HELICONIA I. 
again, two 01 tliiee at a time, and would only yield to force, always returning. 
On the third day, at daybreak, only a trifling bit of the empty shell was left, and 
the butterflies were all gone.” 
I replied to this, asking how the butterflies attached themselves. Did they 
actually rest on the chrysalis, holding on by the legs ? Also, was I to under¬ 
stand by bits of empty shells remaining, that the imagos had come from the two 
chrysalids ? I suggested, if this last was not what was meant, that perhaps the 
butterflies had discovered the chrysalids to be dead and decaying and came to 
them as to carrion. 
On this Dr. Wittfeld again wrote : “ In each case the butterfly emerged from 
the chrysalis. The chrysalis looked natural but was growing darker, and the day 
before the emerging, the coming live insect could, to some extent, be distin¬ 
guished. There was nothing dead or decayed or partly eaten about it. All the 
legs of the guarding butterflies had firm hold of the chrysalis, and it required a 
little effort to remove them with the fingers. They sat firmly, not lightly upon 
it. To frighten them off did no good, it required force to remove them. After 
having been picked off they did not stay long away, but flying around a few 
times (I having removed to some distance), returned to the chrysalis and attached 
themselves to it just as they had done before.” 
I wrote Dr. Wittfeld, urging him to try again, and especially to ascertain 
whether the free butterflies and the imago in the chrysalis were always of oppo¬ 
site sexes or not, and whether females were attracted to a chrysalis in any case. 
I received his further report, as follows: “ With regard to the chrysalis found 
May 28th, of which I wrote you, I add, that there was found by me on the 
ground, on the morning the butterfly emerged, a female with wings but partly 
expanded, yet paired with a perfect male. Also, when I discovered that the but¬ 
terfly had come from the second chrysalis, that of June 27th, I found a similarly 
undeveloped female on the ground near by, paired with a free male. I lifted 
both and placed them on a twig. The male flew off in course of two hours, but 
the female remained, though a cripple and unable to move. 
“ After receiving your letter, for a long time I could obtain neither eggs nor 
caterpillars of Charitonia, but at last, near the end of September, I hung°out a 
chrysalis. A heavy rain storm setting in, no butterflies were flying that evening, 
and next day, six a. m., I found the empty shell of the chrysalis and imago gone. 
On October 1st, I suspended another chrysalis. Soon a number of butterflies ap¬ 
peared, flying around and touching it. None however attached themselves* to it 
as in previous observations. I caught one after another of these butterflies, as 
they came, and put them in a bag. About eleven o’clock, the imago came from 
the chrysalis, and as it clung to the empty shell, an occasional free butterfly 
