The Canadian Field-Naturalist 



VOL. XXXVI 



OTTAWA, ONT., NOVEMBER, 1922. 



No. 8 



FURTHER NOTES ON THE RHOPALOCERA OR BUTTERFLIES OF 

 HATLEY, STANSTEAD COUNTY, QUEBEC, 1921-1922. 



By Henry Mousley 



I FIND on reference to my last paper in The 

 Canadian Field-Naturalist, Vol. XXXIV, 

 1920, No. 9, pp. 173-174, on the butterflies 

 of this district, that three new species were added 

 to the already existing list so that the total at 

 the end of the year 1920 stood at forty-eight 

 species, with very little prospects of any new 

 additions in the near future. Certainly I never 

 dreamt that the opening of another season would 

 see not only the addition of a very rare little 

 butterfly to my list, but also some contribution to 

 its life history, which was practically unknown, 

 and that the date upon which it was taken would 

 also prove a record one in these parts. Yet so 

 it was, for on April 30, 1921, (previous earliest date 

 recorded, May 18,) I took a male example of the 

 Early Hairstreak (Erora Isela) in a little wood near 

 my house, and on May 21, whilst climbing Mt. 

 Orford, (2860 ft.) watched a female deposit an 

 egg on the underside of a beech leaf which I 

 secured. Up to that date the food plant was 

 unknown, and I believe I am the only person who 

 has witnessed the female deposit an egg in the 

 open and amidst her natural surroundings, and 

 seen the resulting larva. For these unexpected 

 pleasures I am greatly indebted to Mr. Albert F. 

 Winn of Montreal, who first drew my attention to 

 Iseta, a fuller account of which, however, will be 

 found in the pages of The Canadian Entomologist. 

 Other additions to my list consist of the Little 

 Sulphur (Eurema euterpe), The Banded Hair- 

 streak {Strymon calanvs), and the Bronze Copper 

 {Heodes thoe), all of which have been taken by Mr. 

 Winn at East Bolton (which place comes within 

 my radius) as recorded in his A Preliminary List 

 of the Insects of the Province of Quebec, 1912, pp.9- 

 18. At Beebe on July 29, 1922, I secured a 

 number of specimens of the Least Copper (Heodes 

 epixanihe), and at Hatley on September 15 a 

 female of the Eastern-tailed Blue {Everes com- 

 yntas), and these species with Iseta and the other 

 three above named, and the form violacea Edw., 

 of the Spring Azure {Lycsenopsis pseudargiolus) 

 which hardly seems worthy of a name, make a 



total of fifty-five species and forms for Hatley 

 and district to the end of the present year, 1922. 

 During the past two seasons there appears to 

 have been a general falling off in the numbers of 

 many of the species here represented, the most 

 notable probably being amongst the Fritillaries. 

 At one time the larger members of this genus such 

 as The Great Spangled Fritillary (Argynnis 

 cyhele), The Silver-spot Fritillary (A. aphrodite) 

 and The Mountain Silver-spot (A. atlantis), 

 literally swarmed, but now they are not nearly so 

 plentiful and this remark applies equally well to 

 all the smaller members, more especially, however, 

 to The Baltimore {Euphydryas phseton) Nycteis 

 (Phydodes nycteis), and Harris' Checker-spot 

 (Melitse harrisi). Certainly in 1921 I discovered 

 two new stations for the latter near Ayer's Cliff, 

 but only a very few specimens were seen. How- 

 ever, this is somewhat encouraging in view of the 

 fact that it has entirely disappeared from the one 

 and only meadow where I used to find it years ago. 

 The genus Polygonia has been very poorly repre- 

 sented ever since 1919, the year in which it was so 

 abundant. No examples whatever have been met 

 with of The Violet Tip (Polygonia interrogalionis) 

 the largest and handsomest, and very few of the 

 other members have been seen. The Compton 

 Tortoise (Aglais j-album) as already mentioned 

 in a previous paper is on the decrease, very few 

 examples having been seen during the past two 

 seasons. The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalania) . 

 Hunter's Butterfly (Vanessa virginieyisis), The 

 Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) and The Wanderer 

 (Feviseca tarquinius) have not been seen at all, 

 whilst only two examples of The American Tor- 

 toise-shell (Aglais milberti) have been noted on 

 August 17 of the present year, 1922. The Pearly 

 Eye (Enodia portlandia) has just about held its 

 own, three specimens being seen in 1921, and two 

 in 1922, which is about all I usually meet with in 

 a season. I am afraid as already recorded that 

 the cutting down and burning of all the shrubs on 

 the roadside frequented by The Acadian and 

 Striped Hairstreaks (Strymon acadica and S. 



