172 
MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 
insect the oblique markings on the forward wings are black, and very 
strongly defined. June and July are the months for the appearance 
of this butterfly. 
The largest species of the genus found in this country, Pamphila 
ethlius, is two inches in expanse, and blackish-brown in color, with 
numerous square and diamond shaped translucent whitish spots. It 
is said to he common in the southern states, particularly along the 
Gulf, and occasionally strays even as far north as New York. I am 
not fortunate enough to possess a specimen of this insect. 
A number of skippers having antennae with spindle-shaped ends, 
and the ground-color of the wings brown, checkered with white 
spots, belong to the genus Pyrgus. 
Most of the species belong to the western fauna. They are easily 
recognized, being quite different in general appearance from the rest of 
our native skippers. 
Pyrgus tessellata. 
In the hot summer Pyrgus tessellata is a common insect through¬ 
out the middle west and south. I have collected specimens in Iowa 
and Arkansas, but in my experience it is rare in New England, 
although occasionally taken. This butterfly loves to flit about the 
grass and weeds in fields and meadows, and is particularly partial to 
the cleared land along rivers and small streams. It is a rapid flyer 
for so small an insect and is rather shy. Its colors usually harmo¬ 
nize in a surprising manner with the surrounding dry and dusty 
vegetation, for it is in July and August that it is most abundant, 
when through the lack of rain everything in the fields is an uninter¬ 
esting grayish-brown. It frequently alights on the ground, and with 
its wings half-spread is not a conspicuous object. The ground-color 
of its wings is dark brown, the lower half of the upper wings and 
the inner half of the lower pair being streaked with gray hairs. A 
number of large and small white spots are scattered over both sets of 
