LEPIDOPTERA 769 



than creep; and the head is small, and can be retracted more or less 

 within the prothorax. The body is armed with no conspicuous ap- 

 pendages ; but some of the species are remarkable for having osmeteria 

 which can be pushed out from the seventh and eighth abdominal 

 segments, and through which honeydew is excreted for the use of 

 ants. Certain other species are remarkable in being carnivorous; 

 one American species feeds exclusively upon plant-lice. 



The chrysalids are short, broad, ovate, and without angulations. 

 They are attached by the caudal extremity, and by a loop passing 

 over the body near its middle. The ventral aspect of the body is 

 straight and often closely pressed to the object to which the chrysalis 

 is attached. 



The family Lycsenidae is represented in our fauna by three well- 

 marked groups of genera, which are hardly distinct enough to be 

 ranked as subfamilies; these are known as the hair-streaks, the cop- 

 pers, and the blues respectively. In addition to these there is a single 

 species, the wanderer, the relationship of which is uncertain. 



I. THE HAIR-STREAKS 



The hair-streaks are usually dark brown, with delicate striped 

 markings, which suggested their common name; but some species 

 are brilliantly marked with metallic blue, green, or purple. The hind 

 wings are commonly furnished with delicate tail-like prolongations 

 (Fig. 980), and the eyes are hairy. The fore 

 wings of the male often bear a small dull oval 

 spot near the middle of the costal part of the 

 wings, the discal stigma, which is filled with the 

 peculiar scent-scales known as androconia. 

 The males are also distinguished by having a 

 tuft of hair-like scales, the beard, on the front ; 

 this is wanting or very thin in the females. 

 More than sixty species occur in America north 

 of Mexico ; of these nearly twenty occur in the 

 eastern half of the United States. 



The banded hair-streak, Thecla cdlanus. — ■p{Z gSo.—Thecla cal- 

 In the northeastern United States the most anus. 

 common of the hair-streaks is this species (Fig. 



980) . The upper surface of the wings is dark brown or blackish brown. 

 The under surface is blackish slate-brown nearly as dark as the upper 

 siirface, and marked as shown in the figure. 



The larva feeds on oak and hickory. Excepting the southern por- 

 tion of the Gulf States, the species is found throughout our territory 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, and in the southern part of Canada. 



The olive hair-streak, Mitoura ddmon. — The upper surface of the 

 wings is dark brown, with the disk more or less deeply suffused with 

 brassy yellow in the male or tawny in the female; the hind wing has 

 two tails, one much longer than the other, both black tipped with 

 white. The lower surface of the hind wings is deep green; both fore 

 and hind wings are marked with white bars bordered with brown. 

 (Fig. 960, 6). 



