Buckeye

Junonia coenia

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.

Caterpillar.--The caterpillar is dark in color, longitudinally striped, and adorned with branching spines, two of which are on the head and point forward.

Chrysalis.--The chrysalis is generally pale wood-brown, strongly arched on the dorsal and concave on the ventral side. It always hangs at less than a right angle to the surface from which it depends.

This is a very common butterfly in the Southern States, ranging northward as far as New England, westward to the Pacific, and southward to Colombia. The caterpillar feeds on various species of plantain (Plantago), also Gerardia and Antirrhinum. When I was a lad in western North Carolina these insects fairly swarmed one summer; thousands of the caterpillars could be found in worn-out fields, feeding on the narrow-leaved plantain, and every fence-rail had one or more of their chrysalids hanging from the under side. I have never seen such multitudes of this species since then. The butterflies are quite pugnacious, and will fight with other passing butterflies, dashing forth upon them, and chasing them away.