148 THE BUTTERFLIES OF THE WEST COAST 



156. Melitaea Baroni. 



Plate XVIII ; Figures 156, b, c. 



Fig. 156, Male, Mendocino County, Cal, June, 1891 ; 

 Author. 



b, Male, Mendocino County, Cal., June, 1894; 



Author. 



c. Female, Mendocino County, Cal., June, 1878 ( ?) ; 



O. T. Baron. 

 Size, 1.75 inches; above, black, not brown-black, all spots 

 small ; underside, intense reddish over the whole ; the red color 

 is not adequately represented on the plate ; the black lines usually 

 present are obsolescent, or mostly absent. Fig. 156 is one of the 

 less red on upper side, and Fig. & is a redder example ; the third, 

 c, is a typical, given me about 1879, by Mr. Baron, who discovered 

 the species and for whom it was named. In later years I have 

 often visited the typical locality and have taken many fine exam- 

 ples. When fresh, the red color is peculiarly bright and intense, 

 but unfortunately the red fades immediately, and after a while 

 the color is not much different from the red of Rubicunda. In 

 this statement as to fading I include the upper and under sides, 

 but as the under side has much more red on it, the fading is more 

 obvious there. 



157. Melitaea Chalcedon. 



Plate XVIII ; Figures 157, b. 



Fig. 157, Male, Southern California, May, 1890; Author. 



b. Female, underside, S. B. Mts., June 10, 1889; 



Author. 



In Southern California Chalcedon is the most common butterfly 



that waves its wings in the air. It flies in countless millions. It 



inhabits the plains, and the hills, and the mountain sides to an 



elevation of 5,000 feet, finding its larval food-plant wherever it 



goes. For the larvae are feeders on the most common plants, that 



grow everywhere, namely, the scrophulariaceae, which in some 



form or other grows universally. In Lower California I 



found the larvae on a little wild rose, R. minutifolia, and I raised 



the larvae to find what the species was that fed on rose. The 



larval habits vary with the environment ; in the warm valleys, 



where there is but little winter weather, the larvae are solitary, 



and hibernate without protection, but on the cold mountain heights 



