LIMENITIS I. 
The hybernacula are liable to be robbed by birds and probably by some in- 
hects, for those ol Disippus may often be found opened near the base, the larvm 
missing. 
1 brought the cases of Proserpina to Coalburgh, and kept them out of doors 
during the fall and winter, exposed to the weather, but shaded from the sun 
binding them to the twigs ol a little tree, and covering the whole with a muslin 
bag to protect from birds or insects. This method succeeded well. On 10th 
March, I removed them to the greenhouse, having previously forced willow 
branches so that a provision of leaves was secured. On the 29th, two came out 
of their cases, and on the 31st passed the third moult. 
One of the Proserpina larvae came out,of fourth moult with only one of the 
clubbed appendages on third segment, its place being supplied by a small tubercle 
similar to the two inner ones on same segment; but there was no deformity in 
the butterfly which came from this larva. They were voracious feeders, liked 
best to be in the full glare of the sun, and moved about very little. As they 
approached maturity, I arranged some arched twigs for them to suspend to, and 
was able to watch the process of spinning the button of silk and attaching 
the anal feet to it. This button was thick, rounded, made of white silk, and 
soon after it was finished the larva turned round, and with some effort go ? t the 
hinder pair of its ventral legs upon it, moving back and forth till it reached ' 
that position, depending entirely upon its sense of feeling. Then it moved for¬ 
ward slowly till the anal legs touched the silk; after which it braced itself on all 
its thoracic and ventral legs and began, with much muscular action, especially ap¬ 
parent m the last three segments, to force the claws of the anal legs into the 
silk, pushing back, then pulling forward and pushing back again, with repetition 
for nearly five minutes, till the object was accomplished. Then the larva rested 
exhausted and perfectly quiet, its head and thoracic segments hanging so that 
the legs on these segments did not touch the twig, the ventral legs all clasp¬ 
ing it. Shortly after, it cast off and hung by the anal pair only, the body straight 
the anterior segments nearly at right angles, the bend being on the fifth se<r- 
ment. Twenty-four hours later, the body hung in a sinuous curve, and the an- 
tenor segments were roundly bent up, the head resting on second segment. Ten 
hours after, I observed a muscular movement from tail to head, passing in waves 
beneath the skin, while the body was nearly straight and much elongated. After 
some minutes of these throes, the skin burst on the top of the head and down 
the suture of the face as well as back to the third segment, and the mesonotum 
of the chrysalis forced its way through the rent, followed by the head case, and 
by the creeping movement of the body the skin was slowly shuffled back. The 
rent was oblique, the dorsal side of the chrysalis being exposed three segments 
