80 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Mar., '07 



above the ground. In that way it avoided the unpleasant 

 heat of the sand (which was very often found to be above 

 40 C), and also any tiger-beetles that might have been lying 

 in wait. 



After a short time it entered a clump of the bunch grass, 

 Andropogon scoparius Michx., which is very abundant in 

 this region. The grass clump was about a foot in diameter, 

 and the larva clambered about in it, up and down and back 

 and forth for nearly six hours. Finally it became quiet and 

 began to spin its scala or carpet of silk just a couple inches 

 from the ground, in the midst of the grass. I was compelled 

 to leave it at this point; but on the next visit, June 9th, the 

 pupa was found in the same situation, head upward. 



Many similar clumps of Andropogon, Elymus, and other 

 dune grasses were searched carefully for other specimens, but 

 it was like hunting for a needle in a haystack, since the grass 

 clumps are very numerous and the pupae relatively rare. No 

 others were found. 



However, this may be taken as a probably typical habitat. 

 And certainly none could be found better adapted to a long 

 quiescent existence. Andropogon retains its dead leaves and 

 stems the year round, the new ones growing up through the 

 old ones. The excessive heat of summer is mitigated by the 

 shade of the leaves, protection from the winter cold is secured 

 in the same way, the humidity of the atmosphere is somewhat 

 more constant in such a situation. The dune grasses are noted 

 for their ability to stop the sand blast and form embryonic 

 dunes about their bases wherever the sand is shifting. And 

 the love of tiger-beetles for open sand is well known. It is an 

 admirably chosen location. 



The habits of flight of the imago are very interesting. It 

 flies near the ground, following a rather uncertain course, 

 dancing tremulously this way and that. It requires but a few 

 moments' observation to note, however, that the direction of 

 movement is determined largely by mechanical factors. Even 

 in a gentle breeze, the butterfly, no matter how irregular the 

 course of flight it may pursue, exhibits a strong positive anemo- 

 taxis, nearly always alighting on the racemes of its food plant 



