SUBFAMILY SATYRINÆ (THE SATYRS)
"Aught unsavory or unclean Hath my insect never seen; But violets and bilberry bells, Maple-sap and daffodils, Grass with green flag half-mast high, Succory to match the sky, Columbine with horn of honey, Scented fern and agrimony, Clover, catch-fly, adder's-tongue And brier-roses dwelt among."
Emerson.
The butterflies belonging to this subfamily are, for the most part, of medium size, and are generally obscure in color, being of some shade of brown or gray, though a few species within our territory are brightly colored. Gaily colored species belonging to this subfamily are more numerous in the tropics of both hemispheres. The wings are very generally ornamented, especially upon the under side, by eye-like spots, dark, pupiled in the center with a point of lighter color, and ringed around with one or more light circles. They are possessed of a weak flight, flitting and dancing about among herbage, and often hiding among the weeds and grasses. Most of them are forest-loving insects, though a few inhabit the cold and bleak summits of mountains and grassy patches near the margins of streams in the far North, while some are found on the treeless prairies of the West. In the warmer regions of the Gulf States a few species are found which have the habit of flitting about the grass of the roadsides and in open spaces about houses. The veins of the fore wings are generally greatly swollen at the base, enabling them thus to be quickly distinguished from all other butterflies of this family.
The eggs, so far as we have knowledge of them, are subspherical, somewhat higher than broad, generally ribbed along the sides, particularly near the apex, and rounded at the base, which is generally broader than the apex.
The caterpillars at the time of emergence from the egg have the head considerably larger than the remainder of the body; but when they have reached maturity they are cylindrical, tapering a little from the middle to either end. They are bifurcated at the anal extremity, a character which enables them to be distinguished at a glance from the larvæ of all other American butterflies except those of the genus Chlorippe. They are mostly pale green or light brown in color, ornamented with stripes along the sides. They feed upon grasses and sedges, lying in concealment during the daytime, and emerging at dusk to take their nourishment.
The chrysalids are rather stout in form, but little angulated, and without any marked prominences or projections. They are green or brown in color. Most of them are pendant, but a few forms pupate at the roots of grasses or under stones lying upon the ground.