The Butterfly Book / A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North America - W. J. Holland

Early Stages.—These have only been partially ascertained. The caterpillar, like all others of the genus, feeds on grasses.

This insect is found in the Gulf States and as far north as New Jersey, and is probably only a large Southern form of the next species.

(2) Satyrus alope, Fabricius, Plate XXVI, Fig. 1, ♂; Fig. 2, ♁; Plate III, Fig. 18, larva (The Common Wood-nymph).

Butterfly.—Closely resembling the preceding species, but only two thirds of its size. The figures in our plate give a correct idea of its appearance. The number of the ocelli is not constant, and occasionally specimens occur in which they are almost wanting. Several varietal forms have been described: S. maritima, from Long Island and Martha's Vineyard, in which the wings are smaller, the band inclined to orange-yellow, and the upper side of the wings is darker than in the typical form; and S. texana, from the extreme South, in which the ground-color of the wings is paler brown, the yellow band ochreous, and the spots on the under side of the hind wings larger than in the other forms.

(a) Satyrus alope, form nephele, Kirby, Plate XXVI, Fig. 3, ♂; Fig. 4, ♁, under side; Plate IV, Figs. 7, 8, chrysalis (The Clouded Wood-nymph).

This varietal form of S. alope, long held to be a species, but now known to be a dimorphic variety, is characterized by the partial or entire suppression of the yellow band on the primaries and the tendency of the eye-spots to become obsolete. It is the Northern form of the species, and is found in Canada, New England, and on the continent generally, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, north of the latitude of central New York and southward on the mountain masses of the Appalachian ranges.

(b) Satyrus alope, form olympus, Edwards, Plate XXVI, Fig. 9, ♂; Fig. 10, ♁, under side (Olympus).

This form of S. alope is common in the region west of the Mississippi. The males are a trifle darker and the females a shade paler than in the form nephele, which they closely approximate, and from which it would almost be impossible to separate them without a knowledge of the country whence they come.