i20 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



and enumerate them. Samia cecropia is the largest, often 

 measuring six inches in expanse. Actias lima, Telea poly- 

 phemus, and Callosamia promethe i, are not far short of it. 

 Hyperchiria io is smaller, but more strikingly coloured. Eacles 

 imperialism yellow, with purplish markings, and expanding five 

 inches, may be seen in the daytime clinging to grass and low 

 bushes, and looking so much like a sere and yellow leaf as to 

 deceive the eyes of any but an entomologist. Hawk-moths are 

 abundant about the flowers of asclepias and honeysuckle ; they 

 are in great variety, but the large and showy species are in a 

 great minority. The best night-collecting is done with lantern 

 and sweep-net. It pays on most seasons to sugar, but there are 

 not so many moths attracted as during the months of May, July, 

 and August. 



In July the season for butterflies and spinning-moths has 

 begun to decline. The most noticeable arrival is Argynnis idalia, 

 a large species, expanding from three to three and a half inches, 

 with secondaries of a beautiful purplish black, with cream spots. 

 Satyrus alope is extremely abundant throughout the month ; the 

 normal form has a broad yellow band on primaries ; in var. 

 nephele this band is wanting, but all the intergrades occur. A 

 visit to the White Mountains, in the northern part of the State, 

 is of particular interest to the entomologist at this season of the 

 year. A pale and delicate Satyrid, Chionohas semidea, inhabits 

 the highest peaks, and is found in no other locality within 2000 

 miles. A small Argynnis is also native there, and nowhere else ; 

 and several other species of butterflies, which are rare or unknown 

 on the lowlands to the south, are common. Scattered through 

 the State are many small mud-bottomed ponds, generally 

 surrounded by a dense growth of spruce, and bordered by a bed 

 of sphagnum. This is gradually encroaching on the water, not 

 displacing, but floating upon it, until it is thick and strong 

 enough to bear a man's weight. Here many plants which 

 grow nowhere else find a footing and flourish, and with them an 

 insect fauna. Among others is a small butterfly, Chrysophanus 

 epixanthe. The female is dingy enough ; but the male, when 

 alive, with wings expanded to the sun, is a living gem. The 

 primaries are brown, with violet reflections; the secondaries 

 duller, with a wavy submarginal line of copper-red. From the 

 middle of July until the 1st of September is the best time of the 

 year for sugaring. There are between thirty and forty species of 

 Catocala more or less common, all of which it is possible to cap- 

 ture in good condition during this season. A row of neglected 

 pear trees forms another very good collecting locality at this 

 season of the year, the honey-dew having an attraction superior 

 to any artificial mixture which I have yet experimented with. 

 There is always the possibility, too, of taking the enormous Erebus 

 odoray which has occasionally been seen in this locality, and 

 sometimes occurs in numbers. 



