200 
MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 
with the fingers. Like many other insects it is very partial to the 
blossoms of the different kinds of milkweeds, deliberately moving 
about over the clusters of flowers and extracting their honey, paying 
not the slightest attention to the bees, wasps, beetles and flies that 
usually swarm about these strong-smelling blossoms. One of my 
brothers had the good fortune early in July to find a locality in Con¬ 
cord, Mass., where this and two or three other species of Theda were 
very abundant, and where lie obtained a large number in a short 
space of time. They were first seen on the roadside, but on entering 
the scrub an open space was found, of perhaps half an acre in extent, 
in which many plants were in bloom. On the flowers rested dozens 
of specimens of this and the following species, most of them in very 
perfect condition. Specimens of Theda titus were also seen and cap¬ 
tured, hut they were very wild and had to be approached in the most 
careful manner. The finding of such a locality as this is a veritable 
mine to the collector, who may here lay in a supply of perfect speci¬ 
mens with which to exchange with other collectors for their duplicate 
specimens. One gentleman with whom I am acquainted, living not 
far from my home, has in this way obtained a very fine collection 
numbering many hundreds if not thousands of both native and exotic 
butterflies and moths, never having procured a specimen except in 
exchange. 
The larva of Theda calanus feeds on the oak. The species inhab¬ 
its the eastern half of the country, except the extreme south. It also 
runs well up into Canada. 
Thecla edwardsii. 
A closely allied insect, inhabiting the same localities and easity 
mistaken for the preceding species, is Theda edtvardsii. This butter¬ 
fly also lias two tails, although the upper pair are scarcely more than 
points. The general color of the upper side is not so dark a brown 
as in Theda calanus. There is the same black line along the lower 
margin of the lower wings, edged with white. Above and between 
