144 BULLETIN 15 7, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



streak, and its flights are always short. It is very unsuspicious and 

 stupid, and with due caution may easily be captured with the 

 forceps. The males are more alert and active than the females, 

 though they are by no means so active as the males of the species 

 of Strymon. 



This species is very fond of sunning itself on stones, sticks, or 

 dead leaves lying on the ground, or on the leaves of herbaceous 

 plants or bushes. It usually chooses leaves only a few inches from 

 the ground, but sometimes is seen as high as 5 feet above 

 the ground. Very frequently it will fly into a bush and rest on the 

 twigs instead of alighting on the leaves. It is especially partial to 

 Vaccinium, although I have never seen it pay any attention to the 

 flowers. It rests with the wings closed and without any reference 

 to the sun or to the center of the plant on which it may happen to be. 

 After alighting it nervously moves about for a few seconds, raising 

 and lowering the hind wings alternately in the manner so character- 

 istic of this group. 



If badly frightened when perched on a leaf or twig near the 

 ground it will sometimes simply drop and lie on its side on the dead 

 leaves, or crawl in among them. In such a position it is exceedingly 

 difficult to detect. 



This little butterfly is easily overlooked. It appears before the 

 leaves, and its sluggishness, small size, and plain dark colors, which 

 harmonize wonderfully well with the twigs and dead leaves on which 

 it loves to rest, render it very inconspicuous. This inconspicuousness 

 is in striking contrast with the conspicuousness of the other types — 

 the common blue, the orange tip, the cabbage butterfly, the vanessids, 

 the early swallowtails, and the species of Thanaos — which are on the 

 wing at the same time. 



Comparisons. — In a series of seven females and a male from Paint 

 Branch the fore wing is 12-14 mm., usually 13 mm., long. These 

 specimens agree well with a series from the vicinity of Boston, but 

 most of them have a more or less conspicuous small patch of rusty 

 orange just beyond the cell of the fore wing, and two rather large 

 rusty spots near the anal angle. Beneath most of them are darker 

 than specimens from New England, with the contrast between the 

 dark basal and the light outer portion of the hind wings less marked. 

 There is a dull orange suffusion on the fore wings and a purplish 

 suffusion on the hind wings. 



Two of the specimens are scarcely distinguishable from the usual 

 type found about Boston, while occasional specimens from Boston 

 resemble local individuals. 



