196 
MOTHS AND BUTTERFLIES. 
and hair-like, and showing at a casual glance scarcely more than a 
point. The lower tails are larger and longer. There is some dif¬ 
ference in coloring between the sexes, the female being usually plain 
brown in color, while in the male the middle of each wing is tawny 
or rusty with a border of dark brown. The tails are black, tipped 
with white, and the body is dark brown; but the distinguishing 
characteristic is the color of the under side, which in both sexes 
Tliecla smilacis. Under side. 
is green. In the upper wings the green color is most intense near 
their base and at the tip, the lower half of the wing being rusty 
brown. Two rows of white dots, internally edged with reddish 
brown, cross the upper wings, fading out toward the lower margin 
of the wing. The lower wings have three bands of white, the inner 
one next the body being short and composed of three white spots 
edged externally with rusty brown; the middle one extends in a 
wavy line across the centre of the wing, and is composed of large 
white spots, having spots of rusty brown on the inner side ; the 
outer band is narrow and follows the outer margin of the wing, being- 
edged internally with gray and externally with dark brown. A 
small black spot is located at the end of this line, just at the 
inner angle of the wing, and has a white crescent above it. Between 
the outer and middle white lines are two very small crescents of 
black, the lower one having a faint orange spot below it with a 
black dot below that. The body and legs are gray. I have never 
seen this insect at all abundant and have taken it on but two or 
three occasions near my home in Massachusetts. It is a difficult 
little creature to see when at rest on the shrubs and bushes, among 
which it delights, and when disturbed it flies in such a rapid 
and jerky manner that the eye can scarcely follow it. I have taken 
it early in June ftying about scrub oaks and young cedars, and 
am inclined to think the larva lives on the latter plant, although 
