868 The Length of Jafe of Butterfites. [ November, 
by the natives, are now unnecessary on account of the visits of 
traders to both shores, and are seldom or never undertaken. 
The Diomede people, however, visit both shores and carry liquor 
from Asia to America. The increasing scarcity of food is im- 
pelling a southward migration as previously mentioned, and it 
may not be many years before the native Eskimo population of 
Asia may be located where Lieut. Nordqvist at present has some- 
what prematurely placed them, namely, to the south and west of 
Cape Chukotsky. 
“ry\e 
We 
THE LENGTH OF LIFE OF BUTTERFLIES. 
BY W. H. EDWARDS. 
ns inquiries on the subject led me to investigate the mat- 
ter, and to refer to my note books, in which are recorded 
everything that has come under my observation relating to butter- 
flies for the past fifteen years. 
Boisduval, and Kirby, and Spence allege that the life of the 
summer butterflies is brief, the male expiring soon after copula- 
tion, the female after oviposition. On the other hand, Mr. Scud- 
der has spoken of butterflies living two to three months. Mr. 
Edwards expressed the opinion as to the hibernating butterflies, 
that they lived from about the 1st of September to the end of the 
following May, or eight to nine months at the outside. Whereas 
Mr. Scudder asserts that D. archippus lives from a year to fifteen 
or sixteen months. : 
Observations show that one brood follows another in rapid 
Succession in many species at the South, a month sufficing — 
the complete duration of the generation. As the emergence : 
individuals from the chrysalis is not all at once, but is ce . 
through several days or weeks, it follows that the life of any ™¢r 
vidual butterfly must be much less than the duration of its genera- 
tion; certainly not over one-half to two-thirds that of the ae 
tion. In the case of polymorphic species like Papilio ajax, 1 18 
difficult to fix the duration with some definiteness. Mr. Edwa 
gave from his note books dates of the first and last appeat ie 
Coalburgh, W. Va., of the form Ajax walshii and of the = 
' Abstract of a paper read at the Cincinnati Meeting of the American Associ? a = 
_ for Advancement of Science. 
rance at 
