106 BULLETIN 15 7, IT. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Though I have never seen Argynnis cyhele engaged in depositing 

 eggs except where violets are abundant, the female of the regal 

 fritillary seems to deposit its eggs with mechanical precision on 

 various plants, quite regardless of the presence of violets. This, com- 

 bined with the fact that violets are not abundant in its usual haunts, 

 leads me to believe that in this region it lives largely, or perhaps 

 chiefly, on other plants, though what these are I do not know. 



The regal fritillary spends the night concealed in the grass on or 

 very near the ground. Alighting on the upper portion of a grass 

 blade, it closes its wings and draws the fore wings back between the 

 hind wings. Almost immediately it climbs slowly down to a posi- 

 tion near the roots of the grass and turns head uj)ward, or walks 

 away a few inches on the ground. In either of these positions it is 

 extremely difficult to detect against the dark earth, and the con- 

 spicuous silver spots give no indication of its presence, for they seem 

 to be simply glistening drops of dew. In the morning the butterfly 

 leaves its resting place by flying upward, in this way rubbing the 

 long hairs from the dorsal surface of the thorax, wearing patches 

 of scales from the upper surface of the wings, and often slitting the 

 hind wings. 



Early in the morning and after showers this butterfly is fond of 

 sunning itself on the tops of grass blades with the wings spread hori- 

 zontally and at right angles to the sun's rays and the fore wings 

 drawn back and largely covering the hind wings. The other larger 

 fritillaries {Argynnis cyhele and A. aphrodite) prefer to sun them- 

 selves on the leaves of bushes or on the ends of the lower branches 

 of a tree. 



The regal fritillary is very fond of flowers, especially of the milk- 

 weeds and later of the thistles. It is most frequently seen on the 

 flowers of the red milkweed {Asclepias iticarnata) , and I have 

 noticed no less than four at one time on a single small plant of this 

 species. It visits only tall, isolated plants, and on these prefers the 

 topmost flowers from which the view is uninterrupted. This seems 

 to be the reason why it frequents the red milkweed rather than the 

 common species {Asclepias syriaca), which usually grows in groups 

 and on which the flowers are some distance below the summit. On 

 the red milkweed I have several times observed this species on the 

 topmost flowers and Argy7inis cyhele on the lower flowers. 



When frightened the regal fritillary usually makes off in a per- 

 fectly straight ascending line with continuous and powerful wing 

 beats, always keeping in the open and avoiding woods and trees. But 

 it will frequently fly for from 20 to 50 feet and then suddenly drop 

 into the grass and hide. Sometimes if a net be w^aA^ed at one passing 

 by, it will drop into the grass and is then more or less easily caught. 



