INHABITANTS OF NEW ENGLAND 151 



and inhospitable region as the summit of the 

 White Mountains, where a Greenlander would find 

 it impossible to live in comfort, inasmuch as he 

 would be exposed not merely to the cold to which 

 he is no stranger, but to the fiercest and most bit- 

 ing winds, with an amount of humidity accom- 

 panying them which would seem to be almost fatal 

 to existence. In the case of our two butterflies it 

 is tolerably certain that both of them pass the 

 winter in the caterpillar stage, concealed in cre- 

 vices of rocks beneath the mantle of snow, so that 

 they are free from the sweeping wind, and have 

 nothing but the rigors of the extremely long and 

 cold winter to encounter. For protection during 

 the brief existence of the butterfly life itself, there 

 is a very plain provision on the part of nature in 

 the protective colors of the wings. Especially is 

 this the case with the Oeneis which, on alighting 

 (which it ordinarily does on the bare gray rocks), 

 invariably closes its wings back to back and settles 

 upon one side as if reclining, the point of the wings 

 away from the wind, where it clings to the rough- 

 nesses of the rocks, and is seldom blown from its 

 foothold. In this position the peculiar gray mot- 

 tling of the under surface of the exposed portions 

 of the wings so closely resembles the gray rocks 



