Article beginning on page 87.
Psyche 3:87, 1880.

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PSYCHE.
CHEMICAL CHANGE OF COLORATION IN BUTTERFLIES' WINGS. BY WILLIAM HENRY EDWARDS AND JOSEPH MARTIN WILSON. In Letters to the Editors of PSYCHE.
In coloring a proof plate for the Butter- About the first of May you sent me the
flies of N. A., the insect is enclosed in a enclosed letter from W: H: Edwards, ask- tight shallow box, the flat sides of which ing for an explanation of the phenomenon are glass. When delivering the examples described therein. of Limenitis arthemis to the colorist, last At the Detroit meeting of the Ameri-
summer, Mrs. Peart fastened in the box a can Association for the Advancement of
bit of cotton on which was dropped a little Science, in 1875, Mr. George Dimmock
undiluted carbolic acid (as sold by the
read a paper which conclusively proved
druggists).
When the colored plate was that the colors in the wings of insects are sent me for inspection, it appeared that a pigments. It is also well known that cer- rich purple had been applied at every point tain animal and vegetable coloring matters, d
which in the insect is metallic blue or e. y., litmus, cochineal and others, are red green, and I wrote the colorist to ask for or blue according to the character of the an explanation.
She replied that she cop- solution in which they are ; that is, red in ied the colors of the examples furnished acid solution, blue in alkaline solution. My her.
Shortly afterward, I was in Phila- opinion is that the blue and green colors of delphia, called on the colorist, and found the wings of L. arthemis, are similarly af- that she was right. The insects were fected; experiments confirm thispartly but wholly changed wherever these two colors not entirely, inasmuch as strong acids turn had been present, and I had to furnish the colors reddish and alkalies partially but other examples for copy.
Of course I took not entirely restore the blue color, so that care that no acid was now present. there is possibly a decomposition of the I brought the purple examples home, and coloring matter as well as a change in several weeks later was surprised at finding color effected by the acid. Carbolic being that all trace of purple had passed away a comparatively weak acid, is more easily and the usual colors were restored. I neutralized; moreover, being volatile, its should be pleased to see an explanation of effects are more transient than those of the .
this. W: H: Edwards. stronger acids.
Coalburgh, W. Va., 30 April 1880.
I was in hopes that I might isolate the
Ps\&e 3 (?7-88 (pre.1903). hfp //psyche aitclub org/3/1.0087.htd



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88 PS YCHE.
pigment from the examples furnished by
store the blue color by means of alkalies. you, but as it occurs in such minute quan- Yours truly,
tities I was obliged to give up that idea, Joseph M. Wilson, S. B.
and to experiment on the entire wins this Charlestown, Mass.,
may account for my not being able to re- 25 July 1880.
NOTES ON PHOXOPTERIS ANG ULIFASCIANA ZELL. BY CHARLES HENRY FERNALD, ORONO, ME.
On the 23d of May 1878, between one
and two p. m., I saw a small Tortricid
fluttering in a very peculiar manner over a patch of clover. Approaching nearer, so
that I could observe more closely, I found that she was depositing her eggs on the
leaves of the white clover (Trifotium re- pens).
She fluttered about on the upper side
of the leaf for a little time, then standing over and in a line with the midrib, she de- posited an egg on the midrib, about one- third the distance from the end. In some cases only one egg was deposited on a leaf, in others, two ; but in the latter case the second egg was deposited in the same man- ner as the first, but at a third of the dis- tance from the opposite end of the leaf. Having observed the manner of depositing the egg, I attempted to capture the fe-
male, but failed to do so. I therefore
took up the plants into a flower pot, taking them into the house where their trans-
formations could be observed.
The eggs were of an oval form, some-
what flattened, so as to rise but little above the surface of the leaf. The length was 0.8 mm., width 0.6 mm., thickness about 0.4
mm. Color dull grayish white, transpar-
ent at the edges ; surface reticulated,
as could be seen under a strong lens, with a play of colors.
The moth was not easily disturbed while
depositing her eggs, and readily distin- guished between the leaves of elover and sorrel, alightingseveral times on leaves of the latter, and as quickly flying off to an- other leaf, not stopping till she came to the leaves of clover.
Being called away from home at this
time, I did not learn the time required for the eggs to hatch, but on my return I found that the young larvae had hatched and were feeding. They drew the edges of the leaf- let up together, securing them with silk, and fed on the epidermis of the upper side of the leaflet, and on the parenchyma, leav- ing the epidermis of the lower side of the leaflet - now the outside of their domicil -intact, while the excrements were dc-
posited in one end of the closed leaflet. After having eaten all the food furnished by one leaflet, they at once left for another, , going down one leafstalk and up another. I did not have an opportunity to make a
description of the larva at the time, but remember it as being dull glassy green.
Early in July the moths emerged, and
proved to be Phoxoptwk anqulifasciana
Zell.




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