418 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. 



ones when describing marginata (antea p. 414), and neglecta (posted, 

 p. 423), and one is drawn to the conclusion that there was some 

 elasticity in Edwards' judgment according to the particular 

 point of view he was taking. Scudder notes (Butts. New Engl., 

 ii., pp. 929, 931) the £ of this form as " uniform bluish-violet, 

 inclining to purplish above, the hindwings seldom any paler than the 

 fore wings, the costal edge of the fore wings fuscous on the basal half, 

 beyond hoary-blue, interrupted at the nervure tips with blackish ; the 

 outer border edged with black, in the forewings. narrowly, in the hind- 

 wings as a mere thread. . . . The underside uniform pale ash-grey, 

 occasionally begrimed slightly with fuscous, but generally with a faint, 

 pale, bluish tinge, etc." Scudder further calls it " the typical spring- 

 form " ; he says (op. cit., p. 940) that violacea follows lucia (a state- 

 ment not borne out by the records (see antea p. 416), that it appears 

 during the first week of May, in Massachusetts occasionally not until 

 the 10th, both sexes becoming abundant towards the end of the month, 

 and it still remains upon the wing throughout June, and one specimen, 

 was taken in Walpole, N.H., by bmith, as late as July 7th. The 

 appearance of this form is sometimes greatly delayed in northern New 

 England, and in the White Mountains, where it is extremely abundant, 

 the females are rarely seen till June, and, in the elevated localities, 

 further south, it is equally late, its appearance extending to June 

 23rd-24th (Sanborn), and the 26th (Morrison) ; two £ violacea were 

 also captured by Scudder, at Waltham, Mass. on August 3rd. In 

 southern Labrador violacea was found in June and July (Couper), and 

 at Moose, at the southern extremity of Hudson Bay, from June to 

 September (Haydon teste Jenner-Weir). In the extreme north the 

 spring brood is eaid to be made up only of lucia and violacea, whilst 

 somewhat further south, marginata also occurs therewith, yet it is 

 to be noted that, further south, the form marginata is the first to be lost, 

 then lucia, so that, in the southern parts of its range, violacea alone 

 remains to represent the spring brood." Edwards says (Butts. Nth. 

 Amer., ii., Lye. pp. 4, 5) that at about 39° N. lat., on the Atlantic 

 coast, violacea alone represents the spring generation, but it is some- 

 what altered, the blue colour having become darker, and the under- 

 surface purer white. ... In Arizona, at about 35° N. lat., violacea 

 alone appears, but it is now in a modified form, figured as cinerea (op. 

 cit., Lye. pi. i., figs. 16-17). ... In 40° N. lat., in Colorado, 

 violacea occurs with lucia as the spring form at a very great 

 elevation. ... At Coalburgh, in West Virginia, the first 

 butterflies of early spring are violacea, and are generally abundant 

 when the peach and wild plum trees are in blossom, i.e., from about 

 March 10th to the end of April, according as the season is early or 

 late. This form is vastly more numerous in individuals, than any of 

 the later ones, and sometimes they may be seen in thousands in a 

 morning's walk. . . . The earliest appearance recorded in twenty 

 years is February 17th, and the latest date of first appearance is April 

 7th. The females of this brood lay their eggs on the fiowerbuds of 

 dogwood. PupaB obtained from these spring-laid violacea eggs may 

 produce summer imagines = neglecta, or, living through summer, 

 autumn, and winter, produce violacea the following spring ; violacea 

 also appears from overwintering pupa? resulting from eggs laid by the 

 summer form neglecta. 



