LYCiENIDiE. 
197 
I have never been so fortunate as to find it. The species inhabits 
most of the country east of the Rocky Mountains and south of Massa¬ 
chusetts. 
A very delicately and prettily marked little butterfly is Thecla 
poeas , an inhabitant of the southern and southwestern states. The 
upper wings are sooty black, with no markings whatever in the 
ordinary form except that the upper edge of the wing is red, 
although a specimen is occasionally taken with a few blue scales 
Tliecla poeas. 
scattered near the base of the wings. The lower wings are also 
black, with a conspicuous wedge-shaped blue patch extending from 
the base to near the lower margin, widening as it advances. Two 
black spots are located near the base of the tails, with a fine grayish 
blue line below them. In this species, as in most of the butterflies 
of this genus, the lower pair of tails is the larger. Both pairs are 
Tliecla poeas. Under side. 
black, tipped with white. The body is black. The under wings 
are grayish brown, lighter toward the lower margin of the upper 
wings, the red upper edge of the upper margin showing more dis¬ 
tinctly from below. A reddish orange band composed of nearly 
square spots placed close together extends two-thirds across the 
upper wings, beginning at the outer third of the upper margin. This 
