EDWARDSIA W-ALBUM. 177 



high up, and is seen more often on various trees, including the nut, ash, 

 or oak, in the vicinity of its foodplant, preferring medium-sized trees 

 rather than very tall ones. It will then frequently descend to feed at 

 the blossoms of blackberry and also, during the latter part of July and 

 in August, at those of Ewpatorium cannabinum growing near by, visit- 

 ing only such plants as may be in the sun. If not disturbed, it will 

 stay for a considerable time about a flowering bramble, or a clump of 

 Eupatorium, crawling from flower to flower, and occasionally flying 

 round to choose another cluster of blossom. I am not certain, but am 

 inclined to think, after watching specimens of which the sexes had 

 been, or were afterwards, ascertained, that the males and females differ 

 somewhat in their habits when frequenting tree-tops. When alighting, 

 the male will do so on the upperside of a leaf, and will then, as a rule, 

 twist round and walk to the edge and sit erect, with wings closed, 

 almost, if not quite, facing the sun, ready to dart out and fight any other 

 male, or pursue any female that may pass by. But they do not always 

 sit in this manner, for I have noticed that they (probably both the 

 sexes) sometimes rest in the middle of a leaf, and then lean right over, 

 almost lying flat on their sides. When they do this, I do not think 

 they pay any especial regard to the whereabouts of the sun, for I have 

 seen them, when settled sideways to it, incline themselves away, 

 and when settled on the upper part of a curled-up leaf, towards 

 the sun, and also with their tails in that direction. The females, too, 

 generally settle on a leaf, but will also do so on the twigs. They 

 appear to be of a more restless disposition than the males, and may 

 usually be seen walking about the leaves and twigs, rarely remaining 

 perfectly still. I at first thought, when seeing one of these butterflies 

 crawl about a twig, that it was a female intent on egg-laying, but have 

 since noticed that they do so on other trees besides their foodplant, for 

 instance, the nut, which seems to be the next most favoured after the 

 wych-elm. When a male is pursuing a female, the pair will circle 

 rapidly round one another, and slowly ascend to quite a considerable 

 height above the tree-top, perhaps twenty feet or more, when they will 

 part, and return to the tree at full speed, often meeting there again and 

 repeating these tactics. Although I have observed this species at 

 various times of the day, I have never seen one expand its wings when 

 settled, and therefore imagined that they must always, when not using 

 them for flight, keep them closed above their backs, but one reads, in 

 Barrett's Lepidoptera of the British Isles, that it has been noticed 'some- 

 times, in the afternoon sunshine, walking about the leaves, high up, 

 opening and shutting its wings.' " We have seen many hundreds of 

 examples of this species, but do not remember seeing the insect fan its 

 wings in the manner described. It is difficult to observe high up on the 

 trees it haunts, and, when on the flowers, it usually appears to be almost 

 too busy to desist from feeding, and, in July, 1875, on the outskirts of 

 Chattenden Woods, we saw literally hundreds of this species, on flowers 

 of bramble, and also at the end of June, 1897, in Fontainebleau Forest, 

 on flowers of privet, with ilicis, greedily sucking at the flowers, the wings 

 perfectly still, coming to rest suddenly with a quick closure of the 

 wings, and flying off just as quickly if disturbed, and mounting at once 

 far out of reach. Lewin notes the butterfly (under the name of pruni) 

 as being not common, and first seen on the wing about mid-July, 

 flying about bramble blossoms, and settling on them to feed. Stephens 



