Genus Basilarchia 
Fig. 17, as to obviate the necessity for a lengthy , verbal de 
scription. 
Chrysalis, —What has been said of the caterpillar is also true 
of the chrysalis (see Plate IV). 
The larva feeds upon the willow, cherry, apple, linden ( Tilia ), 
huckleberry, currant, and other allied shrubs and trees. The 
butterfly is somewhat variable, and a number of varietal formi 
have been described. It ranges generally over the United States 
and southern Canada as far as the Rocky Mountain ranges in 
the West, and is even said to occur at high elevations in Mexico. 
(2) Basilarchia arthemis, Drury, Plate XXII, Fig. 4, $ , form 
lamina, Fabricius; Fig. 5, $ , form proserpina, Edwards, Plate III, 
Fig. 26, larva; Plate IV, Figs. 14,23, chrysalis (The Banded Purple). 
Butterfly. —Easily distinguished in the form lamina from asty- 
anax , which in other respects it somewhat closely resembles, by 
the broad white bands crossing both the fore wings and the hind 
wings, and followed on the secondaries by a submarginal row of 
red spots shading inwardly into blue. In the form proserpina 
there is a tendency on the part of the white bands to become ob¬ 
solete, and in some specimens they do entirely disappear. The 
likeness to astyanax in such cases is striking, and the main point 
by which the forms may then be discriminated is the persistence 
of the red spots on the upper side of the secondaries; but even 
these frequently are obsolete. Expanse, 2,50 inches. 
Egg. —The egg is grayish-green, with “ kite-shaped” cells. 
Caterpillar. —Greenish- or olive-brown, blotched with white 
in its mature form, which is well represented in Plate III. It 
feeds upon the willow, the hawthorn (1 Crataegus ), and probabN 
other plants. 
Chrysalis.— The figure in Plate IV is sufficiently exact to ob¬ 
viate the necessity for further description. 
This beautiful insect ranges through northern New England 
and New York, Quebec, Ontario, and the watershed of the 
Great Lakes, spreading southward at suitable elevations into 
Pennsylvania. I have taken it about Cresson, Pennsylvania, at an 
elevation of twenty-five hundred feet above sea-level. It is not 
uncommon about Meadville, Pennsylvania. The species appears 
to be, like all the others of the genus, somewhat unstable and 
plastic, or else hybridization is very frequent in this genus. 
Probably all the species have arisen from a common stock. 
184 
