8 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 
an enlarged black streak or blotch ; this, when closely examined, is found 
to be a small excrescence ; it is found only in the male, and by this 
peculiarity the sexes may be readily distinguished. | } 
We have frequently seen this butterfly in great numbers on pine trees 
which have been infested by af/zs, attracted there no doubt by the sweet 
exudations which flow from the bodies of the apis, thus interfering with 
the rights and privileges which have always been accorded to the indus- 
trious ant. They also have the fashion of congregating at times, late in 
the season, in prodigious swarms consisting of tens of thousands or 
hundreds of thousands of individuals. In September, 1871, we met with 
a swarm of this character on the shore of Lake Ene. They hung in 
clusters everywhere on a group of trees which they completely covered ; as 
many as thirty-two individuals were counted on a space of the size of 
ones’ two hands, and their total numbers we thought might safely be 
estimated by millions. No satisfactory reason has yet been assigned for 
such gatherings. 
SOME REMARKS ON CHANGES IN NAMES OF 
CERTAIN BUTTERFLIES. 
BY W. H. EDWARDS, COALBURGH, W. VA. 
PapiLio ASTERIAS. Now sought to be changed to Polyxenes, although 
from the time of Fabricius to the publication of Kirby’s Catalogue (1871), 
no other name than as/erias has been in use. The species has been 
repeatedly figured as asferias in these hundred years, and under this name 
is well known to everyone who takes the least interest in these things, 
