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Great Spangled Fritillary
Butterfly.--The male is much like the male of A. leto, but the dark markings of the upper surface are heavier, and the under sides of the hind wings are more heavily silvered. The yellowish-buff submarginal band on the under side of the hind wings is never obliterated by being invaded by the darker ferruginous of the marginal and discal tracts of the wing. The female has the ground-color of the wings paler than the male, and both wings from the base to the angled median band on the upper side are dark chocolate-brown. All the markings of the upper side in this sex are heavier than in the male. On the under side the female is like the male. Expanse, 3.00-4.00 inches.
Egg.--Short, conoidal, ribbed like those of other species, and honey-yellow.
Caterpillar.--The larva in the mature state is black. The head is blackish, shaded with chestnut behind. The body is ornamented with six rows of shining black branching spines, generally marked with orange-red at their base. The caterpillar, which is nocturnal, feeds on violets, hibernating immediately after being hatched from the egg, and feeding to maturity in the following spring.
Chrysalis.--The chrysalis is dark brown, mottled with reddish-brown or slaty-gray.
This species, which ranges over the Atlantic States and the valley of the Mississippi as far as the plains of Nebraska, appears to be single-brooded in the North and double-brooded in Virginia, the Carolinas, and the Western States having the same geographical latitude. A small variety of this species, called A. carpenteri by Mr. W. H. Edwards, is found in New Mexico upon the top of Taos Peak, and is believed to be isolated here in a colony, as OEneis semidea is isolated upon the summit of Mount Washington. Specimens of cybele much like those of this New Mexican variety are found in eastern Maine and Nova Scotia, and on the high mountains of North Carolina.