This beautiful butterfly formerly inhabited both the foothills and higher mountains of Orange County. The drier climate and development of many foothill areas has pushed callippe out of most of the old low-elevation localities. James Mori, however, reports that they were common in the San Joaquin Hills in about 1962 during a particularly a rainy year. Comstock's Fritillary may still occur in these coastal foothills, but today is common only in the Santa Ana Mountains. The butterfly emerged exceptionally early in 1974 as it was observed in Riverside County near Highway 74 on May 8 by Norman Nakanishi and on May 11 at Santiago Peak by Gary Felton.
Males generally begin emerging before females.
I most often encounter violets in the Santa Ana Mountains on sheltered, rocky, outcroppings. A good stand of Viola pedunculata occurs along the southern edge of Yaeger Mesa, although I have never been to the area at the appropriate time of year to see if Comstock's Fritillary flies there. I suspect that pedunculata is utilized by low-elevation populations, while purpurea , and perhaps quercetorum is utilized by populations in the higher elevations of the Santa Ana Mountains. Erich Walter used to find this fritillary with some frequency during the latter part of May in the low hills near the intersection of Amapola Street and Santiago Boulevard in Orange. Gordon Marsh and the author searched the Laguna Lakes vicinity without turning up the larval foodplant.