Adults are among the largest of the genus with a wingspan from 62 to 80 mm (2.5-3 inches) (range reported by all descriptions cited below). The male's wings are bright orange-brown on top (dorsal side), with darkened bases and black markings including a distinct marginal line. The upper side of the female's wings is mostly grayish to bluish black with yellow-cream markings corresponding to the orange-brown patterns of the male.<br /><br />The underside of the wings are similar in both sexes: the hind wing discal area (or "disc," the area between veins at the wing base, the central portion of a butterfly wing) has a cinnamon brown ground (ssp. <i>nokomis</i>) adorned with the black margined silver spots (which, again, give the butterfly one of its common names).<br /><br />The eggs are cream colored when laid and become tan in a few days. They are vertically ribbed with the ribs rising to peaks which surround the micropyle. Cross bars connect the ribs. The mature larvae are yellow-orange with transverse black stripes and long, dark tipped, orange spines. The pupa is orange-ochre with black markings.<br /><br />Descriptions of adults can be found in Holland (1898), Ferris and Fisher (1971), Howe (1975), Ferris and Brown (1981), Pyle (1981), Scott (1986), and Tilden and Smith (1986). Color plates are included in Holland (1898), Howe (1975), Ferris and Brown (1981), and Scott (1986). The eggs, larvae, and chrysalides are described in Scott and Mattoon (1981) and Scott (1986).