Genus MELITÆA, Fabricius
(The Checker-spots)
"The fresh young Flie,... ... joy'd to range abroad in fresh attire, Through the wide compass of the ayrie coast; And, with unwearied wings, each part t'inquire Of the wide rule of his renowned sire."
Spenser.
Butterfly.—Small. The tibiæ and the tarsi of the mesothoracic and metathoracic legs are more lightly armed with spines than in the genera Argynnis and Brenthis. The palpi are not swollen. They are clothed with long hairs and have the third joint finely pointed. The antennæ are about half as long as the costa of the fore wings, and are provided with a short, heavy, excavated, or spoon-shaped club. The subcostal of the fore wings is five-branched, the first nervule always arising before the end of the cell, the second at the end or just beyond it. The cell of the primaries is closed, of the secondaries open. The markings upon the wings are altogether different from those in the two preceding genera, and the spots on the under side of the wings are not silvered, as in the genus Brenthis.
Egg.—The egg is rounded at the base, subconical, truncated, and depressed at the upper end and fluted by light raised ridges (see p. 4, Fig. 8).
Caterpillar.—The larvæ are cylindrical, armed in the mature form on each segment with comparatively short spines thickly covered with diverging hairs, or needle-shaped spines. They are known in some species to be gregarious in their early stages, and then to separate before maturity. They feed upon the Scrophulariaceæ, upon Castileja, Diplopappus, and other plants.
Chrysalis.—The chrysalis is pendant, rounded at the head, provided with more or less sharply pointed tubercles on the dorsal surface, and generally white or some shade of light gray, blotched with brown or black, and marked with reddish or orange spots on the dorsal side.
