GENUS ARGYNNIS 131 



Cybele, and the markings are modified or different, so much so 

 that it seems unreasonable to suppose that they both are equiva- 

 lent to one species. Carpenteri is a low-land flyer, inhabiting the 

 plains and valleys, and never being found in the mountains ; and 

 it is also a wide-flying species, being found scantily over wide 

 areas of country, and not abundant in any one place. The dark 

 basal area extends about half way across the wings. 



113. Argynnis Cypris. Not elsewhere illustrated. 

 Plate XIII ; Figures 113, a, b. 



Fig. 113, Male, Greenhorn Mountains, Cal., 8,000 feet al- 

 titude, June, 1885 ; Author. 



a. Underside of Female, from W. H. Edwards, 



1886. 



b, Female, no data, from W. H. Edwards, 1886. 

 Cypris is sometimes called the western form of the eastern 



Aphrodite. It is smaller than Aphrodite, and the markings are 

 generally lighter than the eastern form. I may here remark that 

 the modern tendency, as to these, and other so-called "representa- 

 tive" species, is to a complete severing of the relationship and the 

 establishment of all such forms as different species, as is right 

 and proper and inevitable eventually. 



Cypris is a true mountain butterfly, and inhabits the mountains 

 up to the tops or utmost heights, and is not seen on the lower 

 slopes and valleys, being just the reverse of Carpenteri, although 

 the two species may at first sight look a little alike. On the West 

 Coast Cypris is very scarce, insomuch that in twenty-five years 

 I have taken only half a dozen males, and never yet a female 

 example. 



114. Argynnis Nausicaa. 



Plate XIII ; Figures 114, a, b. 



Fig. 114, Male, Senator, Arizona, 1897; Dr. R. E. Kunze. 

 a, Male, underside, Arizona, 1897 ; Dr. R. E. 



Kunze. 

 b, Female, Arizona, 1897 ; Dr. R. E. Kunze. 

 This magnificent butterfly is known only from Arizona ; there 

 it is common enough. It would seem as if this species were a 

 close relative of Nitocris and Nokomis, and that like those two it 

 ought to have a black female, but no dimorphic female of Nausicaa 

 is known at this day. 



