The Butterfly Book Part 47

(30) =Lycaena amyntula=, Boisduval, Plate x.x.xII, Fig. 7, ?; Fig. 8, ?

(The Western Tailed Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Closely resembling _L. comyntas_, of which it may be only a slightly modified Western form. Until the test of breeding has been applied we cannot be sure of this. The figures in the plate give a very good representation of the upper side of the wings of this species.

_Early Stages._--But little has been found out concerning these.

It ranges from the eastern foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific in British America and the northern tier of Western States.

(31) =Lycaena comyntas=, G.o.dart, Plate x.x.xI, Fig. 29, ?; Fig. 30, ?; Plate x.x.xII, Fig. 12, ?, _under side_; Plate V, Figs. 42, 47, 48, _chrysalis_ (The Eastern Tailed Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The blue of the upper side of the male in the plate is too dark; but the female and the under side of the wings are accurately delineated. The species is generally tailed, but specimens without tails occur. Expanse, 1.00-1.10 inch.

_Early Stages._--These are well known and have been fully described. The caterpillar feeds on leguminous plants.

This delicate little species ranges from the valley of the Saskatchewan to Costa Rica, and from the Atlantic to the foot-hills of the Western Cordilleras. It is common in the Middle and Western States, flitting about roadsides and weedy forest paths.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 137.--Neuration of _Lycaena comyntas_, enlarged.

Typical of the subgenus _Everes_, Hubner.]

(32) =Lycaena isola=, Reakirt, Plate x.x.x, Fig. 33, ?, _under side_; Fig.

38, ? (Reakirt's Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The male on the upper side is pale lilac-blue, with the outer borders and the ends of the veins narrowly dusky. The female is brownish-gray on the upper side, with the wings at their base glossed with blue. In both s.e.xes there is a rather conspicuous black spot on the margin of the hind wings between the first and second median nervules.

The under side is accurately depicted in our plate, to which the student may refer. Expanse, 1.00 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

The species occurs in Texas, Arizona, and Mexico.

(33) =Lycaena hanno=, Stoll, Plate x.x.xII, Fig. 3, ?, _under side_ (The Florida Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Larger than the preceding species, on the upper side resembling _L. isola_; but the blue of the male is not lilac, but bright purplish, and the female is much darker. On the under side a striking distinction is found in the absence on the fore wing of the postmedian band of large dark spots so conspicuous in _L. isola_. Expanse, .85 inch.

_Early Stages._--We have no information as to these.

The insect occurs in Florida and throughout the Antilles and Central America.

(34) =Lycaena isophthalma=, Herrich-Schaffer, Plate x.x.xII, Fig. 4, ?

(The Dwarf Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Light brown on the upper side in both s.e.xes, with the outer margin of the hind wings set with a row of dark spots, which on the under side are defined by circlets of metallic scales. The under side is pale brown, profusely marked by light spots and short bands.

Expanse, .75 inch.

_Early Stages._--Up to this time we have learned very little concerning them.

The species occurs in the Gulf States and the Antilles.

(35) =Lycaena exilis=, Boisduval, Plate x.x.xII, Fig. 5, ? (The Pygmy Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--On the upper side this, which is the smallest of North American b.u.t.terflies, very closely resembles the foregoing species, but may be instantly distinguished by the white spot at the inner angle of the fore wing and the white fringes of the same wing near the apex. The hind wings on the under side are set with a marginal series of dark spots ringed about with metallic scales. Expanse, .65 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

The Pygmy is found in the Gulf States and throughout tropical America.

(36) =Lycaena ammon=, Lucas, Plate x.x.xI, Fig. 31, ?; Plate x.x.x, Fig. 45, ?, _under side_ (The Indian River Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The male is brilliant lilac-blue on the upper side; the female shining violet-blue, with very dark and wide black borders on the fore wings and one or two conspicuous black eye-spots near the a.n.a.l angle of the hind wings, each surmounted by a carmine crescent. The figure in Plate x.x.x gives a correct representation of the under side.

Expanse, .95-1.10 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

This beautiful little insect is not uncommon in southern Florida, and also occurs in the Antilles and tropical America.

(37) =Lycaena marina=, Reakirt, Plate x.x.xI, Fig. 32, ?; Plate x.x.x, Fig.

27, ?, _under side_ (The Marine Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The male, on the upper side, is pale dusky-lilac, the dark bands of the lower side appearing faintly on the upper side. The female is dark brown on the upper side, with the wings at the base shot with bright lilac-blue; the dark bands on the disk in this s.e.x are prominent, especially on the fore wings. The under side of the wings is accurately depicted in Plate x.x.x and therefore requires no description. Expanse, 1.10 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

_Marina_ is found in Texas, Arizona, southern California, and southward.

(38) =Lycaena theonus=, Lucas, Plate x.x.xII, Fig. 6, ? (The West Indian Blue).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The male is shining lavender-blue, this color glossing the dark outer borders of the wings; the female is white, with the outer costal borders heavily blackish, the primaries shot with shining sky-blue toward the base. On the under side the wings are crossed by dark bands of spots, arranged much as in _L. marina_, but darker. The hind wings, near the a.n.a.l angle, have conspicuous eye-spots both above and below. Expanse, .80 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

This lovely insect is found in the Gulf States and all over the hot lands of the New World.

SIZE

Size, like wealth, is only relative. The farmer who owns a hundred acres appears rich to the laborer whom he employs to cut his wheat; but many a millionaire spends in one month as much as would purchase two such farms. The earth seems great to us, and the sun still greater; but doubtless there are suns the diameter of which is equal to the distance from the earth to the sun, in which both earth and sun would be swallowed up as mere drops in an ocean of fire. In the animal kingdom there are vast disparities in size, and these disparities are revealed in the lower as well as in the higher cla.s.ses. In the cla.s.s of mammals we find tiny mice and great elephants; in the insect world we find beetles which are microscopic in size, and, not distantly related to them, beetles as large as a clenched fist. The disparity between a field-mouse and a sulphur-bottomed whale is no greater than the disparity in size which exists between the smallest and the largest of the beetle tribe. And so it is with the lepidoptera. It would take several thousands of the Pygmy Blue, _Lycaena exilis_, to equal in weight one of the great bird-wing b.u.t.terflies of the Australian tropics. The greatest disparity in size in the order of the lepidoptera is not, however, shown in the b.u.t.terflies, but among the moths. There are moths the wings of which do not cover more than three sixteenths of an inch in expanse, and there are moths with great bulky bodies and wings spreading from eight to nine inches. It would require ten thousand of the former to equal in weight one of the latter, and the disproportion in size is as great as that which exists between a shrew and a hippopotamus, or between a minnow and a basking-shark.

It is said that, taking the sulphur-bottomed whale as the representative of the most colossal development of flesh and blood now existing on land or in the sea, and then with the microscope reaching down into the realm of protozoan life, the common blow-fly will be ascertained to occupy the middle point on the descending scale. Man is, therefore, not only mentally, but even physically, a great creature, though he stands sometimes amazed at what he regards as the huge proportions of other creatures belonging to the vertebrates.

FAMILY IV

PAPILIONIDae (THE SWALLOWTAILS AND ALLIES)

The b.u.t.terflies of this family in both s.e.xes are provided with six ambulatory feet. The caterpillars are elongate, and in the genera _Papilio_ and _Ornithoptera_ have osmateria, or protrusive scent-organs, used for purposes of defense.

The chrysalids in all the genera are more or less elongate, attached at the a.n.a.l extremity, and held in place by a girdle of silk, but they never lie appressed to the surface upon which pupation takes place, as is true in the _Erycinidae_ and _Lycaenidae_.