ARCTIC BUTTERFLIES CLARK 279 



The individuals living in the White Mountains differ somewhat 

 from their relatives living farther north and form a well-defined 

 local race {montiiius (pi. 1, figs. 5, 6)). 



The other far northern fritillary {B. polaris) lives also in Green- 

 land and southward to Labrador (pi. 2, figs. 13, 14), thence westward 

 along the extreme northern portion of North America to Alaska. 

 It is found' in Victoria Land and in Wollaston Land, and undoubt- 

 edly elsewhere in the great Arctic archipelago nortli of Canada. 

 In the Old World it lives in the mountains of northern Norway 

 and in Finnmark, and ranges eastward in the north of Asia to north- 

 eastern Siberia. But it does not occur in Novaya Zemlya. 



The bog fritillaries are especially characteristic of Arctic and 

 sub-Arctic regions, and of alpine districts, though they are not con- 

 fined to them. There are about 30 different kinds in the northern 

 portion of the Northern Hemisphere. Many of these are very vari- 

 able, locally or individually or both, so that many names have been 

 bestowed upon them. Collectively they range over a vast extent of 

 territor3\ They are found southward to the mountains of North 

 Carolina and of Arizona, the islands in the Mediterranean, Asia 

 Minor, Turkestan, the Himalayas in northwestern India, Tibet, 

 western China, Mongolia, Korea, and Kamchatka. But strange to 

 say, they are absent from Japan. They inhabit all sorts of regions 

 from sea level as far south as southern Maryland up to a height of 

 more than 15,000 feet in the Himalayas. Far removed from all their 

 relatives are five little fritillaries corresponding to them that live in 

 southern South America. 



Very different in their habits are the various kinds of these little 

 butterflies. Those of the far north and of high mountain tops prob- 

 ably require 2 years in which to complete their growth. One of the 

 European ones is said to fly only in alternate years, at least in certain 

 places. Most of them have a single brood a year, flj-ing in spring or 

 summer. A few in Asia, North America, and Europe have two 

 broods a year. In North America some have three broods a year in 

 the southern portion of their range, flying in spring, in summer, and 

 in autumn ; farther north, these have two broods, and still farther, 

 only one. 



Our commonest bog fritillary in the east and north is prettily 

 spotted with bright silver on the under side (Z>. myrina). It is not 

 a very conspicuous insect, and unless you are on the watch for it 

 it is likely to escape your notice. Its flight is direct, and for such 

 a little butterfly it is rather fast. It alternately flaps and glides, keep- 

 ing from 2 to 6, usually about 4 inches, above the ground or grass 

 tops. The larger individuals found in the southern portion of its 



