PL. XXXII
(3) Vanessa milberti Godart, [Plate XXXII], ♀ (Milbert’s Tortoise-shell).
Easily distinguished by the broad yellow submarginal band on both wings, shaded outwardly by red. Expanse 1.75 inch. The larva feeds upon nettles ( Urtica).
Found at high elevations in the Appalachian highlands, ranging northward to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, thence westward to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Coast, its distribution being determined by temperature and the presence of its food-plant, though its distribution seems to be more dependent upon climate than upon food, as nettles abound in the Southern States, where the insect is never found.
In addition to the three species of Vanessa, which we have figured upon our plates, it should be mentioned that there is a very pretty species, known as Vanessa californica, which occurs upon the Pacific Coast. It somewhat closely resembles the European Vanessa urticæ. In southern California it is only found upon the mountains, but about Vancouver and elsewhere in British Columbia it occurs at sea-level. It is a pugnacious little thing, and fights at sight any other butterfly which comes near. The food-plant of the larva is Ceanothus thyrsiflorus. W. G. Wright informs us that the butterfly in the spring delights to feed upon the gum of Abies concolor, when it is still fluid.
Genus PYRAMEIS Doubleday
(The Red Admiral and Painted Ladies).
The butterflies of this are like those of the last genus in the structure of their wings, except that the hind wings are not angulate, and below the hind wings are generally marked with eye-like spots. Egg ovoid, closely resembling that of Vanessa. Larva like that of Vanessa, but spines relatively not so large and not so distinctly branching. Form of chrysalis very like that of Vanessa. The genus includes comparatively few species, but most have a very wide range, Pyrameis cardui being almost cosmopolitan in its distribution, having a wider range than that of any other butterfly.
PL. XXXIII
(1) Pyrameis atalanta (Linnæus), [Plate XXXIII], ♀ (The Red Admiral).