Notes on Californian Satyrides.
BY HERMAN BEHR, M. D.
Chionobas Nevadensis. Boisduval, in litteris.
A few specimens of this new and as yet undescribed Chionobas, were caught by Mr. Lorquin, the discoverer of the species, and named by Dr. Boisduval. Not possessing a single specimen of this rare species, I am not able to give a diagnosis, and have only an indistinct recollection, that the species bore most resemblance to the Gerontogeic, Ch. Tarpeja, a Siberian species that has also been found on the summit of the Appenines, in Italy, but that in size it is superior to any Chionobas known to me.
Satyrus Sthenele Boisd.
Is rather common near San Francisco, where it is found in June. Only one generation annually.
Satyrus Sylvestris Edwards.
Edwards’ description shows very clearly the marks by which S. Sylvestris can be recognized from S. Sthenele. This species is found on grassy hills thinly covered with live-oak, where its habits show a very marked difference from those of its relations, by preferring the underside of oak branches to any other seat, while Sthenele and Boopis almost exclusively settle on the ground.
Satyrus Boopis Behr.
Sthenele similis at limbus non tesselatus, sed linea transversa distincte partitus et fœminæ ocelli alarum superiorum in fascia dilutiori positi. Alae subtusdimidiatæ pars radicalis brunnea, marginalis grisea, marginem versus brunnescens. Utraque marmorata, halone ocellorum in alis anticis solo excepto dilutiori et concolori.
This Satyrus is the biggest of our Californian species, the male being nearly double the size of the female of S. Sylvestris. I find this Satyrus in July in Contra Costa, on the hills as well as on the plains. In regard to the diagnosis of these three closely allied species, I would mention, that the presence or absence of one or two more or less distinct eye-marks, on the upper or under side near the anal angle of the hind wings, is of no diagnostic importance.
S. Ariane Boisd.
I confess I can not find any constant mark of difference between this species and S. Alope, Nephele, and Pegala, however different at first glance their forms may appear. I am very much inclined to consider them local aberrations of one far spread species, that gradually slopes from S. Pegala Fabr., through S. Ariane Boisd. to S. Nephele and S. Alope Fabr., in a similar way as the Gerontogeic P. Egeria L. looks very different from its African form P. Xiphia Fabr., with which, nevertheless, it is insensibly united by its intermediate form P. Meone.
All my Californian specimens agree perfectly with Dr. Boisduval’s diagnosis of S. Ariane; with the exception of one that approaches to S. Pegala, by its having only one eye-mark on the upper side of the anterior wings, but differs by the entire absence of the wide rusty band on the same. The specimen was among several undoubted S. Ariane, caught near Mono Lake, by Prof. Brewer, of the State Geological Survey. Besides the above mentioned locality, I received specimens from San Diego and Santa Cruz. Near San Francisco the species is wanting.
As to S. Sthenele and S. Sylvestris, I entertain no doubts regarding their rights as distinct species, but S. Boopis being only distinguished by the absence of the series of eyes on the under side of the hind wings from S. Nephele, may, perhaps, prove a local variety or aberration of that most polymorphous and far spread species S. Alope. In the mean time, until the connecting forms are found, I consider it to be specifically distinct.
Coenonympha Hubner.
C. Galactina. Boisd.
I consider this species as identical with C. Californica Dbld. At least I find in a long series of specimens, no point where Californica ends and Galactina begins. C. Galactina, according to Boisduval, exists also in Kamtschatka. In California it is one of the commonest species of Diurnals, and is found in the most different localities, in several generations throughout the year. There exists a second Cœnonympha in some sequestered valleys of the Northern Sierra, that approaches in its coloration, the European C. Pamphilas. I have only seen one pair of this species, and not possessing it, I can not give a diagnosis. It may be that it is identical with C. Inornata, Edw., or C. Ochracea, Edw., or some other Northern species.
Extratropical America is not rich in Satyrides, if compared to the same latitudes in Europe or Asia, and California is especially poor.
| Europe. | California. |
|---|---|
| Arge, | —— |
| Erebia, | —— |
| Chionobas, | Chionabas, |
| Satyrus, | Satyrus, |
| Pararga, | —— |
| Epinephele, | —— |
| Cœnonympha, | Cœnonympha. |
There are seven European genera, each of them represented by a whole series of species connecting different types. In California there are only three of which none is known to contain more than four species.
The Atlantic States add some tropical genera to the three genera already obtained in California, viz.: Neonympha Hubner, Hyphthima Hubner, Debis Dbld., and Calisto Hubner. The genus Calisto seems to be confined to subtropical North America; the genus Neonympha spreads in numerous species through the tropics of America, and trespasses only in a few species the Cancer; Hyphthima is found in many species in the tropics of the Old World, and it is a very curious circumstance, that one species of this essentially Gerontogeic genus should be found in the Southern States. But the two American species of the genus Debis, are even more interesting, for all other species of this genus, are confined to the Indian Archipelago.
The metamorphoses of the Satyrides, are only with difficulty to be investigated.
They feed as far as they are known, on Monocotyledoneous plants, the extra-tropical ones, with one exception perhaps, exclusively on Graminaceous plants. The Caterpillars shun the sunlight and hide themselves in the grass. Some of them bury themselves in the daytime in the ground and feed only at night. The tropical species feeding on Scitaminaceous, Aroideous plants, palms, and arborescent grasses, sport the shady thickets of tropical forests, in whose twilight depths, most of the species are also found in their imago state. Other ones like some of the Morphonides, and even some Nymphalides of the tropics, spend their days hidden under the luxuriant foliage of primeval forests and begin their flight only after sunset.
In a most interesting treatise on the characteristics of the insect fauna of the “White Mountains,” by Samuel H. Scudder, (Boston Journal, Vol. VII, Part IV), I find the description of the Caterpillar of Chionobas Semidea, Edw., with a notice that it was found on Lichen. This would prove a most remarkable exception, as all the other Satyrides feed on Monocotyledoneous plants. Nevertheless, larvæ of Artic types are generally polyphagous, and adapted to some degree, to accommodate themselves to circumstances, and so I would not entertain any doubts about the feeding plant of the Chionobas, if it were not for the circumstance that Mr. Scudder confesses that he did not succeed in bringing the Caterpillar, with Lichen, to perfection. Perhaps the Caterpillar fed on grass, or perhaps some Carex, and was only, by some accident, compelled to crawl to the lichen-covered stone, where that gentleman found it. I hope to hear very soon about this most interesting object, for I consider the discovery of the metamorphoses of one insect, a more valuable fact than the diagnoses of ten new species, of which we do not know more than the external appearance.
Prof. Wm. P. Blake presented the following papers: