186 MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 



flowers which bloom at the time of year it makes its appearance, and 

 is often so interested in its repast that it may be collected by liand. 

 Mr. Harris says that the caterpillars live on Lesjx'deza, and that they 

 are oval, convex and downy, of a pale green color with three dark 

 green lines, the sides of the body reddish and the liead black. The 

 chrysalis, wliich is usually fastened to a leaf, is at first pale green, 

 but becomes darker afterwards. It is sparingly clothed with whitish 

 hairs and there are three rows of black dots on the back. The 

 chrysalis state lasts from nine to eleven days. This butterfl}- is found 

 in nearly all parts of the United States. 



CHRYSOPHANUS. Coj^peJ'S. 



The insects belonging to this genus can generally be separated 

 from the other mem])ers of the family by the copper-red, orange-red 

 or bi'ownish-red colors of most of them. Conspicuous brown or 

 l)lack spots usually adorn the wings, l)oth u[)per and under side. 

 Our most numerous s})ecies of these little butterflies inhabit open 

 fields and meadows and are sometimes exceedingly abundant. Our 

 most common Ijutterfly of this genus and probably the most com- 

 mon butterfly to be found in New England and the middle states 

 during May and again in August is Chrysophanus hypoplceas. It 

 is very partial to open fields where buttercups and sorrel abound, 

 and the blossoms are literally alive with this pretty little insect 

 during its greatest abundance. At evening they alight on the stems 

 of grasses and weeds witli their wings tightly closed, and one may 

 go al)0ut after sunset or early in the morning and pick them off with 

 tlie fingers. During tlie cool morning while the grass is covered 

 with dew they remain quietly suspended from the stems and leaves 

 of plants and will not readily take wing. One advantage of this 

 mode of collecting is that one need take onl}- perfect specimens, and 

 those taken if put at once into papers are not liable to be injured. 

 Two or three different varieties of this butterfly are to be found by 

 diligent search. In one the black spots of the forward wings are 

 almost or wholly wanting. This variety has been taken in some 

 numbers about Cambridge, Massachusetts. In contrast with this is a 

 dark variety, where the black spots of the upper wings are very much 

 widened and elongated beyond the normal, covering a good part 

 of their surface. 



These vaiieties are not numerous, but one may find them by col- 

 lecting large numbers of specimens. In five hundred specimens of 



