ARCTIC BUTTERFLIES CLARK 287 



Himala^^as it is found 12,000 feet or more above the sea; but it is 

 much more of a lowland than a mountain butterfly. In the Old 

 World, especially in the southern portion of its range in Asia, it is 

 extremelj^ variable, both geographically and seasonally. It is also 

 veiy variable in southern Europe. But it is much less variable in 

 America. 



The pretty little blue of the far north {Plehekts orhitulus (pi. 6, 

 figs. 47, 48) ) is found in Greenland and southward to Labrador, 

 thence westward to Alaska. Varieties, or closely related forms, range 

 southward to the mountains of California and Colorado. In the Old 

 World it lives from northern Norway across Siberia to Kamchatka 

 and southward in the higher mountains to Spain, Asia Minor, Kash- 

 mir, and Tibet. 



This is the commonest butterfly of the high Alps, and is even plen- 

 tiful at the snow line. According to Dr. A. Seitz it is found locally in 

 countless numbers in the region of the higher alpine pastures. It 

 swarms cA^erywhere over detritus and grass, always keeping close to 

 the ground, settling with half -opened wings on flowers of all kinds. 

 Often clouds of them assemble at small puddles in the roads, and 

 they are even fond of drinking on the melting snow. When a cold 

 wind from the glacier strikes them, or the som is hidden by a cloud, 

 they become at once lethargic and often helplessly tumble on their 

 sides, remaining in this position until the warm rays of the sun revive 

 them. Their flight is fast, but they are not shy, I have collected a 

 number of them in Switzerland. 



The little skipper {Pyrgus centaureae (pi. 6, figs. 51, 52) ) that en- 

 ters the Arctic regions lives in Scandinavia and Finland, and also 

 in the Altai Mountains. In North America it is found in Labrador 

 and Quebec, and from northern British Columbia southward to the 

 mountains of Colorado. It also occurs from southern New York 

 southward to the mountains of North Carolina, where it is on the 

 wing only in April and in early May. 



ARCTIC AND ALPINE BUTTERFLIES 



In the far north the butterflies make no distinction between low- 

 lands and higher country, occurring wherever they can find support. 

 Farther to the southward most of them become upland and finally 

 alpine types. But this is by no means true of all of them. For 

 instance, the little copper {Chrysophamus phla<?as) is not an upland 

 species in Africa or in Japan, nor is it a true upland butterfly in the 

 southern portion of the United States. 



The grizzled skipper {Pyrgus centaureae (pi. 6, figs. 51, 52)) be- 

 comes an alpine butterfly in our western mountains, and in Asia in the 

 Altai Mountains; but it is a lowland butterfly from southern New 



