RrRAL School Leaflet 1259 



is supposed to be \'cry attractive in Ijutterfly circles and helps him to win 

 his mate. 



The monarch in all of its stages is distasteful to birds. The reason 

 for this is not known, but the fact is. There is a similar butterfly in nowise 

 related to the monarch, which has assumed the monarch's colors and mark- 

 ings. This resemblance 

 is so close that the dis- 

 guised butterfly is avoided 

 by the birds, although its 

 relatives are regarded as 

 delicate tidbits by all in- 

 sect-eating birds. This 

 butterfly is called the 

 viceroy. (See article on 

 the sovereign butterflies, 

 page 1262.) 



The monarch is a na- 



r , • 1 A • Monarch butterfly 



tive of tropical America, 



and every year it comes north with the spring and the warm weather. 

 As soon as the milkrweed appears, the monarch butterfly appears also, and 

 the female lays her eggs on its leaves. From these eggs hatch the mon- 

 arch 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 organs, like 

 whiplashes, and near the end of the abdomen is a similar, but shorter 

 pair. If the caterpillar is disturbed, the front pair of whiplashes twitches 

 wamingly; when the caterpillar walks, they move back and forth. 

 These whiplash filaments are probably used to frighten away the parasitic 

 flies that attack the caterpillar. 



The caterpillars feed only on the milkweed, which they eat industriously 

 day and night, except during a few moments of rest now and then. As 

 the milkweed leaves are very succulent, the caterpillars may attain their 

 growth in eleven days, meantime, like all other insects, shedding their 

 skeleton skins to allow for further growth. 



When fully grown the caterijillar hangs itself by the tip end of its body 

 and sheds its last caterpillar skin. A most marvelous transformation 

 has meanwhile taken place; now it is a little, oblong object of exquisite 

 delicate green, ornamented with flecks and tubercles and dots of gold. 

 There is a band of gold across the third segment of the abdomen, the 

 lower edge of which is dotted with black. The chrysalis is attached by 

 a little black knob ending in hooks to a button of silk, spun by the cater- 

 pillar for this purpose. After a few days the chr^^salis changes to a darker 



