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 Whirlabout

Thymelicus brettus (Thy-mel'i-cus bret'tus) PLATE XL, FIG. 13, 14, 15 The two sexes of this species differ greatly in appearance when seen from above. In the male the upper surface of the wings is largely yellow, with a brand, and with a dark brown outer border; in the female the wings are almost entirely dark brown, with a transverse row of spots beyond the middle of the fore wings. The most distinctive feature of this species is the color of the lower surface of the hind wings, which is similar in the two sexes, and is a greenish yellow spotted with distinct dark brown spots. Expanse of wings one and one tenth to one and one-half inches.

This skipper has been found along the seaboard from Connecticut to Mexico.

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