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The Great Purple Hair-Streak

Atlides halesus (At'li-des ha-le'sus) PLATE XXXIII, FIG. 3, 4 This is the largest of our Eastern hair-streaks, having an expanse of wings of one and three-fifths to two inches. In the male the greater part of the upper surface of the wings is bright blue; the discal stigma, the outer fourth of the fore wings, the apex and inner margin of the hind wings, and the tails are black. The under side is blackish brown, with a red spot at the base of the fore wings and two or more at the base of the hind wings. The fore wings have a dash of blue along the cubitus, and the hind wings have a group of blue and green spots near the anal angle. The under side of the abdomen is orange. In the female the outer half of the wings is black, and the fore wings lack the dash of blue beneath.

CATERPILLAR.-Green, slightly downy; on the sides nine oblique, darker green bands; on the back a slight stripe; along the base of the feet a stripe of yellowish green. Food-plant. Oak. "Great" is a relative term in the butterfly world as well as elsewhere. The name great purple hair-streak would seem to imply a vast insect, whereas it is a small butterfly spreading less than two inches, and when it is fully expanded might well be described by that graphic though inelegant word "chunked." The wings are bluegreen, changeable in color, and the hind wings 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 Plate XXXIII. 11 9 have an inconsequential little tail just above the eye-spot at the hind angle, and another of still less consequence just beyond it. Underneath the wings are black except for some orange spots near their base; the lower side of the body is bright orange also, making it rather a striking butterfly when the wings are lifted. Abbot associates it with peach blossoms in Florida. It has been found as far north as Nevada and Illinois; it is also found in Arizona and California. Some finished butterfly, Some breathing diamond-flake with leaf-gold fans, That takes the air, no trace of worm it was.

BROWNING.