EREBIA I. 



presence of the large Mountain Marmot, who may be seen on the topmost rock, 

 keeping a good lookout. A few pairs of the Mountain Linnet or Gray-crowned 

 Finch are sure to fly from the rocks, where they are breeding, to the nearest 

 snowbank, and are soon busily engaged searching for seeds that have blown from 

 below or washed from above. The sun gleams out, and, awakened into activity 

 by its beams, comes Erebia Magdalma, flitting leisurely, like the rest of its fam- 

 ily, then suddenly taking an upward flight, it soars around, more like a Limenitis 

 than an Erebia. Another of same species springs up from the rocks, the usual 

 skirmishing chase ensues for a few minutes, the sun is again obscured, and the 

 insects disappear as if by magic, and will not be seen until it is bright again. I 

 have never found this species but among such broken rocks, varying from 12,000 

 to nearly 14,000 feet elevation. The females fly to the nearest grasses to deposit 

 their eggs. They alight on the ground, and crawl into the tuft of grass quite to 

 the root, and it is difficult to find them, while no amount of beating or brushing 

 will make them fly out. I saw one drop into a tuft which I could cover with my 

 hat, and searched for her for ten minutes in vain. It was only by pulling the 

 tuft entirely in pieces that at last I found her. It was this female that laid the 

 two eggs in confinement which I sent you. I have never seen the males fly be- 

 yond the rocks at all. Magdahna when fresh has a beautiful satiny gloss, which 

 in the males has a purple tint, but they soon become worn and brown and lose 

 this tint. As far as my experience goes, this is the most difficult to capture of 

 all our native butterflies, not because of its rapid flight, but from the nature of its 

 habitat. The collector cannot follow it, and when it is at rest on the black rocks 

 it is almost invisible. Owing to its habits the species will always be rare in col- 

 lections. I have met with it from June 28th to July 18th, on the front range 

 of the Rocky Mountains, Park County, Colorado." 



M(i(jd(dena on upper side is exactly like the Arctic-American species, E. Fas- 

 ciata, Butler, the same size, shape, and color even to the club of antenna. But 

 Fasciata is conspicuously banded beneath across both wings. Our Coloradau 

 must have descended from the same stock with Fasciata, if it be not an offshoot 

 of that species. Usually Erebia Fpijjsodea is distinctly banded beneath, but in- 

 dividuals are found in Colorado with no more of a band than Magdalena shows. 

 So far as known by Mr. Bruce this absence of a band in the present species is 

 constant. 



It may be a very long tiine before more is known of the early stages of Mag- 

 dalena than what I have related. I find it almost impossible to rear larvae of 

 these high alpine species, and in cases where larvifi have reached maturity they 

 fail to pupate. 



I a.sked Mr. Bruce, if, considering the great elevation at which this species 



