530 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Mature caterpillar. According to Mr. Edwards's description, this differs from 

 Argynnis in its more fusiform sliape, tapering either way from the middle and in the 

 greater length of the spines of the upper row on the third to seventh abdominal seg- 

 ments ; the spines of the same row on the first thoracic segment are shorter than the 

 others. 



Chrysalis. ' ' Much compressed laterally , tlie wing-cases very prominent and flaring at 

 the base on ventral side; head nearly square at top, compressed and excavated on the 

 sides with two small ocellar prominences ; mesonotum rounded, a little carinated, fol- 

 lowed by a deep rounded excavation" (EdAvards). Tubercles as in Argynnis. 



This genus, represented by a single species, belongs to the eastern 

 United States ; its exact boundary will be discussed with the species, but 

 it is apparently more abundant in southern New England and on the 

 nortliAvestern prairies than elsewhere. 



The butterflies are the finest of Argynnidi ; they are nearly as large as, 

 and even more superb than, their allies of the genera Damora and Sem- 

 nopsyche, and as there the two sexes differ in coloration : the fore wings 

 are orange red, heavily bordered with black and crossed by black mark- 

 ings ; four bars cross the cell ; the middle of the wing is traversed by a 

 strongly sinuous, angulated series of bars, and the middle of the outer 

 half has a row of small, round spots ; besides these, the outer border con- 

 tains a series of interspacial spots, orange in the male, whitish in the 

 female. There are other apical wdiite spots in the female which are want- 

 ing in the male ; but beneath, the markings of both sexes resemble the 

 upper surface of the female, excepting that the white is transformed to 

 silvery. The hind wings are blue-black above, with a mesial series of 

 small, whitish spots and a submarginal row of similar red (male) or 

 white (female) spots ; beneath the ground is brownish and the spots large 

 and silvery, forming submarginal, extra-mesial, intra-mesial and basal 

 series ; there is besides an independent spot at the tip of the cell. 



The sole species is single-brooded and flies in the latter half of summer ; 

 the caterpillars do not hatch before September, and hibernate before their 

 first moult. Apparently the same phenomenon of continuous and varied 

 development, possibly due to irregular lethargy of the larva, is found 

 here, as occurs in Argynnis, where it will be more fully discussed. The 

 flight of the butterflies diflTers somewhat from that of the species of Ar- 

 gynnis, but in general resembles it. 



The egg is broader based and more tapering than in Argynnis but other- 

 wise closely resembles that genus. The young caterpillar scarcely differs 

 from the same, but the mature caterpillar diflPers, to judge from descriptions, 

 in its proportionally greater size in the middle, from which it tapers toward 

 either end, in its somewhat curving spines, and the greater size of most 

 of those of the supralateral rows on the posterior half of the body; the 

 body is black, banded and striped with yellow, the spines more or less varie- 

 gated. The chrysalis is said to be of the same shape as in Argynnis and 

 of a similar brown color. 



