486 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARTHROPODS. 



FIG. 610. Argynnis bellona. 



do all of the genus, upon violets or allied plants, but hitherto it has been impossible to 

 raise the species in captivity. A. cybele and A. aphrodite are among our most common 

 species, the former being taken in great numbers in June about the flowers of thistles 

 and other composite plants. A. atlantis is abundant in the White Mountains, N. H., 

 and a small species, A. moittinus, is met with only in the same range, but is of con- 

 siderable rarity, Mr. Scudder remarking that " probably no collector has seen more 

 than eight or ten of these butterflies in a day's scramble among the mountains. They fly 

 close to the ground, among the scanty foliage growing in the rocky crevices of the 

 steep mountain slopes." California, and indeed the whole of the Pacific States, pro- 

 duce some fine species of Argynnis, A. leto, and A. nokomis being remarkable for 

 having the female almost black. The former of these is somewhat common in the Yo- 



semite valley and about the base of 

 Mount Shasta; the latter is only 

 met with in Utah and Arizona. 



Europe and Asia also furnish 

 handsome species of the genus. By 

 some authors the genus has been 

 subdivided, and the smaller species, 

 in which the under side is without 

 silver spots, and the wings narrower 

 and more produced, have been assigned to the genus Hrenthis. Of this section, to 

 which A. montimis (alluded to above) belongs, our most common species is A. bellona, 

 which is abundant throughout the summer in swampy meadows. 



Melitcea contains nearly fifty species, nearly all of which are natives of Europe and 

 North America, a few only being found in Amoorland and Kamschatka. They are 

 prettily marked with brown, yellow, and white chequered spots, without silver on the 

 under side, which is variously adorned with bands of white and yellow. Two of the 

 most conspicuous species of this country are M. pliaceton and M. chcdceclon. The for- 

 mer of these, though somewhat local, is occasionally found in great numbers- in its 

 haunts, and is apt to run into very peculiar aberrations, the wings becoming suffused, 

 and losing nearly all trace of the original markings. The food plant is the Chelone 

 !/lalra. M. chcdcedon is abundant in spring in California, and may be found in com- 

 pany with Jf. pafla, flying on warm days in almost every flowery meadow. Its chrys- 

 alis is clear white, with black and yellow spots, and is a very pretty object. The larva 

 feeds upon species of Scrophulariacese, but its favorite plants are Diplacus glutlnosus 

 and Castilejia parviflora. It is black, with yellow tubercles, and is furnished with 

 long black spines. The larvae in their young stages are 

 gregarious, and hibernate in a curiously formed web, as 

 also do those of M. phaceton. 



Phyciodes and Eresia are large genera, containing to- 

 gether (having been united by recent authors) over one 

 hundred species. They are mostly brownish, with yellow 

 or white spots and blotches, small in size, and not particu- 

 larly attractive, save to the scientific observer. P. tharos 



is one of the commonest of North American butterflies, being abundant everywhere 

 from May to September. 



Grapta includes a number of European and American species, in which the wings 

 are very angular, deeply excised in the border, the underside of secondaries bearing a 



FlG. 611. Phyciodes tharos. 



