The Butterfly Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North AmericaHolland, W. J. (William Jacob)
Science
The Butterfly Book: A Popular Guide to a Knowledge of the Butterflies of North America
Holland, W. J. (William Jacob)
Butterflies -- North America
One of the curious phenomena in the distribution of butterflies is the
fact that in Florida we find _Hypolimnas misippus_, a species which is
exceedingly common in Africa and in the Indo-Malayan subregion. Another
curious phenomenon of a like character is the presence in the Canary
Islands of a _Pyrameis_, which appears to be only a subvariety of the
well-known _Pyrameis indica_, which is common in India, southern China,
and Japan. Away off in southeastern Africa, upon the peaks and
foot-hills which surround the huge volcanic masses of Kilima-Njaro,
Kenia, and Ruwenzori, was discovered by the martyred Bishop Hannington a
beautiful species of _Argynnis_, representing a genus nowhere else found
upon the continent of Africa south of Mediterranean lands. Strange
isolation this for a butterfly claiming kin to the fritillaries that sip
the sweets from clover-blossoms in the Bernese Oberland, in the valleys
of Thibet, and on the prairies of the United States.
Genus JUNONIA, Hübner
(Peacock Butterflies)
_Butterfly._--Medium-sized butterflies, with eye-like spots upon the
upper wings. Their neuration is very much like that of the butterflies
belonging to the genus _Pyrameis_, to which they are closely allied. The
eyes are naked, the fore feet are scantily clothed with hair, and the
lower discocellular vein of the fore wing, when present, does not
terminate on the arch of the third median nervule before its origin, as
in the genus _Vanessa_, but immediately at the origin of the third
median nervule.
[Illustration FIG. 98.--Neuration of the genus _Junonia_.]
_Egg._--Broader than high, the top flattened, marked by ten vertical
ribs, very narrow, but not very high. Between the ribs are a few
delicate cross-lines.
_Caterpillar._--The caterpillar is cylindrical, the segments being
adorned with rows of branching spines and longitudinally striped.
_Chrysalis._--The chrysalis is arched on the dorsal surface and marked
by two rows of dorsal tubercles, concave on the ventral side. The head
is slightly bifid, with the vertices rounded.
There are eighteen or more species which belong to this genus, of which
some are neotropical, but the greater number are found in the tropical
regions of the Old World. Three forms occur within the limits of the
United States, which have by some authors been reckoned as distinct
species, and by others are regarded merely as varietal forms.
(1) =Junonia coenia=, Hübner, Plate XX, Fig. 7, ♀; Plate III, Figs. 29,
30, _larva_; Plate IV, Figs. 56, 57, 65-67, _chrysalis_ (The Buckeye).
_Butterfly._--The figure in the plate is far better than any verbal
description. On the under side the eye-like spots of the upper side are
reproduced, but are much smaller, especially on the hind wings. There is
much variety in the ground-color of the wings on the under side. Some
specimens are reddish-gray, and some are quite heavily and solidly
pinkish-red on the secondaries. Expanse, 2.00-2.25 inches.
_Egg._--The egg is dark green.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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