LYC^ENID^E. 179 



LYC.ENA. Blues. 



The "• blues," or the genus Lycmna, is well represented in this 

 country, but the bulk of the species inhabit the Pacific coast where a 

 laro^e number of the finest insects of this o-enus are to be found. These 

 butterflies are frail, delicate creatures, the body being weak, the wings 

 large and wide in proportion. The coloring of the up[)er side of 

 tlie wings in most species is satiny l)lue, others being Ijluisli-purple 

 and [)urple-brown. The under side is generally light gray with more 

 or less distinct brown or Ijlackish markings. There are about fifty 

 species of these butterflies inhaljiting the United States, but only a 

 few of them occur east of the Rocky Mountains. To one who has 

 collected in New P^ngland or the western states the number of 

 species and individuals of this group to be seen in the mountain 

 valleys of Nevada and C'alifornia is something long to be remembered 

 with delight. They are most abundant in tlie spring and early 

 summer, when the valleys are bright with wild flowers and before 

 the long and severe sunnner droutli has turjied tlie fertile land into 

 a brown and barren desert. Near Washoe, Nevada, at the eastern 

 base of the Sierra Nevada, my brother one season made an extensive 

 collection of species of this genus and the Chri/soplianus and The<-Ia. 

 They are very plentiful in the Yosemite valley in June, and at that 

 time the wild flowers are peopled with them. We have but two 

 common species of this genus in the east, although two or three 

 others occur rarely in tlie middle states and several in Florida. 



Lijcfvna pseudargiolus is our best-known species, as it is every- 

 where abundant in early spring, and is on the wing soon after the 

 snow disappears from the woods. This insect has many well-marked 

 varieties, some eight or ten of which have been described and named, 

 entomologists supposing them to be distinct species. A remarkable 

 thing about these varieties lies in the fact that they are frequently 

 local, having boundaries as distinct as well-marked species, and while 

 the insect in general inhabits a large part the United States and 

 Canada, extending also up into Alaska, certain varieties are often 

 much more restricted. Another curious fact connected with this 

 and several other kinds of butterflies is tliat the insects emerging 

 from chrysalides which have hibernated over winter are different from 

 their parents, which were the summer brood of the year before. With- 

 out going too mucli into details two or three of the well-marked 

 varieties will be given with descriptions, j 



