286 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSOlSTIAlSr INSTITUTION, 19 34 



woods, in larch woods, or on dry, rocky, and barren slopes. Some 

 prefer to rest on the branches of trees, others on the trunks, still 

 others on rocks or on the bare ground, and a few hide in the grass, 

 avoiding both rocks and trees. Some are fond of flowers, though 

 others are seldom or never found on them. Many are shy, with a 

 rapid flight, and difficult to catch ; though some, especially such as 

 live in grassy places, fly weakly and only for short distances. The 

 females are much less active than the males, and in some kinds fly 

 but rarely, so that they are much less often caught. Some of them 

 in portions of their range are found only in alternate years, but in 

 different years in different places, and these, and others, ma}^ vary 

 more or less widely in abundance in alternate years. 



THE PIERIDS, LYCAENIDS, AND SKIPPERS 



Especially characteristic of high Arctic regions are several different 

 kinds of butterflies related to our common yellow or orange clover 

 and alfalfa butterflies {Colias) that are so very common in our fields 

 in summer. 



The butterflies of this group are very numerous, comprising about 

 80 different species. Many of these are very variable, locally, season- 

 ally, or individually, and the females often occur in an albinistic as 

 well as in a normal color phase. As a result of this variation more 

 than 300 forms are recognized. 



More than half the species live in central Asia. In North xVmerica 

 there are 15 species with 31 forms, most of them living in the north- 

 west and in the mountains of the west, usuall}^ at high altitudes. 

 There are eight species in South America, w^hich are for the most 

 part found high in the Andes from Colombia to Chile, but one lives 

 on the southern plains, and one of the very finest of the genus is con- 

 fined to Tierra del Fuego. Two are found in Africa, one throughout 

 the continent, and the other in the northeastern section. In India 

 south of the Himalayas one lives in the Nilghiri Hills. 



These butterflies live in open country, and especially in rough and 

 mountainous country. Nearly all of them are active and fast fliers, 

 the males especially. 



The little copper butterfly found in the far north {Chrysophanus 

 phlaeas feildeni (pi. 6, figs. 49, 50) ) occurs in Greenland and south- 

 ward to Southampton Island and to Labrador, thence westward to 

 Alaska. In a somewhat modified form it lives in Norway, in Sweden, 

 and in Finland. The species {Chrysophanus phlaeas) of which this 

 is simply a geographical variety lives all over North America, except 

 in the extreme south. In the Old World it ranges from the Arctic 

 regions southward to Madeira and the Canary Islands, the oases of 

 the Sahara, Asia Minor, northern India, China, and Japan. In the 



