Article beginning on page 42.
Psyche 5:42, 1888.

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[April JSSS.
they are about fully grown when they
become more scattered. The abdomen
is kept slightly raised, but is lifted
much more, and the ventnil surface ex-
posed, when disturbed. They occurred
in sufficient numbers last year to defol- iate many young birches and destroy
large portions of the foliage of some
larger trees. They seemed to devour
any species with equal avidity, and these included Betula alba, B. lenta, B.
lutea, B. nigra, and B. $afyrzyera.
In some respects this larva resem-
bles that of Croesus se$tentrionalis of
Europe, but in the latter, the spots are all much more distinct and separate, the upper row are not connected by the
brown hand, the legs are not so brown,
and the prolegs are tipped with brown.
Mrs. A. K. Dimmock in "The insects
of Betula in N. A. bi(Psycl~e, 1885, v.
4, p. 286) in giving references to this
insect says, "Norton (Proc. entom. soc.
Phil., 1862, v. I, p. 199) describes the male of this species and later (Trans.
Am. entom. soc., 1867, v. I, p. 84)
describes the female." This is evi-
dently a mistake as both of Norton's
descriptions refer to the female.
All the specimens raised by me were
females, and there are ten specimens,
all females, in the Museum of compara-
tive zoology at Cambridge, Mass.,
which were collected by J. Shute at
Woburn, Mass., in 1870. The only
male I have seen is an imperfect one in
the Harris collection. In his catalog
Harris wrote "Larva on birches, gre-
garious, Sept., winged May I, 1827,
do. Aug. 5, 1831."
The only references I have seen re-
garding the larva is at the end of Nor-
ton's description of the female (Trans.
Am. entom. soc., 1867, v. I, p.84) where he says, - "Quite rare, wild cherry,
Ang. 16. Bred by Mr. Walsh from
larvae feeding on birch." Was the
"wild cherry" referred to, the cherry
birch, Betula lenta?
SOUND SLEEP OF LYCAENA AMERI-
CANA.
A few years ago, being detained in Boston until the middle of August, and having few butterflies to study, I was led to notice those few very carefully, especially L. americana, which was very abundant in the vacant lots, and the grass-plots in Marlborough street. I noticed that, as one side of the street grew shady, towards sunset, L. americana might be seen clinging to grass-blades, and with wings somewhat drooped, suggesting
that the muscles were relaxed by sleep.
Approaching one, I gently touched the
grass, but the butterfly remained as before. I shook the grass, then shook it less gently, but the butterfly did not stir. Then I picked the blade, and carried it in my hand, not taking any care to keep it upright, for five blocks, and even then it was only as the sun struck the grass, when I crossed the street, that the butterfly awoke, and lazily flew to a shady place, resting as before. I followed, and this, time a touch was enough to startle it. I did not arouse it a third time, but after- wards, in the country, I tried the experiment several times, always with the same result. I have always found the butterfly in the same position, more than half-way up the grass>-blade, in the shade, and with the head up, the wings drooped to an acute, instead of a right, angle with the body.
It certainly
sleeps very soundly, and when aroused, does not become a& active as in the middle of the day.
I have waked and difr.turbed one I,. amer- icana six times, each time immediately after it had settled down after a former awakening, and even the last time it flew but ten steps or so, and settled down asbefore.
Caroline G. Soule.




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