THE HIPl'ARCHIANS. 303 



abundant in the northwestern part of the State and in New 

 Hampshire. It appears in May, and again in July and Au- 

 gust. The caterpillars live together on the common nettle. 

 They vary in color, some being much darker than others ; 

 generally, however, they are pale brown, minutely dotted 

 with yellowish white, with a dark brown longitudinal line on 

 the top of the back, a whitish one on each side just above 

 the feet, and above this a row of brown spots ; the head is 

 small, black, and rough, with little black and white tuber- 

 cles ; the spines are blackish, short, and with very small 

 branches or lateral bristles. It measures when fully grown 

 an inch and a quarter or more in length, the chrysalis is pale 

 brown with golden spots, the top of the head widely but not 

 deeply notched, and the nose-hke prominence very small. 



The last of the four-footed butterflies remaining; to be de- 

 scribed may be called Hipparchians (^Hipparcldadce) . The 

 wings of the butterflies belonging to this group are entire, 

 with the veins of the first pair swelled at their origin, and 

 the central mesh of the second pair closed behind. Their 

 caterpillars are not spiny, and are of a green color, spindle- 

 shaped, or cylindrical, tapering at both ends, with the hinder 

 extremity notched or terminating in two conical points, and 

 the head is either rounded or notched above. They live 

 exclusively on various kinds of grasses, for the most part 

 concealing themselves during the day among the stubble, 

 and suspend themselves by the hindmost feet alone when 

 about to transform. 



The chrysalis is either oblong and somewhat angular at 

 the sides, with the head notched and two rows of pointed 

 tubercles on the back, or short and rounded, with the head 

 obtuse ; but never ornamented with metallic spots. The 

 small size and uniformly green color of the caterpillars of 

 our native species, and the obscurity in which they gener- 

 ally live, render it very difficult to discover them; and 

 hence they rarely pass under our observation. This being 



