274 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 34 



{Brenthis freija (pi. 1, figs. 3, 4) ) occurs from Baffin Land and Boothia 

 Felix southward to Labrador and westward to Alaska, and also in the 

 Eocky Mountains south to the high peaks of Colorado. In the Old 

 World it lives from Finmark to eastern Siberia, across the extreme 

 north of Europe and of Asia. Closely related to this species, and 

 perhaps only a variety of it, is another {B. natazhati) that is found 

 in the vicinity of Coronation Gulf and westward to the Alaskan 

 border. In the region of Coronation Gulf and westward to Alaska 

 still another kind {B. pales (pi. 2, figs. 17-20) ) is found that lives 

 also in northern Europe and eastward throughout Siberia. The last 

 of the bog fritillaries found in the extreme north of North America 

 {B. gihsoni) is known only from Southampton Island in the north- 

 ern part of Hudson Bay. This is probably only a variety of a widely 

 ranging species {B. frlgga (pi. 1, figs. 1, 2) ) that lives from northern 

 XorAvay and Finmark, Esthonia and Lapland, eastward to eastern 

 Siberia, and in North America from Baffin Land southward to 

 Labrador, westward to Arctic Alaska, and thence southward in alpine 

 regions to the high mountain peaks of Colorado. 



Very different from the butterflies we have so far considered are 

 the Erehias (cf. pi. 3, figs. 29, 30), a group of which the Scotch argus 

 and the mountain ringlet of Scotland and the north of England are 

 perhaps the most familiar species. These are dark brown butterflies 

 of small or medium size related to our wood nymphs. Three differ- 

 ent kinds are found in Boothia Felix or in the southern portion of 

 the Arctic Archipelago north of North America. Of these 3 kinds, 

 2 are found also in Arctic Asia. 



Related to these Erehias are some other butterflies of small or me- 

 dium size known by the general or generic name of Oeneis (pi. 5, 

 figs. 39-44). Like the Erehias, these live when in the caterpillar 

 stage on grasses. They are found in the southern portion of the 

 Arctic Archipelago north of North America, and in the extreme 

 north of Europe and of Asia. Four different kinds of these are 

 known from the region of Coronation Gulf. The last of the but- 

 terflies known to occur in the region of Coronation Gulf is the 

 western checkered white {Pieris occidentalis) . 



The western portion of northern North America is much more fa- 

 vorable for plant and animal life than are the eastern or the central 

 portions. Here the northern limit of tree growth reaches to the 

 mouth of the Mackenzie River, whereas farther to the eastward it 

 just reaches the southern shores of Hudson Bay and the southern 

 end of Ungava Bay, thence running to the southern end of the Lab- 

 rador Peninsula. 



Together with the trees, several of the butterflies of the north 

 temperate region extend their range far northward in the general 



