Few butterflies this year

[Kenelm Philip]

	The Dempster Highway (from east of Dawson to the NWT border) in the
Yukon was in a different climatic regime from the southern Yukon and the
Alaskan Interior this summer. The season was _not_ delayed--and butterfly
numbers were more or less normal, and in some cases rather high. _Oeneis
excubitor_ (= _alpina_) was very abundant in the Richardson Mountains,
and _Clossiana distincta_ was doing well also. _O. polixenes_ was all
over the hillsides at North Fork Pass. _Euchloe naina_ was found at three
sites: km 130.5, km 152 (Windy Pass), and km 156--all previously known
sites for the species. This species is presumably widely distributed in the
southern Ogilvie Mountains, but it would  need a helicopter (and many hours
of flight time) to work out its range.

NABA translations:
_E. naina_     = Green Marble [not in NABA list, name from 'The Butterflies
                 of Canada]]
_C. distincta_ = Astarte Fritillary
_O. excubitor_ = Sentinel Arctic
_O. polixenes_ = Polixenes Arctic

							Ken Philip
fnkwp at uaf.edu