620 Characteristics of the Insect-Fauna 



placement of Gropta Comma Doubl., of the Alleghanian 

 Fauna, by G. Fauniis Edw., and of Argynnis Aphrodite 

 Fabr. by A, Atlantis Edw. Here, then, we have three dis- 

 tinct faunae upon the slopes of the White Mountains, each 

 with its characteristic forms ; and however much one may 

 be prepared to expect some difference between the animals 

 of the extreme barren summits and those of the sheltered 

 valleys, these distinct faunae, so clearly marked, each har- 

 boring their peculiar forms of life, which live, as it were, 

 within a stone's throw of one another, and yet do not over- 

 leap their imperceptible barriers, which are capable, it would 

 seem, of interchanging their stations in the freest way, and 

 yet prefer their own homes, cannot fail alike to astonish 

 and to interest. Many of the butterflies of the valley oc- 

 casionally struggle to the extremest summits, and one or 

 two, such as Gropla Faunus Edw., and Vanessa Milberti 

 Godt., are found, not infrequently, within the subalpine 

 region ; with them all the capabilities of flight are 

 unlimited, yet I have but once or twice taken Chionobas 

 semidca more than a mile and a quarter from the summit ; 

 and the very limited appearance of the others upon the 

 mountain summits (which may be easily accounted for by 

 the fact that all insects, which are not essentially ground- 

 insects, seem to delight in flying to the most elevated sit- 

 uations) is in marked contrast with their amazing abun- 

 dance within their proper and assigned limits ; for there is 

 no species of butterfly in the valleys, at all characteristic of 

 the Canadian Fauna, which I have not found at its season 

 in the most wonderful profusion. 



The results to which we are brought, by an examination 

 into the character of the faunae on the mountain slopes of 

 New Hampshire, are what we should have expected on 

 a comparison of the elevation to which they have been 

 raised with that of the Alps of Europe, provided we take 

 into consideration the dill'erence in climate between the 



