THE GOSSAMER-WINGED BUTTERFLIES 



is largely covered by a blue patch. The most available char- 

 acters for distinguishing this species are the pale pearl-gray 

 color of the lower side, and the small size of the spots of the 

 extra mesial row ; these of both pairs of wings are round, 

 very black, and completely encircled with white; usually each 

 spot occupies but little more than half the width of a cell. 

 Expanse of wings one and one-fifth inches. 



Caterpillar. — Length about one-half inch ; slug-shaped; 

 the brown head is very small ; the body is almost oval in out- 

 line and grass green in color. Two yellowish stripes along the 

 side include a row of oblique short stripes of the same color. 



Food-phu}t. — Willow . 



This bronze-brown midget loves to flit about 

 willow-fringed streams. Though it is dull-col- 

 ored at first glance, a second look at the lower 

 surface of the wings reveals to us a shining, 

 bronze gray specked with black and with a patch 

 of heavenly blue set in the row of orange spots 

 that decorate the hind border of the hind wing, 

 making a most harmonious color scheme. This 

 butterfly must have been expelled from Acadia 

 with Evangeline, as there is no record of its hav- 

 ing been found as far north as Acadia since it was 

 discovered and named. It is quite peculiar in its 

 distribution, inhabiting a narrow belt that extends 

 from New England west to Montana. On the 

 Pacific coast it is found from Los Angeles to 

 Vancouver. Its little, soft, supple caterpillar 



225 . 



