1780 BUTTERFLIES BEYOND NEW ENGLAND. 



Beneath, the ground color is paler than above, the basal half of all the wings some- 

 what uniformly but irregularly striate with short, blackish brown, transverse striae 

 having thread-like terminations, pretty equally distributed; the pre-raarginal line of the 

 upper surface is repeated beneath on the fore wings as a nearly straight and connected 

 stripe, approaching the border on the lower half of the wiug, crenulate above ; on the hind 

 win"-s usually more vague, broken into separate bars in the succeeding interspaces on 

 the upper half of the wing, continuous only on the lower half; on both wings, but 

 especially upon the hinder, follo\ve<l without by more or less ashen tints ; on the fore 

 wings the band of the upper surface is repeated but is much more pallid; the upper 

 ocellus frequently has a distinct yellow annulus edged with a blackish brown incom- 

 plete areola, distinct, if at all, only above ; the interior edge of the band is limited more 

 distinctly beneath by a blackish brown edging and here has a sinuate direction, the 

 lower half marked by the middle median nervule being removed inward somewhat 

 beyond the upper half; a similar mesial stripe, similar in tint, width and irregularity, 

 crosses the hind wing so as to mark oft" in a very vague and indistinct way a broad, 

 extra-mesial band upon the hind wings like that upon the fore wing, only that it has 

 no yellow coloring, and crossing the middle of this broad band is an irregular series 

 of large, roundish or long oval, velvety Ijlack ocelli, nearly always with a narrovv yel- 

 low annulus, surrounded by a broader and vaguer black brown areola, pupiled with a 

 dot or more commonly a longitudinal streak or oval patch of caerulean blue ; one of 

 these ocelli occurs in every or nearly every interspace from the upper subcostal to 

 the medio-sulnuedian, that in the upper median being more frequently than any of 

 the others blind or sulj-obsolete, those in the lower subcostal and lower median inter- 

 spaces being invariably the largest and as large as the large ocellus of the fore wing. 

 Fringe of wings pale brown, the outer edge of the wings themselves marked by a 

 blackish brown line, preceded by a line of similar width varying from white through 

 ashen gray to brown in diflerent individuals. Expause of wings, 60-65 mm. 



The male bears upon the upper wing a broad, oblique patch of dead brown matted 

 scales crossing the middle of the lower half of the wing, its outer margin parallel to 

 the outer border, its inner subparallel to the costal border, so that it broadens as it 

 passes from above downward, being found principally in the lower median and medio- 

 submedian interspaces near the base of the former but not reaching it, and accompa- 

 nied by a small patch in the upper median interspace and a slightly larger one in the 

 submedio-internal interspace. 



The extent of this patch of scales separates the male noticeably from Cercyonis 

 alope, from which it is usually to be distinguished by the absence of the lower ocellus 

 of the extra-mesial band of the fore wing and the Invariable presence of an ocellus 

 on the upper surface of the hind wings. 



Very common in the southern lialf of the states bordering the Gulf of 

 Mexico, at least east of the Mississippi River, this butterfly is occasionally 

 found at relatively high northern latitudes, but only along the sea coast, 

 havino- been found as far as central New Jersey, where indeed, it is not 

 uncommon. 



No statements have been published regarding its history and seasons, so 

 far as I have noted, except the remark by French to the effect that the 

 caterpillar "is said to be gray, with one broad and one narrow white band. 

 The food plant is coarse wild grass." 



From the notes given by Edwards from different observers, it is evident 

 that the buttei-fly is peculiarly a buttei-fly of the pine barrens, fond of hot 

 sandy expostires, but seldom seen in open fields and given to alighting on 

 erect tree trunks, especially of pines. 



