_Butterfly._--Marked much like the following species, but easily distinguished at a glance by the two large eye-like spots on the under side of the hind wings. Expanse, 2.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--These have been frequently described, and are in part well depicted in Plates III and IV. The food-plants are cudweed (_Gnaphalium_) and _Antennaria_.
Hunter's Butterfly ranges from Nova Scotia to Mexico and Central America east of the Sierras.
(3) =Pyrameis cardui=, Linnæus, Plate I, Fig. 1, ♂; Plate III, Fig. 37, _larva_; Plate IV, Figs. 60-62, _chrysalis_ (The Painted Lady; The Thistle-butterfly).
_Butterfly._--This is undoubtedly the most widely distributed of all known butterflies, being found in almost all parts of the temperate regions of the earth and in many tropical lands in both hemispheres. It is easily distinguished from the preceding species by the more numerous and much smaller eye-like spots on the under side of the hind wings. Expanse, 2.00-2.25 inches.
_Early Stages._--These have been again and again described at great length and with minute particularity by a score of authors. The food-plants of the caterpillar are thistles (_Carduus_), _Urtica_, _Cnicus_, and _Althæa_.
(4) =Pyrameis caryæ=, Hübner, Plate XX, Fig. 12, ♂ (The West Coast Lady).
_Butterfly._--This species is easily distinguished from _P. cardui_, its nearest ally, by the absence of the roseate tint peculiar to that species, the tawnier ground-color of the upper surfaces, and the complete black band which crosses the middle of the cell of the primaries. Expanse, 2.00 inches.
_Early Stages._--These have not all been thoroughly described, but we have an account of the larva and chrysalis from the pen of Henry Edwards, in the "Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences," vol. v, p. 329. The food-plant of the caterpillar is _Lavatera assurgentiflora_. This species ranges from Vancouver's Island to Argentina, and is found as far east as Utah.
The primal curse declared that the earth, because of man's sin, should bring forth thorns and thistles, and thistles are almost everywhere. Wherever thistles grow, there is found the thistle-butterfly, or the "Painted Lady," as English collectors are in the habit of calling it, _Pyrameis cardui_. All over Europe, all over North America, in Africa,--save in the dense jungles of the Congo,--throughout South America, in far-off Australia, and in many of the islands of the sea this beautiful butterfly is found. At some times it is scarce, and then again there are seasons when it fairly swarms, every thistle-top having one of the gaily colored creatures seated upon its head, and among the thorny environment of the leaves being found the web which the caterpillar weaves. Another butterfly which bids fair ultimately to take possession of the earth is our own _Anosia plexippus_, the wanderings of which have already been alluded to.