THE RHOPALOCERA, OR BUTTERFLIES, OF HATLEY. 

 STANSTEAD COUNTY, QUEBEC, 1919. 



By H. Mousley. 



In January of 1840 there was published in Lon- 

 don a book entitled, "The Canadian Naturalist," 

 written by P. H. Gosse, who afterwards became a 

 Fellow of the" Royal Society, and a well known 

 author of works pertaining to invertebrate zoology. 

 Gosse who was born in 1810, came to reside at 

 Compton, a village some seven miles to the north- 

 east of Hatley in 1835, and remained there for 

 about three years. During that time he wrote the 

 above book, which contains probably the first and 

 only general account of the Rhopalocera and Het- 

 erocera of this district. 



Of the first named I find there are twenty-five 

 species and forms enumerated m the work. Of this 

 number I have to-day verified twenty-three, be- 

 sides adding another twenty, thus making a total in 

 all of forty-five to the present day, certainly not a 

 very large proportion of the six hundred or more 

 species to be found in North America, north of the 

 Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande. Hatley, 

 therefore, cannot be said to be nearly so rich in 

 butterflies as it is in birds, for of the latter I have 

 already recorded one hundred and seventy-five 

 species, or nearly one quarter of all those known 

 to inhabit the United States and Canada. Before 

 proceeding further, however, it may be well to 

 state that my data regarding the butterflies has been 

 gathered casually during the past nine years, whilst 

 pursuing my favorite study of ornithology, and 

 therefore the list does not profess to be final in any 

 way, but may serve as a basis for further systematic 

 work. Of the nine seasons referred to, the present 

 one (1919) has been by far the most prolific, many 

 species such as the Great Spangled and Silver-spot 

 Fritillaries literally swarming, whilst the Yellow- 

 spot and Tawny-edged skippers appeared in myr- 

 iads, it being almost impossible to walk anywhere 

 without putting them up in clouds. Apparently a 

 similar state of things existed eighty years ago, for 

 Go.sse in his "The Canadian Naturalist,' 1840, p. 

 228, says, "Among the clover blossoms, hundreds 

 of little skippers are dancing in their peculiar jerk- 

 ing way from flower to flower. The Yellow-spot 

 (Parnphila pecl(ius) is abundant, and another species 

 much resembling it, the Tawny-edged skipper 

 (Pamphila ccrrtes)." Other species such as the Red 

 Admiral, Hunter's Butterfly and most of the Grap- 

 tas (now genus Polygonia), were more numerous 

 than usual, the hot, and for the most part humid 

 weather of June and July, no doubt, accounting 



for this extra abundance. In seeming contrast to 

 this profusion, however, might be noticed the un- 

 usual scarcity of the Black Swallow-tail, as well 

 as the total absence of the Monarch, both of these 

 species being as a rule fairly plentiful. 



The country around Hatley is of an undulating 

 character, the village itself standing at an elevation 

 of 1,000 feet above the sea level, with Lake Mas- 

 sawippi, a fine sheet of water, nine miles in length, 

 and about one mile in width, lying on the western 

 side. It is between this lake and the village, that 

 most of my records have been made, and I know 

 of no species on the eastern side of the village, that 

 cannot be found on the western, although a few 

 are somewhat more abundant on the former side. 



Of the nine families of butterflies represented in 

 the United States and Canada, namely, Papilionidae, 

 Pieridae, Danaidae, Satyridae, Nymphalidfe, Liby- 

 theidae, Riodinidae, Lycaenidae and Hesperiid??. all 

 but two have been found at Hatley, the missing 

 families being Libytheidae and Riodinidae. 



The Nymphalidae or "Brush-footed Butterflies," 

 the largest of all the families of butterflies, is also the 

 best represented here with twenty species, then fol- 

 lows the Hesperiidae or "Skippers," with nine, th.' 

 Lycaenidae or "Blues," "Coppers," an<;I "Hair- 

 streaks," with six, and the remaining four families 

 with ten representatives. Most of these species are 

 to be found generally distributed and in fair num- 

 bers, but there are some that seem to call for special 

 remarks, and I propose to deal with these, in the 

 order in which they appear in the latest check list. 

 The black swallow-tail, Papilio pol^xenes 

 Fabr. In view of the general abundance of this 

 species in most seasons, it is interesting to note what 

 Gosse says about it in his "The Canadian Naturalist," 

 1840, p. 184: "Another species, the Black Swallow- 

 tail (Papilio asterius), is likewise found in New- 

 foundland and the Southern States, in both of which 

 I have found it numerous, and I have seen it men- 

 tioned in lists of New England insects, yet I have 

 not met with it in this province. 1 should suppose, 

 however, that it is a native, but probably, as in New- 

 foundland, only appears plentifully in particular 

 seasons." Considering that Gosse lived three years 

 at Compton, we can only come to the conclusion, 

 that he could hardly have passed it over, if it had 

 been there in those days, for he records another of 

 the same genus, the Tiger Swallow-tail, as being 

 plentiful. 



