HACKBERRY BUTTERFLIES. 
603 
Iii the latitude of St. Louis it is not until the middle of Juue that 
the first butterflies begin to appear, and by the end of the month the 
globular, delicate, longitudinally ribbed eggs may be found on the 
under side of a leaf, either singly or in small clusters. 
The young larva in hatching pushes open the crown, which lifts like 
a cap. The first summer brood of worms feeds for rather less than a 
month, when they transform and give out the second brood of butter- 
flies during August. 
The eggs laid by these in due time hatch, and the young larva is 
more lethargic than that of the first brood, feeds with less vigor, devel- 
ops much more slowly, and, after passing through the second or third 
molt, ceases to eat, shrinks in size, and remains stationary on the under 
side of the leaf. It also changes from its fresh green color to a dingy 
grayish-brown, and eventually, with its dying support, falls to the 
ground and there hibernates. 
Fig. 197. Apatura celtis : f, egg, magnified; g, larva, lateral 
view; h, imago, underside— natural size; i, j, k, l,m, the five 
different larval heads ; n, o, dorsal and lateral views of larval 
joint— enlarged. After Riley. 
The accompanying figures will so fully illustrate the different stages 
and transformations that no repetition of description is necessary. 
Parasites. — The only parasite published as attacking this species is 
the Ophionid, Limner ia fug itiv a Say, reared by Mr. W. H. Edwards in 
West Virginia, and recorded by Mr. L. O. Howard, in Scudder's But- 
terflies of New England, page 1883. 
In 1874 I found a larva in the third stage being devoured by Eulo- 
phus larvae, some of which issued and formed their pupse under my eye r 
the perfect flies, an undescribed species, issuing on July 13, of that 
year. I have reared quite abundantly from the chrysailis of this species 
the large Chalcis flavipes Fabr. and an undescrib *d Tachinid, while one 
of my old correspondents, Mr. George W. Letterman, of Allentown, 
Missouri, once brought me specimens of Podisus spinosus which lie had 
found piercing the larva and sucking its juices. 
The egg-parasite and the other parasites reared from Aptura clyton 
and presently referred to will doubtless be found preying on A. celtis 
also. 
