Rural School Leaflet. 



1041 



as petunias or nasturtiums, are put in its cage, and thus it may dis- 

 play its long sucking tongue; but if it refuses to do so, the tongue 

 may be tmcoiled by gently lifting it out with a pin. This butterfly 

 really has six legs, although only four can be seen; the first pair are 

 reduced in size and are enfolded under the head out of sight. 



The male Monarch has on one of the veins on the upper side of the hind 

 wing a black spot which looks as if that vein were swollen. This is a 

 little pocket filled with peculiar shaped scales, which give off an odor 

 too delicate for our coarse senses and which is supposed to be very 

 attractive in butterfly circles and helps him to win his mate. 



The Monarch is distasteful to birds ^ 



in all of its stages. We do not know 

 the reason for this, but we know 

 the fact. There is a similar butterfly 

 in nowise related to the Monarch, 

 which has assumed the Monarch's 

 colors and markings. This resem- 

 blance is so close that the disguised 

 butterfly is avoided by the birds, 

 although its relatives are regarded 

 as delicate tidbits by all insect-eat- 

 ing birds. This butterfly is called 

 the Viceroy, and may be always dis- 

 tinguished from the Monarch by the 

 black band across the middle of the 

 hind wings. 



The Monarch is a native of tropical 

 America, and every year it comes 

 north with the spring and warm 

 weather. As soon as the milkweed 

 appears tho Monarch butterfly appears also and lays her eggs upon its 

 leaves; from these eggs hatch the Monarch caterpillars. One of them 

 when fully grown is a striking object; its ground-color is green with cross 

 stripes of yellow and black. On the second segment back of the head are 

 two long, slender, whip-lash-like organs, and near the end of the abdo- 

 men is a pair similar, but shorter. If the caterpillar is disturbed, the 

 front pair of whip-lashes twitch wamingly and when the caterpillar 

 walks they move back and forth. These whip-lash filaments are probably 

 used to frighten away the parasitic flies which attack the caterpillar. 



These caterpillars will feed upon no plant but the milkweed; but 

 they eat the milkweed industriously day and night, with a few 



Fig. 12. — Larva of Monarch butterfly 



