. The butterflies of the eastern United States and Canada [microform] : with special reference to New England. Butterflies; Butterflies; Papillons; Papillons. COSMOPOLITAN BUTTKRFLIES. 1161 Neopyrameis, the memhcrs of wli'cli (with the solo exooption of this cosmo|)olitan member) are all found excluHively in the; Xcw World ; while the antithetical section, Pvramcis (with the single exception again of one member foimd l)oth in Europe and the United St^'tes) is exclusi\ely eon- fined to the Old World. Judjjinjj from this fact we niav venture to assert with considerable confidence that this cosmo
. The butterflies of the eastern United States and Canada [microform] : with special reference to New England. Butterflies; Butterflies; Papillons; Papillons. COSMOPOLITAN BUTTKRFLIES. 1161 Neopyrameis, the memhcrs of wli'cli (with the solo exooption of this cosmo|)olitan member) are all found excluHively in the; Xcw World ; while the antithetical section, Pvramcis (with the single exception again of one member foimd l)oth in Europe and the United St^'tes) is exclusi\ely eon- fined to the Old World. Judjjinjj from this fact we niav venture to assert with considerable confidence that this cosmopolitan butiCi-fly origi- nated in America. Yet it is just on this continent that its distribu- tion is the moat limited ! It is known in only a coinparatively small portion of South America and occurs on none of the West India Islands, with the exception of Cuba where it is rare. The cause of this limitation cannot be attributed to the food plant of the caterpillar; for the thistles upon which it lives are quite as abundant in these regions as in many others which it has , certainly sufficiently abimdant for all its uses. Nor can the heat of the tropics he placed as a difficulty in the way, since there is no place where it flourishes more aljundantly than in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World, repeated invasions of Europe by hordes from the south where they had outgrown their opportunities iieing already on record. Assuming, then, America to have been its original home, it would seem as if we might fairly conclude that a butterfly of a dominant ty[)e, after its distril)ution in the region of its birth had reached its limits, the balance between the competitors i" the struggle for existence being fairly struck, on being introduced into a new world, where it had to contend in the struggle for supremacy with none of the members of its own restricted group, which had stood in its way in its native home, would suddenly find that it had reached a region ready f
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbutterflies, bookyear
