How to Know the Butterflies

The Cornell classic that taught America to name what it saw: every eastern butterfly described from life, with its caterpillar, its food-plants, its habits — and how to pronounce its Latin.

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The Silver-Spotted Skipper (Epargvreus tityrus)

Epargvreus tityrus (Ep-ar-gy're-us tit'y-rus) PLATE XLIV, FIG. 3, 5; PLATE XLIII This skipper resembles the two following species in being dark chocolate-brown, with a row of yellowish spots extending across the fore wings; but it is distinguished by a large silvery-white spot in the center of the lower side of the hind wings. The anal angle of the hind wings is prolonged into a short tail. Expanse of wings nearly or quite two inches. The silver-spotted skipper is found in nearly the whole United States, from Massachusetts to California, except in the extreme Northeast and Northwest. The larva (Fig. 48) feeds upon various papilionaceous plants. We have found it FIG. 48.-Larva of the silver-spotted skipper. common on locust. It makes a nest, within which it remains concealed, by fastening together, with silk, the leaflets of a compound leaf (Fig. 49).

FIG. 49.-Nest of the larva of the silver-spotted skipper.

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