Egg.—Conoidal, with twelve to fourteen ribs, honey-yellow. The caterpillars are hatched in the fall, and hibernate without feeding until the following spring.
Caterpillar.—The head is dark blackish-brown. The body is velvety-purple above, a little paler on the under side. The usual spines occur on the body, and are black, grayish at the base. The larva feeds on violets.
Chrysalis.—The chrysalis is light brown, speckled, except on the abdominal segments, with black.
This species ranges from Maine to the mountains of western Pennsylvania, and thence southward along the central ridges of the Alleghanies into West Virginia. It is also found in Canada, and extends westward into the region of the Rocky Mountains. It is especially common in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Adirondacks.
(12) Argynnis lais, Edwards, Plate XIV, Fig. 12, ♂; Fig. 13, ♁ (The Northwestern Silver-spot).
Butterfly.—The male is bright reddish-fulvous on the upper side, slightly obscured by fuscous at the base. The discal band of spots common to both wings is broken and irregular, and the spots on the hind wings are quite small. The fore wings on the under side are buff at the tips and pale red at the base and on the inner margin, lighter at the inner angle. The under side of the hind wings as far as the outer margin of the discal row of silvery spots is dark brown, mottling a yellowish ground. The submarginal band of the hind wings is pale yellow and moderately broad. The female is marked much as the male, but the discal band of spots on the upper side of the fore wings is confluent and broader, the fringes whitish, and the spots included between the sagittate marginal spots and the marginal lines paler than in the male sex. Expanse, 2.00-2.20 inches.
Caterpillar, etc.—The early stages are unknown.
This species is found in the territories of Alberta and Assiniboia, and in British Columbia among the foot-hills and the lower slopes of the mountain-ranges.
(13) Argynnis oweni, Edwards, Plate XII, Fig. 5, ♂; Fig. 6, ♁, under side (Owen's Silver-spot).
Butterfly, ♂.—The wings on the upper side are dull reddish-fulvous, not much obscured with brown on the base, the black markings moderately heavy, the two marginal lines tending to flow together. The fore wings on the under side are yellowish-buff from the base to the outer row of spots, or in some specimens with the buff lightly laved with reddish; the nerves reddish-brown. The subapical patch is dark brown, with a small silvered spot; the five submarginal spots are small and obscurely silvered. The hind wings are dark brown on the discal area and outer margin, with a rather narrow grayish-buff submarginal band, strongly invaded by projections of the dark brown of the discal area. The spots of the outer discal row are generally well silvered; the inner spots less so in most cases.