LYCiENIDiE. 
179 
LYCASNA. Blues. 
The “ blues,” or the genus Lyccena , is well represented in this 
country, but the bulk of the species inhabit the Pacific coast where a 
large number of the finest insects of this genus are to be found. These 
butterflies are frail, delicate creatures, the body being weak, the wings 
large and wide in proportion. The coloring of the upper side of 
the wings in most species is satiny blue, others being bluish-purple 
and purple-brown. The under side is generally light gray with more 
or less distinct brown or blackish markings. There are about fifty 
species of these butterflies inhabiting the United States, but only a 
few of them occur east of the Pocky Mountains. To one who has 
collected in New England or the western states the number of 
species and individuals of this group to be seen in the mountain 
valleys of Nevada and California is something long to be remembered 
with delight. They are most abundant in the spring and early 
summer, when the valleys are bright with wild flowers and before 
the long and severe summer drouth has turned the fertile land into 
a brown and barren desert. Near Washoe, Nevada, at the eastern 
base of the Sierra Nevada, my brother one season made an extensive 
collection of species of this genus and the Chrysophanus and Theda. 
They are very plentiful in the Yosemite valley in June, and at that 
time the wild flowers are peopled with them. We have but two 
common species of this genus in the east, although two or three 
others occur rarely in the middle states and several in Florida. 
Lycaina pseudargiolus is our best-known species, as it is every¬ 
where abundant in early spring, and is'On the wing soon after the 
snow disappears from the woods. This insect has many well-marked 
varieties, some eight or ten of which have been described and named, 
entomologists supposing them to be distinct species. A remarkable 
thing about these varieties lies in the fact that they are frequently 
local, having boundaries as distinct as well-marked species, and while 
the insect in general inhabits a large part the United States and 
Canada, extending also up into Alaska, certain varieties are often 
much more restricted. Another curious fact connected with this 
and several other kinds of butterflies is that the insects emerging 1 
from chrysalides which have hibernated over winter are different from 
their parents, which were the summer brood of the year before. With¬ 
out going too much into details two or three of the well-marked 
varieties will be given with descriptions. ] 
