upper side, but is brighter red, especially along the nervules of the
fore wings. The female on the upper side is dusky. On the under side the
wings are whitish or pale gray, but the hind wings are not without
spots, as in the preceding species, and carry the characteristic
markings of the genus. Expanse, 1.20-1.30 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The species has been found from Fort McCleod, in British America, as far
south as Arizona, among the North American Cordilleras.
THE UTILITY OF ENTOMOLOGY
All the forces of nature are interdependent. Many plants would not bear
seeds or fruit were it not for the activity of insects, which cause the
pollen to be deposited upon the pistil and the seed-vessel to be
fertilized. Attempts were made many years ago to grow clover in
Australia, but the clover did not make seed. All the seed required for
planting had to be imported at much expense from Europe. It was finally
ascertained that the reason why the clover failed to make seed was
because throughout Australia there were no bumblebees. Bumblebees were
introduced, and now clover grows luxuriantly in Australia, making seed
abundantly; and Australian meats, carried in the cold-storage rooms of
great ocean steamers, are used to feed the people of Manila, Hong-Kong,
Yokohama, and even London.
A few years ago the orange-groves in southern California became infested
with a scale-insect, which threatened to ruin them and to bring
orange-growing in that part of the land to an unprofitable end. The
matter received the careful attention of the chief entomologist of the
United States Department of Agriculture, the lamented Professor C.V.
Riley. In the course of the studies which he and his associates
prosecuted, it was ascertained that the same scale-insect which was
ruining the orange-groves of California is found in the orange-groves of
Queensland, but that in Queensland this insect did comparatively small
injury to the trees. Investigation disclosed the fact that in Queensland
the scale-insect was kept down by the ravages of a parasitic insect
which preyed upon it. This parasite, by order of the chief entomologist,
was immediately imported, in considerable numbers, into southern
California, and let loose among the orange-groves. The result has been
most beneficial.
These are two illustrations, from among hundreds which might be cited,
of the very practical value of entomological knowledge.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXI |
| |
| 1. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| var. _lucia_, Kirby, ♂. |
| 2. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| var. _marginata_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 3. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| var. _marginata_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 4. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| var. _nigra_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 5. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| var. _violacea_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 6. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| ♂. |
| 7. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| ♀. |
| 8. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| var. _neglecta_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 9. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| var. _neglecta_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 10. _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, Boisd.-Lec., |
| var. _piasus_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 11. _Lycæna dædalus_, Behr, ♂. |
| 12. _Lycæna dædalus_, Behr, ♀. |
| 13. _Lycæna heteronea_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 14. _Lycæna heteronea_, Boisduval, ♀. |
| 15. _Lycæna sæpiolus_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 16. _Lycæna sæpiolus_, Boisduval, ♀. |
| 17. _Lycæna lygdamas_, Doubleday, ♂. |
| 18. _Lycæna lygdamas_, Doubleday, ♀. |
| 19. _Lycæna sagittigera_, Felder, ♂. |
| 20. _Lycæna sagittigera_, Felder, ♀. |
| 21. _Lycæna sonorensis_, Felder, ♂. |
| 22. _Lycæna sonorensis_, Felder, ♀. |
| 23. _Lycæna shasta_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 24. _Lycæna shasta_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 25. _Lycæna melissa_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 26. _Lycæna melissa_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 27. _Lycæna acmon_, Dbl.-Hew., ♂. |
| 28. _Lycæna acmon_, Dbl.-Hew., ♀. |
| 29. _Lycæna comyntas_, Godart, ♂. |
| 30. _Lycæna comyntas_, Godart, ♀. |
| 31. _Lycæna ammon_, Lucas, ♀. |
| 32. _Lycæna marina_, Reakirt, ♀. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXI.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
The annual loss suffered by agricultural communities through ignorance
of entomological facts is very great. Every plant has its insect enemy,
or, more correctly, its insect lover, which feeds upon it, delights in
its luxuriance, but makes short work, it may be of leaves, it may be of
flowers, it may be of fruit. It has been estimated that every known
species of plant has five or six species of insects which habitually
feed upon it. Where the plant is one that is valuable to man and is
grown for his use, the horticulturist or the farmer finds himself
confronted, presently, by the ravages of these creatures, and unless he
has correct information as to the best manner in which to combat them,
he is likely to suffer losses of a serious character. We all have read
of the havoc wrought by the Kansas locust, or grasshopper, and of the
ruin brought about by insects of the same class in Asia and in Africa.
We all have heard of the Hessian fly, of the weevil, and of the
army-worm. The legislature of Massachusetts has in recent years been
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the attempt to exterminate
the gipsy-moth. The caterpillar of the cabbage-butterfly ruins every
year material enough to supply sauer-kraut to half of the people. The
codling-moth, the little pinkish caterpillar of which worms its way
through apples, is estimated to destroy five millions of dollars' worth
of apples every year within the limits of the United States. And what
shall we say of the potato-bug, that prettily striped beetle, which,
starting from the far West, has taken possession of the potato-fields of
the continent, and for the extermination of which there is annually
spent, by the agricultural communities of the United States, several
millions of dollars in labor and in poisons?
A few facts like these serve to show that the study of entomology is not
a study which deserves to be placed in the category of useless pursuits.
Viewed merely from a utilitarian standpoint, this study is one of the
most important, far outranking, in its actual value to communities, the
study of many branches of zoölogical science which some people affect to
regard as of a higher order.
The legislature of Pennsylvania acted wisely in passing a law which
demands that in every high school established within the State there
shall be at least one teacher capable of giving instruction in botany
and in entomology. The importance of entomology, while not perceived by
the masses as yet, has been recognized by almost all the legislatures of
the States; and not only the general government of the United States,
but the governments of the individual commonwealths, are at the present
time employing a number of carefully trained men, whose business is to
ascertain the facts and instruct the people as to the best manner in
which to ward off the attacks of the insect swarms, which are respecters
neither of size nor beauty in the vegetable world, attacking alike the
majestic oak and the lowliest mosses.
Genus LYCÆNA, Fabricius
(The Blues)
"Bright butterflies
Fluttered their vans, azure and green and gold."
SIR EDWIN ARNOLD.
_Butterfly._--Generally small, for the most part blue on the upper side
of the wings, white or gray on the under side, variously marked with
spots and lines.
What has been said in reference to the subdivision of the genus _Thecla_
may be repeated in regard to the genus which we are considering. It has
been in recent years subdivided by writers who have given close
attention to the matter, and these subdivisions are entirely defensible
from a scientific standpoint. Nevertheless, owing to the close
resemblance which prevails throughout the group, in this book, which is
intended for popular use, the author has deemed it best not to separate
the species, as to do so presupposes a minute anatomical knowledge,
which the general reader is not likely to possess.
_Egg._--The eggs are for the most part flattened, turban-shaped (see p.
4, Fig. 7).
_Caterpillar._--Slug-shaped, as in the preceding genera, feeding upon
the petals and bracts of flowers, or upon delicate terminal leaves.
_Chrysalis._--Closely resembling the chrysalids of the preceding genera.
This genus is very widely distributed in the temperate regions of both
hemispheres. Many of the species are inhabitants of the cold North or
high mountain summits, while others are found in the tropics.
(1) =Lycæna fuliginosa=, Edwards, Plate XXX, Fig. 16, ♂, _under side_
(The Sooty Gossamer-wing).
_Butterfly._--Dark gray on the upper side in both sexes. On the under
side the figure in the plate gives a correct representation of the color
and markings. Expanse, 1.10 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The species occurs in northern California, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and
Washington.
(2) =Lycæna heteronea=, Boisduval, Plate XXXI, Fig. 13, ♂; Fig. 14, ♀;
Plate XXXII, Fig. 19, ♀, _under side_ (The Varied Blue).
_Butterfly._--On the upper side the male is blue, the female brown. On
the under side the wings are white, with faint pale-brown spots on the
hind wings and distinct black spots on the fore wings, more numerous
than in _L. lycea_, which it closely resembles on the under side. It is
the largest species of the genus, and the female reminds us by its
markings on the upper side of the females of _Chrysophanus_. Expanse,
1.25-1.40 inch.
_Early Stages._--These await description.
_Heteronea_ ranges from Colorado to California, at suitable elevations
among the mountains.
(3) =Lycæna clara=, Henry Edwards, Plate XXX, Fig. 26, ♀ (The Bright
Blue).
_Butterfly._--The figure in the plate is that of the type of the female,
the only specimen in my collection. Expanse, 1.15 inch.
_Early Stages._--These are entirely unknown.
The type came from southern California.
(4) =Lycæna lycea=, Edwards, Plate XXXII, Fig. 18, ♂, _under side_
(Lycea).
_Butterfly._--The perfect insect is very nearly as large as _L.
heteronea_. The male is lilac-blue on the upper side, with the margins
dusky. The black spots of the under side do not show through on the
upper side, as in _L. heteronea_. The female is dusky, with the wings
shot with blue at their bases, more especially on the fore wing. There
are no black spots on the upper side of the wings in this sex, as in _L.
heteronea_. On the under side the wings are whitish. The spots on this
side are well delineated in our figure in Plate XXXII. Expanse, 1.30
inch.
_Early Stages._--These await description.
The butterfly is found in the region of the Rocky Mountains, from New
Mexico to Montana.
(5) =Lycæna fulla,= Edwards, Plate XXX, Fig. 24, ♂; Fig. 25, ♀
(Fulla).
_Butterfly._--Smaller than the preceding species. The upper side of the
male is not lilac-blue, but ultramarine. The female is almost
indistinguishable on the upper side from the female of _L. lycea_. On
the under side the wings are pale stone-gray, with a black spot at the
end of the cell of the primaries and a large white spot at the end of
the cell of the secondaries. The other spots, which are always ringed
about with white, are located much as in _L. icarioides_ (see Plate XXX,
Fig. 29). Expanse, 1.15-1.20 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
_Fulla_ occurs in northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British
Columbia.
(6) =Lycæna icarioides=, Boisduval (=mintha=, Edwards), Plate XXX, Fig. 29,
♂, _under side_ (Boisduval's Blue).
_Butterfly._--The insect on the upper side closely resembles the
preceding species in both sexes. On the under side it may be at once
distinguished from the following species by the absence on the margin of
the hind wings of the fine black terminal line, and by having only one,
not two rows of submarginal black spots. There are other marked and
striking differences, and the merging of _L. dædalus_, Behr, with this
species, which has been advocated by some recent writers, is no doubt
due to their lack of sufficient and accurately identified material.
Expanse, 1.35 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
This species, which is not common, is found in southern California.
(7) =Lycæna dædalus=, Behr, Plate XXXI, Fig. 11, ♂; Fig. 12, ♀; Plate
XXX, Fig. 28, ♀, _under side_ (Behr's Blue).
_Butterfly._--The wings of the male on the upper side are deep lustrous
blue, with darker borders and white fringes. The wings of the female are
brown, margined with reddish. The name oechaja was applied to this sex
by Dr. Behr, before it was known to be the female of his _L. doedalus_.
Expanse, 1.12 inch.
_Early Stages._--These have not yet been studied.
_Dædalus_ is common in southern California.
(8) =Lycæna sæpiolus=, Boisduval, Plate XXXI, Fig. 15, ♂; Fig. 16, ♀
(The Greenish Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male on the upper side has the wings blue, shot in
certain lights with brilliant green. The female on the same side is
dusky, with greenish-blue scales at the bases of the wings, and often
with reddish markings on the outer margin of the hind wings. On the
under side the wings are gray or pale wood-brown, with greenish-blue at
their base and a profusion of small black spots margined with white. Now
and then the black spots are lost, the white margins spreading inwardly
and usurping the place of the black. Expanse, .95-1.10 inch.
_Early Stages._--These await further study.
The species ranges from British Columbia to Colorado.
(9) =Lycæna pheres=, Boisduval, Plate XXX, Fig. 37, ♂; Fig. 42, ♀,
_under side_ (Pheres).
_Butterfly._--The male is pale shining blue above, with dusky borders.
The female is dusky, with a little blue at the base of the wings on the
same side. Below, the spots on the fore wings are strongly defined; on
the hind wings they are white on a pale stone-gray ground. Expanse, 1.20
inch.
_Early Stages._--We know no more of these than we do of those of the
preceding species.
_Pheres_ has nearly the same range as _soepiolus._
(10) =Lycæna xerxes=, Boisduval, Plate XXX, Fig. 43, ♂, _under side_
(Xerxes).
_Butterfly._--The wings in both sexes are dusky above, shot with blue,
more widely in the male than in the female. On the under side the wings
are dark stone-color, with all the spots on both wings white, very
rarely slightly pupiled with blackish. Expanse, 1.25 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The species is found in central California.
(11) =Lycæna antiacis=, Boisduval, Plate XXX, Fig. 35, ♂, _under side_;
Fig. 36, ♂; Fig. 41, ♀ (The Eyed Blue).
_Butterfly._--On the upper side the male is pale lilac-blue, the female
dusky, heavily marked with blue at the base of the wings. On the under
side the wings are deep, warm stone-gray. There is a single quite
regular band of large-sized black spots on the fore wing beyond the
middle, and a triply festooned curved band of similar spots on the hind
wing. These spots are all margined with white. Expanse, 1.15-1.25 inch.
_Early Stages._--These await description.
The insect is found in California.
(12) =Lycæna couperi=, Grote, Plate XXX, Fig. 34, ♂, _under side_
(Couper's Blue).
_Butterfly._--The wings of the male above are pale shining blue, with a
narrow black border; of the female darker blue, broadly margined
externally with dusky. On the under side the wings are dark
brownish-gray, with the spots arranged much as in _L. antiacis_, but
with those of the hind wings generally white, and without a dark pupil.
The series on the fore wing is usually distinctly pupiled with black.
Expanse, 1.25 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The species is found in Newfoundland, Labrador, Anticosti, and westward
and northward. It is a boreal form.
(13) =Lycæna lygdamas=, Doubleday, Plate XXXI, Fig. 17, ♂; Fig. 18, ♀;
Plate XXX, Fig. 50, ♀, _under side_ (The Silvery Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male has the upper side of the wings pale
silvery-blue, narrowly edged with black; the wings of the female on the
upper side are darker blue, dusky on the borders, with a dark spot at
the end of the cell of the primaries. On the under side the wings are
pale chocolate-brown, with a submarginal band of black spots, margined
with white, on both wings, as well as a spot at the end of the cells,
and one or two on the costa of the secondaries. Expanse, .85-1.10 inch.
_Early Stages._--These are yet to be ascertained.
The insect is reported from Michigan to Georgia.
(14) =Lycæna sagittigera=, Felder, Plate XXXI, Fig. 19, ♂; Fig. 20, ♀;
Plate XXX, Fig. 44, ♀, _under side_ (The Arrow-head Blue).
_Butterfly._--The wings in both sexes are variable pale blue, dusky on
the margins, with white fringes checkered with dusky at the ends of the
veins. On the under side the wings are dark gray, profusely spotted, the
most characteristic markings being a white ray in the cell of the hind
wings, a broad submarginal band of white arrow-shaped markings on both
wings, with a black spot at the tip of each sagittate maculation and a
dark triangular shade between the barbs. These markings are not shown as
they should be in Plate XXX, Fig. 44. They are only faintly indicated.
Expanse, 1.25-1.30 inch.
_Early Stages._--These await description.
This butterfly ranges from Oregon to Mexico, and eastward as far as
Colorado on the mountains.
(15) =Lycæna speciosa=, Henry Edwards, Plate XXXII, Fig. 1 ♂; Fig. 2,
♀, _under side_ (The Small Blue).
_Butterfly._--Quite small; the male pale blue above, edged with dusky;
the female dusky, with the inner two thirds shot with blue. The
maculation of the under side is as represented in the plate. Expanse,
.80 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
Habitat, southern California.
(16) =Lycæna sonorensis=, Felder, Plate XXXI, Fig. 21, ♂; Fig. 22, ♀
(The Sonora Blue).
_Butterfly._--Easily distinguished from all other species of the genus
by the red spots in the region of the median nervules on the upper side.
Expanse, .87 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
This lovely little insect is found rather abundantly in southern
California and northern Mexico.
(17) =Lycæna podarce=, Felder, Plate XXXII, Fig. 15, ♂; Fig. 16, ♀
(The Gray Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male is grayish-blue above, with dusky margins,
lighter on the disk of both the fore and hind wings. There are a few
dark marginal crescents on the hind wings. On the under side the wings
are very pale, profusely spotted, the spot at the end of the cell of the
secondaries being large and whitish, without a pupil, the rest being
black ringed about with white. The female is dark brown above, the fore
wings having a black spot ringed about with yellowish at the end of the
cell. Expanse, 1.05 inch.
_Early Stages._--These have never been described.
The species is thus far known from California, Nevada, and Colorado. It
is alpine in its habits.
(18) =Lycæna aquilo=, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 9, ♂; Fig. 10, ♂,
_under side_ (The Labrador Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male is dusky bluish-gray on the upper side; the
female somewhat darker. It is easily distinguished from other species by
the dark-brown shades on the under side of the secondaries. Expanse, .80
inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
It is found in Labrador and arctic America.
(19) =Lycæna rustica=, Edwards, Plate XXXII, Fig. 17, ♂, _under side_
(The Rustic Blue).
_Butterfly._--Much like the preceding species, but a third larger, and
brighter blue on the upper side of the wings of the male. On the under
side the disposition of the spots and markings is precisely as in _L.
aquilo_, but on the secondaries the dark spots and shades are all
replaced by white on a pale-gray ground. Expanse, .90-1.00 inch.
_Early Stages._--We are in complete ignorance as to these.
The butterfly is found in British America and on the Western
Cordilleras.
(20) =Lycæna enoptes=, Boisduval, Plate XXX, Fig. 30, ♀, _under side_;
Fig. 51, ♂ (The Dotted Blue).
_Butterfly._--The wings on the upper side are purplish-blue,--pale in
the male, darker in the female,--bordered with dusky, more heavily in
the female than in the male. The fringes are white, checkered with dusky
at the ends of the veins. The female sometimes has the hind wings marked
on the upper side with red marginal spots on the inner half of the
border. On the under side the wings are pale bluish-gray, marked with a
profusion of small black spots, those on the outer margin arranged in
two parallel lines, between which, on the hind wings, are red spots.
Expanse, 1.00 inch.
_Early Stages._--Awaiting description.
_Enoptes_ ranges from Washington to Arizona.
(21) =Lycæna glaucon=, Edwards, Plate XXX, Fig. 31, ♀, _under side_;
Fig. 39, ♂ (The Colorado Blue).
_Butterfly._--Purplish-blue, closely resembling the preceding species,
but having the black margin of the wings broader than in _L. enoptes_,
with the dark crescents of the marginal series on the under side showing
through as darker spots in the margins of the hind wings. The female has
a band of orange spots on the margins of the secondaries. The two
marginal rows of spots on the lower side of the wings are arranged and
colored as in the preceding species. Expanse, 1.00 inch.
_Early Stages._--Of these we must again confess ignorance.
_Glaucon_ ranges from Washington into California, and eastward to
Colorado, where it is quite common in the mountain valleys.
(22) =Lycæna battoides=, Behr, Plate XXXII, Fig. 11, ♂ (Behr's Blue).
_Butterfly._--On the upper side paler blue than the preceding species,
with the hind margin tinged with reddish, shining through from below,
and small crescentic dark spots. On the under side the wings are
smoky-gray, with all the black spots, which are arranged as in the
preceding species, greatly enlarged and quadrate, and a broad
submarginal border of orange on the hind wings. The female is like the
male, but with more orange on the upper side of the hind wings.
_Early Stages._--But little is, as yet, known of these.
The insect ranges from California and Arizona to Colorado.
(23) =Lycæna shasta=, Edwards, Plate XXXI, Fig. 23, ♂; Fig. 24, ♀ (The
Shasta Blue).
_Butterfly._--The figures in the plate give a fairly good idea of the
upper side of this species in both sexes, though the male is not quite
so dark a blue as represented. On the under side the wings have the
usual black spots, on a dirty-gray ground, and, in addition, on the hind
wings there are a number of small marginal spots surmounted by
metallic-colored bluish-green scales, somewhat like those found in some
species of the genus _Thecla_. Expanse, 1.00 inch.
_Early Stages._--So far as I know, these have never been described.
My specimens are all from Montana and Nevada. It is also reported from
northern California, Oregon, and Kansas, though I question the latter
locality.
(24) =Lycæna melissa=, Edwards, Plate XXXI, Fig. 25, ♂; Fig. 26, ♀
(The Orange-margined Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male on the upper side is pale blue, with a narrow
black marginal line and white fringes. The female is brown or
lilac-gray, with a series of orange-red crescents on the margins of both
wings. On the under side the wings are stone-gray, with the usual spots,
and on the secondaries the orange-colored marginal spots are oblong,
tipped inwardly with black and outwardly by a series of metallic-green
maculations. Expanse, .90-1.15 inch.
_Early Stages._--We know very little about these.
It is found from Kansas to Arizona, and northward to Montana.
(25) =Lycæna scudderi=, Edwards, Plate XXX, Fig. 48, ♂; Fig. 49, ♀;
Plate V, Fig. 41, _chrysalis_ (Scudder's Blue).
_Butterfly._--The commonest Eastern representative of the group to which
the preceding four or five and the following three species belong. On
the upper side the male cannot be distinguished from _L. melissa_; the
female is darker and has only a few orange crescents on the outer margin
of the hind wing. On the under side the wings are shining white, the
spots are much reduced in size, the large orange spots found in _L.
melissa_ are replaced by quite small yellowish or ochreous spots, and
the patches of metallic scales defining them externally are very minute.
Expanse, 1.00-1.10 inch.
_Early Stages._--These are accurately described by Dr. Scudder in his
great work, "The Butterflies of New England," and by others. The
caterpillar feeds upon the lupine, and probably other leguminous plants.
It is widely distributed through the basin of the St. Lawrence, the
region of the Great Lakes, and northward as far as British Columbia,
being also found on the Catskill Mountains. I have found it very common
at times about Saratoga, New York.
(26) =Lycæna acmon=, Doubleday and Hewitson, Plate XXXI, Fig. 27, ♂;
Fig. 28, ♀ (Acmon).
_Butterfly._--The plate gives a good representation of the male and the
female of this pretty species, which may at a glance be distinguished
from all its allies by the broad orange-red band on the hind wings,
marked by small black spots. On the under side it is marked much as _L.
melissa_. Expanse, .90-1.10 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
It is found from Arizona to Washington and Montana.
(27) =Lycæna aster=, Plate XXX, Fig. 40, ♂; Fig. 46, ♀; Fig. 47, ♂,
_under side_ (The Aster Blue).
_Butterfly._--On the under side this species is very like _enoptes_ and
other allied species. The male looks like a dwarfed specimen of _L.
scudderi_. The female is dull bluish-gray above, with black spots on the
outer margins of the wing, most distinct on the secondaries, and,
instead of a band of orange spots before them, a diffuse band of blue
spots, paler than the surrounding parts of the wing. Expanse, .95-1.00
inch.
_Early Stages._--These furnish a field for investigation.
The insect is reported thus far only from Newfoundland, from which
locality I obtained, through the purchase of the Mead collection, a
large and interesting series.
(28) =Lycæna annetta=, Mead, Plate XXXII, Fig. 13, ♂; Fig. 14, ♀
(Annetta).
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXII |
| |
| 1. _Lycæna speciosa_, Henry Edwards, ♂. |
| 2. _Lycæna speciosa_, Henry Edwards, ♀, |
| _under side_. |
| 3. _Lycæna hanno_, Stoll, ♂, _under side_. |
| 4. _Lycæna isophthalma_, Herrich-Schäffer, ♂. |
| 5. _Lycæna exilis_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 6. _Lycæna theonus_, Lucas, ♀. |
| 7. _Lycæna amyntula_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 8. _Lycæna amyntula_, Boisduval, ♀. |
| 9. _Lycæna aquilo_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 10. _Lycæna aquilo_, Boisduval, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 11. _Lycæna battoides_, Behr, ♂. |
| 12. _Lycæna comyntas_, Godart, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 13. _Lycæna annetta_, Mead, ♂. |
| 14. _Lycæna annetta_, Mead, ♀. |
| 15. _Lycæna podarce_, Felder, ♂. |
| 16. _Lycæna podarce_, Felder, ♀. |
| 17. _Lycæna rustica_, Edwards, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 18. _Lycæna lycea_, Edwards, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 19. _Lycæna beteronea_, Boisduval, ♀, |
| _under side_. |
| 20. _Thecla melinus_, Hübner, ♂. |
| 21. _Nathalis iole_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 22. _Nathalis iole_, Boisduval, ♀. |
| 23. _Euchloë creusa_, Dbl.-Hew., ♂. |
| 24. _Euchloë ausonides_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 25. _Euchloë ausonides_, Boisduval, ♀. |
| 26. _Euchloë cethura_, Felder, ♂. |
| 27. _Euchloë cethura_, Felder, ♀. |
| 28. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 29. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, ♀. |
| 30. _Euchloë lanceolata_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 31. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, var. _reakirti_, |
| Edwards, ♂. |
| 32. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, var. _reakirti_, |
| Edwards, ♀. |
| 33. _Euchloë pima_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 34. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, var. _julia_, |
| Edwards, ♂. |
| 35. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, var. _stella_, |
| Edwards, ♂. |
| 36. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, var. _stella_, |
| Edwards, ♀. |
| 37. _Euchloë genutia_, Fabricius, ♂. |
| 38. _Euchloë genutia_, Fabricius, ♀. |
| 39. _Euchloë olympia_, Edwards, var. _rosa_, |
| Edwards, ♂, _under side_. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXII.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
_Butterfly._--The male closely resembles the male of _L. melissa_ on
the upper side. The female is paler than the male, which is unusual in
this genus, and has a "washed-out" appearance. On the under side the
markings are very like those found in _L. scudderi_. Expanse, 1.15 inch.
_Early Stages._--Entirely unknown.
The types which I possess came from Utah.
(29) =Lycæna pseudargiolus=, Boisduval and Leconte, Plate XXXI, Fig. 6,
♂; Fig. 7, ♀; Plate XXX, Fig. 32, ♂, _under side_; Plate V, Figs. 36,
43, 44, _chrysalis_ (The Common Blue).
_Butterfly._--This common but most interesting insect has been made the
subject of most exhaustive and elaborate study by Mr. W.H. Edwards, and
the result has been to show that it is highly subject to variation. It
illustrates the phenomena of polymorphism most beautifully. The
foregoing references to the plate cite the figures of the typical summer
form. In addition to this form the following forms have received names:
(_a_) Winter form =lucia=, Kirby, Plate XXXI, Fig. 1, ♂; Plate XXX, Fig.
20, ♂, _under side_. This appears in New England in the early spring
from overwintering chrysalids, and is characterized by the brown patch
on the middle of the hind wing on the under side.
(_b_) Winter form =marginata=, Edwards, Plate XXXI, Fig. 2, ♂; Fig. 3,
♀; Plate XXX, Fig. 19, ♂, _under side_. This appears at the same time
as the preceding form. The specimens figured in the plate were taken in
Manitoba. This form is characterized by the dark margins of the wings
on the under side.
(_c_) Winter form =violacea=, Edwards, Plate XXXI, Fig. 5, ♂. This is the
common winter form. The spots below are distinct, but never fused or
melted together, as in the two preceding forms.
(_d_) Form =nigra=, Edwards, Plate XXXI, Fig. 4, ♂. The wings on the
under side are as in _violacea_, but are black above. It is found in
West Virginia and occurs also in Colorado.
(_e_) Summer form =neglecta=, Edwards, Plate XXXI, Fig. 8, ♂; Fig. 9,
♀. This is smaller than the typical form _pseudargiolus_, also has the
dark spots on the under side of the wings more distinct, and the hind
wings, especially in the female, paler.
[Illustration FIG. 136.--Neuration of _Lycæna pseudargiolus_, enlarged.
Typical of subgenus _Cyaniris_, Dalman.]
(_f_) Southern form =piasus=, Plate XXXI, Fig. 10, ♂. This form, which is
uniformly darker blue on the upper side than the others, is found in
Arizona.
There are still other forms which have been named and described.
_Early Stages._--These have been traced through all stages with minutest
care. The egg is delineated in this book on p. 4, Fig. 7. The
caterpillar is slug-shaped, and feeds on the tender leaves and petals of
a great variety of plants.
The range of the species is immense. It extends from Alaska to Florida,
and from Anticosti to Arizona.
(30) =Lycæna amyntula=, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 7, ♂; Fig. 8, ♀
(The Western Tailed Blue).
_Butterfly._--Closely resembling _L. comyntas_, of which it may be only
a slightly modified Western form. Until the test of breeding has been
applied we cannot be sure of this. The figures in the plate give a very
good representation of the upper side of the wings of this species.
_Early Stages._--But little has been found out concerning these.
It ranges from the eastern foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific in British America and the northern tier of Western States.
(31) =Lycæna comyntas=, Godart, Plate XXXI, Fig. 29, ♂; Fig. 30, ♀;
Plate XXXII, Fig. 12, ♂, _under side_; Plate V, Figs. 42, 47, 48,
_chrysalis_ (The Eastern Tailed Blue).
_Butterfly._--The blue of the upper side of the male in the plate is too
dark; but the female and the under side of the wings are accurately
delineated. The species is generally tailed, but specimens without tails
occur. Expanse, 1.00-1.10 inch.
_Early Stages._--These are well known and have been fully described. The
caterpillar feeds on leguminous plants.
This delicate little species ranges from the valley of the Saskatchewan
to Costa Rica, and from the Atlantic to the foot-hills of the Western
Cordilleras. It is common in the Middle and Western States, flitting
about roadsides and weedy forest paths.
[Illustration FIG. 137.--Neuration of _Lycæna comyntas_, enlarged.
Typical of the subgenus _Everes_, Hübner.]
(32) =Lycæna isola=, Reakirt, Plate XXX, Fig. 33, ♀, _under side_; Fig.
38, ♀ (Reakirt's Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male on the upper side is pale lilac-blue, with the
outer borders and the ends of the veins narrowly dusky. The female is
brownish-gray on the upper side, with the wings at their base glossed
with blue. In both sexes there is a rather conspicuous black spot on the
margin of the hind wings between the first and second median nervules.
The under side is accurately depicted in our plate, to which the student
may refer. Expanse, 1.00 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The species occurs in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico.
(33) =Lycæna hanno=, Stoll, Plate XXXII, Fig. 3, ♂, _under side_ (The
Florida Blue).
_Butterfly._--Larger than the preceding species, on the upper side
resembling _L. isola_; but the blue of the male is not lilac, but bright
purplish, and the female is much darker. On the under side a striking
distinction is found in the absence on the fore wing of the postmedian
band of large dark spots so conspicuous in _L. isola_. Expanse, .85
inch.
_Early Stages._--We have no information as to these.
The insect occurs in Florida and throughout the Antilles and Central
America.
(34) =Lycæna isophthalma=, Herrich-Schäffer, Plate XXXII, Fig. 4, ♂
(The Dwarf Blue).
_Butterfly._--Light brown on the upper side in both sexes, with the
outer margin of the hind wings set with a row of dark spots, which on
the under side are defined by circlets of metallic scales. The under
side is pale brown, profusely marked by light spots and short bands.
Expanse, .75 inch.
_Early Stages._--Up to this time we have learned very little concerning
them.
The species occurs in the Gulf States and the Antilles.
(35) =Lycæna exilis=, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 5, ♂ (The Pygmy
Blue).
_Butterfly._--On the upper side this, which is the smallest of North
American butterflies, very closely resembles the foregoing species, but
may be instantly distinguished by the white spot at the inner angle of
the fore wing and the white fringes of the same wing near the apex. The
hind wings on the under side are set with a marginal series of dark
spots ringed about with metallic scales. Expanse, .65 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The Pygmy is found in the Gulf States and throughout tropical America.
(36) =Lycæna ammon=, Lucas, Plate XXXI, Fig. 31, ♀; Plate XXX, Fig. 45,
♀, _under side_ (The Indian River Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male is brilliant lilac-blue on the upper side; the
female shining violet-blue, with very dark and wide black borders on the
fore wings and one or two conspicuous black eye-spots near the anal
angle of the hind wings, each surmounted by a carmine crescent. The
figure in Plate XXX gives a correct representation of the under side.
Expanse, .95-1.10 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
This beautiful little insect is not uncommon in southern Florida, and
also occurs in the Antilles and tropical America.
(37) =Lycæna marina=, Reakirt, Plate XXXI, Fig. 32, ♀; Plate XXX, Fig.
27, ♀, _under side_ (The Marine Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male, on the upper side, is pale dusky-lilac, the dark
bands of the lower side appearing faintly on the upper side. The female
is dark brown on the upper side, with the wings at the base shot with
bright lilac-blue; the dark bands on the disk in this sex are prominent,
especially on the fore wings. The under side of the wings is accurately
depicted in Plate XXX and therefore requires no description. Expanse,
1.10 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
_Marina_ is found in Texas, Arizona, southern California, and southward.
(38) =Lycæna theonus=, Lucas, Plate XXXII, Fig. 6, ♀ (The West Indian
Blue).
_Butterfly._--The male is shining lavender-blue, this color glossing the
dark outer borders of the wings; the female is white, with the outer
costal borders heavily blackish, the primaries shot with shining
sky-blue toward the base. On the under side the wings are crossed by
dark bands of spots, arranged much as in _L. marina_, but darker. The
hind wings, near the anal angle, have conspicuous eye-spots both above
and below. Expanse, .80 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
This lovely insect is found in the Gulf States and all over the hot
lands of the New World.
SIZE
Size, like wealth, is only relative. The farmer who owns a hundred acres
appears rich to the laborer whom he employs to cut his wheat; but many a
millionaire spends in one month as much as would purchase two such
farms. The earth seems great to us, and the sun still greater; but
doubtless there are suns the diameter of which is equal to the distance
from the earth to the sun, in which both earth and sun would be
swallowed up as mere drops in an ocean of fire. In the animal kingdom
there are vast disparities in size, and these disparities are revealed
in the lower as well as in the higher classes. In the class of mammals
we find tiny mice and great elephants; in the insect world we find
beetles which are microscopic in size, and, not distantly related to
them, beetles as large as a clenched fist. The disparity between a
field-mouse and a sulphur-bottomed whale is no greater than the
disparity in size which exists between the smallest and the largest of
the beetle tribe. And so it is with the lepidoptera. It would take
several thousands of the Pygmy Blue, _Lycæna exilis_, to equal in weight
one of the great bird-wing butterflies of the Australian tropics. The
greatest disparity in size in the order of the lepidoptera is not,
however, shown in the butterflies, but among the moths. There are moths
the wings of which do not cover more than three sixteenths of an inch in
expanse, and there are moths with great bulky bodies and wings spreading
from eight to nine inches. It would require ten thousand of the former
to equal in weight one of the latter, and the disproportion in size is
as great as that which exists between a shrew and a hippopotamus, or
between a minnow and a basking-shark.
It is said that, taking the sulphur-bottomed whale as the representative
of the most colossal development of flesh and blood now existing on land
or in the sea, and then with the microscope reaching down into the realm
of protozoan life, the common blow-fly will be ascertained to occupy the
middle point on the descending scale. Man is, therefore, not only
mentally, but even physically, a great creature, though he stands
sometimes amazed at what he regards as the huge proportions of other
creatures belonging to the vertebrates.
FAMILY IV
PAPILIONIDÆ (THE SWALLOWTAILS AND ALLIES)
The butterflies of this family in both sexes are provided with six
ambulatory feet. The caterpillars are elongate, and in the genera
_Papilio_ and _Ornithoptera_ have osmateria, or protrusive scent-organs,
used for purposes of defense.
The chrysalids in all the genera are more or less elongate, attached at
the anal extremity, and held in place by a girdle of silk, but they
never lie appressed to the surface upon which pupation takes place, as
is true in the _Erycinidæ_ and _Lycænidæ_.
SUBFAMILY PIERINÆ (THE SULPHURS AND WHITES)
"Fly, white butterflies, out to sea,
Frail pale wings for the winds to try;
Small white wings that we scarce can see Fly.
Here and there may a chance-caught eye
Note, in a score of you, twain or three
Brighter or darker of tinge or dye;
Some fly light as a laugh of glee,
Some fly soft as a long, low sigh:
All to the haven where each would be,--Fly."
SWINBURNE.
_Butterfly._--For the most part medium-sized or small butterflies, white
or yellow in color, with dark marginal markings. In many genera the
subcostal vein of the fore wing has five, or even in some cases six
nervules, and the upper radial is lacking in this wing.
_Early Stages._--The eggs are spindle-shaped, marked with vertical
ridges and cross-lines. The caterpillars are cylindrical, relatively
long, generally green in color, longitudinally striped with darker or
paler lines. The chrysalids are generally more or less pointed at the
head, with the wing-cases in many of the genera greatly developed on the
ventral side, forming a deep, keel-shaped projection upon this surface.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXIII |
| |
| 1. _Catopsilia agarithe_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 2. _Catopsilia eubule_, Linnæus, ♂. |
| 3. _Catopsilia eubule_, Linnæus, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 4. _Catopsilia philea_, Linnæus, ♂. |
| 5. _Colias eurytheme_, Boisduval, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 6. _Pyrameis huntera_, Fabricius, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXIII.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
This subfamily is very large, and is enormously developed in the tropics
of both hemispheres. Some of the genera are very widely distributed in
temperate regions, especially the genera _Pieris_ and _Colias_.
Genus DISMORPHIA, Hübner
"I saw him run after a gilded butterfly; and when he caught it, he
let it go again; and after it again; and over and over he comes,
and up again; catched it again." SHAKESPEARE, _Coriolanus_.
_Butterfly._--The butterflies are medium sized, varying much in the form
of wing, in some species greatly resembling other _Pierinæ_ in outline,
but more frequently resembling the Ithomiid and Heliconiid butterflies,
which they mimic. Some of them represent transitional forms between the
type commonly represented in the genus _Pieris_ and the forms found in
the two above-mentioned protected groups. The eyes are not prominent.
The palpi are quite small. The basal joint is long, the middle joint
oval, and the third joint small, oval, or slightly club-shaped. The
antennæ are long, thin, terminating in a gradually enlarged
spindle-shaped club; the fore wings being sometimes oval, more
frequently elongated, twice, or even three times, as long as broad,
especially in the male sex; the apex pointed, falcate, or rounded. The
cell is long and narrow. The first subcostal vein varies as to location,
rising either before or after the end of the cell, and, in numerous
cases, coalescing with the costal vein, as is shown in the cut.
_Early Stages._--Of the early stages of these interesting insects we
have no satisfactory knowledge.
[Illustration FIG. 138.--Neuration of the genus _Dismorphia_.]
The species of the genus belong exclusively to the tropical regions of
the New World. There are about a hundred species which have already been
named and described, and undoubtedly there are many more which remain to
be discovered. These insects can always be distinguished from the
protected genera which they mimic by the possession of six
well-developed ambulatory feet in both sexes, the protected genera being
possessed of only four feet adapted to walking.
(1) =Dismorphia melite=, Linnæus, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 17, ♂; Fig. 18, ♀
(The Mime).
_Butterfly._--The figures in the plate make a description of the upper
side unnecessary. On the under side the wings of the male are shining
white, except the costa, which is evenly dull ochreous from the base to
the apex. The hind wings are ochreous, mottled with pale brown. The
female, on the under side, has the fore wings very pale yellow, with the
black spots of the upper side reproduced; the hind wings are deeper
yellow, mottled with pale-brown spots and crossed by a moderately broad
transverse pale-brown band of the same color.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The species is credited to our fauna on the authority of Reakirt. It is
abundant in Mexico. It mimics certain forms of _Ithomiinæ_.
Genus NEOPHASIA, Behr
"It was an hour of universal joy.
The lark was up and at the gate of heaven,
Singing, as sure to enter when he came;
The butterfly was basking in my path,
His radiant wings unfolded."
ROGERS.
_Butterfly._--Medium sized, white in color, more nearly related in the
structure of its wings to the European genus _Aporia_ than to any other
of the American pieridine genera. The upper radial is lacking, and the
subcostal is provided with five branches, the first emitted well before
the end of the cell; the second likewise emitted before the end of the
cell and terminating at the apex; the third, fourth, and fifth rising
from a common stalk at the outer upper angle of the cell.
[Illustration FIG. 139.--Neuration of the genus _Neophasia_.]
_Early Stages._--The egg is flask-shaped, fluted on the sides, recalling
the shape of the "pearl-top" lamp-chimney. The caterpillar, in its
mature form, is about an inch long. The body is cylindrical, terminating
in two short anal tails. The color is dark green, with a broad white
band on each side, and a narrow band of white on the back. The feet are
black, and the prolegs greenish-yellow. The chrysalis is dark green,
striped with white, resembling the chrysalids of the genus _Colias_,
but somewhat more slender. The caterpillar feeds upon conifers. But one
species is known.
(1) =Neophasia menapia=, Felder, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 7, ♂ (The Pine White).
_Butterfly._--The insect on the under side sometimes has the outer
margin of the secondaries marked with spots of bright pinkish-red,
resembling in this style of coloration certain species of the genus
_Delias_ of the Indo-Malayan fauna.
_Early Stages._--These have been thoroughly described by Edwards in his
third volume. The caterpillar infests the pine-trees and firs of the
northern Pacific States. The larva lets itself down by a silken thread,
often a hundred feet in length, and pupates on the ferns and shrubbery
at the foot of the trees. It sometimes works great damage to the pine
woods.
Genus TACHYRIS, Wallace
"The virtuoso thus, at noon,
Broiling beneath a July sun,
The gilded butterfly pursues
O'er hedge and ditch, through gaps and mews;
And, after many a vain essay
To captivate the tempting prey,
Gives him at length the lucky pat,
And has him safe beneath his hat;
Then lifts it gently from the ground;
But, ah! 't is lost as soon as found.
Culprit his liberty regains,
Flits out of sight, and mocks his pains."
COWPER.
This genus, which includes about seventy species, may be distinguished
from all other genera belonging to the _Pierinæ_ by the two stiff
brush-like clusters of hairs which are found in the male sex attached to
the abdominal clasps. All of the species belonging to the genus are
found in the Old World, with exception of the species described in this
book, which has a wide range throughout the tropical and subtropical
regions of the New World. The peculiarities of neuration are well shown
in the accompanying cut, in which the hind wing has been somewhat unduly
magnified in proportion to the fore wing.
_Early Stages._--The life-history of our species has not been thoroughly
studied, but we have ascertained enough of the early stages of various
species found in the tropics of the Old World to know that there is a
very close relationship between this genus and that which follows in our
classification.
(1) =Tachyris ilaire=, Godart, Plate XXXV, Fig. 4, ♂; Fig. 5, ♀ (The
Florida White).
_Butterfly._--The hind wings of the male on the under side, which is not
shown in the plate, are very pale saffron. The under side of the wings
in the female is pearly-white, marked with bright orange-yellow at the
base of the primaries. A melanic form of the female sometimes occurs in
which the wings are almost wholly dull blackish on both sides.
_Early Stages._--We know, as yet, but little of these.
The insect is universally abundant in the tropics of America, and occurs
in southern Florida.
[Illustration FIG. 140.--Neuration of the genus _Tachyris_. Hind wing
relatively enlarged.]
Genus PIERIS, Schrank
(The Whites)
"And there, like a dream in a swoon, I swear
I saw Pan lying,--his limbs in the dew
And the shade, and his face in the dazzle and glare
Of the glad sunshine; while everywhere,
Over, across, and around him blew
Filmy dragon-flies hither and there,
And little white butterflies, two and two.
In eddies of odorous air."
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.
_Butterfly._--Medium-sized butterflies, white in color, marked in many
species on both the upper and under sides with dark brown. The antennæ
are distinctly clubbed, moderate in length. The palpi are short,
delicate, compressed, with the terminal joint quite short and pointed.
The subcostal vein of the primaries has four branches, the first
subcostal arising before the end of the cell, the second at its upper
outer angle, and the third and fourth from a common stem emitted at the
same point. The outer margin of the primaries is straight, the outer
margin of the secondaries more or less evenly rounded.
_Egg._--The egg is spindle-shaped, with vertical raised ridges.
_Caterpillar._--Elongate, the head hemispherical, very slightly, if at
all, larger in diameter than the body. The caterpillars feed upon
cruciferous plants.
_Chrysalis._--Attached by the anal extremity, and held in place by a
silk girdle; slightly concave on the ventral side; convex on the dorsal
side, with a distinct or pointed hump-like projection on the thorax. At
the point where the thoracic and abdominal segments unite in some
species there is in addition a distinct keel-shaped eminence, and at the
head the chrysalis is furnished with a short conical projection.
[Illustration FIG. 141.--Neuration of the genus _Pieris_.]
(1) =Pieris monuste=, Linnæus, Plate XXXV, Fig. 1, ♂; Fig. 2, ♀ (The
Great Southern White).
_Butterfly._--The upper side of the wings, depicted in the plate,
requires no comment. On the under side the black marginal markings of
the primaries reappear as pale-brown markings. The hind wing is pale
yellow or grayish-saffron, crossed by an ill-defined pale-brown
transverse band of spots, and has the veins marked with pale brown, and
interspersed between them pale-brown rays on the interspaces.
_Early Stages._--What we know of these is derived principally from Abbot
through Boisduval, and there is opportunity here for investigation.
The species has a wide range through tropical America, and is not
uncommon in the Gulf States.
(2) =Pieris beckeri=, Edwards, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 8, ♂; Fig. 9, ♀
(Becker's White).
_Butterfly._--This species, through the green markings of the under side
of the hind wings, concentrated in broad blotches on the disk, recalls
somewhat the species of the genus _Euchloë_, and by these markings it
may easily be discriminated from all other allied species.
_Early Stages._--These have been in part described by Edwards in the
second volume of "The Butterflies of North America."
The species ranges from Oregon to central California, and eastward to
Colorado.
(3) =Pieris occidentalis=, Reakirt, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 13, ♂ (The Western
White).
_Butterfly._--Not unlike the preceding species on the upper side, but
easily distinguished by the markings of the under side of the wings,
which are not concentrated in blotches, but extend as broad longitudinal
rays on either side of the veins from the base to the outer margin.
_Early Stages._--These require further investigation. We do not, as yet,
know much about them.
The species has a wide range in the mountain States of the West, where
it replaces the Eastern _P. protodice_.
(4) =Pieris protodice=, Boisduval and Leconte, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 10, ♂;
Fig. 11, ♀; Plate II, Fig. 7, _larva_; Plate V, Figs. 66, 67,
_chrysalis_ (see also p. 12, Fig. 26) (The Common White).
_Butterfly._--Allied to the foregoing species, especially to _P.
occidentalis_; but it may always be quickly distinguished by the pure,
immaculate white color of the hind wings of the male on the under side,
and by the fact that in the female the hind wings are more lightly
marked along the veins by gray-green.
Winter form =vernalis=, Edwards, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 18, ♂. What has been
said of the typical or summer form does not hold true of this winter
form, which emerges from chrysalids which have withstood the cold from
autumn until spring. The butterflies emerging from these are generally
dwarfed in size, and in the males have the dark spots on the upper side
of the wings almost obsolete or greatly reduced, and the dark markings
along the veins on the under side well developed, as in _P.
occidentalis_. The females, on the contrary, show little reduction in
the size and intensity of any of the spots, but rather a deepening of
color, except in occasional instances.
_Early Stages._--The life-history of this insect has often been
described. The caterpillar feeds upon cruciferous plants, like many of
its congeners.
It ranges from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, from Canada to the
Gulf States.
(5) =Pieris sisymbri=, Boisduval, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 12, ♂ (The California
White).
_Butterfly._--Smaller in size than the preceding species, with the
veins of the fore wing black, contrasting sharply with the white
ground-color. All the spots are smaller and more regular, especially
those on the outer margin of the fore wing, giving the edge an evenly
checkered appearance. On the under side the hind wings have the veins
somewhat widely bordered with gray, interrupted about the middle of the
wing by the divergence of the lines on either side of the veins in such
a way as to produce the effect of a series of arrow-points with their
barbs directed toward the base. The female is like the male, with the
markings a little heavier. A yellow varietal form is sometimes found.
_Early Stages._--The life-history is given and illustrated by Edwards in
his second volume. The caterpillar, which is green, banded with black,
feeds upon the _Cruciferæ_.
(6) =Pieris napi=, Esper, Plate II, Figs. 8, 9, _larva_; Plate V, Figs.
57, 63, 64, _chrysalis_ (The Mustard White).
_Butterfly._--This is a Protean species, of which there exist many
forms, the result of climatic and local influences. Even the larva and
chrysalis show in different regions slight microscopic differences, for
the influences which affect the imago are operative also in the early
stages of development. The typical form which is found in Europe is
rarely found in North America, though I have specimens from the northern
parts of the Pacific coast region which are absolutely indistinguishable
from European specimens in color and markings. I give a few of the
well-marked forms or varieties found in North America to which names
have been given.
(_a_) Winter form =oleracea-hiemalis=, Harris, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 16, ♂
(see also p. 5, Fig. 9, and p. 13, Fig. 27). The wings are white above
in both sexes. Below the fore wings are tipped with pale yellow, and the
entire hind wing is yellow. The veins at the apex of the fore wings and
on the hind wings are margined with dusky.
(_b_) Aberrant form =virginiensis=, Edwards, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 14, ♂. The
wings are white above, slightly tipped at the apex of the fore wings
with blackish. Below the wings are white, faintly, but broadly, margined
with pale dusky.
(_c_) Form =pallida=, Scudder, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 15, ♀. In this form the
wings are white above and below, with a small black spot on the fore
wing of the female above, and hardly any trace of dark shading along the
veins on the under side.
(_d_) Alpine or arctic form =bryoniæ=, Ochsenheimer, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 17,
♀. In this form, which is found in Alaska, Siberia, and the Alps of
Europe, the veins above and below are strongly bordered with blackish,
and the ground-color of the hind wings and the apex of the fore wings on
the under side are distinctly bright yellow.
(_e_) Newfoundland variety =acadica=, Edwards, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 19, ♀.
This form is larger than the others, and in markings intermediate
between _pallida_ and _bryoniæ_. The under side in both sexes and the
upper side in the female are distinctly yellowish.
_Early Stages._--These are well known and have often been described, but
some of the varietal forms need further study.
The species ranges from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Alaska to
the northern limits of the Gulf States.
(7) =Pieris rapæ=, Linnæus, Plate XXXV, Fig. 3, ♀; Plate II, Figs. 11,
12, _larva_; Plate V, Figs. 58, 65, _chrysalis_ (The Cabbage-butterfly).
_Butterfly._--This common species, which is a recent importation from
Europe, scarcely needs any description. It is familiar to everyone. The
story of its introduction and the way in which it has spread over the
continent has been well told by Dr. Scudder in the second volume of "The
Butterflies of New England," p. 1175. The insect reached Quebec about
1860. How it came no man knows; perhaps in a lot of cabbages imported
from abroad; maybe a fertile female was brought over as a stowaway. At
all events, it came. Estimates show that a single female of this species
might be the progenitor in a few generations of millions. In 1863 the
butterfly was already common about Quebec, and was spreading rapidly. By
the year 1881 it had spread over the eastern half of the continent, the
advancing line of colonization reaching from Hudson Bay to southern
Texas. In 1886 it reached Denver, as in 1884 it had reached the head
waters of the Missouri, and it now possesses the cabbage-fields from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, to the incalculable damage of all who provide
the raw material for sauer-kraut. The injury annually done by the
caterpillar is estimated to amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXIV |
| |
| 1. _Euchloë cethura_, Felder, var. |
| _morrisoni_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 2. _Euchloë creusa_, Dbl.-Hew., ♀, |
| _under side_. |
| 3. _Euchloë ausonides_, Boisduval, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 4. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, var. _flora_, |
| Wright, ♂. |
| 5. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, var. _flora_, |
| Wright, ♀. |
| 6. _Euchloë sara_, Boisduval, var. _julia_, |
| Edwards, ♀, _under side_. |
| 7. _Neophasia menapia_, Felder, ♂. |
| 8. _Pieris beckeri_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 9. _Pieris beckeri_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 10. _Pieris protodice_, Boisd.-Lec., ♂. |
| 11. _Pieris protodice_, Boisd.-Lec., ♀. |
| 12. _Pieris sisymbri_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 13. _Pieris occidentalis_, Reakirt, ♂. |
| 14. _Pieris virginiensis_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 15. _Pieris napi_, Esper, var. _pallida_, |
| Scudder, ♀. |
| 16. _Pieris napi_, Esper, var. _oleracea-hiemalis_, |
| Harris, ♂. |
| 17. _Pieris napi_, Esper, var. _bryoniæ_, |
| Ochsenheimer, ♀. |
| 18. _Pieris protodice_, Boisd.-Lec., var. |
| _vernalis_, |
| Edwards, ♂. |
| 19. _Pieris napi_, Esper, var. _acadica_, |
| Edwards, ♀. |
| 20. _Kricogonia lyside_, Godart, ♂. |
| 21. _Kricogonia lyside_, Godart, ♀. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXIV.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
INSTINCT
Two city fathers were standing in the market-place beside a pile of
cabbages. A naturalist, who was their friend, came by. As he approached,
a cabbage-butterfly, fluttering about the place lit on the straw hat
of one of the dignitaries. The naturalist, accosting him, said: "Friend,
do you know what rests upon your head?" "No," said he. "A butterfly."
"Well," said he, "that brings good luck." "Yes," replied the naturalist;
"and the insect reveals to me the wonderful instinct with which nature
has provided it." "How is that?" quoth the city father. "It is a
cabbage-butterfly that rests upon your head."
Genus NATHALIS, Boisduval
"The butterflies, gay triflers
Who in the sunlight sport."
HEINE.
_Butterfly._--The butterfly is very small, yellow, margined with black.
The upper radial vein in the fore wing is wanting. The subcostal has
four nervules, the third and fourth rising from a common stalk emitted
from the upper outer corner of the cell, the first and second from
before the end of the cell. The precostal vein on the hind wing is
reduced to a small swelling beyond the base. The palpi are slender; the
third joint long and curved; the second joint oval; the third fine,
spindle-shaped, and pointed. The antennæ are rather short, with a
somewhat thick and abruptly developed club.
[Illustration FIG. 142.--Neuration of the genus _Nathalis_, enlarged.]
_Early Stages._--Very little is known of these.
Three species belong to this genus, which is confined to the subtropical
regions of the New World, one species only invading the region of which
this volume treats.
(1) =Nathalis iole=, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 21, ♂; Fig. 22, ♀
(The Dwarf Yellow).
_Butterfly._--This little species, which cannot be mistaken, and which
requires no description, as the plate conveys more information
concerning it than could be given in mere words, ranges from southern
Illinois and Missouri to Arizona and southern California. Its
life-history has not yet been described. Expanse, 1.00-1.25 inch.
The identification of this species with _N. felicia_, Poey, which is
found in Cuba, is doubtfully correct. The two species are very closely
allied, but, nevertheless, distinct from each other.
Genus EUCHLOË, Hübner
(=Anthocharis= _of authors_)
(The Orange-tips)
"When daffodils begin to peer,
With, heigh! the doxy over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o' the year;
For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale."
SHAKESPEARE.
_Butterfly._--Small butterflies, white in color, with the apical region
of the primaries dark brown, marked with spots and bands of
yellowish-orange or crimson. On the under side the wings are generally
more or less profusely mottled with green spots and striæ.
[Illustration FIG. 143.--Neuration of the genus _Euchloë_].
_Egg._--Spindle-shaped (see p. 4, Fig. 6), laterally marked with raised
vertical ridges, between which are finer cross-lines.
_Caterpillar._--The caterpillar, in its mature stage, is relatively
long, with the head small.
_Chrysalis._--With the head relatively enormously projecting; wing-cases
compressed, and uniting to form a conspicuous keel-shaped projection,
the highest point of which lies at the juncture of the two ends of the
silk girdle where they are attached to the supporting surface.
There are numerous species of this genus, and all are exceedingly
pretty.
(1) =Euchloë sara=, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 28, ♂; Fig. 29, ♀
(Sara).
_Butterfly._--The wings on the upper side in both sexes are shown in the
figures above cited. On the under side the hind wings are marked with
dark irregular patches of greenish-brown scales loosely scattered over
the surface, and having a "mossy" appearance.
There are several forms which are regarded by recent writers as
varieties and may probably be such. Of these we give the following:
(_a_) Variety =reakirti=, Edwards, Plate XXXII, Fig. 31, ♂; Fig. 32, ♀
(Reakirt's Orange-tip) =flora=, Wright, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 4, ♂; Fig. 5,
♀. This form hardly differs at all from the form _sara_, except in
being smaller, and having the margins of the hind wings marked with dark
spots at the ends of the veins.
(_b_) Variety =Stella=, Edwards, Plate XXXII, Fig. 35, ♂; Fig. 36, ♀
(Stella). The females of this form are prevalently yellowish on the
upper side of the wings; otherwise they are marked exactly as the
preceding variety.
(_c_) Variety =julia=, Edwards, Plate XXXII, Fig. 34, ♂; Plate XXXIV,
Fig. 6, ♀, _under side_ (Julia). The only distinction in this form is
the fact that the black bar dividing the red apical patch from the white
on the remainder of the wing is broken, or tends to diminution at its
middle.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The species, in all its forms, belongs to the mountain States of the
Pacific coast. _Flora_, Wright, is regarded by Beutenmüller, who has
given us the latest revision of the genus, as identical with _sara_. It
comes nearer the variety _reakirti_ than any other form, as will be seen
by an examination of the plates which give figures of the types.
Expanse, 1.25-1.75 inch.
(2) =Euchloë ausonides=, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 24, ♂; Fig. 25,
♀; Plate XXXIV, Fig. 3, ♂, _under side_ (Ausonides).
_Butterfly._--On the under side the fore wings are greenish; the hind
wings are marked with three irregular green bands, the outer one forking
into six or seven branches toward the outer and inner margins. Expanse,
1.65-1.90 inch.
_Early Stages._--The larva and chrysalis are described by Edwards in
"The Butterflies of North America," vol. ii. The caterpillar is pale
whitish-green, with dark-green longitudinal stripes on the side and
back. It feeds on cruciferous plants.
_Ausonides_ ranges from Arizona to Alaska, and eastward to Colorado.
(3) =Euchloë creusa=, Doubleday and Hewitson, Plate XXXII, Fig. 23, ♂;
Plate XXXIV, Fig. 2, ♀, _under side_ (Creusa).
_Butterfly._--Similar to the preceding species, but smaller, the white
more lustrous on the under side, and the green markings on the under
side of the wings heavier. Expanse, 1.20-1.40 inch.
_Early Stages._--We know very little of these.
The species is reported from California, Colorado, and Alberta. I
possess a singular varietal form or aberration from Arizona, in which
the black spot on the upper side of the primaries fills the outer half
of the cell.
(4) =Euchloë rosa=, Edwards, Plate XXXII, Fig. 39, ♂, _under side_
(Rosa).
_Butterfly._--Pure white, without any red at the tip of the primaries.
The transapical black band is broken in the middle, and a black bar
closes the cell. The under side is well represented in the plate.
Expanse, 1.35-1.40 inch.
_Early Stages._--Entirely unknown.
The species is found in Texas.
(5) =Euchloë cethura=, Felder, Plate XXXII, Fig. 26, ♂; Fig. 27, ♀;
form =morrisoni=, Edwards, Plate XXXIV, Fig. 1, ♂ (Cethura).
_Butterfly._--This delicate little insect, for the identification of
which the plates will abundantly serve, has been regarded as existing in
two varietal forms, one of which has been named after the indefatigable
collector Morrison, whose death is still lamented by the elder
generation of American entomologists. The varietal form is characterized
by the heavier green markings of the under side of the wings. Expanse,
1.25-1.40 inch.
(6) =Euchloë pima=, Edwards, Plate XXXII, Fig. 33, ♂ (The Pima
Orange-tip).
_Butterfly._--This beautiful and well-marked species, the most brilliant
of the genus, is yellow on the upper side in both sexes. The red of the
upper side appears on the lower side. The hind wings are heavily marked
with solid green bands. Expanse, 1.50 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The only specimens thus far known have come from Arizona.
(7) =Euchloë genutia=, Fabricius, Plate XXXII, Fig. 37, ♂; Fig. 38, ♀;
Plate II, Fig. 5, _larva_; Plate V, Fig. 59, _chrysalis_; Fig. 6, p. 4,
_egg_ (The Falcate Orange-tip).
_Butterfly._--This species is readily recognized by the decidedly
falcate tip of the fore wings. The first brood appears in early spring.
It is single-brooded in the Northern States, but is double-brooded in
the western portions of North Carolina, where I have taken it quite
abundantly late in the autumn. Expanse, 1.30-1.50 inch.
_Early Stages._--The life-history is well known. The caterpillar feeds
on _Sisymbrium_, _Arabis_, _Cardamine_, and other cruciferous plants.
It ranges from New England to Texas, but is not found, so far as is
known, in the regions of the Rocky Mountains and on the Pacific coast.
(8) =Euchloë lanceolata=, Boisduval, Plate XXXII, Fig. 30, ♂
(Boisduval's Marble).
_Butterfly._--The figure gives a correct idea of the upper surface of
the male. The female on the upper side is marked with light-black spots
on the outer margin near the apex. On the under side in both sexes the
apex of the primaries and the entire surface of the secondaries, except
a small spot on the costa, are profusely sprinkled with small brown
scales. The veins of the hind wing are brown. Expanse, 1.65-1.95 inch.
_Early Stages._--The caterpillar, which feeds upon _Turritis_, is green,
shaded on the sides with pale blue, striped laterally with white, and
covered with transverse rows of minute black points, each bearing a
short black bristle. We know nothing of the other stages.
The species ranges from northern California to Alaska.
Genus CATOPSILIA, Hübner
(The Great Sulphurs)
"A golden butterfly, upon whose wings
There must be surely character'd strange things,
* * * * *
Onward it flew, ... then high it soar'd,
And downward suddenly began to dip,
As if, athirst with so much toil, 't would sip
The crystal spout-head; so it did, with touch
Most delicate, as though afraid to smutch
Even with mealy gold the waters clear."
KEATS, _Endymion_.
_Butterfly._--Large butterflies, brilliant lemon-yellow or
orange-yellow, marked with a few darker spots and with a narrow band of
brown, especially in the female sex, on the outer margin of the
primaries. They are very quick and vigorous in flight, more so than is
the case in any of the preceding genera.
_Egg._--The eggs are spindle-shaped, flat at the base, and acutely
pointed, with a few longitudinal ribs and a multitude of delicate
cross-lines.
_Caterpillar._--The caterpillar is relatively long, with the head
small; the segments somewhat moniliform, resembling beads strung
together, the surface covered with a multitude of minute papillæ ranged
in transverse rows.
_Chrysalis._--The chrysalis is strongly concave on the dorsal side, with
the head greatly produced as a long, pointed, conical projection; the
wing-cases are compressed and form a very wide, keel-shaped projection
on the ventral side. This peculiar formation of the wing-cases reaches
its greatest development in this genus.
The butterflies of this genus are mainly tropical. Four or five species,
however, are found in the warmer parts of the United States, and one of
them ranges north as far as northern New Jersey, and has been
occasionally taken even in northern Illinois.
[Illustration FIG. 144.--Neuration of the genus _Catopsilia_.]
(1) =Catopsilia eubule=, Linnæus, Plate XXXIII, Fig. 2, ♂; Fig. 3, ♂,
_under side_; Plate II, Figs. 2, 4, _larva_; Plate V, Figs. 60-62,
_chrysalis_ (The Cloudless Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--This splendid and vigorous butterfly is found from New
England and Wisconsin to Patagonia, being very abundant in the tropics,
where it congregates in great swarms upon moist places by the side of
streams. It haunts in great numbers the orange-groves of the South, and
is very fond of flowers. It is rare on the northern limits of its range,
though quite common on the coast of New Jersey. Expanse, 2.50 inches.
The caterpillar feeds on leguminous plants, but especially upon the
different species of _Cassia_.
(2) =Catopsilia philea=, Linnæus, Plate XXXIII, Fig. 4, ♂ (The
Red-barred Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--This is another noble species of this fine genus, which
includes some of the showiest insects of the subfamily. It may be
readily recognized by the bar of deep orange crossing the cell of the
primaries, and by the orange tint on the outer margin of the hind wings.
Expanse, 3.00-3.50 inches.
_Early Stages._--But little is as yet known of these. The larva feeds on
the same kinds of plants as the larva of _C. eubule_. It occurs in
Texas, and is said to have also been found in Illinois as a straggler.
It is abundant in Mexico, Central America, and southward.
(3) =Catopsilia agarithe=, Boisduval, Plate XXXIII, Fig. 1, ♂ (The Large
Orange Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--About the same size as _C. eubule_, but deep orange on
both sides of the wings. The wings of the female are bordered somewhat
heavily with brown, and are duller in color than those of the male.
Expanse, 2.50-2.75 inches.
_Early Stages._--The caterpillar, which resembles that of _eubule_,
feeds upon various species of _Cassia_. The chrysalis is also much like
that of =eubule=. We need, however, fuller information than that which we
possess, drawn, for the most part, from the pages of authors who wrote
in the last century.
The species occurs in the hot parts of the Gulf States, and is common
throughout tropical America.
Genus KRICOGONIA, Reakirt
_Butterfly._--Medium sized, bright yellow on the upper and lower sides,
with some dark markings, especially in the male. The primaries in the
male are generally quite strongly falcate.
[Illustration FIG. 145.--Neuration of the genus _Kricogonia_.]
_Early Stages._--Nothing has, as yet, been satisfactorily ascertained in
relation to these.
The genus is not large, and is confined to the tropical regions of the
New World, being represented in our fauna in the vicinity of the city of
Brownsville, in Texas.
(1) =Kricogonia lyside=, Godart (form =terissa=, Lucas), Plate XXXIV, Fig.
20, ♂; Fig. 21, ♀ (Lyside).
_Butterfly._--This insect, which may easily be distinguished from all
its allies by its peculiar markings, is found in Florida and Texas, and
is widely spread over the Antilles and tropical America. We know nothing
of its life-history. A number of closely allied forms, reckoned as
species, are known from the Antilles and Central America. They are so
closely related to each other that it is believed that they are possibly
only varieties or local races. We cannot, however, be sure of this until
the test of breeding has been applied. Expanse, 1.90-2.10 inches.
Genus MEGANOSTOMA, Reakirt
(The Dog-face Butterflies)
"Let me smell the wild white rose,
Smell the woodbine and the may;
Mark, upon a sunny day,
Sated from their blossoms rise,
Honey-bees and butterflies."
JEAN INGELOW.
_Butterfly._--Closely resembling those of the following genus, _Colias_,
from which they may be readily distinguished by the more acutely pointed
apex of the fore wings and by the remarkable coloration of these wings
in the male sex, the dark outer borders being disposed upon the lighter
ground-color so as to present the appearance of a rude outline of the
head of a dog, whence these butterflies have sometimes been called the
"dog-face butterflies."
[Illustration FIG. 146.--Neuration of the genus _Meganostoma_.]
_Egg._--Fusiform, strongly pointed at the apex, broader at the base, the
sides marked with a few delicate ridges, between which are numerous
cross-lines.
_Caterpillar._--Elongate, cylindrical, the head relatively small,
striped on either side by a whitish lateral line, each segment having a
transverse darker line. They feed upon leguminous plants.
_Chrysalis._--Pointed at the head, convex on the abdominal segments on
the dorsal side, with a decided hump on the thorax. The wing-covers
unite to form a moderately deep carinate, or keel-shaped, projection on
the ventral side, not, however, nearly as large as in the genus
_Catopsilia_.
But two species of the genus are found within our fauna, one widely
distributed throughout the Southern and Southwestern States, the other
confined to the Pacific coast.
(1) =Meganostoma eurydice=, Boisduval, Plate XXXVI, Fig. 1, ♂; Fig. 2,
♀ (The Californian Dog-face).
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXV |
| |
| 1. _Pieris monuste_, Linnæus, ♂. |
| 2. _Pieris monuste_, Linnæus, ♀. |
| 3. _Pieris rapæ_, Linnæus, ♀. |
| 4. _Tachyris ilaire_, Godart, ♂. |
| 5. _Tachyris ilaire_, Godart, ♀. |
| 6. _Colias alexandra_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 7. _Colias alexandra_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 8. _Colias scudderi_, Reakirt, ♂. |
| 9. _Colias scudderi_, Reakirt, ♀. |
| 10. _Colias interior_, Scudder, ♂. |
| 11. _Colias interior_, Scudder, ♀. |
| 12. _Colias chrysomelas_, Henry |
| Edwards, ♂. |
| 13. _Colias chrysomelas_, Henry |
| Edwards, ♀. |
| 14. _Colias pelidne_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 15. _Colias eriphyle_, Edwards, ♂. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXV.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
_Butterfly._--The splendid purplish iridescence of the fore wings of the
male is only faintly indicated in the plate. This beautiful insect
is peculiar to the Pacific coast, and there is a wide difference in
appearance between the sexes. Expanse, 1.80-2.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--The caterpillar feeds upon _Amorpha californica_. The
life-history has been accurately described, and the various stages
depicted, by Edwards.
(2) =Meganostoma cæsonia=, Stoll, Plate XXXVI, Fig. 3, ♂; Fig. 4, ♀
(The Southern Dog-face).
_Butterfly._--The sexes are much alike in this species, which ranges
widely over the Southern States, and is found even in southern Illinois
and sometimes still farther north. Expanse, 2.25 inches.
_Early Stages._--These have been fully described by various authors,
most carefully by Edwards.
Genus COLIAS, Fabricius
(The Sulphurs)
"Above the arching jimson-weeds flare twos
And twos of sallow-yellow butterflies,
Like blooms of lorn primroses blowing loose
When autumn winds arise."
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
_Butterfly._--Medium-sized butterflies, yellow or orange in color, with
black borders upon the wings. In many species this border is heavier in
the female than in the male.
[Illustration FIG. 147.--Neuration of the genus _Colias_.]
_Egg._--The egg is spindle-shaped, thickest at the middle, tapering at
the apex and at the base, generally attached by an enlarged disk-like
expansion to the point on which it is laid. The upper extremity is
rounded; the sides are marked by small vertical ridges, between which
are delicate cross-lines.
_Caterpillar._--The caterpillars strongly resemble in appearance those
of the preceding genus, from which, superficially, they cannot be
distinguished by any anatomical peculiarities. They feed upon
_Leguminosæ_, and especially upon clover (_Trifolium_).
_Chrysalis._--The chrysalids do not generally differ in appearance from
the chrysalids of the genus _Meganostoma_, though the wing-cases do not
form as high a keel-shaped projection from the ventral side as in that
genus.
This genus is very extensive, being represented throughout the temperate
regions of both hemispheres, and also occurring in the cooler portions
of South America, especially along the ranges of the Andes. One species
is found in temperate South Africa. The brightly colored butterflies,
which are sometimes found congregating in immense numbers in moist
places, are familiar objects, and swarm upon the clover-fields and by
the roadside in the summer months throughout the United States.
(1) =Colias meadi=, Edwards, Plate XXXVI, Fig. 5, ♂; Fig. 6, ♀ (Mead's
Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--The wings on the upper side are orange, greenish on the
under side. The discal spot on the lower side is centered with green.
Expanse, 1.75 inch.
_Early Stages._--The life-history has been written by Edwards, and may
be found in the pages of the "Canadian Entomologist," vol. xxi, p. 41.
The larva feeds on clover.
The species is alpine in its habits, and is found in Colorado from nine
to twelve thousand feet above sea-level.
(2) =Colias elis=, Strecker, Plate XXXVI, Fig. 13, ♂; Fig. 14, ♀
(Strecker's Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--This species is discriminated from the preceding
principally by the narrower black margins on the wings of the male and
the more abundant yellow maculation of the borders in the female.
Expanse, 1.55-1.90 inch.
_Early Stages._--Closely resembling those of the preceding species, of
which it may be only a varietal form.
The habitat of the species is on the lofty peaks of the Western
Cordilleras.
(3) =Colias eurytheme=, Boisduval, Plate XLVIII, Fig. 18, ♀; Plate
XXXIII, Fig. 5, ♂, _under side_; Plate II, Fig. 1, _larva_; Plate V,
Fig. 53, _chrysalis_ (Eurytheme).
_Butterfly._--This species has been made in recent years the
subject of exhaustive study, and has been discovered to be strongly
polymorphic--that is to say, liable to great variation. Not only does
albinism assert itself in the production of white forms, but there are
many seasonal and climatic forms. We are not yet through with our
studies, and there is doubtless much more to be ascertained. The figures
cited above represent the typical form of the species. We have given,
in addition to these, the following forms:
(_a_) Winter form =ariadne=, Edwards, Plate XXXVI, Fig. 7, ♂; Fig. 8,
♀. This form, emerging from chrysalids which have overwintered, is like
the type in having the fore wings tinged with orange. Expanse, 1.75
inch.
(_b_) Winter form =keewaydin=, Edwards, Plate XXXVI, Fig. 9, ♂; Fig. 10,
♀. This is a larger form, more deeply flushed with orange, though not
quite as deeply as shown in the plate. Expanse, 1.85 inch.
(_c_) Summer form =eriphyle=, Edwards, Plate XXXV, Fig. 15, ♂; Plate
XLIII, Fig. 3, ♂, _under side_. This summer form differs from typical
_C. eurytheme_ in being yellow and not laved with orange. Expanse, 2.00
inches.
_Early Stages._--The caterpillar feeds on clover, as do most of the
species of the genus.
The range of _eurytheme_ is very wide. It extends from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, and from Canada to the far South, though rare in the lower
parts of Florida and Texas in the hot lands.
(4) =Colias philodice=, Godart, Plate I (Frontispiece), Fig. 4, ♂; Fig.
5, ♀; Plate II, Fig. 10, _larva_; Plate V, Figs. 54, 55, _chrysalis_
(The Common Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--We are all familiar with this species, the "puddle
butterfly" of our childhood, which sits in swarms on moist places by the
wayside, and makes the clover-fields gay with the flash of yellow wings
in summer. There are many aberrational forms, albinos and negroes, white
forms and dark forms, dwarfed forms and large forms, but in the main the
species is remarkably constant, and seasonal forms and distinctly local
races do not abound as in the case of the preceding species. Expanse, ♂,
1.25-1.80 inch; ♀, 1.60-2.25 inches.
_Early Stages._--The food-plant is clover. The eggs are pale yellow,
changing, after being laid, to crimson. The caterpillar is slender,
green, striped longitudinally with paler green. The chrysalis is pale
green.
The species ranges from New England to Florida, and westward to the
Rocky Mountains.
(5) =Colias chrysomelas=, Henry Edwards, Plate XXXV, Fig. 12, ♂; Fig. 13,
♀ (The Gold-and-black Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--Larger than _C. philodice_. The male on the upper side
is bright lemon-yellow, with broad black margins on both wings. The
female is paler, with the black margin of the hind wing lacking or very
faintly indicated, and the margin of the fore wing much broken up by
yellow spots. On the under side the wings of the male are dusky-orange,
pale yellow on the disk of the primaries; the wings of the female on
this side are pale yellow. Expanse, ♂, 2.00-2.10 inches; ♀, 2.25-2.30
inches.
_Early Stages._--Undescribed.
The home of this species is on the Coast Range of northern California.
(6) =Colias alexandra=, Edwards, Plate XXXV, Fig. 6, ♂; Fig. 7, ♀ (The
Alexandra Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--Larger than _C. philodice_. The male is pale
canary-yellow, with much narrower black borders than the preceding
species. The female is pale yellow or white, without black borders, or,
at most, faint traces of them at the apex of the primaries. On the under
side the wings are silvery-gray, yellow only at the base and on the
inner margin of the primaries. The discal spot on the hind wings is
white. Expanse, ♂, 1.85 inch; ♀, 2.10-2.30 inches.
_Early Stages._--The caterpillar is uniformly yellowish-green, with a
white band on each side, broken with orange-red dashes running through
it. The chrysalis, which resembles that of _C. philodice_ in form, is
yellowish-green, darkest on the dorsal side, and adorned with three
small red dots on the ventral side of the abdomen near the wing-cases.
The caterpillar eats _Astragalus_, _Thermopsis_, and white clover.
Expanse, ♂, 1.90-2.15 inches; ♀, 2.00-2.30 inches.
The species is found in Colorado and the mountain regions to the north
and west of that State.
(7) =Colias interior=, Scudder, Plate XXXV, Fig. 10, ♂; Fig. 11, ♀ (The
Pink-edged Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--The male on the upper side closely resembles _C.
philodice_, but is smaller, the fringes of the wings rose-colored. The
female is pale yellow above, more frequently white, with the tips of the
fore wings lightly marked with blackish. On the under side the fore
wings at the apex and the entire surface of the hind wings are rusty
orange-yellow. The discal spot on the hind wings is silvery, bordered
with rosy-red. Expanse, ♂, 1.30-1.75 inch; ♀, 1.60-2.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--Little is as yet known of these.
The species was first found by Professor Louis Agassiz on the north
shore of Lake Superior. It ranges through a rather narrow belt of
country, through Quebec, Ontario, and westward to the Rocky Mountains
north of the valley of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes.
(8) =Colias scudderi=, Reakirt, Plate XXXV, Fig. 8, ♂; Fig. 9, ♀
(Scudder's Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--The male on the upper side is colored like _C. philodice_,
but the black borders are much wider. The fringes are rosy. The female
is generally white,--very rarely slightly yellow,--with very pale dark
borders, or often without any trace of black on the outer margin of the
wings. On the under side the apex of the fore wings and the entire
surface of the hind wings are greenish-gray. The discal spot of the
secondaries is well silvered and margined with pale red. Expanse,
1.80-2.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--We know but little of these, except that the
caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the huckleberry and the willow.
Scudder's Sulphur is found in Colorado, Utah, Montana, and British
Columbia.
(9) _Colias pelidne_, Boisduval, Plate XXXV, Fig. 14, ♂; Plate XXXVI,
Fig. 15, ♂; Fig. 16, ♀ (The Labrador Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--The male on the upper side is pale yellow, with a greenish
tinge on the hind wings; the black borders are narrow; the fringes are
pink. The female on the upper side is white, with very little or no
black on the outer borders, the black marking being confined to the apex
of the fore wings. On the under side the wings are much as in _C.
interior_, and it is possible that the two forms are varieties of one
and the same species. Expanse, 1.60-1.85 inch.
_Early Stages._--Little is known of these.
_Pelidne_ is rather abundant in Labrador at the proper season, and
ranges thence westward and northward in boreal America.
(10) =Colias nastes=, Boisduval, Plate XXXVI, Fig. 11, ♂; Fig. 12, ♀
(The Arctic Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--Easily recognized in both sexes by the pale-greenish tint
of the wings and the tendency of the outer border of the fore wings of
the male to become divided, like those of the female, by a band of pale
spots. Expanse, 1.50-1.65 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
This is an arctic species, which is found in Labrador, Greenland, the
far North in British America and Alaska, and on the summits of the Rocky
Mountains in British Columbia.
(11) =Colias behri=, Edwards, Plate XXXVI, Fig. 17, ♂ (Behr's Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--This very rare little species may be easily recognized by
the dark-greenish tint of the upper side of the wings and the light spot
on the upper side of the hind wings. The female has the outer borders
dusky like the male, the dusky shade running inward on the lines of the
veins and nervules. Expanse, 1.50 inch.
_Early Stages._--We know little of these.
The insect has hitherto been taken only at considerable elevations among
the Western Sierras, and the peaks and lofty meadows about the Yosemite
Valley have been until recently the classic locality for the species.
There are a number of other species of the genus _Colias_, and numerous
varieties which have been named and described from the western and
northwestern portions of our region; but it requires almost as much
skill to distinguish them as is required to discriminate between the
different species of willows, asters, and goldenrods, among plants, and
we do not think it worth while to burden the student with an account of
these, and of the controversies which are being waged about them. If any
reader of this book becomes entangled in perplexities concerning the
species of _Colias_, the writer will be glad to try to aid him to
correct conclusions by personal conference or correspondence.
Genus TERIAS, Swainson
(The Small Sulphurs)
"Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep."
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXVI |
| |
| 1. _Meganostoma eurydice_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 2. _Meganostoma eurydice_, Boisduval, ♀. |
| 3. _Meganostoma cæsonia_, Stoll, ♂. |
| 4. _Meganostoma cæsonia_, Stoll, ♀. |
| 5. _Colias meadi_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 6. _Colias meadi_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 7. _Colias ariadne_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 8. _Colias ariadne_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 9. _Colias keewaydin_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 10. _Colias keewaydin_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 11. _Colias nastes_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 12. _Colias nastes_, Boisduval, ♀. |
| 13. _Colias elis_, Strecker, ♂. |
| 14. _Colias elis_, Strecker, ♀. |
| 15. _Colias pelidne_, Boisduval (_labradorensis_, |
| Scudder), ♂. |
| 16. _Colias pelidne_, Boisduval (_labradorensis_, |
| Scudder), ♀. |
| 17. _Colias behri_, Edwards, ♂. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXVI.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
_Butterfly._--Small butterflies, bright orange or yellow, margined with
black. They are more delicate in structure and have thinner wings than
most of the genera belonging to the subfamily of the _Pierinæ_. The
outer margin of the wings is generally straight or slightly rounded,
though in a few species the apex is somewhat acuminate. The outer margin
of the hind wings is generally rounded, though in a few species it is
acuminate.
[Illustration FIG. 148.--Neuration of the genus _Terias_.]
_Egg._--Strongly spindle-shaped, pointed and rounded at the base and at
the apex, much swollen at the middle, its sides marked by numerous broad
but slightly raised vertical ridges.
_Caterpillar._--The caterpillars are small, relatively long,
cylindrical, with the head quite small, the thoracic segments somewhat
larger than the others, giving the anterior portion of the body a
slightly humped appearance. They feed upon leguminous plants.
_Chrysalis._--The chrysalis is compressed laterally, with the head
pointed and the wing-cases forming a deep, keel-shaped projection on the
ventral side, more pronounced than in any other genus except
_Catopsilia_.
There are an immense number of species belonging to this genus scattered
through the tropical and subtropical regions of both hemispheres. Many
of the species are dimorphic or polymorphic, and much confusion has
arisen, especially in relation to the Oriental species, on account of
the great tendency to the production of seasonal varieties, many of
which are strikingly different from one another.
(1) =Terias gundlachia=, Poey, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 1, ♂ (Gundlach's
Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--This species is easily recognized by the orange-yellow
tint of the upper side of the wings and the sharply pointed hind wings.
Expanse, 1.80 inch.
_Early Stages._--We know nothing of these.
The species is found in Texas, Arizona, Mexico, and Cuba.
(2) =Terias proterpia=, Fabricius, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 2, ♂ (_Proterpia_).
_Butterfly._--Even deeper orange than the preceding species. The hind
wings are, however, less pointed; the veins and nervules are black at
their ends, and the costal margin of the fore wings is evenly bordered
with black, which does not run down on the outer margin as in _T.
gundlachia_. Expanse, 1.50-1.75 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
_Proterpia_ is found in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico.
(3) =Terias nicippe=, Cramer, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 3, ♂; Fig. 4, ♀; Fig.
5, var. =flava=, ♂; Fig. 6, ♀, _under side_; Plate II, Fig. 6, _larva_;
Plate V, Figs. 51, 52, _chrysalis_ (Nicippe).
_Butterfly._--The plate gives so full a presentation of this common
species as to make a lengthy description unnecessary. It is subject to
considerable variation. I have specimens of many varying shades of
orange and yellow, and a few albino females. The orange form depicted in
Plate XXXVII, Figs. 3 and 4, is typical. The form _flava_ is not
uncommon. Expanse, 1.50-2.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--These are not as well known as they should be in view
of the excessive abundance of the insect in long-settled parts of the
country. The caterpillar feeds upon _Cassia_ in preference to all other
plants, but will eat other leguminosæ.
_Nicippe_ is very rare in New England, but is common south of latitude
40° as far as the Rocky Mountains, and ranges over Cuba, Mexico, and
Guatemala, into Venezuela and even Brazil. It fairly swarms at times in
the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and southern Indiana and Illinois. I
have encountered clouds of it on the wing near Jeffersonville, Indiana,
and thence north along the lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad as far as
Seymour. It is not common in western Pennsylvania, but in former years
was taken rather frequently about Pittsburgh.
(4) =Terias mexicana=, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 7, ♂; Fig. 8, ♀, _under side_
(The Mexican Yellow).
_Butterfly._--Easily distinguished from all other species in our fauna
by the pointed hind wings, margined on the outer border with black, and
by the heavy black border of the fore wings, deeply excised inwardly,
recalling the fore wing of the species of the genus _Meganostoma_.
Expanse, ♂, 1.75 inch; ♀, 1.85 inch.
_Early Stages._--We do not, as yet, know much about these.
_T. mexicana_ is very common in Arizona, and occurs also in Texas. It is
abundant in Mexico.
(5) =Terias damaris=, Felder, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 9, ♂; Fig. 10, ♂,
_under side_ (Damaris).
_Butterfly._--Allied to the preceding species, but readily distinguished
from it by the less deeply excised outer border of the fore wing, by the
fact that the black outer margin of the secondaries extends inwardly
beyond the angulated point of the wing, and by the different color and
style of the markings of the lower side. Expanse, 1.35-1.65 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
_Damaris_ occurs in Arizona, and thence ranges south into Venezuela.
(6) =Terias westwoodi.= Boisduval, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 11, ♂ (Westwood's
Yellow).
_Butterfly._--Pale yellow or orange-yellow, with a narrow black border
on the fore wings, beginning on the costa beyond the middle, and not
quite reaching the inner angle. On the under side the wings are pale
yellow, immaculate, or at the apex of the fore wing and the outer angle
of the hind wing broadly marked with very pale reddish-brown. Expanse,
1.75-2.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
Westwood's Yellow occurs in Texas and Arizona, but is not common. It is
abundant farther south.
(7) =Terias lisa=, Boisduval and Leconte, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 13, ♂; Plate
II, Fig. 3, _larva_; Plate V, Fig. 56, _chrysalis_ (The Little Sulphur).
_Butterfly._--Allied to the three following species, from which it may
at once be distinguished by the absence of the black bar on the inner
margin of the fore wings and by the profusely mottled surface of the
under side of the hind wings. It is subject to considerable variation,
albino females and melanic males being sometimes found, as well as
dwarfed specimens of very small size. Expanse, 1.25-1.60 inch.
_Early Stages._--These have not been thoroughly studied and described,
in spite of the fact that the insect is very common in many easily
accessible localities. The caterpillar feeds on _Cassia_ and on clover.
_T. lisa_ ranges from New England south and west as far as the
foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains, and into Mexico and Honduras. It is
found in the Antilles and Bermuda. An interesting account of the
appearance of a vast swarm of these butterflies in the Bermudas is given
by Jones in "Psyche," vol. i, p. 121:
"Early in the morning of the first day of October last year (1874),
several persons living on the north side of the main island perceived,
as they thought, a cloud coming over from the northwest, which drew
nearer and nearer to the shore, on reaching which it divided into two
parts, one of which went eastward, and the other westward, gradually
falling upon the land. They were not long in ascertaining that what they
had taken for a cloud was an immense concourse of small yellow
butterflies (_Terias lisa_, Boisduval), which flitted about all the open
grassy patches and cultivated grounds in a lazy manner, as if fatigued
after their long voyage over the deep. Fishermen out near the reefs,
some few miles to the north of the island, very early that morning,
stated that numbers of these insects fell upon their boats, literally
covering them. They did not stay long upon the islands, however, only a
few days, but during that time thousands must have fallen victims to the
vigorous appetite of the bluebird (_Sialia sialis_, Baird) and blackbird
(_Mimus carolinensis_, Gray), which were continually preying upon them."
As the nearest point of land is Cape Hatteras, about six hundred miles
distant, it is seen that, weak and feeble as this little creature
appears, it must possess, when aided by favoring winds, great power of
sustained flight.
(8) =Terias elathea=, Cramer, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 12, ♂ (Elathea).
_Butterfly._--Distinguished from its near ally, _T. delia_, by the fact
that the ground-color of the hind wings is white. The female in this, as
in the allied species, is without the black bar on the inner margin of
the primaries. Expanse, 1.25-1.40 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
_Elathea_ is found in Florida, Mexico, and the Antilles.
(9) =Terias delia=, Cramer, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 14, ♂ (Delia).
_Butterfly._--Almost exactly like the preceding species, but having the
upper side of the hind wings yellow. On the under side the fore wing at
the tip and the entire hind wing are red. Expanse, 1.25-1.50 inch.
_Early Stages._--But little is known of them. The caterpillar feeds on
_Cassia_.
_Delia_ occurs commonly in the Gulf States.
(10) =Terias jucunda=, Boisduval and Leconte, Plate XXXVII, Fig. 15, ♂;
Fig. 16, ♂, _under side_ (The Fairy Yellow).
_Butterfly._--Distinguished from the preceding species by the dark
marginal band surrounding the hind wing and the pale under surface.
Expanse, 1.60-1.75 inch.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
This little species is found in the Gulf States.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXVII |
| |
| 1. _Terias gundlachia_, Poey, ♂. |
| 2. _Terias proterpia_, Fabricius, ♂. |
| 3. _Terias nicippe_, Cramer, ♂. |
| 4. _Terias nicippe_, Cramer, ♀. |
| 5. _Terias nicippe_, Cramer, var. _flava_, |
| Strecker, ♂. |
| 6. _Terias nicippe_, Cramer, ♀, |
| _under side_. |
| 7. _Terias mexicana_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 8. _Terias mexicana_, Boisduval, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 9. _Terias damaris_, Felder, ♂. |
| 10. _Terias damaris_, Felder, ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 11. _Terias westwoodi_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 12. _Terias elathea_, Cramer, ♂. |
| 13. _Terias lisa_, Boisd.-Lec., ♂. |
| 14. _Terias delia_, Cramer, ♂. |
| 15. _Terias jucunda_, Boisd.-Lec., ♂. |
| 16. _Terias jucunda_, Boisd.-Lec., ♂, |
| _under side_. |
| 17. _Dismorphia melite_, Linnæus, ♂. |
| 18. _Dismorphia melite_, Linnæus, ♀. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXVII.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
RED RAIN
"The lepidopterous insects in general, soon after they emerge from the
pupa state, and commonly during their first flight, discharge some drops
of a red-colored fluid, more or less intense in different species,
which, in some instances, where their numbers have been considerable,
have produced the appearance of a 'shower of blood,' as this natural
phenomenon is sometimes called.
"Showers of blood have been recorded by historians and poets as
preternatural--have been considered in the light of prodigies, and
regarded, where they have happened, as fearful prognostics of impending
evil.
"There are two passages in Homer, which, however poetical, are
applicable to a rain of this kind; and among the prodigies which took
place after the death of the great dictator, Ovid particularly mentions
a shower of blood:
"'Sæpe faces visæ mediis ardere sub astris,
Sæpe inter nimbos guttæ cecidere cruentæ.'
"('With threatening signs the lowering skies were fill'd,
And sanguine drops from murky clouds distilled.')
"Among the numerous prodigies reported by Livy to have happened in the
year 214 B.C., it is instanced that at Mantua a stagnating piece of
water, caused by the overflowing of the river Mincius, appeared as of
blood; and in the cattle-market at Rome a shower of blood fell in the
Istrian Street. After mentioning several other remarkable phenomena that
happened during that year, Livy concludes by saying that these prodigies
were expiated, conformably to the answers of the aruspices, by victims
of the greater kinds, and supplication was ordered to be performed to
all the deities who had shrines at Rome. Again, it is stated by Livy
that many alarming prodigies were seen at Rome in the year 181 B.C., and
others reported from abroad; among which was a shower of blood which
fell in the courts of the temples of Vulcan and Concord. After
mentioning that the image of Juno Sospita shed tears, and that a
pestilence broke out in the country, this writer adds that these
prodigies, and the mortality which prevailed, alarmed the Senate so
much that they ordered the consuls to sacrifice to such gods as their
judgment should direct victims of the larger kinds, and that the
decemvirs should consult their books. Pursuant to their direction, a
supplication for one day was proclaimed to be performed at every shrine
in Rome; and they advised, besides, and the Senate voted, and the consul
proclaimed, that there should be a supplication and public worship for
three days throughout all Italy. In the year 169 B.C., Livy also
mentions that a shower of blood fell in the middle of the day. The
decemvirs were again called upon to consult their books, and again were
sacrifices offered to the deities. The account, also, of Livy, of the
bloody sweat on some of the statues of the gods, must be referred to the
same phenomenon, as the predilection of those ages to marvel, says
Thomas Browne, and the want of accurate investigation in the cases
recorded, as well as the rare occurrence of these atmospherical
depositions in our own times, inclines us to include them among the
blood-red drops deposited by insects.
"In Stow's 'Annales of England' we have two accounts of showers of
blood, and from an edition printed in London in 1592, we make our
quotations: 'Rivallus, sonne of Cunedagius, succeeded his father, in
whose time (in the year 766 B.C.) it rained bloud three dayes: after
which tempest ensued a great multitude of venemous flies, which slew
much people, and then a great mortalitie throughout this lande, caused
almost desolation of the same.' The second account is as follows: 'In
the time of Brithricus (A.D. 786) it rayned blood, which falling on
men's clothes, appeared like crosses.'
"Hollingshed, Grafton, and Fabyan have also recorded these instances in
their respective chronicles of England.
"A remarkable instance of bloody rain is introduced into the very
interesting Icelandic ghost-story of Thorgunna. It appears that in the
year of our Lord 1009 a woman called Thorgunna came from the Hebrides to
Iceland, where she stayed at the house of Thorodd; and during the hay
season a shower of blood fell, but only, singularly, on that portion of
the hay she had not piled up as her share, which so appalled her that
she betook herself to her bed, and soon afterward died. She left, to
finish the story, a remarkable will, which, from not being executed, was
the cause of several violent deaths, the appearance of ghosts, and,
finally, a legal action of ejectment against the ghosts, which, it need
hardly be said, drove them effectually away.
"In 1017 a shower of blood fell in Aquitaine; and Sleidan relates that
in the year 1553 a vast multitude of butterflies swarmed through a great
part of Germany, and sprinkled plants, leaves, buildings, clothes, and
men with bloody drops, as if it had rained blood. We learn also from
Bateman's 'Doome' that these 'drops of bloude upon hearbes and trees' in
1553 were deemed among the forewarnings of the deaths of Charles and
Philip, dukes of Brunswick.
"In Frankfort, in the year 1296, among other prodigies, some spots of
blood led to a massacre of the Jews, in which ten thousand of these
unhappy descendants of Abraham lost their lives.
"In the beginning of July, 1608, an extensive shower of blood took place
at Aix, in France, which threw the people of that place into the utmost
consternation, and, which is a much more important fact, led to the
first satisfactory and philosophical explanation of this phenomenon, but
too late, alas! to save the Jews of Frankfort. This explanation was
given by M. Peiresc, a celebrated philosopher of that place, and is thus
referred to by his biographer, Gassendi: 'Nothing in the whole year 1608
did more please him than that he observed and philosophized about, the
_bloody rain_, which was commonly reported to have fallen about the
beginning of July; great drops thereof were plainly to be seen, both in
the city itself, upon the walls of the churchyard of the church, which
is near the city wall, and upon the city walls themselves; also upon the
walls of villages, hamlets, and towns, for some miles round about; for
in the first place, he went himself to see those wherewith the stones
were coloured, and did what he could to come to speak with those
husbandmen, who, beyond Lambesk, were reported to have been affrighted
at the falling of said rain, that they left their work, and ran as fast
as their legs could carry them into the adjacent houses. Whereupon, he
found that it was a fable that was reported, touching those husbandmen.
Nor was he pleased that naturalists should refer this kind of rain to
vapours drawn up out of red earth aloft in the air, which congealing
afterwards into liquor, fall down in this form; because such vapours as
are drawne aloft by heat, ascend without colour, as we may know by the
alone example of red roses, out of which the vapours that arise by heat
are congealed into transparent water. He was less pleased with the
common people, and some divines, who judged that it was the work of the
devils and witches who had killed innocent young children; for this he
counted a mere conjecture, possibly also injurious to the goodness and
providence of God.
"'In the meanwhile an accident happened, out of which he conceived he
had collected the true cause thereof. For, some months before, he shut
up in a box a certain palmer-worm which he had found, rare for its
bigness and form; which, when he had forgotten, he heard a buzzing in
the box, and when he opened it, found the palmer-worm, having cast its
coat, to be turned into a beautiful Butterfly, which presently flew
away, leaving in the bottom of the box a red drop as broad as an
ordinary sous or shilling; and because this happened about the beginning
of the same month and about the same time an incredible multitude of
Butterflies were observed flying in the air, he was therefore of opinion
that such kind of Butterflies resting on the walls had there shed such
like drops, and of the same bigness. Whereupon, he went the second time,
and found, by experience, that those drops were not to be found on the
housetops, nor upon the round sides of the stones which stuck out, as it
would have happened, if blood had fallen from the sky, but rather where
the stones were somewhat hollowed, and in holes, where such small
creatures might shroud and nestle themselves. Moreover, the walls which
were so spotted, were not in the middle of towns, but they were such as
bordered upon the fields, nor were they on the highest parts, but only
so moderately high as Butterflies are commonly wont to fly.
"'Thus, therefore, he interpreted that which Gregory of Tours relates
touching a bloody rain seen at Paris in divers places, in the days of
Childebert, and on a certain house in the territory of Senlis; also that
which is storied, touching raining of blood about the end of June, in
the days of King Robert; so that the blood which fell upon flesh,
garments or stones could not be washed out, but that which fell on wood
might; for it was the same season of Butterflies, and experience hath
taught us, that no water will wash these spots out of the stones, while
they are fresh and new. When he had said these and such like things to
various, a great company of auditors being present, it was agreed that
they should go together and search out the matter, and as they went
up and down, here and there, through the fields, they found many drops
upon stones and rocks; but they were only on the hollow and under parts
of the stones, but not upon those which lay most open to the skies.'"
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXVIII |
| |
| 1. _Papilio zolicaon_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 2. _Papilio daunus_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| 3. _Papilio pilumnus_, Boisduval, ♂. |
| |
| (The figures in this plate are reduced, being only two |
| thirds of the natural size.) |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXVIII.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
"This memorable shower of blood was produced by the _Vanessa urticæ_ or
_V. polychloros_, most probably, since these species of butterflies are
said to have been uncommonly plentiful at the time when, and in the
particular district where, the phenomenon was observed."
FRANK COWAN, _Curious History of Insects_.
FOR A DESIGN OF A BUTTERFLY RESTING ON A SKULL
"Creature of air and light,
Emblem of that which may not fade or die,
Wilt thou not speed thy flight,
To chase the south wind through the glowing sky?
What lures thee thus to stay,
With Silence and Decay,
Fix'd on the wreck of cold Mortality?
"The thoughts once chamber'd there
Have gather'd up their treasures, and are gone--
Will the dust tell us where
They that have burst the prison-house are flown?
Rise, nursling of the day,
If thou wouldst trace their way--
Earth hath no voice to make the secret known.
"Who seeks the vanish'd bird
By the forsaken nest and broken shell?--
Far thence he sings unheard,
Yet free and joyous in the woods to dwell.
Thou of the sunshine born,
Take the bright wings of morn!
Thy hope calls heavenward from yon ruin'd cell."
MRS. HEMAN.
SUBFAMILY PAPILIONINÆ
_Butterfly._--Generally large, and often with the hind wings adorned by
tail-like projections. The most characteristic structural feature of the
group is the absence of the internal vein of the hind wings. The
submedian vein occupies the position usually held in other subfamilies
by the internal.
_Early Stages._--In that portion of the group which includes the genus
_Parnassius_ and its allies, the caterpillars are not, so far as is
known, provided with scent-organs, and pupation takes place upon the
ground, or among loosely scattered leaves, which are interwoven, at the
time of pupation, with a few strands of silk. The genus _Papilio_ and
its allies have large, fleshy, more or less cylindrical caterpillars,
possessed of osmateria, or offensive scent-organs, and a general
resemblance runs through the chrysalids of all species, which are
attached by a button of silk at the anal extremity and supported in the
middle by a silk girdle.
Genus PARNASSIUS, Latreille
(The Parnassians)
"Some to the sun their insect wings unfold,
Waft on the breeze, or sink in clouds of gold;
Transparent forms, too fine for mortal sight,
Their fluid bodies half dissolv'd in light."
POPE.
_Butterfly._--Of medium size, with more or less diaphanous wings,
generally white or yellow in color, marked with black spots and round
pink or yellow spots, margined with black. The head is relatively small,
thickly clothed with hairs. The antennæ are short and straight, having a
gradually thickened club. The palpi are very thin, straight, and clothed
with long hairs. The wings are generally translucent on the margin,
with a rounded apex. The upper radial is lacking. The subcostal is
five-branched, the third, fourth, and fifth nervules being emitted from
a common stalk which springs from the upper outer angle of the cell. The
first subcostal nervule rises well before the end of the cell; the
second from the same point from which the stalk which bears the other
three nervules springs. The cell of the hind wing is evenly rounded at
its outer extremity. The inner margin of the hind wing is more or less
excavated.
_Early Stages._--The egg is turban-shaped, flattened, profusely covered
with small elevations, giving it a shagreened appearance. The
caterpillars have very small heads. They are flattened, having a
somewhat leech-like appearance; they are black or dark brown in color,
marked with numerous light spots. The chrysalis is short, rounded at the
head, and pupation takes place on the surface of the ground, among
leaves and litter, a few loose threads of silk being spun about the spot
in which transformation occurs.
The butterflies of this genus are classified with the _Papilioninæ_,
because of the fact that the internal vein of the hind wings is always
wanting, a characteristic of all papilionine genera.
[Illustration FIG. 149.--Neuration of the genus _Parnassius_.]
(1) =Parnassius clodius=, Ménétries, Plate XXXIX, Figs. 7, 9, ♂; Figs.
8, 10, ♀ (Clodius).
_Butterfly._--The species may be distinguished from the following by the
uniformly larger size and the more translucent outer margins of the fore
wings in the male. Expanse, ♂, 2.50-2.75 inches; ♀, 2.50-3.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--These await study. The egg and young larva were
described by W.H. Edwards in the "Canadian Entomologist," vol. xi, p.
142, but we have no account of the later stages. The caterpillar feeds
on _Sedum_ and _Saxifraga_.
_Clodius_ is found upon the mountains of California in spring and early
summer. It is, like all its congeners, an alpine or boreal species.
(2) =Parnassius smintheus=, Doubleday and Hewitson, Plate XXXIX, Fig. 3,
♂; Fig. 4, ♀; var. =behri=, Edwards, Fig. 1, ♂; Fig. 2, ♀; var.
=hermodur=, Henry Edwards, Fig. 6, ♀; _mate of hermodur_, Fig. 5, ♂
(Smintheus).
_Butterfly._--This very beautiful insect is greatly subject to
variation, and the plate shows a few of the more striking forms, of
which the dark female, named _hermodur_ by the late Henry Edwards, is
one of the most beautiful. Expanse, ♂, 2.00-2.50 inches; ♀, 2.25-3.00
inches.
_Smintheus_ is found at proper elevations upon the mountains from
Colorado to California, and from New Mexico to Montana. The life-history
is most exquisitely delineated by Edwards in "The Butterflies of North
America," vol. iii.
The caterpillar feeds on _Sedum_ and _Saxifraga_.
Genus PAPILIO, Linnæus
(The Swallowtails)
"The butterfly the ancient Grecians made
The soul's fair emblem, and its only name--
But of the soul, escaped the slavish trade
Of mortal life! For in this earthly frame
Ours is the reptile's lot--much toil, much blame,--
Manifold motions making little speed,
And to deform and kill the things whereon we feed."
COLERIDGE.
_Butterfly._--Generally large, frequently with the hind wings tailed. A
figure of the neuration characteristic of this genus is given on p. 20,
Fig. 38. From this it will be seen that the internal vein of the hind
wing is lacking, the submedian vein occupying the space which is
commonly occupied by the internal vein. The median vein of the fore wing
is connected with the submedian by a short vein, from the point of union
of which with the submedian there proceeds a short internal vein in this
wing. There is great diversity of form in the wings of this genus, some
species even mimicking the species of the _Euploeinæ_ and _Heliconiidæ_
very closely, and being entirely without tails. In all cases, however,
in spite of obvious diversities in color and in form, there is
substantial anatomical agreement in the structure of the wings; and the
caterpillars and chrysalids reveal very strongly marked affinities
throughout the whole vast assemblage of species, which at the present
time includes about five hundred distinct forms.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXIX |
| |
| 1. _Parnassius smintheus_, Dbl.-Hew., |
| var. _behri_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 2. _Parnassius smintheus_, Dbl.-Hew., |
| var. _behri_, Edwards, ♀. |
| 3. _Parnassius smintheus_, Dbl.-Hew., ♂. |
| 4. _Parnassius smintheus_, Dbl.-Hew., ♀. |
| 5. _Parnassius smintheus_, Dbl.-Hew., ♂, |
| mate of ♀ _hermodur_. |
| 6. _Parnassius smintheus_, Dbl.-Hew., |
| var. _hermodur_, ♀, Henry Edwards. |
| 7. _Parnassius clodius_, Ménétries, ♂ |
| (_baldur_, Edwards). |
| 8. _Parnassius clodius_, Ménétries, ♀ |
| (_baldur_, Edwards). |
| 9. _Parnassius clodius_, Ménétries, ♂. |
| 10. _Parnassius clodius_, Ménétries, ♀. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XXXIX.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
_Early Stages._--The eggs are somewhat globular, flattened at the base,
and smooth. The caterpillars are cylindrical, smooth, fleshy, thicker in
the anterior portion of the body than in the posterior portion, and are
always provided with osmateria, or protrusive scent-organs, which, when
the larva is alarmed, are thrust forth, and emit a musky odor, not
highly disagreeable to the human nostrils, but evidently intended to
deter other creatures from attacking them. The chrysalids are always
attached by a button of silk at the anal extremity, and held in place by
a girdle of silk about the middle. The chrysalids are, however, never
closely appressed to the surface upon which pupation takes place.
There are about twenty-seven species of this genus found within the
limits of boreal America. Our fauna is therefore much richer in these
magnificently colored and showy butterflies than is the fauna of all
Europe, in which but three species are known from the Dardanelles to the
North Cape and Gibraltar. The genus is wonderfully developed in the
tropics both of the New and the Old World, and has always been a
favorite with collectors, containing many of the largest as well as the
handsomest insects of the order.
(1) =Papilio ajax=, Linnæus, Plate II, Fig. 14, _larva_; Plate VI, Figs.
11, 12, _chrysalis_ (Ajax).
_Butterfly._--This insect, which is one of the most beautiful in our
fauna, has been the subject of attentive study in recent years, and is
now known to be seasonally polymorphic. We have given in Plate XLIV
figures of several of the forms.
(_a_) Winter form =walshi=; Edwards, Plate XLIV, Fig. 4, ♂. In this form,
which emerges from chrysalids which have been exposed to the cold of the
winter, the black bands of the wings are narrower and a trifle paler
than in the other forms, the tails of the hind wing tipped with white,
and the crimson spot on the inner margin near the anal angle forming a
conspicuous bent bar. A variety of this form, with a more or less
distinct crimson line parallel to the inner margin on the upper side of
the hind wing, has been named _Papilio ajax_, var. _abbotti_, by
Edwards.
Another winter form, for which I propose the name =floridensis=, is
represented in Plate XLIV, Fig. 2, by a male specimen. It is
characterized by the great breadth and intensity of the black bands on
the upper side of the wings, which are quite as broad as in the summer
form _marcellus_. I find this form prevalent in the spring of the year
on the St. Johns River, in Florida. Expanse, 2.50-2.75 inches.
(_b_) Winter form =telamonides=, Felder, Plate XLIV, Fig. 1, ♂. In this
form the tails of the hind wings are somewhat longer than in _walshi_,
and are not simply tipped, but bordered on either side for half their
length with white, and the red spots near the anal angle do not coalesce
to form a crimson bar, but are separate. The black transverse bands on
the upper side are wider than in _walshi_. Expanse, 2.75-3.00 inches.
(_c_) Summer form =marcellus=, Boisduval, Plate XLIV, Fig. 3, ♂. In this
form, which represents the second generation emerging in the summer and
fall from chrysalids produced from eggs of _walshi_, _floridensis_, and
_telamonides_, the tails of the hind wings are greatly lengthened, being
fully twice as long as in _walshi_, the black bands are greatly widened,
and there is but a single small spot of crimson (sometimes none) above
the anal angle of the secondaries. Expanse, 3.00-3.25 inches.
_Early Stages._--These are well known. The caterpillar feeds on the
leaves of the papaw (_Asimina triloba_), and wherever this plant is
found the butterfly is generally common.
_Ajax_ ranges from southern New England, where it is very rare, west and
south over the entire country to the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains.
It is very common in the lower Appalachian region, and in southern Ohio,
Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee is especially abundant.
(2) =Papilio eurymedon=, Boisduval, Plate XLIV, Fig. 5, ♂ (Eurymedon).
_Butterfly._--This beautiful insect belongs to the same group as the
four succeeding species. In the style of the markings it recalls _P.
turnus_, but the ground-color is always pale whitish-yellow or white,
the tails of the hind wings are more slender, and the white marginal
spots on the under side of the fore wings are fused together, forming a
continuous band. There are other differences, but these, with the help
of the plate, will suffice for the ready identification of the species.
Expanse, 3.50-4.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--The caterpillar resembles that of _P. turnus_, but may
be distinguished by its paler color and the much smaller spots composing
the longitudinal series on the back and sides, and by the different
color of the head. It feeds upon a variety of plants, and is especially
partial to _Rhamnus californicus_.
The species ranges from Mexico to Alaska, and eastward as far as
Colorado. It is abundant in the valleys of the Coast Range, and I have
found it very common in the cañon of the Fraser River, in British
Columbia, in the month of June.
(3) =Papilio rutulus=, Boisduval, Plate XLV, Fig. 1, ♂ (Rutulus).
_Butterfly._--The insect very closely resembles the following species in
color and markings, but the female is never dimorphic as in _P. turnus_,
and the marginal spots on the under side of the fore wings run together,
forming a continuous band, as in _eurymedon_, and are not separate as in
_P. turnus_. By these marks it may always be distinguished. Expanse, ♂,
3.50-4.00 inches; ♀, 3.75-4.25 inches.
_Early Stages._--These have been described with accuracy by W.H. Edwards
in the second volume of his great work. The caterpillar differs from
that of _P. turnus_ in many minute particulars. It feeds on alder and
willow. It is the representative on the Pacific coast of its Eastern
congener, the common Tiger Swallowtail.
(4) =Papilio turnus=, Linnæus, Plate XLIII, Fig. 1, ♂; Fig. 2, dimorphic
form =glaucus=, Linnæus, ♀; Plate II, Figs. 15, 26, 28, _larva_; Plate
VI, Figs. 1-4, _chrysalis_ (The Tiger Swallowtail).
_Butterfly._--The "lordly Turnus" is one of the most beautiful insects
of the Carolinian fauna. The plate shows the figures about one third
smaller than in life, but they are sufficient for the immediate
identification of the species. The species is dimorphic in the female
sex in the southern portions of the territory which it occupies. The
black form of the female was regarded for a long while as a distinct
species, until by the test of breeding it was ascertained that some eggs
laid by yellow females produced black females, and that, conversely,
eggs laid by black females often produced yellow females. In Canada and
northward and westward in northern latitudes the dark dimorphic female
does not occur. A small yellow dwarfed form is common about Sitka,
whence I have obtained numerous specimens. Expanse, ♂, 3.00-4.00 inches;
♀, 3.50-5.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--The egg is outlined on p. 4, Fig. 3. It is green or
bluish-green, quite smooth, with a few reddish spots in some specimens.
The caterpillar feeds on a great variety of plants, but has a peculiar
preference for the leaves of various species of wild cherry (_Cerasus_).
The chrysalis is accurately portrayed in Plate VI, Figs. 1-4.
The metropolis of this species seems to be the wooded forests of the
Appalachian ranges at comparatively low levels. It abounds in
southwestern Pennsylvania, the Virginias, the Carolinas, Kentucky, and
Tennessee. I have often found as many as a dozen of these magnificent
butterflies congregated on a moist spot on the banks of the Monongahela.
At Berkeley Springs, in West Virginia, I counted, one summer day, forty
specimens hovering over the weeds and flowers in a small deserted field.
The movements of the butterfly on the wing are bold and rapid. Its
flight is dashing. Now aloft to the tops of the highest trees, now down
in the shadows of the undergrowth, hither and thither it goes, often
settling for a moment on some attractive flower, or staying its flight
to quench its thirst on the sandy edge of a brook, and then away again
over the fields and into the forests. In New England it is not very
abundant, and in the Gulf States, while numerous, is still less common
than about the head waters of the Ohio.
(5) =Papilio daunus=, Boisduval, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 2, ♂ (Daunus).
_Butterfly._--This magnificent species, which is even larger than
_turnus_ (the figures in the plate are greatly reduced), resembles the
preceding species in color and markings, but may at once be
distinguished by the two tails on the hind wing and the projection of
the lobe at the anal angle of this wing. It is found among the eastern
valleys of the Rocky Mountain ranges, and descends into Mexico. In
Arizona it is quite common. Expanse, 4.00-5.25 inches.
_Early Stages._--These have not yet been thoroughly studied, but what we
know of them shows that the species is allied very closely to its
immediate congeners, and the caterpillar feeds upon the same plants,
principally _Rosaceæ_.
(6) =Papilio pilumnus=, Boisduval, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 3, ♂ (Pilumnus).
_Butterfly._--Resembling the preceding species, but smaller, having
the bands and black margins of the wings decidedly broader, and the lobe
of the anal angle of the hind wing so much lengthened as to give the
wing the appearance of being furnished with three tails. Expanse,
3.80-4.30 inches.
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| EXPLANATION OF PLATE XL |
| |
| 1. _Papilio asterias_, Cramer, ♂. |
| 2. _Papilio bairdi_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 3. _Papilio hollandi_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 4. _Papilio brucei_, Edwards, ♂. |
| 5. _Papilio brevicauda_, Saunders, ♀. |
| |
| [Illustration PLATE XL.] |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
_Early Stages._--All we know of these is derived from the brief account
given by Schaus in "Papilio," vol. iv, p. 100. Mr. Schaus says that the
larva "feeds on laurel."
The insect is Mexican, and only occasionally occurs in Arizona.
(7) =Papilio thoas=, Linnæus, Plate XLII, Fig. 4, ♂ (Thoas).
_Butterfly._--This species is readily distinguished from its near ally,
_P. cresphontes_, by the greater and more uniform breadth of the median
band of yellow spots traversing both the fore and the hind wing, and by
the almost total absence of the curved submarginal series of spots on
the primaries. There are other points of difference, but these are so
marked as to make the determination of the species easy.
_Early Stages._--These have never been fully described, but we know that
the caterpillar feeds upon the leaves of the lemon, the orange, and
other plants of the citrus group.
_P. thoas_ is not common within the limits of the United States, where
it is generally replaced by the following species; but it occasionally
occurs in the hot lands of the extreme southern portion of Texas.
(8) =Papilio cresphontes=, Cramer, Plate XLII, Fig. 3, ♂; Plate II, Fig.
16, _larva_; Plate VI, Figs. 8-10, _chrysalis_ (The Giant Swallowtail).
_Butterfly._--The principal points of difference between this and the
preceding species, its closest ally, have already been pointed out, and
are brought into view upon the plate.
_Early Stages._--These are quite well known. The caterpillar feeds upon
_Ptelea_, _Xanthoxylon_, and various species of _Citrus_. It is very
common in the orange-groves of Florida, where the people call the
caterpillar the "orange-puppy," and complain at times of the ravages
perpetrated by it upon their trees. It appears to have been gradually
spreading northward, and in quite recent years has appeared at points in
the Northern States where before it had never been observed. It has been
recently taken in Ontario. It has become rather abundant in the vicinity
of the city of Pittsburgh, where no observer had seen it prior to the
year 1894. It is one of the largest and most showy species of the genus
found within our faunal limits.
(9) =Papilio aliaska=, Scudder, Plate XLI, Fig. 1, ♂ (The Alaskan
Swallowtail).
_Butterfly._--This interesting form of the species, known to
entomologists as _Papilio machaon_, Linnæus, and to every English
school-boy as "the Swallowtail," represents a colonization from the
Asiatic mainland of this insect, which is the sole representative of the
genus on English soil. It differs from the English butterfly by having
more yellow on the upper side of the wings, and by having the tails of
the secondaries much shorter.
_Early Stages._--Undoubtedly these are very much like those of the forms
found in Europe and Asia, and the caterpillar must be sought upon
umbelliferous plants.
Thus far this insect has been received only from Alaska, and is still
rare in collections.
(10) =Papilio zolicaon=, Boisduval, Plate XXXVIII, Fig. 1, ♂ (Zolicaon).
_Butterfly._--This species is somewhat nearly related to the preceding,
but may at once be distinguished from it by the broader black borders of
the wings, the deeper black on the upper side, and the longer tails of
the secondaries. The figure given in the plate is only two thirds of the
natural size.
_Early Stages._--These have been fully described by Edwards, and are
shown to be much like those of _P. asterias_. The caterpillar, like that
of the last-mentioned species, feeds upon the _Umbelliferæ_.
_Zolicaon_ ranges southward from Vancouver's Island to Arizona, and
eastward to Colorado. It is more abundant in the valleys and foot-hills
than on the sierras.
(11) =Papilio nitra=, Edwards, Plate XLI, Fig. 2, ♂ (Nitra).
_Butterfly._--This insect, which is still very rare in collections, is
very nearly related to the preceding species, it having, no doubt, with
the succeeding species, sprung from the same original stock as
_zolicaon_ and _aliaska_.
_Early Stages._--Unknown.
The insect occurs in Montana and the portions of British America
adjacent on the north.
(12) =Papilio indra=, Reakirt, Plate XLI, Fig. 3, ♀ (Indra).
_Butterfly._--Easily distinguished by the short tails of the
secondaries, and the narrow bands of yellow spots on the wings closely
resembling those found in the same location on the wings of _P.
asterias_, ♂. Expanse, 2.50-2.75 inches.
_Early Stages._--These still await description.
_Indra_ occurs on the mountains of Colorado, Nevada, and California.
(13) =Papilio brevicauda=, Saunders, Plate XL, Fig. 5, ♀ (The
Newfoundland Swallowtail).
_Butterfly._--There are two varieties of this species--one with
bright-yellow spots, one with the spots more or less deeply marked with
orange-yellow on the upper sides of the wing. The latter variety is
represented in the plate. The form with the yellow spots is common on
the island of Anticosti; the other occurs quite abundantly in
Newfoundland. Expanse, 2.75-3.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--Both the caterpillar and the chrysalis show a very
strong likeness to those of _P. asterias_. The larva feeds on
umbelliferous plants.
The range of the species is confined to the extreme northeastern part of
our faunal territory.
(14) =Papilio bairdi=, Edwards, Plate XL, Fig. 2, ♂ (Baird's Butterfly).
_Butterfly._--This form, the male of which is represented in the plate,
is the Western representative of _P. asterias_, and is characterized in
general by the fact that the size is larger than that of _asterias_, and
the postmedian band of yellow spots is broader. The female is generally
darker and larger than that sex in _asterias_. Expanse, 3.25-3.50
inches.
_Early Stages._--Not unlike those of _P. asterias_. The caterpillar
feeds upon _Umbelliferæ_.
The seat of this species or form is Arizona, whence it ranges northward.
(15) =Papilio brucei=, Edwards, Plate XL, Fig. 4, ♂ (Bruce's Butterfly).
_Butterfly._--This species, which is thought to be the result of a union
between _P. oregonia_ and _P. bairdi_, is found in Colorado. _Oregonia_
is, unfortunately, not represented in our plates. It flies in Oregon and
Washington, where _P. bairdi_ is not found. In Colorado and adjacent
regions meeting with the form _bairdi_, which ranges northward from
Arizona, hybridization has occurred, and we have a fixed form breeding
either toward _bairdi_ or _oregonia_. To this form, characterized by
more yellow on the bands of the wings than in _P. bairdi_, and less than
in _oregonia_, Mr. Edwards has applied the name _P. brucei_, in honor of
Mr. Bruce of Lockport, New York, who has done much to elucidate the
problems connected with the species. Expanse, 3.25-3.60 inches.
_Early Stages._--These have been fully described by Edwards. They are
much like those of _asterias_, and the food-plants belong to the same
class.
Bruce's Butterfly is found quite abundantly in Colorado.
(16) =Papilio hollandi=, Edwards, Plate XL, Fig. 3, ♂ (Holland's
Butterfly).
_Butterfly._--This species or form, which belongs to the Asterias-group,
in the breadth of the yellow spots on the upper side of the wings holds
a place intermediate between _P. bairdi_ and _P. zolicaon_, between
which it has been suggested that it may be a hybrid, which has become
fixed, and therefore a species. It is characterized by the fact that the
abdomen is always striped laterally with yellow or is wholly yellow.
Expanse, 3.25-3.50 inches.
_Early Stages._--We know as yet but little of these.
The insect occurs in Arizona and northward to Colorado.
(17) =Papilio asterias=, Fabricius, Plate XL, Fig. 1, ♂; Plate II, Figs.
17, 24, 27, _larva_; Plate VI, Figs. 13, 18, 19, _chrysalis_ (The Common
Eastern Swallowtail).