1648 



THE BUTTERFLIES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Described from 133 , 109 . 



Accessory sexual peculiarities. The discal stigma of the male has been de- 

 scribed under the wings; the scales contained In it consist of slender jointed threads, 

 the joints gently fusiform (49:2g),' accompanied by very slender and very slight 

 spatulate rods (2 d) ; the stigma is guarded at tlie edges, especially the upper edges, 

 by two-pronged rods or rod-like scales in dill'erent parts of the stigma (2 a, b, c) ; the 

 cover scales above are large, quadrangular, well rounded, a little larger apically than 

 at the base (2 f) ; the field below the stigma is composed very largely of triangular 

 scales of varying sizes, finely striate (2 e, i, 1), while otliers are more quadrangular in 

 form and vary similarly in size (2 h, k). 



Comparisons. This species is the most nearly allied to the European P. comma of 

 all American species ; the size of the two is the same, and the upper surface of the 

 females vary in each species to the same extent; there are no constant features of dis- 

 tinction in the upper surface of the male, although in the present species the hind 

 wings are usually devoid of the appearance of the spots ou the under surface, which 

 generally are faintly but exactly marked upon the upper surface in the European 

 species. The under surfaces of the two species also resemble each otlicr closely, and 

 it is a little difficult to define in words the distinctions whicli are apparent; the ground 

 color inclines more to deep green in P. comma, and the mesial bent band of the Mud 

 wings is ratlier more uniform ; in the male it seldom departs from a certain regu. 

 larity of disposition, the spots being nearly equal, arranged in a line bent at a little 

 less than a right angle, occasionally broken into spots, and sometimes witli a narrow 

 black bordering to the spots upon the inner and outer side. In the male of P. mani- 

 toba, the spots generally diminish in size toward the middle of the wing, and from the 

 greater approximation to the outer border (sliown by the spot in the interspace beyond 

 the cell), the band is bent at considerably less tlian a riglit angle; the spots are never 

 bordered with black, at least in specimens I have seen. The female of P. comma 

 agrees very well with the male of the same in its characteristics, only the band is 

 somewhat liroader, and perhaps more frequently made up of detached spots, while the 

 female of P. raanitoba differs to a greater degree from its male, the spots showing 

 greater tendency to become equal in size, to separate from each otiier, and even to be- 

 come margined slightly with Ijlack; it is therefore less readily distingnislied from the 

 same sex of P. comma thiin tlie males are; tliere is also great variation in the breadth 

 of the Iiand or the size of the .spots, for while usually larger than in the male (as in 

 most species) they are sometimes many times larger, and occasionally almost as small 

 as in the most delicately marked males. 



Distribution (30: 0). This butterfly belongs to the Canadian fauna 

 wiiere it reaches across the country, following the southern border of the 

 Dominion of Canada from Quebec to Vancouver. That it is more partic- 

 ularly a western species is shown by its great latitudinal distribution in the 

 west, as it appears to follow down the coast ranges to central California 

 and the Rocky Mountains as far as Colorado. It has not been discovered 

 in the intervening elevated plateau or on the mountain ranges, but is not 

 likely to be altogether absent. Thus, along the Pacific coast it has been 



