114 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE WEST COAST 



Figure c is under side of male C. Senna, taken by me at Mazat- 

 lan on the west coast of Mexico, in the winter ; it is not known in 

 this part of the country, but is liable to be found at Yuma and 

 along the Colorado River, if there is any plant there for it to feed 

 upon. 



Genus MEGANOSTOMA. 



This small genus is by many writers considered as a part of 

 genus Colias, the technical points as to some of the preliminary 

 stages being similar, but the shape of the wings, and the orna- 

 mentation of them is very different from any true Colias. The 

 Meganostomas are rather of a tropical habit, while many of the 

 Coliads are quite arctic. 



Usually the members of a genus will all have for a larval food- 

 plant the same kinds of plants, but in this respect the Meganos- 

 tomas are anomalous, for they do not use the same plants, and 

 apparently would die if forced to eat each the other's plant, the 

 plants being wide apart botanically. 



72. Meganostoma Eurydice. 



Plate IX ; Figures 72, a, b, c. 



Fig. ^2, Male, San Bernardino Mountains, April 26, 1891 ; 

 Author. 



a, Male, underside, San Bernardino Mountains, April 



24, 1887; Author. 



b, Female, San Bernardino Plains, March 11, 1896; 



Author. 



c, Female, underside, Mt. St. Helena, Cal., April 20, 



1894 ; Author. 

 The male of this species is called the most beautiful butterfly on 

 the West Coast, and its pet name is "The Flying Pansy," from its 

 bright violet, yellow and black colors. It flies from Mexico to a 

 hundred miles north of San Francisco, a distance of about six 

 hundred miles, and it flies on the plains and up the mountain 

 sides to some 3,000 feet altitude. The males have upon the fore 

 wings a most lovely iridescent violet changeable luster, playing 

 upon both the black and the yellow, but it will fade. Both sexes 

 fly swiftly and widely, and cannot be taken on the wing except 

 accidentally, but both are good feeders on flowers, and are fond 



