2 PSYCHI: [February 



Mississippi. Al:)out Boston it is much more common than nrthemis. I'he larvae 

 feed upon apple, willow, poplar, and wild cherry. 



Astyanax is generally double-brooded, though at some points near its northern 

 limit the second brood is only a partial one. This species is extremely variable 

 both in size and markings. Very large examples, rivalling Semnopsyche diana in 

 size, occur from New York city southward ; and mingling with these are found 

 specimens scarcely larger than the average arthemis. Both sexes attain to both 

 extremes of size, though the larger specimens are usually females. 



3. B. archippiis Cramer, "the Viceroy" (Plate II., fig. i, $ ; Plate I. fig. 

 6. 9 ), is the most famous example of mimicry among North American butterflies. 

 The mimicked species is Anosia plexippus, the Monarch or Milkweed butterfly. 

 Archippiis has, instead of the deep brown or blue-black ground color characteristic 

 of the Basilarchias^ the orange coloring of Anosia. Unlike its allies, but like 

 Anosia, it frequents sunny open fields, and in such situations may be found 

 throughout the eastern United States. It is triple-brooded throughout almost its 

 entire range. The larvae feed upon several species of willow, and sometimes on 

 poplar. 



Archippiis is extremely variable in size, like astyanax. The depth of the 

 ground color also varies somewhat, and the mesial black line of the secondaries is 

 often (more frequently in females) indistinct or incomplete. The incomplete con- 

 dition is to be seen in the female here figured.' 



III. The Problematic Forms. 



I. Basilarchia proserpina Edwards, the first of the problematic forms to 

 attract attention, was described in 1865 from two males taken in the Catskill moun- 

 tains, and redescribed later (Edwards '67, '69) when the same region yielded more 

 material. The following is quoted from the notes accompanying the second ('67) 

 description : 



(Jn the same days 1 took about fifty Arthemis., all except two or three being males, and 

 just from chrysalis. 1 have never known Arthemis so abundant in that locality. The varia- 

 tion among so many was remarkable, particularly in the width of the white band and the size 

 of the russet spots above and below ; in half the specimens these spots were wanting above, 

 in others there were two or three and from that up to a complete series of large rounded 

 spots ; the color of under side ran througli all shades, from blackish to brown, cinnamon 

 and russet. 



Notwithstanding his observations upon these intergrading forms, all of which 

 he referred to arthemis, lulwards for some time believed /r^J<?r//W to be a distinct 



' Strecker(7S) has described a vir\tKy,fiseuioiiorifi/>us. which altogether lacks the mesial line. 



