The Canadian Entomologist, Vol. XII., No. 2, February 1880

by Various

The Canadian Entomologist.

VOL. XII. LONDON, ONT., FEBRUARY, 1880. No. 2

ON CERTAIN SPECIES OF SATYRUS.

BY W. H. EDWARDS, COALBURGH, W. VA.

1. Nephele.—Kirby, Faun. Bor. Amer., 1837, described this species as follows: “Wings brown; primaries both above and below with a paler submarginal broad band including two eyelets; the upper ones surrounded by a paler atmosphere, with a black iris and white pupil; on the under side the atmosphere of the eyelets is most distinct and forms a kind of glory round them,” etc. Nothing is said of the sex, but apparently this is the description of a female. The wings of the male are blackish-brown, usually of uniform shade throughout—that is, in the typical male, corresponding to the female of Kirby. But there is a frequent departure from this type in the direction of Alope, the “pale atmosphere” about the ocelli appearing in the male, and in both sexes gradually widening and becoming less obscure till it culminates in a clear yellow band. When this is reached we have Alope, Fabr. So that Nephele intergrades completely with Alope. But this is not everywhere and always. The metropolis of the typical Nephele is in Canada and northern New England, that of Alope in the States south of New York. There is a line running about with the southern boundary of New York, or it may be, in Pennsylvania, below which Alope holds sole possession, and no tendency is discoverable towards Nephele. In the extreme northern area, if there is any departure from typical Nephele, it is the exception, not the rule.

Mr. Scudder, in his essay on The Distribution of Insects in New Hampshire, 1874, says of Alope: “This insect is tolerably abundant, sometimes very common, in the southern half of New England. The most northern localities … are Norway, Me., Thornton and Shelburne, N. H., and Sudbury, Vt.” Thornton is just south of the White Mountains, and Shelburne is close by the mountains on the north-east. Of Nephele he says: “It is found over the whole northern half of N. E. in great abundance. The only locality in which I have met with it is in Massachusetts, in the elevated region about Williamstown,” &c. This place is in the north-west corner of the State, next the Vermont line, and the elevated region spoken of is a continuation of the Green Mountains. So it appears that Nephele comes down to the Massachusetts line and Alope flies as far as the White Mountains. In the intervening district the intergrades fly just as in New York.

I made application to Canadian lepidopterists for information about the occurrence of Alope, and soon ascertained by examples sent me that Nephele with a pale atmosphere, but not at all indicative of a band, passed by the name of Alope. Thereupon I sent a typical Alope to Mr. William Murray, of Hamilton, who kindly offered to make inquiry of his acquaintances in different sections of Ontario. He replies, 31st Dec, 1879: “I now send you my information. Of all my correspondents not one has ever seen an Alope that has been taken in Canada, but Nephele has been taken by all. I begin to think that Alope is not to be found in Canada at any point.”

Mr. H. H. Lyman writes from Montreal: “In July, 1876, I spent a couple of days at a farm near Freligsburg. P. Q., one mile north of the Vermont border, and found Nephele very common. Most of the specimens taken showed a yellow ring about the eye-spots on primaries, but one of them shows on upper side a somewhat faint, but quite discernible, patch corresponding to the yellow band of Alope. Was at same place in 1877. Alope was not seen either year.” Mr. Caulfield writes Mr. Lyman: “I have never taken a specimen of Nephele showing any tendency towards Alope, nor have I seen any Canadian examples showing it.” Mr. Lyman adds that at Portland, Maine, where he collected several summers, Alope was common as well as Nephele and all intergrades.

(To the west of New York, in the latitude of the belt spoken of, it is believed that the two forms fly together at least as far as Wisconsin. Prof. A. J. Cook writes that both are common in Michigan, south of the latitude of Grand Rapids. At Toledo, Mr. John Wilson writes that Nephele is rare, and Alope unknown, so far as appears. At Cleveland, O., Dr. J. F. Isom informs me that Alope is very rare, but that Nephele is abundant in some seasons. In south-west Ohio, Dr. H. K. Landis, of Columbus, writes that he cannot learn that either form has ever been taken. They are not mentioned in Mr. Dury’s list of butterflies found about Cincinnati. But in northern Illinois Nephele is abundant and Alope not found at all. So that somewhere between New York and Illinois, in Ohio and Indiana, Alope seems to disappear, while Nephele becomes the sole form; but whether the separation is abrupt or gradual is not ascertained. As the information which I have been able to gather is so meagre as regards the States west of New York. I shall confine my remarks to that State and New England.[1])