35 



On the 4th May last, when walking along the Chelsea Road, near the village of 

 Chelsea, PQ., with Mr. Harrington, he called my attention to a small butterfly which 

 had just alighted on the bare road in front of us. This I was delighted to recognise as 

 Niphon. Having no nets with us, a too near approach was only rewarded with the 

 mortification of seeing the coveted prize flit lightly up to the top of some high pine trees. 

 Subsequent to this date the weather was cold and wet for some time, and I had no oppor- 

 tunity to visit the locality until the 22nd of the month. On this date the Ottawa Field 

 Naturalists' Club organized an excursion to the Chelsea Mountains for the purpose of 

 entertaining the Fellows and Delegates of the Royal Society of Canada, and consequently 

 we were honoured with the presence of our worthy President, Prof. Saunders, who 

 happened to be in Ottawa attending the annual meeting of the Royal Society. As we 

 passed the locality for Niphon on the way, the attention of all was directed to the pines 

 as we passed. It was the President's experienced eye which detected the first examples ; 

 three beautiful tempting specimens were seen flying round the top of a white pine about 

 30 feet from the ground and well up out of reach ; but none were obtained. 



Two days later, however, Mr. Harrington, Mr. Ami and I went out again armed with 

 a net attached to a long bamboo. Fortune favoured us at last. On the way out one 

 female which had settled on the road was taken. When we reached the grove of white 

 pines (Pinus strobus), where the three specimens had been seen two days earlier, Mr. 

 Harrington climbed up to the top of the same tree and took two more, all in good condi- 

 tion. Bordering the pine grove was a field in which a great deal of the herbage was made 

 up of Antennaria plantaginifolia in flower, and along the edge of this field, close to the 

 trees, nine more were taken and two others seen. Highly elated at our success, we 

 turned our steps homeward with twelve perfect specimens, eight ? and four t. Two 

 days later I again re-visited the locality and met with a great disappointment. The day 

 was intensely hot and butterflies were very plentiful. On arriving at the field I saw 

 with delight Niphon, three or four at a time, in every direction, but my chagrin was great 

 when on taking them one after another, I found there was hardly a presentable specimen 

 amongst them. The locality is on the top of a hill, and for the past two days high and 

 boisterous winds have prevailed, and this must have been the cause of their tattered state. 

 Altogether, although a hundred could have been taken with ease, not a dozen were found 

 worth collecting. Nevertheless, I boxed some females alive with the object of getting the 

 eggs, and have succeeded in getting thirteen. Under the microscope they are objects of 

 great beauty. The shape is round with a deep depression at the summit, almost half the 

 depth of the egg. The general colour is pale green, and the surface is beautifully reticu- 

 lated, the lines of the coarse netting being much raised above the surface and almost 

 white. This gives the egg the appearance of having a white bloom on it. One egg laid 

 on 26th May gave the larva to-day, June 5th. 



The larva has already been described by Mr. Saunders, Can. Ent., I., p. 95, and is 

 also figured by Townend Glover in his plates of Lepidoptera, plate B., fig 8. 



Among the specimens of the perfect insect I captured, I found there was considerable 

 difference in the marking and beauty of the upper surface, particularly among the females. 

 I imagine the typical colours of this sex to be a rich ruddy bronze, with a green sheen, and 

 having a black border running round the margins of the wings. This border varied much 

 in depth ; it was sometimes almost restricted to the fringe of the wings, while in others 

 it covered about one-fourth of the surface. These dark specimens are very handsome. 

 There is also much difference in the size of the white bars in the fringe. The under side 

 of both sexes is very similar and varies very little. The general colour of the t is slaty 

 black with, in some specimens, the green sheen seen on the females. A few specimens of 

 the male had a reddish tint in the black, and a few examples had indistinct bronze eye 

 marks where the tails are found in other species of this interesting genus. The flight of 

 this insect is very quick and jerky, and when disturbed it often flies off to the tops of 

 trees. When visiting the flowers of Antennarice for honey, it has a curious habit of 

 slowly moving its lower wings while closed alternately up and down. The tails found in 

 other species are represented in this one by a curve in the margin by which the long fringe 



