4 
Psyche 
[March 
female must have flown because a single egg was found 11 April. It 
must have failed to develop since there was no damage at all to the 
plant on the 28th. The biomass of Barbarea was reduced by roughly 
an order of magnitude relative to 1976, and the number of plants 
decreased very markedly. This facilitated search for early stages, 
and host plant coverage was especially good in 1977. It is thus 
uncertain that any successful reproduction by P. n. microstriata 
took place in Gates Canyon this year. 
Winter 1977/78 brought record heavy rainfalls (Table 2). Rather 
than being extinct, as would be expected for an obligate annual, P. 
n. microstriata was back at pre-drought numbers. Most of the emer¬ 
gence was early: females were already present on 14 March and eggs 
were found on the less-preferred host Dentaria (Barbarea was late). 
By 9 April there were eggs, small larvae, and large larvae on most of 
the Barbarea plants and some on Dentaria. One male each was seen 
on 21 April and 7 May (none on 29 April). By 7 May only a handful 
of large larvae remained. On 20 and 28 May single males of the rare 
second generation ( castoria phenotype)—the first ever recorded in 
the Vaca Hills—were found. 
Simultaneously, the Pierid Anthocaris sara Lucas, which is also 
facultatively bivoltine, produced an abundant second generation 
which flew from 20 May-21 June, as in southern California coastal 
localities (Emmel and Emmel, 1973). The Hesperiid Ervnnisproper- 
tius (Scudder & Burgess) and the Lycaenid lncisalia iroides (Boisdu- 
val) also produced second broods which flew to 21 June and 2 July 
respectively. 
Lang Crossing 
Here there are no 1976 data, and the irregular topography makes 
coverage of potential hosts less accurate. However, the 1977 events 
make a striking counterpoint to those in Gates Canyon (Table 1). 
The 1976/77 winter produced very little snow at mid-elevations. 
Although it was a mild winter, cumulative chilling experienced by 
diapausing pupae near ground level was undoubtedly enhanced by 
lack of snow cover. Lang Crossing was completely snow-free on 17 
April and 20 species were flying, including male P. n. microstriata. 
By 22 April females were flying and laying on Barbarea and on 
Nasturtium officinale R. Br. April temperature was below normal 
but the weather was fair until the very end of the month, after most 
