Genus CEneis 
and the hind margins very slightly, if at all, sinuated. The ner- 
vules of the fore wings are slightly dilated toward the base; the 
hind wings are elongated, oval, with the 
outer margins evenly rounded. The col¬ 
or of these butterflies is some shade of 
brown; the outer margin is generally 
lighter than the base of the wing, and is 
marked with black spots, sometimes pu- 
piled with white. The wings are gener¬ 
ally marbled and mottled on the under 
side, and sometimes crossed on the mid¬ 
dle of the hind wings by a broad band of 
darker color. The fringes are brown, 
checkered with white. 
Egg .— The egg is ovate-spherical, 
higher than broad, marked on the side 
from the apex to the base with raised 
sculptured ridges. These eggs are de¬ 
posited, so far as we have been able to learn, on dried grass and 
the stems of plants in proximity to the growing plants upon 
which the young caterpillars are destined to feed. 
Caterpillar .—The head of the caterpillar when it emerges 
from the egg is somewhat larger than the rest of the body, but 
as it passes successive moults and attains maturity the relative 
thickness of the body increases, and the adult larva tapers a 
little from about the middle in either direction. The lame are 
pale green or brown, marked by darker stripes upon the back 
and on the sides, the markings on the sides being in most spe¬ 
cies more conspicuous than those on the back. The species all 
feed on grasses. 
Chrysalis .■—The chrysalids are stout, very slightly angulated, 
and are formed, so far as we know, unattached, under stones 
and at the roots of grasses. When pupating, the caterpillar often 
makes for itself a slight depression or cell in the soil, in which a 
few threads of silk have been deposited, though not enough to 
justify us in calling the structure a cocoon. 
This genus is composed of butterflies which are mainly arctic 
in their habitat, or dwell upon the summits of lofty mountains, 
where the summer is but brief. Only a few species are found 
at comparatively low elevations, and these in British America, or 
219 
Fig. 122.— Neuration of the 
genus CEneis , enlarged. 
