ICO THE COLORING OF BUTTERFLIES, 



In butterflies, as in other animals, species of the 

 widest distribution usually display the greatest 

 variety in their characteristic peculiarities ; no- 

 where is this more true than in their coloring. 

 Latitude, especially, has an influence in these 

 alterations, and altitude produces almost pre- 

 cisely the same effects as latitude. Many species 

 present so different an aspect at the northern and 

 southern extremities of their range as to have 

 been described as distinct species. So we may 

 discover a difference of considerable importance 

 in the coloring of butterflies as a whole, in passing 

 from the tropics toward the poles, just as we ob- 

 serve a certain procession of color during the sea- 

 son, as one species is replaced by another. Every 

 one is aware that the most brilliant tints among 

 birds and butterflies are found in the tropics, while 

 the sombre shades are more in sympathy with 

 the gloomier subarctic regions. Prittwitz* and 

 Meyer-Biirf have studied this question in the 

 European Lepidoptera as a whole, and, with some 

 exceptions, we may accept their generalizations 

 as applicable to the butterflies of our own country. 



The highest life of color in the wings of 

 butterflies consists in sharply defined spots of 

 red, blue, and yellow, and especially of red. 

 These colors predominate in the tropical re- 



* Stett. entom. Zeit., xvi., 175. 



t Actes Soc. Helvet. Sc. Nat., Vers. xxxvii. 145-152. 



