78 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



(1275 feet) and Sugar Loaf (709) in Massachusetts above Amherst; the 

 former constitute a characteristic feature of the valley farther south. The 

 trap occurs chiefly in interbedded sheets, dipping to the east, with bold 

 convex outhne to the west, broken by oblique fault-valleys : the highest 

 points on the ridges are Mt. Holyoke (954) and Mt. Tom (1150) near 

 Northampton, Mass., and West Peak (99G) and Higby Mountain near 

 Meriden, Conn. The district of the Hanging Hills, between Meriden 

 and Farmington, is among the most picturesque in southern New England. 

 Mt. Carmel, a little ftirther south, is a dike standing up in a bold ridge. 



The White Mountains of New Hampshire include several subordinate 

 groups separated by deep valleys. The chief of these is the Presidential 

 range, culminating in Mt. Washington at an altitude of 6293 feet, with 

 Mounts Monroe, Clay, Jefferson, Adams and Madison, all over five thou- 

 sand feet : this group stands pre-eminent among its neighbors, as the 

 White Mountains exceed the other mountains of New England. To the 

 east, the Carter range rises to 4856 feet, beyond which the mountains are 

 scattered and of less elevation, soon falling off to the lowlands of Maine. 

 To the north, there is the Starr King group (3925) and beyond this the 

 Pilot range. To the west is the Franconia range, containing Twin 

 Mountain (4922), Mt. Lafayette (5269), Mt. Lincoln (5098) and Hay- 

 stack (Garfield, 4520) ; and isolated beyond these is Moosilauke (4810) 

 on the eastern border of the Connecticut valley. Southward from the 

 Franconia range lie several groups, including Mt. Carrigain (4701), Tri- 

 pyramid (4189) and Passaconaway (4116^. 



There is little continuity or uniformity of arrangement in this complicated 

 mountain region. The rocks are crystalline or highly metamorphosed, 

 and are greatly disturbed and eroded : their massive structure and the 

 heavy glaciation that most of them have suffered prevent the development 

 of much topographic detail, and most of the summits are blunt shoulders 

 with rounded spurs ; but at times the gneissoid and schistose rocks give 

 expression to ridges and cliffs, as about Mt. Washington, where the slopes 

 of loose weathered boulders descend Avith the dip of the beds, while the 

 outcrop face is marked by precipitous walls of solid rock. Chocorua 

 (3508) on the southern border of the range is one of the sharpest peaks. 



The timber line lies, on Mount Washington, between 4000 and 4500 

 feet above the sea ; at greater heights there is a well marked alpine flora . 

 The open lower valleys are generally cleared, but the intermediate slopes 

 are heavily forested, except where too rocky and precipitous for tree 

 growth, or Avhere bared by recent fires, or by slides, such as those of 

 Tripyramid in 1869 and 1885 ; clearings have not yet desolated the moun- 

 tains, and from many sunnnits, such as Mt. Carrigain, little more than a 

 ruiro:ed tree-covered wilderness is to be seen. 



Unlike the Green Mountains, the present range is nowhere traversed 



