BUTTERFLIES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HI 



In Massachusetts I have found this species paired in the second 

 week in July, always in the shade of trees on the border of grass land. 



In the District this species mates from early in July, or even 

 earlier, until at least the end of the first week in September, my 

 latest date for a mated pair being September 7, 1931. I have found 

 mated pairs only along the borders of woods. 



In the latter half of August the habits of the females undergo a 

 decided change. They are no longer interested to any extent in 

 flowers, and hence appear to have become scarce. They are to be 

 seen singly coursing over meadows and pastures with a direct flight 

 4 or 5 feet above the ground hunting for violets. When a patch is 

 discovered they descend fluttering into the grass and walk about 

 examining the plants and from time to time depositing an egg. If 

 there are many violets they may walk about for at least half an hour, 

 covering 20 feet or more before they again fly up. Where violets 

 are few the butterfly may simply hover for a few seconds a foot or 

 so above them and then resume her flight. 



Whereas the female of the regal fritillary will drop into the grass 

 anywhere, the female cybele appears never to descend unless she has 

 detected violets. I have several times watched a female regal fritil- 

 lary wandering about, weaving in and out among the grass stalks, 

 in places where violets were wholly absent, but I never saw a female 

 cybele so engaged unless violets were numerous and conspicuous. 



Season. — The cybele first appears, in small numbers, usually to- 

 ward the end of May, but in cool years it is first seen during the 

 third week in May. By the middle of June, or in cool years by the 

 first of June, the males have become common and females appear. 

 The females do not become common, however, until toward the first 

 of July. After about the middle of August the males are all more or 

 less worn and ragged, and by the first of September most of them 

 have disappeared. But fresh females appear throughout August and 

 may be seen even in early September on the flowers of the thistles. 

 During September the number of females gradually diminishes, but 

 they continue on the wing until after the middle of October. 



Remarks. — The females of the form of this butterfly found in the 

 District are unusually large, and most of them are very richly colored 

 although pale females are not rare. In Essex, Mass., I have noticed 

 that large richly colored females comparable to those occurring in 

 the District, though scarcely so large, are foimd only among the lat- 

 est tjo emerge. Farther north, in Maine and in the mountains of New 

 Hampshire, the large dark form of the female seems never to occur. 



Most of the males resemble the males of the northern form, except 

 for being somewhat larger and having the ground color above some- 

 what richer. But man}'^ males are much darker, with the black 



