INTRODUCTION 



The present accouut of the butterflies collected by me has been kindly prepared by Mr. 

 Edwards, at my request. As will be seen from the list, the specimens were taken either at Saint 

 Michaels or along the Arctic coast from Kotzebue Souud north. Along this latter coast I found 

 butterflies more numerous than I had ever seen them on the coast of Bering Sea. In neither dis- 

 trict, however, were they very common. The list of species is smaller than it would otherwise be 

 from the fact that during the months of June and July at Saint Michaels I was so pressed with 

 work in other directions that only the scantiest attention was paid to collecting butterflies. In 

 fact I took only such specimens as occurred in the immediate vicinity of the station. The 

 specimens taken along the Arctic coast in the summer of ISSl were all secured by means of my hat. 

 In consideration of these facts, the writer was surprised to tiud that the collection contained two 

 new species, Piem Nelsoni and Argynnis Butlerl, besides some rare and little known forms. This 

 should encourage future explorers in that region to pay greater attention to the collection of these 

 insects. 



At Saint Michaels the warm weather of June and the first two weeks of July cover the but- 

 terfly season, and we only found butterflies along the Arctic coast during July. 



The raw misty weather so characteristic of the last half of summer on the east coast of Bering 

 Seii is entirely unsuited to the life of these frail insects, and scarcely one can be found then. Mild 

 weather prevails much later in the season about the shoi-es of Kotzebue Sound, and in the interior, 

 "Sovih. of Kotzebue Sound, on the Arctic coast, the season is similar to that at Saint 3Iichaels, but 

 is shorter. The Point Barrow party failed to obtain a single butterfly, so they must be very rare 

 at that bleak and desolate locality. 



Speingerville, Akiz., J^ovemher 25, 1886. B. W. >"ELSON. 



