A large proportion of our most abundant and conspicuous butterflies
belong to the Tribe of the Yellows. Sometimes it is called the Tribe
of the Red-horns because the antennae of the living insects are so
often red. These insects vary in size from the large Brimstones or
Cloudless Sulphurs, expanding three inches, to the delicate little
Dainty Sulphur, expanding scarcely an inch. The distinctive
characteristics of the tribe are found in the very gradual enlargement
of the joints of the antennae that form the club, and the stout palpi,
the last joints of each of the latter being short.
=The Brimstone or Cloudless Sulphur=
_Callidrayas eubule_
Practically all northern butterflies are variously marked in different
colors, while the butterflies of tropical regions are commonly tinted
in monotone, though often showing a splendid iridescence. One with
very little experience can tell the look of a tropical butterfly and
would be likely to say at once that the Cloudless Sulphur is one of
these. The upper surface of the wings of the male is a clear plain
sulphur with merely the narrowest possible fringe of brown around the
margin made only by the colored marginal scales. The under surface is
lighter and sparsely dotted in brown. In the females the marginal
brown takes on the shape of a series of small crescents and there is a
single round brown eye-spot just in front of the middle of each front
wing.
While the Cloudless Sulphur is without doubt essentially a tropical
species it has an extraordinary geographical range. It is extremely
abundant in Mexico, Cuba, and the tropical zone in South America. It
extends south even to northern Patagonia and north to New England,
Wisconsin, and Nebraska.
Presumably in the tropics this species breeds continuously, one
generation following another in regular succession unless interrupted
by drought or other natural phenomena. In our Southern states there is
more or less interruption by the winter season, so that it is commonly
considered to have only two broods, the butterflies hibernating.
Farther north there is probably only one brood in summer, and perhaps
not even that in the extreme limit of its range. For there is pretty
good evidence that the specimens seen in the Northern states are
migrants from the south, coming singly or in scattered flocks in early
summer, and if they lay eggs the butterflies of the new generation
return south in autumn. But the precise conditions are not well known
and need careful observations in various localities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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