Genus Œneis Hübner (the Arctics)
Medium-sized butterflies, above some shade of light or dark brown; below marbled and mottled, often with a dark median band crossing both wings. The fringes are brown checkered with white. They live in the cold north or on the tops of high mountains. One of the best-known species is the White Mountain Butterfly, O. semidea, which exists on the summit of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. The eggs are ovate-spheroid, ribbed, and are laid on dry grasses near the spot where grass will grow in the following spring. The caterpillars, when mature, are cylindrical, tapering from the middle both ways, pale green or brown, with darker longitudinal stripes, feeding on grasses. The chrysalids are stout, a little angulated, and are formed, unattached, under stones or at the roots of grass in a slight depression where the caterpillar has deposited a few threads of silk.
There are a score or more of species in our fauna, of which most occur on the tops of high northern mountains or near the Arctic Circle.
(1) Œneis jutta (Hübner), Plate LXXIV, Fig. 1, ♂; Fig. 2, ♀ (The Nova Scotian).
This species, found also in Europe, is one of the most conspicuous of its tribe. It is not uncommon in the State of Maine, ranging northward from Bangor through Nova Scotia, thence westward to Ottawa and the Hudson Bay country. Expanse 1.80-2.10 inches.
(2) Œneis semidea (Say), Plate LXXV, Fig. 1, ♀ (The White Mountain Butterfly).
The wings are very thin and semi-translucent. Restricted to the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire, and some of the alpine peaks in the Rocky Mountains. It is also found in Labrador, and no doubt in corresponding latitudes about Hudson Bay and westward. Expanse 1.75 inch.
(3) Œneis katahdin Newcomb, Plate LXXV, Fig. 2, ♂ (The Katahdin Butterfly).
Closely allied to the preceding species, from which it may be distinguished by its paler wings and the irregular dark band on the under side of the hind wings about their middle. Expanse 1.75 inch.
This insect in recent years has been found to inhabit the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine.
(4) Œneis macouni (Edwards), Plate LXXVI, ♂. Type (Macoun’s Arctic).
More like O. jutta in the form of the wings, but differs in coloration. It belongs to a group of species included in this genus, most of which are found in the region of the Rocky Mountains, which are larger and yellower on the upper side of the wings than the two preceding species. Expanse 2.00-2.25 inches.
Not uncommon about Lake Nipigon, north of Lake Superior.