Butterfly.—The antennæ are short, with a moderately thick club, crooked at the end; the third joint of the palpi is bluntly conical, short, and erect. The costa of the fore wing is straight, slightly curved inwardly before the apex. The neuration is represented in the cut.
Egg.—Hemispherical.
Caterpillar.—Not differing materially in its characteristics from the caterpillars of other hesperid genera.
Chrysalis.—Somewhat slender, with the dorsal and ventral outlines straighter than in any of the preceding genera, and the dorsum very slightly elevated in the region of the thoracic segments.
[a]Fig. 161.]—Neuration of the genus Amblyscirtes.
(1) Amblyscirtes vialis, Edwards, Plate XLVII, Fig. 5, ♂; Plate VI, Fig. 40, chrysalis (The Roadside Skipper).
Butterfly.—This little species, an exceptionally bright example of which is represented in the plate, may be known by the dark color of the upper surface, almost uniformly brown, with a few subapical light spots at the costa. In the specimen that is figured these light spots are continued across the wing as a curved band, but this is not usual. The wings on the under side in both sexes are very much as on the upper side, save that both wings on the outer third are lightly laved with gray. Expanse, 1.00 inch.
Early Stages.—These have been described with minute accuracy by Dr. Scudder.
The Roadside Skipper ranges from Montreal to Florida, and westward as far as Nevada and Texas. It is not a common species in the valley of the Mississippi; it seems to be far more common in southern New England and in Colorado. At all events, I have obtained more specimens from these localities than from any others.