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Scudder's Blue
Butterfly.--The commonest Eastern representative of the group to which the preceding four or five and the following three species belong. On the upper side the male cannot be distinguished from L. melissa; the female is darker and has only a few orange crescents on the outer margin of the hind wing. On the under side the wings are shining white, the spots are much reduced in size, the large orange spots found in L. melissa are replaced by quite small yellowish or ochreous spots, and the patches of metallic scales defining them externally are very minute. Expanse, 1.00-1.10 inch.
Early Stages.--These are accurately described by Dr. Scudder in his great work, "The Butterflies of New England," and by others. The caterpillar feeds upon the lupine, and probably other leguminous plants.
It is widely distributed through the basin of the St. Lawrence, the region of the Great Lakes, and northward as far as British Columbia, being also found on the Catskill Mountains. I have found it very common at times about Saratoga, New York.