46 



400 from a single chrysalis. The butterfly is a beautiful object, of a rich velvety purplish 

 brown, the wings being broadly margined with yellow, in which is a row of pale blue 

 spots. 



The various species of Limenitis also include the willows in their food-list. This is 

 especially the case with Limenitis disippus, Godt., which also feeds on poplar, plum, oak 



and apple. During the summer of 

 1888 it was sufficiently abundant in 

 this neighbourhood to be considered 

 injurious. The beautifully reticu- 

 lated eggs (Fig. 18, a) are laid late 

 in June, or in July, and hatch in a 

 few days. The caterpillar (Fig. 16 

 a) is of a curiously ornamented form 

 and is variegated with green and 

 whitish colours. The chrysalis is 

 suspended like that of Antiopa, 

 but is of a very different shape, 

 Fig. 17. (Fig. 16, &.,) having upon the ventral 



surface a projection like the centre-board of a yacht. The butterfly issues in ten or 

 twelve days, and the eggs are then laid for a second brood. The larvae hatched from 

 these, when about half -grown, construct from the leaves neat little cases (Fig. 16, c) in 

 which to spend the long, cold winter, and from which they emerge the following 

 spring to complete their growth and meta- 



morphoses. The butterfly (Fig. 17) has a 

 black body, and wings of a warm orange- 

 red colour, with heavy black veins, and a 

 wide, black margin, spotted with white. 



Limenitis arthemis, Drury, occasion- 

 ally feeds upon willows, and in the ap- 

 pearance and habits of the caterpillar 

 closely resembles the previous species. 

 The butterfly, however, is a much hand- 

 somer insect, being of a rich velvety 

 purple, with a broad, white band across the wings, the margins of which are ornamented 

 with markings of red and blue. Its graceful flight and rich colouring render it one of 

 the most beautiful of our butterflies. 



As the other butterflies which have been recorded as feeding upon willow are only 

 occasional depredators, or are not found in Ontario, I will pass on to the divi- 

 sion of the Lepidoptera which contains the moths, the species of which are far 

 more numerous. Of the Sphingidse, or hawk-moths, two species of Smerinthus 

 ait' reported to include the willow in their list of food plants. Smerinthus excce- 

 catus, Abb., feeds upon several species of willows and poplars, as well as on 

 birch, elm, hazel, etc. The larva when full-grown is about two inches in length ; of a 

 light green colour, and roughened with numerous white granulations. There are seven 

 oblique yellow lines on each side, and the anal segment bears a nearly straight rose- 

 coloured horn ; a similar horn being a distinctive feature of nearly all the caterpillars of 

 tin' Sphingidae. When mature the larva drops to the ground and pupates therein as a 

 dark chestnut-brown, tolerably smooth chrysalis. The moth is of a very pretty fawn 

 colour ; the head and thorax with a roseate tinge ; the body with a dark-brown line above ; 

 the wings scalloped on the hinder margin, clouded with brown, and with black and 

 brownish-red spots and patches. Each hind wing has an ocellus, or eye spot, of pale 

 blue in a black ring. 



■'7itJ;i's geminatus, Say, much resembles in its various stages the preceding 

 species, but the eye-spot has two or three blue pupils, whence the specific name, which 

 means twin-spotted. 



Fig. 18. 





