

 in the season, some other plant probably serves its purpose.* 



Yery many of the larvae inevitably perish during the long period of 

 their lethargic condition and consequent abstinence from food, in which 

 interval they are necessarily subjected to trying vicissitudes of tem- 

 perature, to various hygrometrical conditions, and to destruction from 

 many foes. When to these we add the increased danger to which they 

 are exposed during the earlier stages of their existence, it will not be a 

 matter of surprise, that, of the eggs deposited, so small a proportion 

 estimated at from one to four per cent, as the seasons may prove more 

 or less favorable attain the perfect state. 



In localities where the butterfly occurs in any considerable numbers, 

 the young larvae could doubtless be easily found upon its food-plant. 

 On some stems of Ohelone glabra gathered on the 28th of July, at 

 Center, from the ditch beside the New York Central Railroad, and 

 placed beneath an inverted jar to retain them in condition for food, 

 eight days thereafter six of the larvae, in readiness for their first molt- 

 ing, were discovered feeding on the lower surface of a leaf where it 

 rested against the glass. 



This species presents a notable illustration of the localization of 

 certain insects, several other examples of which, in connection with the 

 Center locality, although less marked, will be referred to in future 

 notes. While this prolific collecting field, as limited by almost 

 fruitless explorations of adjacent territory, embraces a tract of about 

 three-fourths of a mile square, the Phaeton habitat proper has a radius 

 of but one-eighth of a mile, with an occasional elliptical extension to 

 one-fourth of a mile in diameter. Its central point is the extension of 

 a swamp over a seldom traveled road, where a few inches of water is 

 found throughout the summer. Upon the wet sands adjacent, the but- 

 terfly can usually be met with during its season, often in little com- 

 panies, sipping the moisture from the ground, after the habit of O. 

 Philodice, and, when alarmed, flying for a short distance and then 

 alighting in the surrounding bushes. Beyond these limits the species 



* It has been reared by Mr. Scudder on the black currant, and has been taken by 

 him on the barberry (Berberis Canadensis). He also records it as having been seen by 

 Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., feeding on Aster, Viburnum dentalium [dentatum?] and 

 Corylus Americana. 



It is also reported in the Canadian Entomologist, vol. ii, p. 36, as having been 

 found in West Virginia by Mr. J. L. Mead, within close webs, attached to Iron weed 

 ( Veronica) [Vernonia ?] and a species of Solidago in one instance a web being 

 attached to the two plants. 



The English Melitaeas feed on various species of germander (Teucrium), speedwell 

 ( Veronica), cow- wheat (Melampyruri), plaintain (Plantago), and other low-growing 

 plants ; most of them are confined to one food-plant, but others are equally common 

 on three or four different species. Newman's British Butterflies. 



