On pp. 162164, the genus Brephidium (in company with two others) is incorrectly placed between Hemiargus and Lycaetdes. I have shown in my paper on Neotropical Plebejinae (Psyche, vol. 52: pp. 161; 1945) that Hemiargus (sensu lato) and Lycaeides belong to the same group (sub-family Plebejinae — or supergenus Plebejus; the rank does not matter but the relationship does). Brephidium, of course, stands on the very outskirts of the family, in a highly specialized group, immeasurably further removed from Hemiargus or Lycaeides than, say, Lycaena. This is where my subfamilies come in handy since at least they keep related things in one bunch and eject intruders. Views may differ in regard to the hierarchic element in the classification I adopt, but no one has questioned so far the fact of the structural relationship and phylogenetic circumstances I mean it to reflect. The whole interest of Hemiargus is that it is allied to Lycaetdes etc., while bearing a striking superficial resemblance to an African group with which it does not have the slightest structural affinity. Systematics, I think, should bring out such points and not keep them blurred in the haze of tradition. I am perfectly willing to demote the whole of my «subfamily» Plebejinae to a supergenus or genus Plebejus (Plebejus ceraunus, isola, thomasi, idas, melissa, aquilo, saepiolus, etc.) but only under the condition that it include exactly the same species, in the same groupings ( subgenera or nunibered sections, as you will) and in the same sequence of groups, without intrusions from groups assigned structurally to other «subfamilies» (and then, of course, lygdamus, battoides, and piasus should be all in Scolitantides or its equivalent). However, I still think that the formality of generic names for the groupings is a better method than going by numbers, etc. Names are also easier to handle in works on zoological distribution when it is important to bring out the way a group is represented in different regions of the world. Generally speaking, systematics is not directly concerned with the convenience of collectors in their dealings with small local faunas. It should attempt to express structural affinities and divergences, suggest certain phylogenetic lines, relate local developments to global ones — and help lumpers to sort out properly the ingredients of their lumps.
The Lepidopterists' News, Vol. 6, August 8, 1952, p. 41
BUTTERFLY COLLECTING IN WYOMING, 1952
A visit to Wyoming by car in July-August 1952 was devoted to collecting in the following places:
Southeastern Wyoming: eastern Medicine Bow National Forest, in the Snowy Range, up to approximately 10,500 ft. alt. (using paved road 130 between Laramie and Saratoga); sagebrush country, approximately 7,000 ft. alt., between Saratoga and Encampment, east of paved highway 230; marshes at about the same elevation between eastern Medicine Bow National Forest and Northgate, northern Colorado, within 15 miles from the Wyoming State Line, mainly south of the unpaved road 127; and W. Medicine Bow National Forest, in the Sierra Madre, using the abominable local road from Encampment to the Continental Divide (approximately 9,500 ft. alt.).
Western Wyoming: sagebrush, approximately 6,500 ft. alt, immediately east of Dubois along the (well-named) Wind River; western Shoshone and Teton National Forests, following admirable paved road 26, from Dubois towards Moran over Togwotee Pass (9,500 ft. alt.); near Moran, on Buffalo River, approximately 7,000 ft. alt.; traveling through the construction hell of the city of Jackson, and bearing southeast along paved 187 to The Rim
(7,900 ft. alt.); and, finally, spending most of August in collecting around the altogether enchanting little town of Afton (on paved 89, along the Idaho border), approximately 7,000 ft. alt., mainly in canyons east of the town, and in various spots of Bridger National Forest, Southwestern part, along trails up to 9,000 ft. alt.
Most of the material collected has gone to the Cornell University Museum; the rest to the American Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Comparative Zoology.
The best hunting grounds proved to be: the Sierra Madre at about 8,000 ft. alt., where on some forest trails I found among other things a curious form (? S. secreta dos Passos & Grey) of Speyeria egleis Behr flying in numbers with S. atlantis hesperis Edw. and S. hydaspepurpurascensH. Edw., a very eastern locality tor the latter; still better were the forests, meadows, and marshes about Togwotee Pass in the third week of July, where the generally early emergences of the season were exemplified by great quantities of Erebia theona ethela Edw. and E. callias callias Edw. already on the wing; very good, too, were some of the canyons near Afton.
Here are a few notes on what interested me most in the field: Boloria, Colias, certain Blues, and migratory or at least «mobile» species.
Of Boloria I got seven species, of the eight (or possibly ten) that occur within the region. Plunging into the forest south of route 130 on the western slopes of the Snowy Range, I found B. selene tollandensis B & McD. not uncommon on a small richly flowered marsh at about 8,000 ft. alt.; also on marshes north of Northgate and on Togwotee Pass. On July 8, I spent three hours collecting a dozen fresh specimens of B. eunnmiq qlticolq B & McP., both sexes, on a tiny very wet marsh along the eastern lip of the last lake before reaching Snowy Range Pass from the west, possibly the same spot where Klots had taken it in 1935 (Journ. N. Y. Ent. Soc. 45: p. 326; 1937). I met with the same form on a marsh near Peacock Lake> Longs Peak. Colorado, in
1947. Forms of B. titania Esp. (mostly near ssp. helena Edw.) were abundant everywhere above 7,500 ft. alt. By the end of July B. freija Thunb. was in tatters near Xogwotcc Pass (it had been on the wane in June, 1947, on marshes near Columbine Lodge, Estes Park; and on Hoback River, Tetons, in early July, 1949). Of the beautiful B. frigga sagata B. & Benj. I took two 66 (fresh but frayed) near Togwotee Pass. Of B. toddi Holland ssp. I took a very fresh 6 in early July in the Snowy Range at 8,000 ft. alt. and a couple of days later, acting upon a hunch, 1 visited a remarkably repulsivelooking willowbog, full of cowmerds and barbed wire, off route 127, and found there a largish form of B. toddi very abundant — in fact, I have never seen it as common anywhere in the west; unfortunately, the specimens, ot which 1 kept a score or so, were mostly faded — and very difficult to capture, their idea of sport being to sail to and fro over the fairly tall sallows that encompassed the many small circular areas (inhabited only by Plebeius saepiolus Boisd. and Polites utahensis Skin.) into which the bog was divided by the shrubs. Another species 1 had never seen to be so common was B. kriemhild Strecker which I found in all the willowbogs near Togwotee Pass. In regard to Colias I could not discover what I wanted — which was some geographical intergradation between C. scudderi Reakirt, which I suggest should be classified as C. palaeno scudderi (Reakirt) (common everywhere in the Medicine Bow National Forest), and C. pelidne skinneri Barnes (locally common near Togwotee Pass and above Afton). I was struck, however, by the identical ovipositing manners of C. scudderi and C. skinneri 99 which were common in the densest woods of their respective habitats, laying on Vaccinium. I found C. meadi Edw. very common on Snowy Range Pass. It was also present at timberline near Togwotee Pass and east of it, below timberline, down to 8,000 ft. alt. in willowbogs, where it was accompanied by another usually «Hudsonian» species, Lycaena snowt?Edw.,
the latter represented by undersized individuals. (In early July, 1951, near Telluride, Colorado, I found a colony of healthy Colias meadi and one of very sluggish Pargus centaureae freija Warren in aspen groves along a canyon at only 8,500 ft. alt.) On a slope near Togwotee Pass at timberline I had the pleasure of discovering a strain of C. meadi with albinic 99. The species was anything but common there, but of the dozen 99 or so seen or caught, as many as three were albinic. Of these my wife and I took two, hers a dull white similar to C. hecla «pallida», mine slightly tinged with peach (the only other time I saw a white C. meadi was at the base of Longs Peak, 1947, where the species was extremely abundant).