BUTTERFLIES AT THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. 131 



elevated, \\'liere there ure open spaces, are Basilarchia archippus, already 

 mentioned in tliis way, the Polygonias, Eugonia j.-albuni and Cyaniris 

 pseiidargiolus. Not infrequently, these fly even far ahove these natural 

 limits, and have been taken or seen upon the highest points. Indeed many 

 insects are the veriest Appalachians, seeming to take a delight in explor- 

 ing the sununits. This is truer of some other insects than of buttei-flies, 

 and perhaps they are borne upward by the wind-currents ; for in the first 

 week of June I have found the great snow-patches at the very sunnnit of 

 Mt. Washington fairly peppered with numerous small insects, especially 

 Coleoptera, Diptera, Ilynienopteraand Ilomoptera, prominent among which 

 were thousands upon tliousands of delicate-winged plant-lice. Besides these 

 among the larger insects an Acanthosoma, perhaps A. nebulosa, swarmed 

 on the hotel piazza, and every pool of water by the roadside was the grave 

 of countless Bibio femoratus. Of the butterflies alone which I have found 

 u[)on the very highest summits are (besides two species immediately to be 

 mentioned, characteristic of the mountain top) the following: Basilarchia 

 archippus, B. arthemis, Polygonia interrogationis, P. faunus, P. gracilis, 

 Eugonia j. -album, Euvanessa antiopa, Aglais milberti, Argynnis atlantis, 

 Brenthis myrina, B. bellona, Phyciodes tharos, Incisalia niphon, Cyaniris 

 pseudargiolus, Pieris rapae, Jasoniades glaucus, Thanaos icelus, and Limo- 

 chores taumas, — in all, twenty species. 



It will require still a good deal of field-work to determine how far up 

 the mountain side these forms habitually breed ; for, as given, the list is 

 merely that of stragglers of an inquisitive turn of mind. 



It is far more interesting, perhaps the most interesting point in the 

 geographical distribution of New England buttei-flies, to find that there are 

 two buttei*flies living exclusively on these inclement mountain heights. 

 One of them, Oeneis semidea, is known elsewhere only on the summits of 

 the highest peaks of the Rocky jSIountains in Colorado, where it does not 

 appear, apparently, below an elevation of about 12,000 feet, above which, 

 and up to 14,000 feet, it has been taken on Mt. Lincoln, Sierra Blanca, 

 the Argentine Pass, Pike's Peak, and Twin Lakes. It is, however, 

 regarded by some as only a variety of a species found farther north ; but 

 whether variety or species, it has characteristics Avhich separate it from the 

 North Labrador type, while the Colorado and New Hampshire forms are 

 inseparal)le. It is therefore either a distinct species or well on the road to 

 it ; and so far as its interest in this connection goes, it matters little in 

 which light it be viewed. The other species, Brenthis montinus, will, in 

 my judgment, certainly be found beyond the great range of the White 

 Mountains, whence only it is so far known. I should look for it confident- 

 ly above the forest line in the Adirondacks, in the Green Mountains, and 

 on Ktaadn, as well as other elevated and barren heights. It has been re- 

 ported as seen on Black Mountain near Thornton, N.H., which is wooded 



