118 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



COLLECTING IN NEW ENGLAND. 

 By W. F. Fiske. 



In Southern New Hampshire the first insects begin to awake 

 from their long winter nap on the warm days of the latter part 

 of March. At that time the best locality for the entomologist is 

 the Maple-sugar camp. Here on warm days, when the sap runs 

 well, Grapta j-album and Vanessa antiopa may be seen flitting 

 around the tops of the trees, and sipping the sweet sap from the 

 wounds made by the squirrels. After dusk several species of 

 moths may be taken, and in the morning a visit to the buckets 

 will disclose many which have fallen into the sap collected there, 

 the rarest of which are worth the trouble of rescuing and drying. 



In April the first of the moths begin to emerge from hyber- 

 nating pupae ; a few Bombyces, Geometridse, and Micros, but 

 mostly Noctuids. Brephos infans, a small but bright-coloured 

 under wing, appears about waste land by April 10th. Although 

 several species of hybernating butterflies have been more or less 

 common during the first part of the month, the first species to 

 begin to emerge from the pupa are a few Ljjcaena and Tncda 

 about the 20th The dense clumps of cassandra or meadow fern 

 in the swamps are in blossom at this time, and are literally aliN^e 

 with insect life. Pieris rapes, which was introduced from Europe 

 about thirty years ago, and the native species P. napi var. 

 oleracea, formerly common but now very rare, appear soon after. 

 Colias philodice may be noticed the last of the month. It is the 

 only Colias native here, but the lack in variety is more than made 

 up by quantity, it being very abundant. 



Business in the world of Lepidoptera is not very brisk, how- 

 ever, until the middle of May, when nature seems to awake to 

 the fact that June is almost at hand. The lilacs are in blossom 

 now, and the blossoms are frequented during the day by many 

 dusty friends. The three swallow-tails — Papilio turnus, resembling 

 P. podalirius ; P. asterias, the ''carrot-worm," black, with yellow 

 and blue spots ; and P. troilas, black, with greenish white and 

 orange spots — are very conspicuous. Several species of humming- 

 bird moths are common during the day, and the humming-bird 

 itself arrives, looking like a magnified specimen of Sphinx, and 

 which may even be taken in a net. Two small species of 

 Argynnis — the first, myrina, with silver spots on the under side ; 

 and the other, bellona, without — are very common on low lands 

 the last of the month. Another small butterfly, Phyciodes 

 (Melitcea) tharos, appears, and will continue with us all the 

 summer. The skippers, which are in this section conspicuous 

 for their numbers and variety, begin to appear the latter part of 

 the month. One species, Pamphila metea, is quite common about 

 the 20th around very dry sandy places, and is the only one which 



