Part 9

Smaller than A. aphrodite, with narrower wings, darker at the base on both the upper and lower sides. The submarginal band below is pale yellow, narrow, distinct, and always present. Expanse 2.25 to 2.5 inches.

Ranges from Quebec to Alberta and southward, but is confined to the Appalachian mountain ranges in southern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The specimen figured on the Plate is the type of the male contained in the collection of the late William H. Edwards. Although taken long ago, it retains all its original freshness and beauty.

There used to be near Cresson on the summit of the Allegheny Mountains a field surrounded by woodland in which violets grew. When the clover was in bloom myriads of Fritillaries, belonging to the species aphrodite, cybele, and atlantis, congregated there. What captures we made! Many a collection on both sides of the Atlantic contains specimens taken in that field, but no possessor of these specimens can have the happy memories of the days passed in that field by their captor.

(7) Argynnis callippe Boisduval. Plate XV, ♀, under side (Callippe).

Wings on the upper side obscured with dark brown on which the pale buff spots, margined with black, stand out conspicuously. On the under side the wings are pale buff, with a greenish cast, the spots well silvered. Expanse 2.3 to 3 inches.

Abundant in southern California, according to W. G. Wright, preferring plains, and being confined mainly to the little hot valleys which traverse them. According to the same author the life of the insect as an imago is very brief, “the shortest of any Argynnid that I know of, being only a few days in length.”

Many of the western species do not have the spots on the under side silvered, but are none the less beautiful for that. One of these species, without silvery spots, the spots being creamy white, without metallic lustre, is the beautiful insect figured on Plate XVI, A. rhodope, the under side of the female type of which we show. There are nearly a dozen species of Argynnis belonging to the same group with A. rhodope, but the latter is the most beautiful of all of them.

(8) Argynnis rhodope Edwards. Plate XVI, ♀ under side (Type) (Rhodope).

The wings of the two sexes are quite alike on the under side. On the upper side, which we do not figure, the wings are bright fulvous, dark at the base, marked with heavy, black, confluent spots. Expanse 2.2 to 2.4 inches.

Found in Washington and British Columbia.

GENUS BRENTHIS HÜBNER

(THE LITTLE FRITILLARIES).

Small or medium-sized butterflies, closely resembling those of the genus Argynnis. The chief difference is that in Brenthis only the first subcostal nervule branches off before the end of the cell, while in Argynnis the first and second are thus given off; palpi not so stout as in Argynnis; the basal spur of the median vein of the fore wing, found in Argynnis, is wanting in Brenthis. Eggs subconical, twice as wide as high, truncated, vertically ribbed. Caterpillars like those of Argynnis, but smaller, and often lighter in color, feeding on violets. Chrysalis pendant, about 0.6 inch long; two rows of conical tubercles on back.

Sixteen species are found in North America, all of which but two are subarctic or occur on high mountains.

(1) Brenthis myrina (Cramer), Plate XVII, Fig. 1, ♂, upper side; Fig. 2, ♂, under side (The Silver-bordered Fritillary).

Well depicted in the figures we give. Expanse 1.40-1.70 inch. Eggs pale greenish yellow. Caterpillar, when fully grown, about 0.87 inch long, dark olive-brown, marked with lighter green, and covered with spiny, fleshy tubercles. Chrysalis yellowish brown marked with darker brown spots, some having a pearly lustre.

Ranges from Nova Scotia to Alaska and southward as far as the mountains of the Carolinas.

(2) Brenthis montinus Scudder, Plate XVII, Fig. 3, ♀, under side (The White Mountain Fritillary).

Upper side fulvous, the wings at base darker than in B. myrina, the black markings heavier. Hind wings below much darker than in B. myrina, the silvery spots being quite differently arranged, the most conspicuous being a bar at the end and a round spot at the base of the cell of the hind wing. Expanse, ♂, 1.50 inch; ♀, 1.75 inch.

A small species living on the summit of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, where a little colony has survived the glacial epoch, when the northeastern parts of the United States were covered with glaciers, as Greenland is to-day.

(3) Brenthis bellona (Fabricius), Plate XVIII, ♂ (The Meadow Fritillary).

The only species of the genus, except B. myrina, found in the densely settled portions of the continent. Easily distinguished from myrina by the absence on the under side of the wings of the silvery spots, which make the Silver-bordered Fritillary so attractive. It is generally found upon the wing in the late summer and the fall of the year. In Pennsylvania it may be found when the asters are in bloom.

Common throughout Canada and the northern United States as far west as the Rocky Mountains and as far south as the Carolinas. Expanse 1.65-1.80 inch.

GENUS MELITÆA (THE CHECKER-SPOTS).

Generally small or medium-sized butterflies. Palpi not swollen; the third joint finely pointed; clothed with long hairs. Antennæ about half as long as the costal margin of fore wing, ending with a short, heavy, spoon-shaped knob. The cell in the fore wing is closed, in the hind wing open. The spots and markings are differently arranged from those in Argynnis and Brenthis; the wings are never silvered on the under side. Eggs subconical, flattened on top, fluted on the sides. Caterpillars gregarious when young, then separating; cylindrical, covered with short spines set with diverging hairs; feeding upon the Scrophulariaceæ, Castileja, and allied plants. Chrysalis rounded at the head, with sharply pointed tubercles on back, white or pale gray, adorned with dark markings and orange spots on back.

There are many species in the north temperate zone. Most of the more than thirty species in North America are confined to the western part of the continent, only two being found east of the Mississippi.

(1) Melitæa phaëton (Drury), Plate XIX, ♂ (The Baltimore).