Part 28 (1/2)

_Early Stages._--The life-history of the genus has not been carefully worked out, but an account has been published recently of the caterpillar of the only species found within our fauna, which shows that, while in general resembling the caterpillars of the genus _Basilarchia_, the segments are adorned with more branching spines and with short fleshy tubercles, giving rise to small cl.u.s.ters of hairs.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 109.--Neuration of the genus _Adelpha_.]

The chrysalids are of peculiar form, with bifid heads and broad wing-cases. They are generally brown in color, with metallic spots. The only species in our fauna is confined to southern California, Arizona, and Mexico.

(1) =Adelpha californica=, Butler, Plate XXII, Fig. 2, ? (The Californian Sister).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Easily recognized by the large subtriangular patch of orange-red at the apex of the primaries. In its habits and manner of flight it closely resembles the species of the genus _Basilarchia_.

Expanse, 2.50-3.00 inches.

_Early Stages._--So far as is known to the writer, these have not been described, except partially by Henry Edwards in the ”Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences,” vol. v, p. 171. The caterpillar feeds upon oaks.

The insect is found in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico.

Genus CHLORIPPE, Boisduval

(The Hackberry b.u.t.terflies)

_b.u.t.terfly._--Small b.u.t.terflies, generally some shade of fulvous, marked with eye-like spots on the posterior margin of the secondaries, and occasionally upon the outer margin of the primaries, the fore wings as well as the hind wings being in addition more or less strongly spotted and banded with black. The eyes are naked; the antennae are straight, provided with a stout, oval club; the palpi are porrect, the second joint heavily clothed with hairs, the third joint short, likewise covered with scales. The costal vein of the fore wing is stout. The first subcostal vein alone arises before the end of the cell. The cell is open in both wings.

_Egg._--The eggs, which are deposited in cl.u.s.ters, are nearly globular, the summit broad and convex. The egg is ornamented by from eighteen to twenty rather broad vertical ribs, having no great elevation, between which are numerous faint and delicate cross-lines.

[Ill.u.s.tration FIG. 110.--Neuration of the genus _Clorippe_, ?.]

_Caterpillar._--The head is subquadrate, with the summit crowned by a pair of diverging stout coronal spines which have upon them a number of radiating spinules. Back of the head, on the sides, is a frill of curved spines. The body is cylindrical, thickest at the middle, tapering forward and backward from this point. The a.n.a.l prolegs are widely divergent and elongated, as in many genera of the _Satyrinoe_.

_Chrysalis._--The chrysalis is compressed laterally and keeled on the dorsal side, concave on the ventral side, the head distinctly bifid. The cremaster is very remarkable, presenting the appearance of a flattened disk, the sides studded with hooks, by means of which the chrysalis is attached to the surface, from which it depends in such a manner that the ventral surface is parallel to the plane of support.

The caterpillars feed upon the _Celtis_, or hackberry.

There are a number of species, mainly confined to the southwestern portion of the United States, though some of them range southward into Mexico. Two only are known in the Middle States. The species are double-brooded in the more northern parts of the country, and the caterpillars produced from eggs laid by the second brood hibernate.

(1) =Chlorippe celtis=, Boisduval and Leconte, Plate XXIII, Fig. 3, ?; Fig. 4, ?; Fig. 11, ?, _under side_ (The Hackberry b.u.t.terfly).

_b.u.t.terfly_, ?.--The primaries at the base and the secondaries except at the outer angle pale olive-brown, the rest of the wings black. The dark apical tract of the primaries is marked by two irregular, somewhat broken bands of white spots. There is a red-ringed eye-spot between the first and second median nervules, near the margin of the fore wing, and there are six such spots on each hind wing. On the under side the ground-color is grayish-purple; the spots and markings of the upper side reappear on this side.

?.--The female has the wings, as is always the case in this genus, much broader and not so pointed at the apex of the primaries as in the male s.e.x, and the color is much paler. Expanse, ?, 1.80 inch; ?, 2.10 inches.

_Early Stages._--These are beautifully described and delineated by Edwards in ”The b.u.t.terflies of North America,” vol. ii. The caterpillar feeds on the hackberry (_Celtis occidentalis_).

This species is found generally from southern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. It is not, so far as is known, found on the Pacific coast.

(2) =Chlorippe antonia=, Edwards, Plate XXIII, Fig. 12, ? (Antonia).

_b.u.t.terfly._--Bright yellowish-fulvous on the upper side. Easily distinguished from _celtis_ by the two eye-spots near the margin of the primaries. Expanse, 1.75-2.00 inches.

_Early Stages._--Unknown.

_Antonia_ is found in Texas.