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	1964	Journal of the Lepidopterists* Society	41
	Observations of Butterflies Flying while Mating
	Species Transporter Place Month Aporia crataegi L. female Europe VI Pieris rapae L. male Europe VI Pieris napi L. male Europe VI Colias hyale L. male Europe VII Papilio machaon L. female Polesie, Russia VII Danaus plexippus L. female California, USA XII Adelpha bredowii Geyer female California, USA VIII Argynnis paphia L. female Europe VII Melanargia galathea L. female Europe VIII Erebia medusa Schiff. female Europe VII Pararge aegeria L. female Europe VII Aphantopus hyperantus L. female Europe VII Maniola jurtina L. female Europe VII Pleheius argus L. male Europe VII Polyommatus teams Rott. male Europe VII Maeulinea arion L. female Europe VIII
	The unusual mating flight of Hemaris tityus L. (near the American diffinis Bdv.), the Clearwing Sphinx, is made during the brightest day­light hours. The male and female fly while in copula, facing opposite directions. Therefore such a pair fly very, very slowly, because the speed of flight is only the difference between the speed of the female, which is the more powerful and robust, and that of the male. I give my cordial thanks to Mr. Robert Judd, philologist, Mr. Hugh B. Leech, Associate Curator of Insects at the California Academy of Sciences, and Mrs. Jeanne E. Remington, who helped to prepare this article for publication. [Mr. Pronin died of cancer on 28 October 1962, and the above article was assembled from a linguistically complicated draft he had submitted. C. L. R.]
	A RECORD OF GLAUCOPSYCHE LYGDAMUS FROM MISSOURI According to Mr. P. S. Remington, no specimen of the silvery blue, Glaucopsyche lygdamus Doubleday, has ever been captured in Missouri. One may imagine my astonishment, then, when on 12 April 1963, while collecting in Meramec State Park near Sullivan, Missouri I found one of these butterflies flying by the roadside. I had been watching it for several minutes, but since I was paying more attention to a puddle group of more than fifty Erynnis and Celastrina individuals, I let it go, taking it for just another C. argiohis. However, once I started stalking

	42                                     Blanchard: Syssphinx food plants                    Vol.18: no.l it, its novelty was soon apparent, for alternating with brilliant blue upperside was sooty gray underside. It was only moderately active, staying by the roadside following the habits of the other puddle visitors. Its condition after capture was so nearly perfect that it must have emerged from the chrysalis just that morning. This rules out the pos­sibility of it being a windblown stray, although it has been suggested that since the park is a camping spot and tourist attraction, it may have been casually introduced by travellers. Although this explanation at first seems rather far-fetched, the occurence of lygdamus there is in itself far-fetched, and thus, it is the only reasonable explanation besides the chance that it simply may have been overlooked previously. Knowing the number of collectors in my vicinity that are in the field at this time of year, the latter case is far from impossible, though. The most distinctive character of the specimen is the rather uniform slate-gray underside darkened slightly at the base of the wings. The postmedian band of spots is jet black surrounded by white rings. The spots on the forewing are slightly larger than those on the hindwing. Above, the specimen displays the characteristic bright silver blue of the males with a narrow black marginal band and white fringes. Wing-span is exactly one inch. C. J. Kennedy, 942 Elmont Lane, Crestwood 26, Mo., U. S. A.
	THE FOOD PLANTS OF SYSSPHINX HE1LIGBRODTI (SATURNIIDAE) IN TEXAS The early stages of Syssphinx (Bouvierina) heiligbrodti hubbardi (Dyar) have been described in a beautifully illustrated paper (Bull, so. Calif, acad. sci 46: 72-77; 1947), by Dr. John A. Comstock who reared it, ab ovo, on Mesquite. I reared the type race, S. heiligbrodti heiligbrodti (Harvey), ab ovo, in 1962 and found that the larvae accept equally well the following three plants: Prosopis glandulosa Torr. (Mesquite), Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd. (Huisache), and Acacia rigidula Benth. (Black Bush Acacia). In Texas S. heiligbrodti extends at least over the area south of a line going from Port Lavaca to Bastrop and from there to Del Rio. It is quite common in the southernmost part of its range, from May until October. Greasewood (Larrea divaricata Cav.) (Creosote Bush) has been re­ported several times as being the food plant. Considering that S. heiligbrodti is rare or absent in western Texas where Greasewood is extremely abundant, this point should be checked. Andre Blanchard, 3023 Underwood, Houston, Texas 77025, U. S. A.