Medium-sized butterflies, above some shade of light or dark brown; below marbled and mottled, often with a dark median band crossing both wings. The fringes are brown checkered with white. They live in the cold north or on the tops of high mountains. One of the best-known species is the White Mountain Butterfly, O. semidea, which exists on the summit of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. The eggs are ovate-spheroid, ribbed, and are laid on dry grasses near the spot where grass will grow in the following spring. The caterpillars, when mature, are cylindrical, tapering from the middle both ways, pale green or brown, with darker longitudinal stripes, feeding on grasses. The chrysalids are stout, a little angulated, and are formed, unattached, under stones or at the roots of grass in a slight depression where the caterpillar has deposited a few threads of silk.
There are a score or more of species in our fauna, of which most occur on the tops of high northern mountains or near the Arctic Circle.
PL. LXXV
(1) Œneis jutta (Hübner), [Plate LXXIV], Fig. 1, ♂; Fig. 2, ♀ (The Nova Scotian).
This species, found also in Europe, is one of the most conspicuous of its tribe. It is not uncommon in the State of Maine, ranging northward from Bangor through Nova Scotia, thence westward to Ottawa and the Hudson Bay country. Expanse 1.80-2.10 inches.
(2) Œneis semidea (Say), [Plate LXXV], Fig. 1, ♀ (The White Mountain Butterfly).
The wings are very thin and semi-translucent. Restricted to the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, and some of the alpine peaks in the Rocky Mountains. It is also found in Labrador, and no doubt in corresponding latitudes about Hudson Bay and westward. Expanse 1.75 inch.
PL. LXXVI