Widely Distributed Butterflies 



its nearest ally, by the absence of the roseate tint peculiar to that 

 species, the tawnier ground-color of the upper surfaces, and the 

 complete black band which crosses the middle of the cell of the 

 primaries. Expanse, 2.00 inches. 



Early Stages. — These have not all been thoroughly described, 

 but we have an account of the larva and chrysalis from the pen 

 of Henry Edwards, in the " Proceedings of the California Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, " vol. v, p. 329. The food-plant of the caterpil- 

 lar is Lavatera assurgentiflora. This species ranges from Van- 

 couver's Island to Argentina, and is found as far east as Utah. 



WIDELY DISTRIBUTED BUTTERFLIES 



The primal curse declared that the earth, because of man's 

 sin, should bring forth thorns and thistles, and thistles are almost 

 everywhere. Wherever thistles grow, there is found the thistle- 

 butterfly, or the " Painted Lady," as English collectors are in the 

 habit of calling it, Pyrantels cardui. All over Europe, all over 

 North America, in Africa,— saveinthedensejunglesof theCongo,— 

 throughout South America, in far-off Australia, and in many of 

 the islands of the sea this beautiful butterfly is found. At some 

 times it is scarce, and then again there are seasons when it fairly 

 swarms, every thistle-top having one of the gaily colored crea- 

 tures seated upon its head, and among the thorny environment 

 of the leaves being found the web which the caterpillar weaves. 

 Another butterfly which bids fair ultimately to take possession of 

 the earth is our own Anosia plexippus, the wanderings of which 

 have already been alluded to. 



Many species are found in the arctic regions both of the Old 

 World and the New. Obscure forms are these, and lowly in their 

 organization, survivors of the ice-age, hovering on the border- 

 line of eternal frost, and pointing to the long-distant time when 

 the great land-masses about the northern pole were knit together, 

 as geologists teach us. 



One of the curious phenomena in the distribution of butterflies 

 is the fact that in Florida we find Hypolimnas misippus, a species 

 which is exceedingly common in Africa and in the Indo-Malayan 

 subregion. Another curious phenomenon of a like character is 

 the presence in the Canary Islands of a Pyrameis, which appears 



171 



