A NEW ARGVNNIS. 



The butterfly to which I want to intro- 

 duce you is a rare beauty ! It is called 

 Argynnis nitocris nigrocaerulea by scien- 

 tists, but the young people of our school 

 call it the blue-black silver spot or the 

 Sapello Fritillary. They wanted very 

 much to name it after the Territory, but 

 unfortunately there is a butterfly of this 

 genus that bears the name of New Mex- 

 ico Silver-spot. 



Every member of the genus Argynnis 

 is beautiful and it is a great treat to see 

 the glint of the silver dotted wings of 

 these butterflies as they hover about the 

 gaily colored flowers in some mountain 

 canyon or alpine meadow. But no mem-- 

 ber of the genus will compare in beauty 

 with the female of the nigrocaerulea, and 

 I should find difficulty in forgetting the 

 pleasure I felt in seeing two of these 

 lovely creatures sucking the nectar from 

 a large bright colored Rudbeckia. 



The nigrocaerulea is very much like 

 a silver-spot that is found in the moun- 

 tains of Arizona ; both belong to the spe- 

 cies nitocris and there is still a third form 

 found in the mountains of Mexico. It is 

 very likely that these form.s were the 

 same years ago, but the mountains in 

 this arid region are like islands, and are 

 separated by dry expanses upon which 

 an Argynnis could not live. It follows, 

 therefore, that in the isolated mountain 

 regions many forms of the same species 

 may be found, and when the country has 



been more cerefully explored we shall 

 very probably find other varieties of nito- 

 cris. 



The nigrocaerulea was discovered in 

 August, 1900, in the Sapello Canyon, a 

 beautiful canyon in the Rocky Mountains 

 near Las Vegas, New Mexico. The male 

 is reddish-fulvous on the upper surface, 

 with well defined markings consist- 

 ing of waved transverse lines and cres- 

 cent shaped spots. On the under side 

 the design of the fore wings is somewhat 

 indistinctly repeated, and the base is col- 

 ored with a most exquisite reddish pink. 

 The under surface of the hind wings is 

 a rich brown with a wide yellow border, 

 and is profusely marked with spots of 

 glistening silver. The female on the up- 

 per side is bluish black, well marked near 

 the margin by large spots of yellow suf- 

 fused with blue. The under surface is 

 very like that of the male, though the col- 

 ors are more pronounced, the brown in the 

 hind w^ing merging into black. The Sa- 

 pello Fritillary flies during the month of 

 August. Though the caterpillar is not 

 known, it is supposed to feed upon the 

 leaves of violets, which grow very 

 abundantly in the Sapello Canyon. Dili- 

 gent search will be made for it, and I am 

 sure all will be interested if at some 

 future time I can give the history and pic- 

 ture of the chrysalis of this beautiful 

 Silver-spot. 



WiLMATTE Porter Cockerell. 



Lo, the bright train their radiant wings unfold! 

 With silver fringed, and freckled o'er with gold : 

 On the gay bosom of some fragrant flower 

 They, idly fluttering, live their little hour ; 

 Their life all pleasure, and their task all play, 

 All spring their age, and sunshine all their day. 



— Mrs. Barbauld. 



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