BUTTERFLIES OF MONTANA. 51 



THE VARIEGATED FRITILLARY, Euptoieta Claudia, Cramer. 



Fig. 40. 



Fig. 40. Euptoieta Claudia, from Miles City, showing upper and lower 



surfaces. 



Butterfly — Expanse of wings from 1.75 to 2.75 inches, 45-70 mm. Upper 

 side of both wings fulvous or dull ferruginous, darker toward the base, 

 crossed by an irregular black median line, which is darker, broader, and 

 more zigzag on the fore wing than on the hind wing. This line is fol- 

 lowed outwardly on both wings by a pair of more or less blackish spots. 

 The outer margin is black, fringes pale fulvous, checkered with black at 

 the end of each nervule. At the end of the cell in the fore wing there 

 are two black lines inclosing paler fulvous spots, and both wings near 

 the base have some curved black lines. 



Under side of fore wings fulvous to the zigzag line, with discal pale 

 spot. The outer half of the wing is pale, with a little submarginal red- 

 dish wash below the apex, and a large gray triangle on the costa. A 

 brown spot near the posterior angle sends a marginal streak toward the 

 apex. 



The hind wings are pale brown in the basal half, streaked with white 

 along the veins, and with transverse striae of darker brown. Beyond 

 the middle they are whitish, shading off into the same brown as the base, 

 with more or less whitish along the margin, the anal portion of the outer 

 half being nearly as dark as the base, while the costal portion is almost 

 white. There are about three indistinct marginal ocelli. 



Early Stages — The egg is conoidal, depressed at top, flat at base 

 marked by about twenty longitudinal ribs, half of which reach the sum- 

 mit. Mature larva is 1.2 inches. 28 mm., cylindrical, of an orange ochre 

 color, smooth, striped longitudinally with black, which is almost con- 

 cealed by the white spots that cover it. The chysalis is .8 inch, 21 mm. 

 long, pearl white, irridescent, marked with dark brown patches and points. 

 On the abdomen there are four rows of conical tubercles. There are 

 two or three broods during a season, the last one probably hibernating in 

 the larval state. It feeds on violet, passion flower, mandrake, Sedum, 

 Desmodium, and Portulaca. 



