32 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THiE WEST COAST 



As to the disappearance of species, I will cite cases : Lycana 

 Tejua, found in Southern California some thirty-five years ago, 

 was presumably common then, as it was taken cursorily or acci- 

 dentally, and in those days a butterfly hunter was very rare in- 

 deed ; but since then it has never been taken, it has utterly dis- 

 appeared. Lycana Xerces was fairly common in the early days of 

 California, being found in Lone Mountain Cemetery on the out- 

 skirts of San Francisco, but about thirty years ago it disappeared, 

 and for about twenty-five years was not seen, though diligently 

 sought by experienced men, and has been accounted extinct by 

 some writers ; but it is now again found in the same place as 

 formeily. Of Pamphila Melane three specimens only were taken 

 thirty years ago, accidentally, and was thereafter quite unknown 

 until rediscovered by me, seventeen years after its disappearance, 

 since which time it has become quite common everywhere over the 

 southern half of the State. Notwithstanding the more active col- 

 lecting in recent years as compared with the years when the fol- 

 lowing species were found, Cliionobas Nevadensis, Satyrus 

 Wheeleri, and Mechanitis Californica have become unknown, and 

 are apparently extinct. 



On the other hand, many new forms are noted from time to 

 time, some of which, by all parity of reasoning, should have been 

 discovered long ago. Copccodes Candida was first taken in a favo- 

 rite hunting place frequented by me for years previous to the date 

 of actual capture, its food plant having just become introduced 

 into the country from the Gulf States ; but, though the plant came 

 from the Southern States the butterfly itself did not come from 

 that country, but apparently the butterfly could not appear till its 

 proper food plant was ready for it ; and even then its introduc- 

 tion was very gradual, for it was seven years after the capture of 

 the first specimen before I got a satisfactory series of specimens 

 upon which to base a new specific name, although its novelty was 

 noted when the first one was taken. The particulars of the dis- 

 covery of other new species in old and well-known fields, where 

 the butterfly net had been swinging for many years, can be found 

 in the body of this book. 



About eighty plants have been noted as having been introduced 

 into California since the coming of the white man ; most of them 

 have come as weeds, or have introduced themselves and now are 

 wild and able to take care of themselves. And it is reasonable to 



