140 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE WEST COAST 



mountain, so that it is apparently more restricted in range than 

 any other Argynnid of the West Coast. The key to the species is 

 the peculiar obsolescence of the markings on upper side of the 

 hind wings, especially near anal angles. Semiramis is very fond 

 of feeding on flowers, particularly the blossoms of thistles, 

 brodiaeas, and a species of dwarf vaccinium that grows in dense 

 masses on the mountain top, and the scattered plants of yerba 

 santa. The range in altitude is from 3,500 to 6,000 feet elevation. 



137. Argynnis Inornata. 



Plate XVI ; Figures 137, b, c. 



Fig. 137, Male, Tenino, Wash., August 10, 1891 ; Author. 



b. Female, Tenino, Wash., August 10, 1891 ; 



Author. 



c. Female, underside. Mount Shasta, Cal., August 



25 ; Author. 

 Inornata is a butterfly that can live on the plains or upon the 

 mountains, as it chooses, being exceptional in that respect. In 

 size Inornata is rather large, and both sexes have strong dark 

 markings on upper side, and strong and distinct beneath. It is 

 quite a question as to where the "inornate" cognomen applies, 

 unless it may be in the absence of silver on the spots beneath. It 

 is the darkest butterfly on the West Coast, the markings being very 

 broad and black, and the basal parts of the wings also very dark. 



138. Argynnis Adiante. 



Plate XVI ; Figures 139, b, c, aa. 



Fig. 139, Male, Coast Mountains of Central California, 

 June, 1893 ; Author. 



b, Female, Coast Mountains of Central California, 



June, 1893 ; Author. 



c. Female, underside. Coast Mountains of Central 



California, June, 1889; Author, 

 aa, Male, aberrant. Coast Mountains of Central 

 California, June, 1889; Author. 

 Adiante is very peculiarly marked; on the upper side it re- 

 sembles Semiramis, and on the under side it emphasizes the pallid 

 obsolescene of Laurina, neither of which species lives anywhere 

 near to Adiante's habitat, and both of which are interior mountain 

 species, while Adiante inhabits a narrow strip of sea coast hills 

 near San Francisco, and is not found outside that restricted dis- 



