THE TRIBE OF THE FRITILLARIES 119 



and blue butterfly feeding so quietly as to allow me to 

 stand near it some seconds and watch its motions. It 

 seemed to be a new species of Limenitis, allied to Ursula, 

 which it resembled in color. But on taking it, I saw it 

 was a female Argynnis, and the general pattern of the 

 under wing left little doubt of its affinity to the Diana 

 male, despite its total difference in color and of upper sur- 

 face. Subsequent captures confirmed this conjecture^ 

 and out of the large number that have since been taken 

 the males have been of the known type and the females 

 black, with no tendency in either to vary in the direction 

 of the other. 



"When my attention was called to the species I found 

 it not very uncommon, always upon or near the iron-weed, 

 which is very abundant and grows in rank luxuriance 

 upon the rich bottom lands of the Kanawha River, fre- 

 quently reaching a height from eight to ten feet and in 

 August covered by heads of purple flowers that possess 

 a remarkable attraction for most butterffies. Both sexes 

 are conspicuous, the males from the strong contrast of 

 color and the females from their great size and the habit of 

 alighting on the topmost flower and resting with wings; 

 erect and motionless. It is an exceedingly alert and wary 

 species, differing in this from our other Argynnids. At 

 the slightest alarm it will fly high into the woods near 

 which, upon the narrow bottoms or river slopes, it is 

 invariably found. It is a true southern species, sensi- 

 tive to cold, not to be looked for in the cooler part of tl|e 

 morning but flying down from the forest when the sun 

 is well up. From eleven to three o'clock is its feeding 

 time." 



The life-history of this fine butterfly is similar to that of 



