446 riioaEEinxGS of the national museum. vol.xxxi. 



VANESSA CARDUI (Linn^us). 



This cosinopolitaii butterti}' i.s not absent from even the somewhat 

 rigorous Northland. I first observed it June 1<), 1903, on the Slave 

 River, near the Grand Detour.'* A few were seen at Fort Resolution, 

 while at Fort Providence it was common, f eedinj^ on Rihes and Ehcecuj- 

 •n u>i. 



There are several records for T. ca/'dm' in the southern provinces, 

 and also in Alaska, but former o])servers in Athabaska and Mackenzie 

 have not recorded it. 



BASILARCHIA ARTHEMIS (Drury). 



This handsome butterfly was found ))y us only in the Mackenzie 

 Basin. Several were noted at Fort Providence, July 4, and two at 

 Fort Simpson, July 10, 1903; while in the region near the mouth of 

 the North Nahanni River it was common from July 13 to 19 of the 

 same year. I found this species in the alder thickets on Mount Tha- 

 on-tha, Nahanni Mountains, as hioh as 3,000 feet. Mr. Preble took 

 a specimen in a poplar thicket near this mountain, July 25, 1904. 



Jj. (n'tlioiila is a striking butterfly, and one of the most characteristic 

 sights, as we " tracked" our canoe up the swiftly-flowing Nalianni, was 

 the frequent glimpse of black and white as these butterflies flitted 

 a1)out in the dark green foliage of the alders which everj^where fringed 

 the stream. 



According to White this species was collected at Fort Simpson, and 

 also on the "Borders of Mackenzie and Slave Rivers," by Richard- 

 son in 1848.'' Edwards has the following in regard to it: "I formerly 

 received a large invoice of butterflies collected by Mrs. Christina Ross 

 at Fort Simpson, Mackenzie's River, and among them were many 

 artJicmhy'^ Gefl'cken had several examples from the Athabaska region, 

 which he sent to Strecker."' Doctor Scudder has recorded specimens 

 which the late Doctor Dawson, of the Canadian Geological Survey, 

 collected at the Devil's Portage, Liard River.'' Four others, collected 

 at Fort Simpson in 1888 by Frederick Bell, are listed 1)}" Doctor 

 Fletcher.-' One of the latter specimens was recorded as arthenils^ and 

 three as l)el()nging to the dimorphic form hnithia Fabricius, which 

 latter name has l)een dropped.'/ Specimens taken b}^ ]\liss Elizabeth 

 Taylor at Fort Simpson, July 9, and Fort Good Hope, July 18, 1892, 

 have been recorded by A. G. Butler.'* . 



« Fifty miles below 'Fort Smith, Mackenzie. 



6 Arctic Searching Expedition, 11, 1851, p. 8(52. 



c Butterflies of North America, II, 1S84 [p. 209]. 



''Lej)idoptera, Khopaloceres and Heteroceres, 1872, p. lo3. 



^' Butterflies of P^astern United States and Canada, I, 1889, p. 298. 



/Ann. Rep. Can. Geol. Surv., Ill (new ser.), Pt. 1, App. IV, (1889), p. 231B. 



9- See Dyar, List. N. Am. Lep., Bull. No. 52, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1902, p. 25. 



^Annals Nat. Hist. (6), XII, 1893, p. 12. 



