272 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 4 



THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE FARTHEST NORTH 



Such is the background of butterfly life in the far north, where 

 for only a few weeks out of every year activity is possible, where for 

 at least 10 months out of every year all insect life is in abeyance — 

 frozen into unconsciousness and inactivity. 



Yet under these conditions butterflies and moths are far from being 

 rare. Only very slightly more than 500 miles from the Pole itself 

 (lat. 82°45' N.) there was found the northernmost representative of 

 the Lepidoptera. This is a fair-sized moth {Dasychira rossi) of plain 

 and dingy coloring. The caterpillar of this moth has been observed 

 feeding on saxifrage on rocks projecting from eternal ice. 



Less than 40 miles farther to the southward, at Discovery Bay in 

 Grinnell Land (lat. 81°52' N.), Colonel Feilden captured two differ- 

 ent kinds of butterflies. Both of these are little fritillaries {Brenthis 

 folaris (pi. 2, figs. 13, 14) and B. charlclea (pi. 1, figs. 7, 8) ), related 

 to our common bog or meadow fritillaries, but dingier in color. The 

 second of these {B. chm^clea (pi. 1, figs. 7, 8)) Professor Vanhoffen 

 found in northwestern Greenland flying commonly on moist sunny 

 hillocks or over mossy meadows, though there were no flowers here 

 for it to visit. 



These two little fritillaries range farther north than any other 

 butterflies — at least they are known from farther north than any 

 others. But only 9 miles south of the northern limit of their range 

 in Grinnell Land (in lat. 81°45' N.) three additional kinds of butter- 

 flies Avere found by Colonel Feilden. 



One of these is a very pretty butterfly nearly or quite 2 inches in 

 expanse with the wing3 orange on the upper side, in bright sunlight 

 with a lovely violet iridescence in the males (pi. 4, fig. 33), narrowly 

 black-bordered. This attractive insect {C olios hecla (pi. 4, figs. 33, 

 34) ) is related to our common clover butterflies, which, with their 

 yellow or orange wings, are so conspicuous in our open fields in 

 summer. As in the case of its more southern relatives, the female is 

 sometimes white. D. Jenness, who collected this butterfly on Barter 

 Island off the northern coast of Alaska, said that it flies with con- 

 siderable speed in a comparatively straight line for some distance. 

 With one exception, his specimens were all taken when the sun was 

 shining and the temperature varied from 44° to 56°. The one excep- 

 tion was a male caught on a cloudy day when the temperature was 

 38°. 



With this pretty orange butterfly there flies a variety of our com- 

 mon little copper {C hrysophcmus phlaecLS feildeni (pi. 6, figs. 49, 50) ) 

 in which the fore wings are lighter in color and more fiery than in 

 the form we know so well — bronzy rather than coppery — and the 



