fSYCHIi:. 



A COURAGEOUS BUTTERFLY, OENEIS SEMIDEA.* 



BY SAMUEL H. SCUDDER, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. 



High up on the wind-swept peaks of 

 the White Mountains of New Hampshire, 

 far above the upper limit of the trees, 

 with no other protection than the lee of 

 the rocks, the crevices between the angu- 

 lar blocks of gray stone which conspic- 

 uously mark those barren altitudes, or 

 the clumps of sedge which cover their 

 more level reaches, lives a frail brown 

 butterfly, which is found in no other spot 

 in the world save the very tops of the 

 still higher peaks of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains in distant Colorado, twelve or four- 

 teen thousand feet above the sea. It 

 has relatives, some so close as sometimes 

 to be mistaken for it, in the far northern 

 latitudes of Labrador, where the condi- 

 tions of life are similar; but nowhere in 

 New England or the surrounding country 

 can it or anything like it be found, save 

 within two or three miles of Mt. Wash- 

 ington, at an elevation of from five to 

 six thousand feet above the sea. 



Semidea, half a goddess, is the name 

 bestowed upon it by our pioneer natura- 

 list, Say, in token of its life among the 



* Reprinted, with slight additions, from the Youth's Com- 

 panion of iSg5, to accompany the new illustration oppo- 



clouds. Half-way to the heavens is its 

 abode, and here, amid the winds and 

 storms wiiich rage about the mountains, 

 the little colony flourishes as if it did not 

 know that butterflies are preeminently 

 creatures of the sun and warmth, and 

 had never heard of the tropics which 

 seem so peculiarly their home. 



Yet it is but a feeble creature, even 

 for a butterfly ; for though its body and 

 legs are covered with a furry clothing, 

 as if to protect it from the cold, its thin, 

 gauze-like wings are even more flimsy, 

 delicate and limp than usual among its 

 tribe, and seem ill-fitted indeed to with- 

 stand the furious blasts and sudden 

 gusts that prevail on those breezy up- 

 lands. 



And, truth to tell, it is but a feeble 

 flutterer ; often when one has been 

 startled into flight by my near approach 

 on a tempestuous day, I have seen the 

 wind catch it and sweep it nearly out of 

 sight in a couple of seconds; and once I 

 was able to follow one thus Ijorne along 

 against a background of white cloud, 

 until it was swept far beyond the moun- 

 tain-side, whence probably it was unable 

 to return, and perished far from home. 



