Feniseca tarquinus, the Wanderer, is perhaps the most interesting of the so-called copper butterflies. The Wanderer’s wings are orange brown, spotted with black on the upper side. It is found all over the eastern half of the United States, extending well into the Mississippi valley. The butterfly is remarkable in that it does not frequent flowers, but flits about colonies of plant-lice, and lives upon the sweet excrement of these insects. The eggs are laid among the plant-lice also, and the caterpillar is carnivorous—the only caterpillar in North America which feeds upon plant-lice instead of plants. The chrysalis is small, brown in color, and bears a striking resemblance to the face of a miniature monkey.
Thecla melinus, the common Hair-streak, is a dark bluish gray, with a deep orange spot just in front of two tiny tails on the hind wing. It is found all over temperate North America. The turban-shaped eggs are usually deposited on the hop-vine; the caterpillar is a slug-like creature with a small head, which can be extended to a remarkable extent. The brown chrysalis lies close to the surface to which it is attached, being fastened both at the tail and by a slight silken girdle about the middle.
THE SWALLOWTAILS AND THEIR ALLIES
The family Papilionidae includes many of the commonest and showiest of our butterflies. The adults of both sexes have six ambulatory feet; the caterpillars are elongate; the chrysalids are attached at the tail and held in place by a silken girdle, but never fastened close to the supporting surface, as the Lycaenids are. The Papilionidae is divided into two subfamilies: the Pierinae and the Papilioninae.
THE PIERINAE
This is the subfamily of the small and medium-sized butterflies, white and yellow in color, so common about pastures and roadsides. Pieris rapae, the cabbage butterfly, is one of the most familiar species. It is a white butterfly, with one or two black dots and tips on the fore wings. The pale yellow eggs are deposited on cabbage plants; the smooth green caterpillar eats an enormous amount of sauerkraut material, and turns into a gray or brownish chrysalis. This butterfly was originally a European species; imported through some accident, it appeared in Quebec about 1860. As early as 1868 it was common about New York, and by 1881 had spread to all of the eastern states. In 1886 it was reported from Denver, and has since taken possession of cabbage-fields in every part of the country.
Fig. IV.—The Zebra Swallowtail (Papilio ajax), a typical representative of the subfamily Papilioninae. A, egg; B, mature larva; C, pupa or chrysalis (note the silken girdle); D, imago or adult.
Colias philodice, the Common Yellow, is the butterfly seen swarming about roadside mud-puddles in August and September. The wings are lemon color with black borders, and in the female the borders are usually broken by several small yellow spots. The yellow or reddish eggs are laid upon various kinds of clover; the slender green caterpillar is exactly the color of the leaves; the chrysalis is usually pale green also. This butterfly is found from New England to Florida, and as far west as the Rocky Mountains.
Terias lisa is another yellow butterfly, much smaller than Colias philodice, rarely expanding more than an inch and a quarter. The wings are lemon yellow with black borders, subject to many minor variations. The caterpillar feeds on clover, but the early stages of this species have never been thoroughly studied, despite the fact that the butterfly is common from the New England states to the Rockies.