1638 THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



near l)y. Tlie richness of this genus in America and its extreme poverty 

 in the Old World lead to the presumption that the genus liad its origin in 

 our o^vn country and that temperate North America is its proper metropolis. 

 Moreover a northern variety (catena) of the Eurojjean species is found in 

 eastern Labrador. 



This genus may be considered the typical group of Pamphilidi. The 

 butterflies are of small size but stout bodied ; the fore wings of the male 

 are furnished with a slightly curved, nearly linear, outwardly tapering, 

 discal dash. The wings are tawny above, relieved by a broad or narrow 

 border of dark brown, repeated very obscurely on the paler under surface. 



As in Atrytone, one of the American species of this genus is peculiar 

 in having dimorphic females, one of them being melanic and nearly devoid 

 of any markings save a few small, angular, vitreous spots on the outer 

 half of the fore wings. Here, too, this form has been described as a distinct 

 species. 



Our butterflies are single brooded, wintering in various ways. The 

 European species is said by some to be single brooded, but Meyer Diir 

 explicitly states that it is double brooded on the lowlands of Switzerland, 

 although single brooded at the higher levels ; the first generation disap- 

 pearing by the middle of July and fresh individuals appearing in the same 

 spots late in August. 



In England, where it is single brooded, winter is passed in the egg- 

 state, according to Hellins ; but our eastern species, so far as known, 

 probably all winter as chrysalids ; one, at least, is one of the earliest of 

 the Pamphilidi to appear on the wing, being seen by the middle of May. 

 In the west, however, the species appear at several different periods of the 

 year, so that there is probably considerable variety in this respect ; and 

 one, E. juba, flies so late (September-October) that it probably winters 

 in the egg. 



The butterflies are rapid in flight and are abundant in grassy spots and 

 meadows, loving the hottest rays of the sun. The caterpillars feed on 

 grasses and the European species is said to feed also on Leguminosae 

 (Coronilla, Hippocrepis, Ornithopus, Lotus). The metamorphoses of two 

 or three of the species are known to a greater or less extent. 



The eggs are pretty large, high and well arched, of a chalky white, with 

 a thick shell hardly showing the reticulation with which it is covered. 



The caterpillar at birth is white with a dark head and thoracic shield, a 

 scarcely arched body, the fungiform appendages in three rows above the 

 spiracles, at very different positions upon the segments, short and very 

 much expanded apically. The full grown caterpillar is cylindrical but 

 tapering from the middle forward, the head about as broad as the middle 

 thoracic segment ; the body is uniform in color, heavily flecked with 

 numerous, irregularly disposed, raised points. 



