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184
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Grey: Short Boforia flight
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Vol. 19, no. 3
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were allowed to remain outdoors. It would seem that, given a few more days of springlike weather, even species which overwinter in the pupa might have become active.
As a postscript, the freak warm spell came to an end with the passage of a northeast storm and attendant cold front, December 27.
Arthur M. Shapiro, 7636 Thouron Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.
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THE FLIGHT PERIOD OF BOLORIA EUNOMIA
L. P. Grey
Route 1, Box 216, Lincoln, Maine
Observations recently published in this Journal by Neilsen (1964, 18: 233-237) remind me of a curiosity which, strangely, seems to have escaped formal notice in any mentions I have seen. The abbreviated flight period of Boloria eunomia (Esper) is something collectors should know about and reckon with when exploring for this species; probably it is the short adult life span full as much as the intense localization which slows discoveries.
Mr. Neilsen noted specimens alighting to dry their freshly hatched wings. This had a significance which he may appreciate better in future years after he learns just how lucky he was in his described mid-June bog forays in Michigan. Two or three days later or earlier he might well have collected in the same places with never a sight of this fine bolorian.
Mr. Henry Hensel, of Edmundston, New Brunswick, really should be writing this note, rather than me, since it is his fieldwork which provides definitive knowledge of this aspect of eunomia. On reflection, it will appear that most of the previous captures of "dawsoni" (the form occurring along the Eastern U. S.-Canadian border region) have been of the one-shot, visit sort. Whereas in adjacent Temiscouata County, Quebec, a few miles from Hensel's home, there are magnificent bogs which have provided him with a rare opportunity: perhaps he is the only person who has observed this subspecies in thriving colonies over a period of years.
The ecology and behavior of species are difficult to learn from tabulations. Mr. Neilsen's accounts are unusually graphic, a model of description made vivid by the personal touch. I shall attempt to make my point in the same manner, by narration from experience, viz.:
On my first visit to Hensel's bog he warned me that it was essential to be there on "the day," so to speak, but when he reported eunomia
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1965
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Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society
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185
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just beginning emergence early in the week I arrived on the weekend confident that I would take at least a few samples, if perhaps somewhat worn. The day was fine; we were on breeding grounds where Hensel, four days earlier, had taken 40 or so immaculately fresh specimens. The best we could do was to net one feebly fluttering male battered almost beyond recognition.
On the next occasion, forewarned but still in unconscious protest that such things should be, I timed my visit to get there on the day he thought they might be due to emerge. We encountered a morning emergence of males and were able to make a large collection. The salient thing is that Hensel had checked the place two days earlier and reported none in evidence; also, in our combined huge series only about two percent were females and those were mostly taken freshly hatching in the afternoon. So, then I was forced to give credence to Hensel's remarks to the effect that the flight of males would be gone in a day or two and that the time for females was "tomorrow." It was easy to see that the males might literally "fly themselves to death" on their endless patrolling but not so easy to adjust to the idea that this butterfly is indeed one with the mayflies, here today, gone tomorrow. Hensel told me all this, but the implication didn't sink home until I had the chance to be a party and witness.
When one considers the large fluctuations in earliness and lateness of seasons in the northern bogs; allowing generously for cold and rainy spells at the critical dates (B. eunomia being a species which flies in sunshine and is not in evidence when the day is cloudy) it is easy to see that the finding of new colonies of eunomia is a matter of luck and chance over and above the hazards for which one normally might allow. For example, the flight may occur over the whole range between, say, June 8 and June 30, dependent on place, exposure, season, and weather. Then, say that for a given place and year perhaps June 14-18 are the only days when one might be rewarded with sight of even a battered individual to encourage further exploration. Then, maybe a collector does get there on "the day," but it is cool and somewhat cloudy and these butterflies aren't moving. These are the odds against collectors.
It then seems probable, as Mr. Neilsen suspects, that eunomia. is resident in many bogs along the Canadian boundary region. It is even a distinct possibility that eunomia occurs in areas where collectors have searched in vain for it. The unwelcome moral of Hensel's extensive experience with this butterfly, over the years, is that collectors who go exploring for it had better plan to do their visiting on the proper day of the week!
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