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Hackberry Butterfly
Butterfly, male.--The primaries at the base and the secondaries except at the outer angle pale olive-brown, the rest of the wings black. The dark apical tract of the primaries is marked by two irregular, somewhat broken bands of white spots. There is a red-ringed eye-spot between the first and second median nervules, near the margin of the fore wing, and there are six such spots on each hind wing. On the under side the ground-color is grayish-purple; the spots and markings of the upper side reappear on this side.
Female.--The female has the wings, as is always the case in this genus, much broader and not so pointed at the apex of the primaries as in the male sex, and the color is much paler. Expanse, male, 1.80 inch; female, 2.10 inches.
Early Stages.--These are beautifully described and delineated by Edwards in "The Butterflies of North America," vol. ii. The caterpillar feeds on the hackberry (Celtis occidentalis).
This species is found generally from southern Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. It is not, so far as is known, found on the Pacific coast.