636 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



almost precisely the same nature as P. tharos, infuscated specimens 

 scarcely differ from those of P. tharos in the appearance of the under 

 surface of the hind wings. P. gorgone is a slightly smaller species. 



Distribution (22 : 3). P. tharos has a very extensive range, occupy- 

 ino- almost the whole of North America, north of Mexico and the Gulf, and 

 east of the continental divide, as far as about Lat. 53° N. At its south- 

 ern limits it has been reported from northern (Chapman) but not from 

 southern Florida, from Alabama (Gosse), central (Belfrage) and south- 

 ern Texas (Aaron). To the north it has been found in Nova Scotia 

 "very connnon" (Jones), Cape Breton (Thaxter), the southern side of 

 the mouth of St. Lawrence (Bell), Anticosti (Couper), Saw Bill River, 

 southern Labrador (Couper), in western Newfoundland (where it was 

 taken bv Dr. E. G. Gardiner at St. Barbe's Bay, about Lat. 51° 15') 

 but not reported by Gosse from eastern Newfoundland, Cacouna and Ha 

 Ha Bay (Saunders), Quebec (Bowles), Ottawa (Billings), Sugar Bush 

 Lake, Bevans Lake and Devil's River (D'Urban), Lake Superior (Agas- 

 siz). Lake of the Woods (Dawson), Moose Factory, Hudson Bay "very 

 plentiful" (Weir), the mouth of the Saskatchewan River, about Lat. 

 53° (Scudder), Edmonton (Geddes), Upper Liard River (Dawson), 

 McKenzie River (Edwards) and Lake La Hache, British Columbia, Lat. 

 51° 51' N. (Crotch). The last mentioned is the westernmost (121° 40') 

 known locality, and the only one recorded from the western watershed, 

 though Edwards states (Bull. U. S. geol. surv. terr., iv : 515) that it is 

 found "quite at the Pacific" to the north of our territory. In our own 

 country it is known to occur as far west as Milk River (Coues) and 

 the Judith Mountains, Montana (Edwards), western Dakota, plentiful 

 (Allen), the Big Horn Mountains, northern Wyoming (Edwards), in the 

 mountains of Colorado (Reakirt, Mead) and the mountains of New Mex- 

 ico (Snow) ; to the east it is recorded from, and certainly occurs in, every 

 state of the Union. 



In New England it is almost everywhere exceedingly abundant ; it is 

 not uncommon even in the White Mountain district, where I have taken 

 it above the timber ; but Prof. S. I. Smith who has collected largely in 

 Norway, Me., wrote in 1869 that he had never seen a dozen specimens 

 there, and that year not one, and in Stow, Vt., Miss Soule only saw one 

 or two specimens in 1885 and only one in 1886. The butterfly may be 

 seen in almost any open sunny place, on weedy hillsides, or among the 

 ranker vegetation following the course of small streams ; it is partial to 

 flowers, especially such as grow in low, damp ground. In Iowa, Mr. 

 Allen found it both in the groves and on the open prairie, but it is essen- 

 tially a butterfly of the open country. 



Oviposition. The eggs are laid in clusters (64:29) always on the 

 leaves of the food plant "and usually on the under side of them, in roAvs 



