The Butterfly Book Part 60

_Early Stages._--We know little of these. The caterpillar probably feeds on malvaceous plants, as do most of the species of the genus.

The insect ranges from the Middle States to Arizona, and westward to the Rocky Mountains.

(3) =Hesperia centaureae=, Rambur, Plate XLVII, Fig. 13, ? (The Grizzled Skipper).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The upper side may easily be recognized by the help of the figure in the plate. On the under side the wings are darker than in the preceding species; the spots of the primaries reappear on this side, the submarginal curved row of spots coalescing to form a narrow white band, the white spot at the end of the cell flowing around the dark spot, which it only partly incloses on the upper side, and forming an eye-like spot. The hind wings are brown, scaled with green, and crossed by basal, median, and marginal bands of quadrate spots. The fringes are whitish, checkered with gray. Expanse, 1.15 inch.

_Early Stages._--These await description.

This species, which originally was believed to be confined to Scandinavia and Lapland in Europe, and to eastern Labrador in this country, is now known to have a wide range in North America, extending from Labrador to the Carolinas on the Appalachian ranges, and occurring on the Rocky Mountains from British Columbia to southern Colorado.

(4) =Hesperia caespitalis=, Boisduval, Plate XLVII, Fig. 14, ? (The Two-banded Skipper).

_b.u.t.terfly._--On the upper side strongly resembling the preceding species, but the inner row of white spots on the hind wings is more complete. On the under side the fore wings are black, crossed by a double row of white spots, as on the upper side, these spots standing out conspicuously on the dark ground. The hind wings on the under side are more or less ferruginous, with the white spots more or less conspicuous. The fringes are checkered white and gray. Expanse, 1.00 inch.

_Early Stages._--But little is known concerning these.

The species occurs in California, Oregon, and Nevada.

(5) =Hesperia xanthus=, Edwards, Plate XLVII, Fig. 15, ? (The Xanthus Skipper).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Resembling the preceding species, but easily distinguished by the larger size of all the spots on the upper side of the wing and the paler under side, the secondaries being marked somewhat as in _H.

montivaga_. Expanse, 1.00 inch.

_Early Stages._--Hitherto undescribed.

The species has thus far been received only from southern Colorado, but undoubtedly will be found elsewhere in that portion of the land.

(6) =Hesperia scriptura=, Boisduval, Plate XLVII, Fig. 12, ? (The Small Checkered Skipper).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Quite small. The hind wings on the upper side are almost entirely dark gray, the only white mark being a spot or two at the end of the cell. The fore wings are marked on this side as in the two foregoing species. On the under side the fore wings are blackish toward the base, with the costa, the apex, and the outer margin narrowly whitish. The hind wings below are pale, with an incomplete median band of white spots and broad white fringes, which are not checkered with darker color as in the preceding species. Expanse, .85 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

The habitat of this species is southern Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona.

(7) =Hesperia nessus=, Edwards, Plate XLVII, Fig. 17, ? (Nessus).

_b.u.t.terfly._--This singularly marked little species, which probably might be separated from this genus on account of the slender and prolonged palpi, and no doubt would be by some of the hair-splitting makers of genera, I am content to leave where it has been placed by recent writers. It can be readily recognized by the figure in the plate, as there is nothing else like it in our fauna. Expanse, .80 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

_Nessus_ occurs in Texas and Arizona.

There are a few other species of this genus found within the limits of the United States, but enough have been represented to give a clear conception of the characteristics of the group, which is widely distributed throughout the world.

Genus SYSTASEA, Butler

_b.u.t.terfly._--The palpi are porrect, the third joint projecting forward, the second joint densely scaled below. The antennae are slender, the club moderately stout, somewhat bluntly pointed, bent, not hooked. The hind wings are somewhat crenulate, and deeply excised opposite the end of the cell. The fifth vein is lacking. In the fore wing the lower radial arises from a point nearer the upper radial than the third median nervule. The fore wings are crossed about the middle by translucent spots or bands.

_Early Stages._--The early stages are unknown.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 158.--Neuration of the genus _Systasea_.]

(1) =Systasea zampa=, Edwards, Plate XLVI, Fig. 1, ? (Zampa).

_b.u.t.terfly._--The wings on the upper side are ochreous, mottled and clouded with dark brown. The primaries are marked about the middle and before the apex by translucent transverse linear spots. In addition there are a number of pale opaque spots on the primaries. The secondaries are traversed by a pale submarginal whitish line. The under side of the wings is pale, with the light markings of the upper side indistinctly separated. Expanse, 1.10-1.25 inch.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

This interesting little species occurs in Arizona and northern Mexico.

Genus PHOLISORA, Scudder

_b.u.t.terfly._--The palpi are porrect, the second joint loosely scaled, the third joint slender and conspicuous. The antennae have the club gradually thickened, the tip blunt. The fore wing is relatively narrow, provided with a costal fold in the case of the male. The cut gives a correct idea of the neuration.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 159.--Neuration of the genus _Pholisora_.]

_Egg._--The egg is curiously formed, much flattened at the base, marked on the side with longitudinal ridges and cross-lines, these ridges developing alternately at their apical extremities into thickened, more or less rugose elevations, the ridges pointing inwardly and surrounding the deeply depressed micropyle.

_Caterpillar._--Slender, with the head broad, rounded; the body stout, thickest in the middle, tapering toward either end, and somewhat flattened below.

_Chrysalis._--The chrysalis is slender, very slightly convex on the ventral side, somewhat concave on the dorsal side behind the thorax. The wing-cases are relatively smaller than in the preceding genera.

(1) =Pholisora catullus=, Fabricius, Plate XLV, Fig. 4, ?; Plate VI, Figs. 29, 36, 41, _chrysalis_ (The Sooty-wing).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Black on both sides of the wings, with a faint marginal series and a conspicuous submarginal series of light spots on the primaries in the male s.e.x on the upper side, and, in addition to these, in the female s.e.x, a faint marginal series on the secondaries. On the under side only the upper spots of the submarginal series of the primaries reappear. Expanse, .80-1.15 inch.

_Early Stages._--The caterpillar feeds on "lamb's-quarter" (_Chenopodium alb.u.m_) and the _Amarantaceae_. It forms a case for itself by folding the leaf along the midrib and st.i.tching the edges together with a few threads of silk. It lies concealed during the day and feeds at night. A minute account of all its peculiarities is given by Scudder in "The b.u.t.terflies of New England," vol. ii, p. 1519.

+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | EXPLANATION OF PLATE XLV | | | | 1. _Papilio rutulus_, Boisduval, ?. | | 2. _Pholisora alpheus_, Edwards, ?. | | 3. _Calpodes ethlius_, Cramer, ?. | | 4. _Pholisora catullus_, Fabricius, ?. | | 5. _Thanaos afranius_, Lintner, ?. | | 6. _Eudamus proteus_, Linnaeus, ?. | | 7. _Thanaos brizo_, Boisd.-Lec., ?. | | 8. _Thanaos c.l.i.tus_, Edwards, ?. | | 9. _Pyrrhopyge araxes_, Hewitson, ?. | | 10. _Achalarus lycidas_, Smith and Abbot, | | ?, _under side_. | | 11. _Plestia dorus_, Edwards, ?. | | 12. _Achalarus cellus_, Boisd.-Lec., ?. | | | | [Ill.u.s.tration PLATE XLV.] | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

The insect ranges over the whole of temperate North America.

(2) =Pholisora hayhursti=, Edwards, Plate XLVIII, Fig. 16, ? (Hayhurst's Skipper).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Easily distinguished from the preceding species by the somewhat crenulate shape of the outer margin of the hind wings, the white color of the under side of the abdomen, and the different arrangement of the white spots on the fore wings, as well as by the dark bands which cross both the fore and the hind wings on the upper side.

Expanse, .90-1.15 inch.

_Early Stages._--Our information as to these is incomplete.

The species ranges from the lat.i.tude of southern Pennsylvania westward and southward to the Gulf, as far as the Rocky Mountains.

(3) =Pholisora libya=, Scudder, Plate XLVIII, Fig. 14, ? (The Mohave Sooty-wing).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Easily distinguished from the two preceding species by the white fringes of the wings and by the markings of the under side. The primaries on the lower side are dark, tipped at the apex with light gray, and in the female having the costa and the outer margin broadly edged with light gray. The hind wings are pale gray of varying shades, marked with a number of large circular white spots on the disk and a marginal series of small white spots. Expanse, ?, .80-1.25 inch; ?, 1.15-1.40 inch.