the ridicule, perhaps, at least to the contempt, of those who cannot perceive in such pursuits any practical and useful results." The accuracy and care with which his observations were made are revealed by his ample note-books, now in the possession of the Boston Society of Natural History, and in their elaboration in his classic work upon the insects of New England injurious to vegetation. This work, which forms his principal claim to our attention, has passed three editions. It was prepared under appointment as Commissioner of the State of Massachusetts; but all that he ever received from the state for this immense labor was one hundred and seventy-five dollars. As will be seen in the life published by Colonel Higginson, prefixed to the volume of his Entomological Correspondence, Harris had formed an idea of publishing a local insect fauna which should include only the common species of the vicinity of Boston. This was done on the prompting of many friends, and many fragments of different parts of it are extant in the notes and manuscript preserved carefully by the Natural History Society. Faunula Bostoniensis was the title he had intended for it, and among the more complete fragments was one which embraced all the butterflies of the vicinity of Boston known to him. This fragment, on the publication subsequent to his death, of the third edition of his treatise on New England insects, I urged should be incorporated into this work, as he had himself previously attempted to do, and be accompanied by illustrations of the principal forms; this was done,* and further notes upon the early stages of butterflies will be found covering a dozen pages of the appendix to his "Entomological correspondence." This was the first tolerably complete descriptive list of the butterflies of any district in North America ever attempted. Doubtless the notes upon the early stages would have been very much more extensive, had not the duties of his position in the library of the University almost absolutely prevented any proper attention to field work. The very existence of his cabinet, with the vigilant care which must be taken for its protection from insect pests, in the open drawers which alone his straightened circumstances allowed him,† must have consumed every moment that he could spare from his official duties. But the labors which he undertook and the amount he accomplished under such disadvantages have been the foundation stones of entomological science in this country. Painstaking and laborious to the last degree in all he undertook, his accuracy has never been questioned and his principal work with its simple, direct style can never be superseded. He was the Gilbert White of New England. A tall, spare man, subject, at least in latter life, to nervous headaches, his face showed somewhat the mark of physical fatigue. But the portrait which accompanies his "Entomological correspondence," and which through the kindness of the Natural History Society They are republished in this work. He had a family of twelve children.

we are permitted to reproduce, shows in its expression a vigor and persistency which was the key to his industry and success.

Besides the life of Dr. Harris by Col. T. W. Higginson to which we have alluded, another by his son, Edward Doubleday Harris (named for the English lepidopterist), should be consulted (Proc. Mass. hist. soc., xix); and for further details of the Le Conte family, the life of Major Le Conte's son, Dr. John Lawrence Le Conte (Biogr. memoirs Nat. acad. sc., ii, and Trans. Am. ent. soc., xi). The notice of Abbot, substantially as given above, was first published in the Canadian entomologist for 1888.

CHARIDRYAS NYCTEIS.-The silver crescent.

[The silver crescent (Scudder); silver crescent butterfly (Maynard).]

Melitaea nycteis Doubl., Gen. diurn. Lep., pl. 23, fig. 3 (1847) ;-Edw., Proc. Acad. nat. sc. Philad., 1861, 161-162 (1861);-Morr., Syn. Lep. N. Amer., 325-325 (1862);-Lintn., Rep. state cab. nat. hist. N. Y., xxiii: 158-159, pl. 8, fig. 14 (1872);-Middl., Rep. ins. Ill., x: 8384 (1881);-Grub., Jen. zeitschr. naturw., xvii: 478, pl. 8, figs. 30-32 (1884); Pap., iv: 90, pl. 3, figs. 30-32 (1884);--Mayn., Butt. N. E., 28-29, pl. 4. figs. 33, 33a (1886).

Melitaea (Phyciodes) nycteis Doubl.-Hewits., Gen. diurn. Lep., i: 181 (1848).

Eresia nycteis Feld., Neues Lep., 49 (1861). Phyciodes nycteis Kirb., Syn. cat. Lep., 173 (1871);-Riley, Proc. Amer. ass. adv. se.,

xxiii, B: 108-112 (1875);-Edw., Can. ent., xi: 101-105 (1879);-Coq., Rep. ins. Ill., x: 165 (1881);-Fern., Butt. Me., 48-49 (1884);— French, Butt. east. U. S., 172-174, fig. 50 (1886).

Charidryas nycteis Scudd., Syst. rev. Amer. butt., 26 (1872).

Melitaea oenone Scudd., Proc. Ess. inst., iii: 166-167 (1863).

Melitaea harrisii Edw., Can. ent., ii: 163 (1870); Saund., Can. ent. iv: 161-163 (1872). Figured by Glover, Ill., N. A. Lep., pl. 25, fig. 2; pl. H, fig. 9 ?, ined.

[Not Melitaea harrisii Scudd.]

Yes, the Summer, the radiant Summer's the fairest,

For greenwoods and mountains, for meadows and bowers,
For waters, and fruits, and for flowers the rarest,
And for bright shining butterflies, lovely as flowers.
MARY HOWITT.-Summer.

Imago (56). Head covered with yellowish fulvous and dusky hairs, changing in front and especially toward the tongue, to whitish; lower three-fourths of the hinder edge of the eye broadly bordered with snow white. Basal and second joint of palpi white, with a white fringe, mingled with a few dusky hairs, the upper part of the apical half of the middle joint, including its whole apex, and the apical joint, brownish fulvous with a few black scales, the extreme tip of the latter white; whole upper border of inner side and the whole apical joint heavily obscured with blackish, the middle joint fulvous apically. Antennae above blackish brown, each joint annulated, the basal one but partially, with white; beneath white, the inside of the joints, especially those of the apical half mostly castaneous; club black, the outer under surface white, the inner under surface dusky orange, the apical four or five joints or less, dull, deep orange beneath and partially so above; basal third of tongue luteous, the remainder blackish fuscous; papillae (61: 41) situated at the extreme tip, on the outer edge of the under surface, moderately crowded, each appressed, cylindrical, a little enlarged in the middle, as long as half the width of the tongue, three or four times as long as broad, ending in a moderately large cup with sharp rim, from the centre of which springs a slender, cylindrical, scarcely tapering, blunt tipped filament as long as the narrowest width of the papilla.

Thorax covered with olivaceo-fulvous hairs above, more decidedly fulvous on the prothorax and patagia; beneath snow white, the fore legs the same, faintly tinged

externally with luteous; other femora white, the apex above suffused with pale orange, tibiae and tarsi pale orange, whitish externally; spines reddish yellow, duskier toward the tip of the tarsi; spurs slightly paler; claws fusco-rubrous.

Wings above pale orange fulvous, inclining to yellow, generally deepest in tint on the outer third of the hind wings. Basal three-fifths of the costal border of the fore wings broadly margined with black which is continued downward at its extremity, at the tip of the costal nervure, in a broad, transverse belt, whose interior border is scarcely removed from the extremity of the cell and which terminates suddenly at the middle median nervure, its apical margin often covering the basal third of the same; within this belt are the following markings: at the base of the cell is an oblong oval, longitudinal, annular black spot (enclosing, more or less distinctly, a fulvous pupil), its outer extremity near the centre of the cell, its basal half generally obscured by the griminess of the base; below the median nervure and resting upon it is an elongated wedgeshaped spot, its apex at the base of the wing, its base just within the first divarication of the median nervure and crossing half the interspace, also enclosing a similarly shaped, sometimes obsolete fulvous streak; seated upon its termination a chain of three black, roundish links, nearly equal in size, but frequently obscured or partially merged together, cross the cell; the extremity of the cell itself is marked by a fulvous streak, bordered outside by the broad mesial demi-band and inside by a rather narrow edging of black; just beneath this the lower half of the wing is crossed by a black band of irregular width, the smaller portion, sometimes broken from the other, consisting of a black patch at the base of the lower median interspace, excepting the extreme base and sometimes extending half way across the medio-submedian interspace, the other a broad patch seated just within the middle of the submedian nervure and extending half or fully across the medio-submedian interspace; the inner border, to the submedian nervure, as far as this point and sometimes to the outer border, blackish. Sometimes all the markings mentioned are nearly all blended into a mass of black, enclosing a few indistinct, irregular, fulvous patches. The outer border is so broadly bordered with black as to leave, between it and the markings just described, only a broad, transverse, fulvous belt, extending from just beneath the black costal edge to the internal nervure, broken by the principal black subcostal nervules, and generally by the other nervules which are often blackish fuscous, at least on the outer half of the band; at the costal margin the band has the width of one of the median interspaces; it widens below this, the outer border being directed downward and a little more outward than the exterior margin of the mesial demi-band, and sweeping around in a rather uniform curve to the internal nervure, at about the distance of an interspace from the outer margin; within this, from the upper median nervule downward, is often seen a rather broad black streak, vaguely formed of lunules opening outward, parallel to the neighboring black border and occasionally wholly, often partially, confluent with it, enclosing small, pale fulvous spots in the interspaces, which continue upward above the median nervure, as far as the costal margin, in a curving row, parallel to the outer border of small, whitish spots or dots, occasionally obsolete; in the upper median interspace is a small, submarginal, often partially obsolete, pale fulvous lunule, and a second smaller one is sometimes seen in the lower median interspace; fringe white, interrupted rather broadly with black at the nervure tips, especially at the lower subcostal nervule. Hind wings with all the veins blackish, the inner border yellowish, but excepting that, and a broad, dirty, yellowish patch at the base of the costal margin, nearly the whole basal half of the wings, as far as a line which runs from the costal nervure at the middle of the costal border in a very slight stiff curve, often irregular and interrupted, passing the upper median interspace at its very base and reaching the middle of the submedian nervure, is obscured with blackish, enclosing a few irregular fulvous patches; within this, in clearer specimens, a few definite markings can be distinguished; a black reniform annular spot, the inner half of which marks the extremity of the cell; the tip of the cell marked by an equilateral fulvous triangle, just within which a coarse, blurred chain of two or three black links crosses the cell, within which again the cell is fulvous, but greatly begrimed with blackish

scales. The outer border of the wing is broadly margined with black, varying in width in different individuals from half an interspace, where its inner limit is a wavy line, to fully an interspace, where the limit is a straight line, the latter more common; frequently it is narrowest in the lower subcostal and subcosto-median interspaces; on the costal border, the black outer margin extends toward the base, filling the costo-subcostal and sometimes the upper half of the upper subcostal interspace nearly as far as the basal black field, its interior limit continued as a narrow, arcuate, or broader, ill-defined band, parallel to the outer border, reaching the submedian nervure in the middle of its outer half, beyond which the fulvous tints are apt to be deeper than they are within it, especially in the female; scarcely separated from the black edging of the outer border is an arcuate series of six roundish black spots, sometimes, especially the slightly larger ones of the median interspace, enclosing yellowish white pupils, the largest, half the width of an interspace. In the middle of the black edging of the outer border is often seen a nearly obsolete series of faint, linear, pale yellow lunules, fulvous in the medio-submedian interspace, seldom appearing in the upper half of the wing; fringe white or yellowish white, interrupted broadly but not abruptly with black at the nervure tips.

Beneath Fore wings very faint, pale yellowish orange, the mesial demi-band depending from the costal border reappearing beneath in blackish brown; an irregular annular subreniform spot crosses the middle of the outer two-thirds of the cell and the extremity of the same is marked by an obpyriform annular spot whose interior half follows the apical nervules; faint dusky indications of the transverse patch seated on the middle of the inner border appear beneath, and the outer border is margined as broadly with blackish brown; the markings connected with the border are repeated beneath and, in addition, the round, pale spots on the upper half of the wing are narrowly encircled with black; the margin has a narrow edging (about one-quarter the width of an interspace) of orange, itself delicately edged on both sides with black and followed interiorly by a series of dull silvery lunules, as wide as the interspaces, pretty large in the two subcostal interspaces at the apex of the wing and in the upper median interspace; elsewhere nearly linear and occasionally absent, especially in the lower subcostal and subcosto-median interspaces; fringe as on the upper surface. Hind wings pale buff, occasionally with a slight greenish tinge, the veins chocolate brown; at the extreme base of the costal border a dull, silvery spot edged externally with chocolate brown; beyond this is a transverse series of large, dull, silvery spots, each edged externally and internally with chocolate brown; the first is in the costomarginal interspace; the next directly beneath it in the costo-subcostal, distant from the base of the interspace by half its own width; this by another irregular spot which occupies nearly the whole of the cell, excepting the extreme base and encloses, or is divided in two by, a large double, sometimes confluent, buff spot, seated on the first divarication of the median nervure and nearly crossing the cell; beneath the same divarication, is another roundish spot in the medio-submedian interspace; sometimes a small spot occurs beside and a little beyond it, in the succeeding interspace; beyond this series the wing is traversed, especially on the upper half, by transverse, irregular, partially blended, ill-defined, chocolate brown stripes, the outer limit of which passes from about the middle of the costal border to a little beyond the middle of the submedian nervure, crossing the upper median interspace only a little beyond its base; a distinct arcuate line of deeply curving, continuous, linear, chocolate brown lunules, opening inwards, crosses the wing subparallel to the outer margin at three-fifths the distance from the base; the very broad, chocolate brown bordering of the outer margin having a scarcely waved interior outline is separated from this by less than the width of an interspace, but it is sometimes entirely wanting above the middle of the lower subcostal interspace or below the submedian nervure; sometimes the interior border only is indicated and usually the interspaces in the area referred to are devoid of dusky scales beyond the interior ill-defined margin of the outer bordering; at a little less than two interspaces' distance from the outer border, a slightly sinuous series of six large, white-pupilled, blackish spots, the lower sometimes double and approaching

the border, usually edged with orange; the margin of the wing is ornamented as on the fore wings and is followed in a similar way by dull, silvery lunules of varying sizes, the highest (as high as broad) being those of the costo-subcostal, upper subcostal and upper median interspaces, those of the lower subcostal and lower median being less than half as large and the others nearly or quite linear or obsolete; fringe as on the upper surface.

Abdomen blackish above, with a few scattered fulvous scales, especially at the apices of the segments, and on the sides more than above; beneath white, often faintly tinged with buff. Appendages of male (34:5, 6) with clasps scarcely longer than broad, upper edge emarginate interiorly; apical spines of nearly equal length, about half as long as the clasp; the lower is bent downward and backward and a little inward, at its middle commencing to curve pretty strongly inward and a little upward; upper spine strongly recurved from its base along the upper edge of the clasp, in an almost exactly opposite direction to the apical half of the interior spine, which does not, like the apical spines, delicately taper to a point.

Described from 32 specimens, of which 15 were 8, 11 9.

Comparisons. Specimens from West Virginia appear to be almost uniformly smaller than the few I have seen from New England, and still more so than western examples. The species, which at first sight considerably resembles Phyciodes tharos, can be distinguished from that species, above, by the general color of the surface, which is not quite so deep, and is apt to be still paler in the middle than on the outer third of the hind wings; by the much larger size and frequently pupilled condition of the submarginal series of round black spots on the hind wings; by the greater community of the black markings on the basal half of the same, rendering that part of the wing almost completely black; and by the conspicuous alternation of black and white in the fringe; beneath, by the paleness of the brighter tints of the fore wings; the color of the hind wings, which is buff instead of ochraceous; the whole character of the marginal markings as detailed in the descriptions: the much larger and more ornamented character of the submarginal series of round black spots on the hind wings; the quite different nature of the markings on the basal half of the hind wings; the presence of decided though dull silvery spots on the hind wings, a part of which appear in some extreme individuals of P. tharos as a sort of silvery gray; and finally by a much less extended range of variation. The present is also a larger species.

Secondary sexual peculiarities. In exceedingly scanty numbers I have found at the base of the median interspaces on the upper surface of the fore wings, in the male and not in the female, scales which have the apical margin entire and well rounded, and which I therefore take to be androconia (46:15), though I have not found others in the Melitaeidi; they are considerably more than twice as long as broad, subequal, with very broadly convex sides, and produced and rounded basal lobes; they differ from the ordinary scales only in being untoothed, and are about .125 mm. long.

Egg (64:32). Half as high again as broad, provided above with sixteen to seventeen vertical ribs, .06 mm. apart, fading out below; color very pale green. Height, .67 mm.; breadth, .45 mm.

This description was taken from specimens removed from the body of the parent. Mr. Edwards describes the lower third of the egg as smooth, the middle third marked by hexagonal pits or cells, and the upper third by vertical ribs.

Caterpillar. First stage. Head dark greenish brown, nearly black. Body dull, pale yellowish, with a yellowish patch above on terminal segment, the raised parts