The Butterfly Book Part 42

The species ranges from Oregon and California eastward as far as Colorado.

(36) =Thecla laeta=, Edwards, Plate XXIX, Fig. 23, ?; Fig. 24, ?, _under side_ (The Early Hair-streak).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The wings brown, glossed with bright blue above; on the under side pale fawn, with a band of pale-red spots on both wings about the middle, and a few similar spots on the outer and inner margins of the hind wings. Expanse, .75 inch.

_Early Stages._--Only the egg, described and figured by Scudder, is known.

It ranges from Quebec to southern New Jersey, and westward to West Virginia, and has been taken on Mount Graham, in Arizona. It appears in early spring. It is still rare in collections.

(37) =Thecla t.i.tus=, Fabricius, Plate x.x.x, Fig. 10, ?; Fig. 14, ?, _under side_; Plate V, Fig. 37, _chrysalis_ (The Coral Hair-streak).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Uniformly gray-brown on the upper side. Some specimens of the female have a few red spots at the a.n.a.l angle of the hind wing. On the under side the wings are colored as on the upper side; but the hind wings have a conspicuous submarginal band of coral-red spots on their outer third. Expanse, 1.30 inch.

_Early Stages._--These have been well described by several authors. The fullest account is given by Scudder. The caterpillar feeds on the leaves of the wild cherry and the wild plum.

The insect occurs from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Maine to Georgia. It is not very common.

There are some ten or more other species of this genus found in our fauna, but the species figured in our plates will suffice to give a good idea of the genus.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 133.--Neuration of _Thecla t.i.tus_, enlarged. Typical of subgenus _Strymon_, Hubner.]

Genus FENISECA, Grote

(The Harvesters)

"Upon his painted wings, the b.u.t.terfly Roam'd, a gay blossom of the sunny sky."

WILLIS G. CLARK.

_b.u.t.terfly._--Small, bright orange-yellow, on the upper side spotted with black, on the under side more or less mottled and shaded with gray and brown, the markings of the upper side reappearing. The cut shows the neuration, which need not be minutely described.

_Egg._--Subglobular, much wider than high, its surface smooth, marked with a mult.i.tude of very fine and indistinct raised ridges, giving it the appearance of being covered by very delicate polygonal cells.

_Caterpillar._--In its mature stage the caterpillar is short, slug-shaped, covered with a mult.i.tude of bristling hairs, upon which it gathers the white exudations or scales of the mealy bugs upon which it feeds.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 134.--Neuration of the genus _Feniseca_, enlarged.]

_Chrysalis._--Small, brown in color; when viewed dorsally showing a remarkable and striking likeness to the face of a monkey, a singular phenomenon which also appears even more strikingly in chrysalids of the allied genus _Spalgis_, which is found in Africa and Asia.

But one species of the genus is known.

(1) =Feniseca tarquinius=, Fabricius, Plate XXVIII, Fig. 21, ?; Plate V, Figs. 45, 46, _chrysalis_ (The Harvester).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The upper side of the wings is well depicted in the plate.

There is considerable variation, however, in the size of the black markings upon the upper surface, and I have specimens in which they almost entirely disappear. On the under side the wings are paler; the spots of the upper side reappear, and, in addition, the hind wings are mottled profusely with small pale-brown spots. Expanse, 1.30 inch.

_Early Stages._--What has been said of these in the description of the genus will suffice for the species.

This curious little insect, which finds its nearest allies in Asia and Africa, ranges all over the Atlantic States from Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, and throughout the valley of the Mississippi.

Genus CHRYSOPHa.n.u.s, Doubleday

(The Coppers)

"Atoms of color thou hast called to life (We name them b.u.t.terflies) float lazily On clover swings, their drop of honey made By thee, dear queen, already for their need."

MARY b.u.t.tS.

_b.u.t.terfly._--Small b.u.t.terflies, with the upper side of the wings some shade of coppery-red or orange, frequently glossed with purple. On the under side the wings are marked with a mult.i.tude of small spots and lines. The neuration of the wing is delineated in the figure herewith given, and needs no further description.

_Egg._--The eggs are hemispherical, flattened on the base, the upper surface deeply pitted with polygonal or somewhat circular depressions.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 135.--Neuration of _Chrysopha.n.u.s thoe_, enlarged.

Typical of the genus.]

_Caterpillar._--The caterpillars, so far as known, are decidedly slug-shaped, thickest in the middle, tapering forward and backward, and having a very small head.

_Chrysalis._--The chrysalids are small, rounded at either end, and held in place by a girdle of silk a little forward of the middle.

This genus is found in the temperate regions of both the New and the Old World, and also in South Africa.

(1) =Chrysopha.n.u.s arota=, Boisduval, Plate XXIX, Fig. 1, ?; Fig. 2, ?

(Arota).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The plate gives a good idea of the upper side of the wings in both s.e.xes. On the under side the fore wings are pale gray in the male and pale red in the female, with the outer margin lavender. The spots of the upper side reappear on the disk. The hind wings on the under side are purplish-gray on the inner two thirds and paler gray on the outer third, with many black spots on the disk, margined with white.

Expanse, 1.10-1.25 inch.

_Early Stages._--These have been partially described by Dyar in the "Canadian Entomologist," vol. xxiii, p. 204. The caterpillar feeds on the wild gooseberry (_Ribes_).

_Arota_ is a Californian species.

(2) =Chrysopha.n.u.s virginiensis=, Edwards, Plate XXVIII, Fig. 23, ?; Fig.

24, ? (The Nevada Copper).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Allied to the preceding species, but easily distinguished by the submarginal white bands of crescent-shaped spots on the under side. These are particularly distinct on the hind wings. Expanse, 1.25-1.30 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

_Virginiensis_, so named because the first specimens came from Virginia City, ranges in California, Nevada, and Colorado.

(3) =Chrysopha.n.u.s xanthoides=, Boisduval, Plate XXVIII, Fig. 29, ?; Fig.

30, ? (The Great Copper).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The student will easily recognize it by its larger size, it being the largest species of the genus in North America, and by its creamy-white under surface, spotted with distinct small black spots, in large part reproducing the spots of the upper side. Expanse, 1.50-1.65 inch.

(4) =Chrysopha.n.u.s editha=, Mead, Plate XXVIII, Fig. 26, ?; Fig. 27, ?