THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSECTS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 353 



20. Vanessa cardni Ochs. This insect, says Sjieyer,* "is the most 

 widely distributed of all butterflies, and perhaps of all Lepidoptera. It 

 inhabits the whole of Europe as far north as Lapland, the whole of Asia 

 (with perhaps the exception of the polar regions), the whole of Africa, 

 America from Hudson's bay to Brazil, and Australia ; that is to say, all 

 parts of the world, every zone, the northern as well as the southern 

 hemisphere, its area of dispersion embracing little less than the whole 

 globe. Moreover, in the warm regions it is by no means restricted to 

 the higher altitudes, but inhabits the plains under the equator as well as 

 in Lapland. It has therefore nowhere on the earth an inferior limit to 

 its distribution, through excess of temj^erature or insufficiency of mois- 

 ture. As to its upper limits, it is restricted only by the eternal snows of 

 the loftiest mountains. It is, however, not yet determined whether it is 

 found in the treeless regions of the arctic zone, as it is in the sub-glacial 

 districts of the Alps." There is no spot in New England where it may 

 not be found at certain seasons in abundance. 



21. Jtuwnia Ccenia Hiibn. In New England this is an exceedingly 

 rare insect. Mr. Smith has seen several specimens from the vicinity of 

 New Haven; Mr. McCurdy found it somewhat plentiful one autumn in 

 the vicinity of Norwich, Conn. ; Col. Higginson reports several from 

 Newport, R. I.; and Mr. Bennett captured a single specimen at Springfield. 

 Mr. Sanborn and myself have both taken specimens on Cape Cod. Dr. 

 Harris took one specimen at Milton, Mass.; and I have captured a single 

 individual at Hampton, N. H., the northernmost locality from which it has 

 been reported in New England, or, indeed, in America. 



22. Spcya-ia Idalia Scudd. Generally speaking this is not a common 

 insect in New England, and is seldom seen above the annual isotherm of 

 45°. The most northerly stations from which it is recorded are Bruns- 

 wick, Me. (Packard), Isles of Shoals, a few specimens, and Suncook, not 

 common (Thaxter), Milford, common (Whitney), Dublin (Faxon), and 

 Walpole, N. H. (Smith). 



23. Argynnis Cybclc God. In New England this insect is scarcely 

 larger than A. Aphrodite, and the two species have frequently been con- 

 founded, but it is found throughout the whole area, excepting the White 



* Geogr. Verbr. Schmett., I, 1S2. 



VOL. I. 47 



