868 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



THECLA FABRICIUS. 



Thecla Fabr., III. Mag., vi : 286 (1807). Type— Pap. spini Wien. Verz. 



Meng SummervOgli schOner Art 

 Eit uiitenii Bode wohl verwahrt; 

 Es lift kei Chumincr uml kei Clil.ig, 

 Uiul wartet u( si Ostertag ; 

 Uml gangs au laiig, er eluiunt eiuol 

 UikI sider scblofts unci 's isch em wohl. 



Hebel.— Z)er Winter. 



Imago (58:4). Head small, densely clothed with scales, and above with short 

 hairs: (in the front the hairs are exceedingly short and sparsely scattered. Front not 

 at .all ])rominent. .almost tl.at, barely surpassing the front of the eyes, slightly sunken 

 down the middle above, below very slightly tumid ; twice as high as broad, or a very 

 little less than that, from two-thirds to three-quarters the width of the eyes as seen 

 in front ; upper border raised to a very slight ridge in the middle third, the corners 

 considerably hollowed in front of the eyes, lower border strongly arched. Vertex a 

 very little tumid in the middle, with a slight sign of a transverse ridge behind the 

 middle, on either side forming a swollen buttress to the base of the antenna, and 

 separated from the occiput by a broad, transverse furrow varying in depth, but always 

 conspicuous. Eyes rather Large and full, very sparsely and very briefly pilose, 

 excepting on the up])er third. Antennae inserted with the hinder edge of their bases 

 just in front of the middle of the summit and separated from each other by three- 

 quarters the width of the anteuual pit; about half as long again as the abdomen, con- 

 sisting of from twenty-eight to thirty joints, of which from eleven to fourteen form 

 the cylindrical club ; usually the latter is very gradually thickened, always but slightly, 

 being scarcely twice as wide as the stalk ; it is, however, fully eight times longer than 

 broad, and the tip is very bluntly rounded, four or five joints entering into the dimi- 

 nution of size, but only the last two to any considerable extent. Palpi rather slender, 

 fully half as long again as the eyes, the terminal joint aljout three-quarters the length 

 of the penultimate and clothed with recumbent scales, the other heavily clothed, 

 especially beneath, with long scales, closely compressed in a vertical plane. 



Patagia exceedingly long and slender, arched and very slightly convex, three or 

 four times longer than broad, roundly shouldered on the inner margin near the base, 

 the basal half, or a very little more than the basal half, narrowing regularly but 

 slowly, the apical half, which is not more than half as broad as the widest portion, 

 nearly or quite equal, terminating in a broadly rounded apex, the inner border through- 

 out nearly or quite straight. 



Pore wings (39: 11) about half as long again as broad, the costal border pretty 

 strongly convex and almost bent on the basal fourth, the middle half straight, the 

 apical fourth very gently curved backward, the outer angle more than a right angle, 

 scarcely rounded. Outer margin very gently and pretty regularly curved, apparently 

 slightly more so in the ? than in the ^ , having a general direction at an angle of about 

 60° with the middle of the costal margin ; the inner margin straight, the outer angle 

 rounded off. Costal nervure terminating just beyond the tip of the cell; subcostal 

 nervure with three superior branches; the first arising at or a little beyond the middle 

 of the outer four-fifths of the cell ; second midway or a little further between this 

 and the apex of the cell ( $ ), or less th.an one-third the distance to the same (<J) ; the 

 third at or just beyond the tip of the cell (?), or midway between the origin of the 

 first and the tip of the cell ( ^ ) ; the main stem beyond the origin of the second branch 

 either straight (?). or strongly arcuate, convexity downwai'd, to a little beyond the 

 tip of the cell and then straight ($); cross vein closing the cell transverse, very 

 feebly developed excepting next the main subcostal nervure. Thecla Ontario, how- 

 ever, diflers so much from the others that it is separately described under the species. 



