288 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1934 



York southward to Virginia, and not a true upland butterfly even 

 so far south as Carolina. In this interesting southern colony it flies 

 chiefly in the latter half of April, at the latest in early May, when 

 the temperature is about the same as it is in midsummer in its 

 northern or alpine home. In its early stages it withstands the intense 

 heat of the prolonged southern summer quite as well as the intense 

 cold of the long Arctic or alpine winter. 



The clover butterflies {C olios) and the bog fritillaries {Bi'enthis) 

 are for the most part mountain or northern butterflies; yet both 

 groups include southern lowland species. 



A number of different kinds of butterflies are confined to high 

 alpine regions that do not extend into the Arctic area. On the high 

 mountain tops in central Asia at a height of from 15,000 to 18,300 

 feet above the sea and even higher, in regions destitute of all traces 

 of plant life, live some curious little butterflies belonging to the 

 genus Bdltia. According to Dr. R. Fruhstorfer these curious little 

 pierids play in the sun or run about with half-opened wings over the 

 sandy soil, sometimes traversing long distances. If they are dis- 

 turbed they quickly hide away among the inequalities of the ground. 

 When they fly they always keep near the ground. 



Very similar, though really only distantly related, pierids {Andina 

 (pi. 4, fig. 38)) are found among the barren and desolate masses of 

 rock on the highest summits of the Andes, at an elevation of about 

 19,300 feet above the sea. Garlepp, who discovered them, said he 

 could not understand why this butterfly should choose such wastes 

 and deserts, or how it can exist where there is absolutely no vegetation, 

 where it must sometimes be daily covered with snow and ice, and 

 where only the condor makes its abode. At these great altitudes tem- 

 pestuous winds constantly prevail, so that the insect can fly only in 

 the brief lulls. 



Probably the most familiar and most generall}^ known of all the 

 alpine butterflies are the lovely white parnassians {Parnassius (pi. 

 7) ) so common in the European and Asiatic mountains, and in the 

 higher altitudes in our western States. These are the largest of the 

 alpine butterflies, and in Europe, Asia, and western North America 

 they form a characteristic and most attractive element in the alpine 

 landscape, especially of the higher mountain meadows and more or 

 less verdant slopes, or at least green patches. 



There are nearly 30 different kinds of these lovely butterflies, and 

 most of them are highly variable, locally and individually. They 

 are found in the mountainous regions of Europe, except the British 

 Isles, southward to Spain, Italy and Greece, in Asia Minor, and 

 eastward to Kamchatka and the mountains of Japan, southward to 

 the Himalayas. In North America they range from Alaska south- 



