Good news from the far north

[Kenelm Philip]

	Of all the North American arctic butterflies, _Colias johanseni_
(Johansen's Sulphur) is the most localized. For ten years since its
rediscovery in 1988, it has been known from one locality only: Bernard
Harbour on the arctic coast of the Northwest Territories, about 70 miles
north of Coppermine.

	I just received a note from an adventurous collector, who went to
Coppermine this summer and engaged one of the locals to take him to
Bernard Harbour by boat (a chilly trip, he said). On the way he stopped off
at Cape Kendall, 12 miles north of Coppermine--and found _C. johanseni
there. So now the species has a range, although only about 60 miles
worth. More important, it is not totally vulnerable to whatever might
happen at Bernard Harbour.

	Of course, there is a good chance that the species is present
across Dolphin and Union Strait, in the drumlin fields on SW Victoria
Island. Getting there to check that possibility is not easy, however.

						Ken Philip
fnkwp at uaf.edu