960 THK BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



America, for in all it occurs between Lat. 40° and 60°, a region 

 which represents a much colder climate in eastern North America than 

 in the other regions mentioned ;* indeed in California it probahly descends 

 at least to the 35th parallel. According to Koch it is also found in south- 

 ern Australia, which would accord with its distribution in the northern 

 half of the Old AA'orld, or better, with that of the species found in western 

 North America. Only a single sj)ecies occurs in eastern North America, 

 which has been found only upon the confines of New England and north- 

 ward. 



Appearance. The Ijutterflies are deep violet above, in the male 

 uniform, in the female heavily bordered with dark brown on the costal 

 margin of both wings and on the outer border of the front pair ; the 

 hind wings of the female have a marginal series of black spots surmounted 

 by red. Beneath, the wings of both sexes are pale gray with a double 

 marginal series of dark spots, conspicuously pupilled with red, especially 

 on the hind pair ; there is a dash at the tip of the cell, and on the hind 

 wings three small, dark spots ne.xt the base, and a sinuous series of dark 

 roundish markings in the middle of the outer half. 



Life history. Our eastern species at least is double brooded, and 

 Meyer Diir gives the same account of the European forms. Prittwitz, 

 however, states that the European butterflies are single bi-ooded and so do 

 others. Our species appears in June and the last of July ; but in what 

 condition the insects hibernate is unknown. It is stated by Hellins that 

 the European R. aegon winters as an egg, but Zeller and Hellins both 

 found that R. astrarche wintered as a larva partly grown, and Hellins car- 

 ried also larvae of E. icarus and bellargus through the winter. The but- 

 terflies mingle in flocks, and rest with joartially expanded wings. The 

 larvae feed on Leguminosae ; our American species have been found on 

 Hosackla, Lupinus and Astralagus ; the Eiu'opean on no less than a dozen 

 genera of leguminous plants, besides Helianthemum, Geranium, Erodium, 

 Fragaria, Sedum, and even Erica, Plantago, Stachys and Thj'mus. The 

 transformations of our eastern species is pretty well known ; that of one 

 of the western species has been described by Edwards, and those of several 

 of the European species are known. 



Caterpillars and ants. The caterpillars are provided with the median 

 gland and lateral caruncles of the hinder end of the body and are attended 

 by ants who caress them to procure the sweets from the gland. Both 

 sets of abdominal glands are certainly present in R. aegon, but Zeller 

 could not discover those of the eighth segment in R. astrarche. Aurivil- 

 lius states that he once found six pupae of the European R. argus under 

 the bark of a pine inhabited by Lasius niger and suggests that it is be- 

 cause of a similar commenealism in these species. The attendance of 



* Although it occurs in the Alps up to .ibout 6000 feet. 



