The butterfly to which I want to introduce you is a rare beauty! It is called Argynnis nitocris nigrocaerulea by scientists, but the young people of our school call it the blue-black silver spot or the Sapello Fritillary. They wanted very much to name it after the Territory, but unfortunately there is a butterfly of this genus that bears the name of New Mexico Silver-spot.

Every member of the genus Argynnis is beautiful and it is a great treat to see the glint of the silver dotted wings of these butterflies as they hover about the gaily colored flowers in some mountain canyon or alpine meadow. But no member of the genus will compare in beauty with the female of the nigrocaerulea, and I should find difficulty in forgetting the pleasure I felt in seeing two of these lovely creatures sucking the nectar from a large bright colored Rudbeckia.

The nigrocaerulea is very much like a silver-spot that is found in the mountains of Arizona; both belong to the species nitocris and there is still a third form found in the mountains of Mexico. It is very likely that these forms were the same years ago, but the mountains in this arid region are like islands, and are separated by dry expanses upon which an Argynnis could not live. It follows, therefore, that in the isolated mountain regions many forms of the same species may be found, and when the country has been more carefully explored we shall very probably find other varieties of nitocris.

The nigrocaerulea was discovered in August, 1900, in the Sapello Canyon, a beautiful canyon in the Rocky Mountains near Las Vegas, New Mexico. The male is reddish-fulvous on the upper surface, with well defined markings consisting of waved transverse lines and crescent shaped spots. On the under side the design of the fore wings is somewhat indistinctly repeated, and the base is colored with a most exquisite reddish pink. The under surface of the hind wings is a rich brown with a wide yellow border, and is profusely marked with spots of glistening silver. The female on the upper side is bluish black, well marked near the margin by large spots of yellow suffused with blue. The under surface is very like that of the male, though the colors are more pronounced, the brown in the hind wing merging into black. The Sapello Fritillary flies during the month of August. Though the caterpillar is not known, it is supposed to feed upon the leaves of violets, which grow very abundantly in the Sapello Canyon. Diligent search will be made for it, and I am sure all will be interested if at some future time I can give the history and picture of the chrysalis of this beautiful Silver-spot.

Wilmatte Porter Cockerell.