488 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



common stinging-nettle, Urtica dioica. V. nrticce and V. polychloros are also well- 

 known European forms, the caterpillars of which are very much alike, that of the 

 former feeding on nettle, of the latter 011 elrn. They are represented in this country 

 by two allied forms, V. mttberti, recalling urticce, and V. californica, being nearly 

 related to polychloros. The last-named species, in its larva stage, feeds on Ceanothis 

 thyrsiflora, to which shrub it is at times extremely destructive. 



Pyrameis is distinguished from Vanessa by having " the wings still less angular, 

 palpi less hairy, and in somewhat different form ; the club of the antennae is rather 

 more pointed ; the larvae have all the segments, except the head and prothorax, armed 

 with long spines set round with whorls of stiff bristles. They differ also in habit, those 

 of Pyrameis are always solitary, drawing together the sides of a leaf with silken 

 threads, and thus forming a cylindric dwelling; the pupae are similar in shape and 

 markings." The most familiar species is P. cardui, the "painted lady" of English 

 collectors, which is spread over the whole of Europe, through a large part of Asia, 

 across Behring's Straits and down the Pacific Coast to Peru, appearing again on the 

 eastern side of the continent, and becoming abundant in the middle and northern 

 portion of the United States. It is also met with in the Sandwich and Fiji groups of 

 islands ; and a closely allied form, P. kershawii, evidently an offshoot from the main 

 branch of the species, is abundant in Australia. "Painted ladies" have thus made 

 their way over a considerable portion of the earth's surface. The larva of P. cardui 

 feeds exclusively on thistles. It is blackish or greenish brown, with yellow dorsal and 

 lateral lines. 



A pretty species closely allied to this is P. caryce, which extends along the west 

 coast of America from Oregon to Chili, and is one of the most abundant butterflies of 

 California and western Mexico. The food plants of the caterpillar are various species 

 of Malva and Lavatera. P. tammeamea is one of the few butterflies found in the 

 Sandwich Islands, and is, perhaps, the grandest of the genus. It is strongly marked 

 with bright red blotches, and frequents the thick forests at the base of the volcanic 

 mountains of those beautiful islands. It is at present extremely rare in collections, 



and nothing has been recorded regarding its 

 earlier stages. P. gonerilla is a native of New 

 Zealand, and P. itea of Australia. The cater- 

 pillars of both of these species are black, not 

 unlike those of V. io, and like them feed upon 

 urticaceous plants. 



Junonia is a very distinct genus from Pyra- 

 meis^ having naked eyes, and less hairy anterior 

 legs. The cells of both wings are nearly always 

 open, the larvae have the head always spinose, and 

 the chrysalis is tuberculated, but rarely angular. 

 The wings are always marked with large or small ocelli. J. delia, J. orithya, and J. 

 cenone, all East Indian species, are beautifully marked with purple and orange. J. lao- 

 media is grayish fawn color, and the rest of the species are shades of brown with vari- 

 ously sized ocelli. One species, J. coenia, is extremely common in Georgia and Florida, 

 and occasionally so in the northern states. 



The Heliconinae are closely allied in appearance to the next sub-family ; but they 

 are slighter insects, have the wings more produced, with the antennae and abdomen 

 proportionately longer. The discoidal cellule is always closed. There are but two 



FIG. 613. Junonia ctenia. 



