354 Canadian Butterflies. 



but are entirely destitute of articulations, whilst in the females 

 they are much less hairy, and distinctly composed of five joints, 

 even without denuding thera of scales, each of the joints having 

 two short spines at the extremity on the inside. 



The two genera Melitcea and Argynnis are so closely allied, it 

 is difficult to give satisfactory characters by which to distinguish 

 them, but the present may be known chiefly by the silver spots 

 which ornament the underside of the wings, being large and con- 

 spicuous, and by the tessellated appearance of their upper side. 



The larvae are thickly clothed with spines, two on the first 

 segment next the head being rather longer than the rest. They 

 feed principally on plants of the genus Viola. The Pupae are 

 angnilar, ornamented with spots of gold or silver and marked with 

 two rows of spots on the back. 



The ground colour of the upper surface of the Argynnes is ful- 

 vous or reddish brown, marked with a row of sinuated black lines 

 (somewhat resembling written figures) occupying the central cell 

 of the anterior wings, and with several rows of black spots running 

 parallel to the hind margin. It is, however, the beautiful silvery 

 markings on the underside for which they are most remarkable 

 and which afford the best means of distinguishing the species 

 from each other. 



Boisduval describes nine species as being found in North 

 America. We shall describe four as Canadian, of which two are 

 doubtful natives, and of the rest three inhabit Labrador, and the 

 other two the southern States. Very few of the caterpillars of 

 the American species are known, and we aje therefore unable to 

 furnish figures of them. 

 Species 1. — Argynnis Idalia. 



Godart, Encyclop. Method ix., p. 263, No. 20. 

 Papilio Idalia, Fabricius, Ent., Syst. Ill, 1, p. 145, No. 446. 

 Cramer, pi. xHv., D.E.F.G. 

 Drury, Ins. 1, tab. xiii, fig. 1, 2, 3. 

 Argynnis Idalia, Boisduval, Ico., p. 147, pi. 43, fig. 1, 2. 

 Argynnis Idealia, Emmons, Agri, N. Y. Ins., p. 212. 



Anterior wings on the upper side fulvous, > with fifteen black 

 spots, the five first linear, and situated on the discoid al cell, the 

 next forming a zig-zag tran verse band across the middle of the 

 wing, the rest round, smaller, and disposed in a line parallel to 

 the hind margin ; the hind margin is covered by a large black 

 band, dentated internally, divided in the male by a row of fulvous 



