HOW TO KNOW THE BUTTERFLIES 



ing spines branched like the others. The ground color of 

 the body is yellowish or pale brown, with two dark stripes 

 along each side and usually a more or less dark stripe along 

 the back. The spiracles are marked with orange. 

 Food-plants. — Various species of passion-flowers. 



On wings that are longer and more slender 

 than those of other fritillaries does this one flit 

 above the flowery fields of the Gulf States. It 

 comes as far north as southern Virginia ; and the 

 Pacific Ocean only limits its southward range in 

 the West. 



In ground color it resembles the monarch more 

 than it does the fritillaries. It is true that it 

 bears the silver beneath the hind wings, but this 

 is in the form of bars rather than coin. The bril- 

 liant glittering orange red of the upper surface of 

 the wings makes it a fit companion for subtrop- 

 ical flowers. When one sees this bit of animated 

 sunshine one involuntarily wonders whether the 

 earlier stage spent in consuming the leaves of the 

 passion-flower has aught to do with the ardent 

 color of the butterfly. But this is idle specula- 

 tion rather than natural history. 



The species occurs from New Jersey and Penn- 

 sylvania southward, also in Arizona and Califor- 

 nia. 



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