FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



close, dark, blue-edged spots just beyond the middle; 

 Quebec to Colorado and Texas; larva on oak, chestnut, 

 and walnut. T. liparops: numerous, broken, white cross- 

 lines on under surface; north of the Gulf States to Quebec 

 and the Rockies, not common; larva on Vaccinium (other 

 food records are probably erroneous). 



Hind wings with almost, or quite, no tail. 



T. titus: a row of coral-red spots on under side of hind 

 wings; Canada to Florida and the Rockies; larva on plum 

 and wild cherry. T. niphon: fringe of upper side of wings 

 alternately brown and white, under side of wings rich, 

 mottled brown, with distinct wavy white lines; larva on 

 pines; Nova Scotia to Colorado. T. augustus: expanse 

 less than one inch (smallest of the group), below uniform 

 rusty brown except for darker basal area of the hind wings; 

 larva on Kalmia and Vaccinium; North Atlantic States, 

 northward and westward. 



Probably all the Thecla larvae are attended by ants for 

 the sake of their sweetish excretions and titus, at least, 

 regularly passes the day in ants' nests, feeding by night. 



Scudder, the Master Lepidopterist, in 



Femseca whose works most of the statements con- 



tarquinius . . . . 



cerning butterflies which are given in this 



and similar books are to be found, used "The Wanderer" 

 as the nickname for this species (Plate XXXIII) but says 

 in Everyday Butterflies that it is "a very local insect, and 

 apparently never wanders more than a few rods from its 

 birthplace." Holland, who has done so much to popu- 

 larize the study of Lepidoptera, uses as the English name 

 "The Harvester," but harvesting connotes vegetable 

 products. I am taking the liberty of dubbing it The 

 Carnivore because its larva alone, of all our butterflies, 

 is regularly a meat-eater although its relatives, if pressed 

 by hunger, will eat each other. The female lays her eggs, 

 usually singly, in, or near, masses of aphids (plant lice), 

 especially of the woolly aphis of the alder. The larva has 

 mandibles with four sharp, claw-like teeth and the whole 

 mouth is fitted for sucking the body fluids of the victims. 

 If aphids are the ants' cows, tarquinius is a beef-eater. 



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