24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 95 



At the end of the season — toward the end of August — most of the 

 very few butterflies still on the wing represent a second brood, while 

 a few represent a third brood. 



In Pennsylvania the gold-banded skipper first appears in June, in 

 Maryland and Virginia toward the end of May, in southern West Vir- 

 ginia shortly after the middle of May, and in Georgia, Florida, Texas, 

 and Arizona in April. There are numerous records throughout its 

 range for July, but fewer for August ; and only in Texas, Arizona, 

 and southward has it been found in September. Skinner in 1911 noted 

 that from the dates of capture it would appear that there are two 

 broods. 



HABITS OF THE BUTTERFLY 



The gold-banded skipper most frequently is seen in wet grassy 

 areas along the sides of streams or ponds in or near woods. It is 

 seldom to be found in the immediate vicinity of the food plant, though 

 it sometimes feeds on flowers growing near the hog-peanut patches. 



Wet open spots in woods seem to form its favorite playgrounds, 

 where the males congregate and engage in combat. This is in inter- 

 esting contrast to the habit of the males of the local species of the 

 related genus Tharyhcs (Th. bathyllus, Th. pylades, and Th. confusis) 

 which choose as their playgrounds low, bare, and more or less barren 

 hilltops frequently some distance from the nearest food plants, where 

 they are often to be seen playing about in numbers. 



We found the gold-banded skipper extremely local. One individual 

 was met with near a temporary pond about 400 yards east of the 

 stream, and another in a marshy spot along another stream about a 

 quarter of a mile west, but these were the only strays we saw. 



The flight of this butterfly is low, a foot or so above the ground, 

 or just above the top of the long grass. It is slow and irregular in 

 rounded zigzags with rapid wing beats and occasional short glides 

 (most unusual in a skipper) and is easily followed with the eye, 

 assisted by the bright golden band on the fore wings. Though some- 

 what jerky, the flight usually lacks the skipping motion characteristic 

 of most skippers ; but occasional males when coursing about over the 

 grass tops may exhibit more or less of this. As a rule the flight is short, 

 and the butterfly soon comes to rest, usually on a leaf near the ground 

 or on a level with the grass tops, on a log, or on the ground itself. 

 Rarely it chooses a leaf as much as a yard above the ground. It 

 always rests with the wings fully expanded. 



In the woods this butterfly is most inconspicuous, zigzagging about 

 through the undergrowth, always keeping within a foot or so of the 

 ground, occasionally alighting on a fallen dry leaf or on the ground. 



