472 BKITISH BUTTEKFLIES. 



20th) is past, on the first sunny day, two or three of these little 

 ' harbingers of spring ' will be seen flitting about any moist sheltered 

 spot on the road, out of reach of the wind, conspicuous from their 

 charming colour, which in the sunlight is intense, and as near as may be 

 like Salvia patens among flowers; by April 3rd or 4th, when occasional 

 warm days send the mercury to 80° F., these little butterflies swarm 

 along the sandy sides of the creeks, gathering in clusters as close as 

 they can stand in favourite spots, motionless, with wings erect and 

 closed, wholly intent on extracting from the sand some fluid no doubt 

 delightful. With them will often be seem some of the smaller 

 Hesperians, especially that sturdy little fellow H. samoset, Scud. 

 (new oris, Edw.), who has placed himself like a sentinel outside the 

 throng, with wings half open, and suspicious antennae ready to dart 

 away for the least cause, frightening for a moment his busy associates. 

 He will not return until the danger is past, but they, after fluttering 

 about a little, settle down as before. These are all males, for the 

 females do not appear till some days after, or about the 10th. By this 

 time the peach-trees are in full bloom, and the females are especially 

 attracted to them, but, as a general thing, this species is not partial to 

 flowers." The first examples of early spring in West Virginia are of 

 the form violacea, and they are generally abundant w r hen the peach- and 

 wild plum-trees are in blossom, varying a little as the season is early or 

 late ; this form is vastly more numerous in individuals than any of the 

 later ones, and sometimes they may be seen by thousands in a 

 morning's walk. Lintner also notes the species as occurring in swarms 

 at Centre, New York ; the air, he says, " has seemed blue from the 

 myriads." Scudder says that the species flies with an uncertain, 

 tremulous, wanton motion, never in a direct course, but hovering 

 and quivering about one spot, never alighting without seeming to be 

 very uncertain just where to go. If much alarmed, it will move off 

 more rapidly, but still with the same wa} r ward motion, rarely rising as 

 high as one's head. The beats of its wings are much less frequent 

 than those of species of Incisalia, in company with which it often 

 occurs. They frequently congregate, especially the $ s before the $ s 

 are out, in clusters around damp spots, extracting the moisture from 

 the ground, wings erect and tightly shut ; putrid or excrementitious 

 animal matters, too, have great attractions for them. They are not at 

 all timid, allowing one to approach close to them, and when disturbed 

 circling about the spot, and speedily settling again. D'Urban tells of 

 one that pitched on his hand and remained there for some time, while 

 he was in a canoe by the shore of a lake. They have been know T n to 

 fly at night to the electric light. When walking, the wings are placed 

 back to back, the hind pair not concealing the low r est submarginal 

 spot of the forewings ; the antennae diverge at right angles, and arc 

 bent slightly downward below r the plane of the body ; the front legs of 

 the $ seem to be used in some sense as feelers, their movements being 

 at least twice as rapid as those of the other legs. When resting, the 

 wings are held in the same position, but, when moved by a breath of 

 air, the forewings droop a little so as to bring the costal edge of the 

 secondaries almost to the upper median nervule ; the antennae diverge 

 at an angle of about 100°, and, viewed from above, are straight, but, 

 from the side, they are seen to curve forward considerably close to the 

 base, their main portion being parallel with the body, or raised at an 



