80 THE WHITE MOUNTAINS 



broad railway-cutting at the other, forming as they 

 do liighways for butterfly as well as man, are the 

 most interesting and instructive spots. Prominent 

 among those which may be found, and which prob- 

 ably or certainly pass their lives in any part of 

 the forest region, however elevated, where there 

 are open spaces, are the Viceroy (Basilarchia ar- 

 chijjpus), already mentioned in this way, the Poly- 

 gonias, the Compton Tortoise (Eugonia j. -album), 

 and the Spring Azure (Cyaniris pseudargiolus) . 

 Not infrequently, these fly even far above these 

 natural limits, and have been taken or seen upon 

 the highest points. Indeed, many insects are the 

 veriest Appalachians, seeming to take a delight in 

 exploring the summits. This is truer of some 

 other insects than of butterflies, and j^erhaps they 

 are borne upward by the wind-currents ; for in 

 the first week of June I have found the great 

 snow-patches at the very summit of Mt. Washing- 

 ton fairly peppered with numerous small insects, 

 especially Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera, and 

 Homoptera, prominent among which were thou- 

 sands upon thousands of delicate-winged plant-lice. 

 Besides these among the larger insects an Acan^ 

 thosoma, perhaps A. nebulosa, swarmed on the hotel 

 piazza, and every pool of water by the roadside was 



