ORGAN OF THE CAMBRIDGE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB. 



EDITED BY E. PICKMAN MANN. 

 Vol. I.] Cambridge, Mass., April, 1875. [No. 12. 



A North Greenland Butterfly. 



The recent polar expedition of Captain Hall, in the U. S. 

 Steamer Polaris, brought home from Polaris Bay, Lat. 81° 38' 

 N.,two specimens, male and female, of JBrenthis polaris (Boisd.) 

 — the most northern butterfly known. 



The male is badly rubbed, but evidently differs, as the fresher 

 female does, from Labrador specimens, in being of a much duller 

 color upon both surfaces of the wings. The upper surface of 

 the male, in Labrador specimens, is bright orange fulvous, that 

 of the females a little duller ; while in these Greenland exam- 

 ples the color is a dull sordid fulvous, almost changing to ashen 

 in the fore-wings of the female. The dark markings of the upper 

 surface in both sexes are not so dark in the Greenland as in the 

 Labrador specimens, and, with some exceptions, they are also 

 slightly narrower ; the transverse markings in the cell of the fore 

 wings in both sexes are noticeably slenderer, but the mesial band 

 of the fore wings, besides being less irregularly zigzag, is broad- 

 ened in the posterior half of the wing, at least in the female, and 

 its border more obscured by scattered griseous scales ; the mesial 

 band of the hind wing is, however, narrower than in Labrador 

 specimens, and there is therefore a greater extent of fulvous 

 surface, but that is greatly obscured by griseous scales ; the 

 roundish spots of the extra-mesial row are rather larger than 

 usual in the female. 



Beneath, similar differences occur. The general color is 

 duller than on the upper surface, though not to so great an ex- 

 tent, and the contrasts of the dark and bright markings are not 

 so noticeable as in Labrador specimens. On the fore wings, the 

 lower portion of the mesial band is broader, as on the upper 

 surface, and the extra-mesial spots are also larger, especially 



