COLIAS II., III. 



Chrysalis. — Length 1 inch; cylindrical, thickest in middle, tapering to 

 either extremity ; head-case pointed, the eyes prominent ; thoracic process 

 slight, rounded ; color yellow-green ; a yellow lateral line from wing-case to last 

 segment; and below this a row oi' red points, one on each segment. (Fig. h.) 



Duration of this stage eight days. From the laying of the egg to the emer- 

 gence of the butterfly, thirty days, in West Virginia, in July and August. In 

 the Catskill Mountains, thirty-nine days. Larva? which hatched 21st Septeudjer, 

 at Coalburgh, hybernated when about half grown. 



riulodlce is the commonest of butterflies throughout the Northern and Eastern 

 States and Canada. Mr. Couper found it in the island of Anticosti. And it also 

 inhabits Newfoundland. It is less abundant in Virginia, and still less southward, 

 but its range is limited only by the Gulf of Mexico. In the Mississippi valley the 

 orange species predominate, but year by year Philodice encroaches on their ter- 

 ritory. Professor Snow states that it is becoming well known about Lawrence, 

 Kansas, though as yet by no means equaling Eurytheme in numbers. Mr. 

 Dodo-e writes to same eflect from eastern Nebraska. Mr. J. A. Allen found it in 

 Iowa, though nowhere abundant. I have also examples from Dakota and Texas. 

 The rapid advance of the species is probabh* owing to the fact tliat the food- 

 plant of its larva is the common red clover, which everywhere keeps step with 

 the pioneer. The Coliades are not at all forest species, and it is reasonable to 

 suppo.se that, on the first settlement of the country, the range of P/iUodice was 

 restricted to the savannahs along the seaboard, or to open spots where the native 

 species of tritblium or of lupinus grew ; l)ut that with the introduction of a more 

 palatable or less precarious food-plant, it has increased and dispersed till it now 

 occupies half the continent. The orange species have never made their way east 

 of the prairies, except as occasionally a few individuals have wandered. Their 

 larval naturally feed on such plants as grow on the prairies, and over the western 

 territories, but are known to betake themselves to the red clover in some degree, 

 and upon this circumstances may hereafter compel them to depend as the coun- 

 try Ijecomes populated. All the other American species of Colias are compara- 

 tively local in their habits. 



Where Philodice is found no one can have foiled to notice it, either in garden 

 or field, as it gently flits from flower to flower, or courses along the road or across 

 the meadow, with sustained and wavy flight. It is sociable and inquisitive, 

 and may often be seen to stop in mid-career as it overtakes or meets its fellow, 

 the two fluttering about each otlier lor a moment, then speeding on their ways ; 

 or they mount in air, approaching, retreating, with a slow, vertical and treuiulous 

 ascent, till the eye ceases to follow them. When the clover is in blos.?om the 

 meadows are gay and animated with these yellow butterflies, and whei-ever bright 



