BUTTERFLIES OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 155 



larger males of the forms keeivaydin and amphidusa are, at least in 

 this region, never seen on mud. 



The females are less active than the males and their flight is more 

 irregular, somewhat less fast, and lower, not far above the grass tops. 

 Their flight is never very long, seldom more than 100 feet. They are 

 not shy, even the largest of them, and when once seen they may 

 always be caught unless they have been very badly frightened. 



A female with a male fluttering about her will sometimes rise 

 to a height of more than 100 feet above the ground. 



Both sexes are very fond of flowers, especially of the flowers of the 

 red clover {Trifoiivmi pratense). They are also occasionally to be 

 seen on the flowers of the buttonbush {C ephalanthus occidentalis) 

 and later on the thistles and other tall composites. 



The large and brightly colored males pay little or no attention 

 to the females of C. philodice^ but the small males, and especially the 

 light colored ones, are very attentive to them. The males of G. 

 philodice are very attentive to the smaller females of G. eurytheme^ 

 which sometimes respond to them in the same way as their own 

 females. But I have never found examples of the two species mated. 



In all the mated pairs of G. eurythevie that I have found the two 

 individuals have always been of precisely the same form, ariadne, 

 keewaydin^ or amphidusa. Males of the form amphidusa are occa- 

 sionally found mated with white females, but I have never seen 

 males of the other two forms mated with white females. 



I have found females of this species depositing eggs on the common 

 red clover {Tri folium pratense) and also on white sweetclover 

 {Melilotus alha). 



Sequence of forms. — In northern Texas, as described by Boll, the 

 first individuals of this species to appear are of the form ariadne. 

 The butterflies of the next brood are much larger, and are of the 

 form keewaydin. Those of the next two broods are large and 

 deeply colored eurytheme. These last represent the wet form of the 

 species, keewaydin represents an intermediate form, and ariadne rep- 

 resents a dry form. 



In the District the butterflies of the spring brood all appear to be 

 referable to the form keewaydin. They are usually of a moderately 

 intense orange, which on the fore wings shades off into clear yellow 

 toward the anterior half of the black border. The males are rather 

 pale, and the violet reflections are wholly absent, or if present are 

 very faint. Usually in the females that portion of the fore wings 

 anterior to vein Mg and beyond the outer portion of the cell is 

 yellow, forming a noticeable yellow patch, and the yellow is often 

 continued proximally to the inner maTgin of the wing as a narrow 

 and more or less indefinite band between the black outer margin and 



