26 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THTE WEST COAST 



the fore legs in part, but the tarsus or hand is wanting, so that the 

 fore legs are useless for walking, and are merely folded over the 

 front of the thorax, and are called "lappets." 



These lappets are useful in the determination of the sexes of the 

 butterflies, the males having lappets that are more completely 

 clad with long and dense hairs, and the females having lappets 

 that are scantily clad. Many of the four-footed butterflies are 

 very similar in appearance, as to the sexes, and the determina- 

 tion would be difficult but for the lappets. 



The fact that a butterfly has six feet or only four is not deemed 

 of much importance, and does not count for anything in the classi- 

 fication of them ; in fact, one species exists wherein the one sex 

 has six feet and the other but four. 



§ 22. At Water. 



Soon after a butterfly emerges from its chrysalis, in its habitat 

 on the plains or in the mountains, curiously enough it seeks water 

 to drink. Both sexes are found "at water," as it is called, but the 

 males are in greater proportion than the females. True, as we 

 all know, there are, as a rule, many more males than females, at 

 all times and all places, but it seems that but a small proportion 

 of the females, at any and all times, are to be found at water. 

 When butterflies are seen at water, on damp places in the road 

 or at sandy places by the brookside, they are always fresh and 

 bright, and are so busily engaged that they are easily taken in the 

 net. They have a habit of gregariousness, or of flocking together 

 at water, so that there will be dozens or even hundreds gathered 

 together in a bunch, as thick as they can stand, all absorbed in 

 sucking water from the damp sand. Different, and widely sepa- 

 rated species and genera are thus drawn together; Papilios and 

 Lyccenas, Vaitessans and Melitceas, — the more the merrier. 



It would seem that these watering places might be good places 

 to catch a supply for the cabinet ; obviously so, but the trouble is 

 that always the females are the ones that are wanted, as males 

 are plenty enough at all times and places. The reason that the 

 females are so generally absent from the watering places, is, I 

 believe, because they are more inclined to feed on flowers. They 

 have to sustain and perfect their brood of eggs, and so require 

 more nourishment than do the males, and no real nourishment 

 can be found in water, while the nectar of flowers affords food 

 and water together. 



